Listening

I’m preaching in church this weekend. I always love this opportunity. To paraphrase Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, ‘when I preach I feel His pleasure. ‘

As often is the case, I have little advance warning of this opportunity. Officially, I have 7 days to put it all together, which is certainly less than I’d like. I’m not really complaining, but at this point my brain is a jumble of thoughts. I’m going to use my little blog this week to highlight the process that goes on inside of me as I prepare… [Click on the title above to continue reading]

Grinchoversy

5 Keys to Reading the Bible

Here is a list (by no means exhaustive) of a few guidelines to help in reading and applying the Bible to your life… To continue reading, click on the title above.

The Most Holy Time

I admit it.  I’ve been in some kind of funk lately.  No actually, not lately, this has been going on for some time now.  The exact nature of this funk is difficult to describe, and especially so when I am trying to do so without offending the sensibilities of proper and sincere religious people.  I [...]

Learning Faith -Part 3

This is part three in a 3 part series on how we educate the next generation in matters of faith.

Leading a Mutiny?

I need to start off this article with a short disclaimer. I got started down this philosophical road by an article in Matt Crosslin’s blog, which he started as a response to a Relevant Magazine article, “Is There a Church Mutiny Afoot?” I started my part of the discussion several weeks ago, but was unsatisfied with what I’d written. I felt that my thoughts on the issue were too muddled, and in some ways I still feel that way. One of the reasons I write this blog is to put legs on ideas, and in so doing, bring a little clarity to them. That is the only reason I have put this up. It is important for any reader to understand that none of this is combative, although the issue of Christian ambition does strike a bit of a sore spot with me. Further, I have no animosity toward Matt or Relevant. In fact, I feel the opposite. Some great illumination has come to me through the reading of both. It is in the healthy debate that I feel the greatest good is served…(Click the Title above to continue reading)

Think love, Piece

I have a friend in the ministry who is a big Beatles fan. We often playfully debate philosophy and music history together. She included this quote in a recent email, and I thought I would respond.

“Get out there and get peace, think peace, live peace and breathe peace, and you’ll get it as soon as you like.”
John Lennon

Friend,
I have thoughts about your John Lennon quote… (click article title to read the whole article)

Some Videos from Asia

Here are just some of the videos that Peichi and I made in Asia.  We made them mostly for our youth group in Texas.  I hope you enjoy watching even close to as much as we did making them.  Several places, crowds gathered as we made the videos and asked me afterward if I was someone famous.  Of course, I am.

At YWAM – Day 3

I am writing this on Thursday, simply because Wednesday was way too full to post.

Yesterday was another amazing day.  I left the base in the early afternoon, so it doesn’t really count as a full ‘day’ but it was full nonetheless.  My morning started out with reading the Bible and prayer, but then I got to my guitar and decided to play some worship.  I played through songs as I randomly flipped through my music book.  I was having a pretty good time in worship.

I used to worship like that on my own quite often, especially after I got back from my first missionary tour.  I would sing and play through songs that I knew, and suddenly as I hit upon some random song that struck me, the Holy Spirit of God would just kind of pour over me.  My friend Harold says “The Spirit gushes out like a fountain.”  I guess that is the best way to describe it.

As I was worshiping on Wednesday morning I hit on an old hymn, “How Great Thou Art.”  I have never had hymns mean all that much to me, really.  I didn’t grow up with them all that much.  The third stanza says,

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

I couldn’t finish that last line.  I was on my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks, suddenly hit with the power of God’s Spirit, and the fact that God would go to the cross for me, for what I’ve done, for all my rebellion.  It isn’t fair.  As God sprang out of me like a fountain, I wept out of joy, out of sorrow, out of repentance, out of thankfulness, all at once.  I hadn’t felt that in quite a while.

After all of that, I remembered Harold, and that he had called me a few weeks ago, and asked me to call a friend of his who had been doing inner-city missions work.  So, I decided to call him.  We talked for quite a while.  He told me that he and his wife had met Harold because Harold had opened a door for them, and they struck up a conversation.  He was from the Seattle area.  Harold had made it a point to keep in touch and to regularly pray for he and his wife.

He told me that recently he had been out in Idaho at a parade for some special occasion (maybe it was Thanksgiving) and he looked at the guy next to him, and unbelievably it happened to be Harold!  He then paused and said, “You know, out of all of the men who have ever been anything like a mentor to me in my life, Harold has got to be in the top 5.”

All because he happened to be caught in Harold’s tractor beam as he opened a door.

I want to be like Harold some day when I grow up.  Harold is in his 80′s.  Harold should by all accounts be kickin’ it at some Sun City somewhere.  Instead, he takes every day and every meeting as a chance to really make a difference in someone’s life.  I think Harold is in my top 5 too.  He is my hero.

I spent time saying goodbyes to the Thorstads, and looking around the YWAM base one last time.  I’ll be back here, I prophesied.

I hope that no one misunderstands my purpose in writing this.  It could seem like I’m being really self-indulgent here, writing everything about myself and my week, like some Twittiot (my word) telling the world about his mid-afternoon snack.  That really isn’t my heart here at all.  I knew I would have some incredible experiences this week, and I want to chronicle it all for me, if no one else.  But maybe my experiences will find some way of blessing someone else.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul mentions that God has chosen the weak and fooling things/people of this world in order that we could not boast in ourselves, but in God alone.  I have written this short blog series as a point to say, “I am one of those weak and foolish people.”  It is Jesus who this series is about.  It is He who made my week noteworthy.  My attempts to even describe it are largely in vain, but I would shame Him if I didn’t try my best.

And a little fun from Tuesday:

At YWAM -Day 3

Today was a crazy full day, and fortunately I got enough sleep to survive it.  Now it wasn’t bad, it was amazing, but it was full.

The morning started out with me rolling around for 45 minutes simply because I could sleep in.  When I finally got some coffee going I started reading the Bible.  I have been really ruminating over Jesus statement in the gospels, and Paul’s reiteration in 1 Corinthians that communion symbolizes “a new covenant in my [Jesus] blood.”  In John chapter 6, Jesus says that his disciples are to drink his blood, and if they don’t they have no life in him.

But in Genesis, God commands man to not drink blood.  I really spent time thinking over this, and praying over it.  I was going to teach over the implications of a new covenant in Christ’s blood in view of the Abrahamic Covenant.  I needed to fully understand the implications of what Jesus was saying here.  I resolved that God would have to work it out with me through the day, as He often does stuff.

I then read through a little of Othodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.  He points out how the universe has a real order to it, but enough disorder to really make any reliance on the universal order a ridiculous pursuit.  He gives an illustration of how the human body has symmetry, with two arms and legs, and even a two-lobed brain.  But the body does not contain symmetry in all its organs (like the heart).  This has its point in that Christianity matches the sensed order of the world, but is just peculiar enough to match its idiosyncrasies.  Unfortunately, I am not as eloquent as Chesterton and am not doing his point justice.  I shall not bore you further with direct quotes.  But all of this stuck with me.

After this, I spent some time in worship alone in my room.  I hit on some songs that God really used to touch my heart.  Then I was ready for my lunch appointment.

I spoke twice today, to a group of Junior High students in school where I talked about Jesus new covenant, and to a youth group on the YWAM base.  There I spoke about how God wants them to orient their identity and their base of knowledge in Him.  I used 1 Corinthians 2 as my passage.  God has been really speaking to me through that this week.  It is going to be one of my theme verses in 2009.

Later tonight they had a worship service that they do annually called “Dwell.”  I attended and really felt that power of God.  God was really working in me there, as He has pretty dramatically this week.  It was kind of open mic, and one guy got pretty Pentacostal-ly, which I have less and less patience for.  If God is real and really moving, and there can be no doubt in a place like that He is, then there is no need to hype Him up.  He doesn’t need a “hype-man”.  But that didn’t take away from what God was doing for me too much.

I went forward for prayer, and a guy immediately came up and prayed for me in an incredible way.  I have never met him.  I never will see him again.  It didn’t matter.  After I left, I walked past a guy I’ve never met, and he shook my hand put a hand on my shoulder and smiled, and asked me how I was doing.  Chesterton came flooding back.  “These are weird people,” I thought.  And they are.  People don’t share these experiences with strangers.  People don’t put their hands on random strangers’ shoulders and smile either.  But then again, that is the right kind of weirdness that the world is crying out for.  We are a peculiar people, us Christians.  Normal is nothing I want.  I’d rather share these moments with strangers than be stoically stuck, looking cool.

Now I’m in my room for the last time.  I’m leaving tomorrow.  I’m thinking about my half-week, and eating Slim Jims.  Since I disconnected my fire alarm (long story—it doesn’t work—I’ll reconnect tomorrow), I thought about using this kerosene lamp that sits on the little writing desk, under the faded old still life desk picture, the type that seems to be in every older Christian place of prayer.  The kerosene seemed to be still good.  I had to jury-rig it though (pictures below), and it never did seem to function completely well.  I finally put it out, just to be on the safe side.

I’m buying an old writing desk, a faded still life picture, and a kerosene lamp soon, I’ve decided.  Every Christian needs one.  We are, after all, weird people.