A "Mark"ed Man

Raining on My Head

2006-07-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

Time to blog. They will probably cut me off forever if I don't put something new on this thing soon. But luckily, I did have a good experience to blog about yesterday so I don't think they'll be taking my "blogging card" away any time soon.

Last week, I was asked if I would bring the message at church this week (yesterday, I mean). It was part of a series that was just loosely based on a family vacation series and my topic had to do with being sure to stop at some "rest areas" along the way--you know, enjoy the vacation and not just rush around and wind up being exhausted rather than refreshed.

I live in Lubbock, as the heading for the blog says, and whether you are aware or not, we have made national news over the past couple of weeks because our city council has made an official proclamation/declaration that yesterday was to be our city wide day of fasting and prayer. There is a lot about this on the internet and it is amazing how many detractors are out there. We are simply experiencing a serious drought and our city council and mayor are devout enough to believe the real Source of rain is alive and personal and would like for us to acknowledge Him.

So anyway, this was mentioned at our weekly service yesterday morning and we prayed together in this regard before my "sermon." When the speaker was talking about this I got a real check in my spirit that I felt I simply could not ignore as God was wanting me to change my message topic to this--the fact that He is in control of the rain. To make a slighly longer story short, God sent me to I Kings 17-19 and I brought the "message" (me leading this group through this text about YHWH's power over the greatest of the storm gods--Baal). I was empowered by Him and it was great. The comments I got afterword were overwhelmingly positive including things such as "edge of my seat" and "Wow, that was great!"

This doesn't happen often, but when I does from time to time I am always so glad that God chooses to do this. I am very confident that God has made a teacher first and foremost and I always come straight out of His word moving fairly methodically through a text so that I will stay very close to the author's original intent. I don't know what more to say about this really, but I'm so glad God used me this way. I love being a servant and especially when I know that I am so definitely embedded in His purpose and will in a given situation. What I do know is that people love God's word when it simply presented in the way that lets that text take center stage and just come to life. It just needs to presented as REAL, like it is, with real passion and by really helping the people to EXPERIENCE IT! The Word really is alive. We need to stop passively attempting to assassinate it.

Is There Room in This Town for the Two of Us?

2006-07-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

There is another man. That was hard to say, but at least it's out there. (I hope it becomes a more cathartic experience as time goes on and I keep saying it.)

I can smell the other man in my home. I can see what is left behind from his foraging ventures into my kitchen. I spot the tracks that he leaves on my floor and his signature indentation that remains so steadfastly on certain pieces of my furniture--that I bought, mind you. I am fully aware that he kisses my wife often. Sometimes, I catch a glimpse of this man in a moment of thoughtfulness (either mine or his--it doesn't matter) and he has been known to speak in my presence words that are stunningly profound. His insights have caught me off guard before but their frequency is steadily increasing and I consider that I may have only a short time before his keen observations see through the facade I have thus far maintained.

My wife and I have been told more than once that we each have a Mini-Me that lives with us. It's true. They have been that for some time--"mini" that is. But now, it is one day after my son's 12th B-day. He is now 5'3" (I'm 6'5" so I feel I have some time to keep my bluff in physically, at least) and wears a size 8 shoe. I don't know that I've taught him enough to meet his 13th year of life. We've never been camping (some of you gasp, I know, but it's just never been my thing). We've never been fishing or hunting together (no, my name's not "Nancy"). He's never seen me change the oil on our car (mainly because I haven't done it myself since the end of my high school years).

In my defense, though, I taught him to use several tools. We've constructed several things together that were fairly intricate and he has learned to love hockey which he practices every week during the fall-spring months. He is also a gentleman, holding doors and volunteering a hand to anyone in need, of which I am very proud.

Still, he is the other man, now. But I think I can stand it. Perhaps there is enough room in this town for another "regular-sized" me. I'm proud of who he is and I'm particularly proud that people might think I had something to do with it.

God bless you, Son, in all the days to come. I love you. I will be there for you. You are truly one of the greatest gifts I will ever receive.

Wanna go camping? *Gulp-please say "no"*

Smiley

2006-07-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm back. I feel like I've become a blog-leper, almost--whatever that means. I have been wanting to write for a long time (since my last blog, actually) but I have been trying to do a lot online, etc. I have been turning in papers for master's classes and trying to finish some online appication submissions for potential ministry opportunities. Actually, my wife and I are considering working with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I don't know what will come of it, but I know that the ball is in their court for now. (It should be, though, as they have almost everything except a stool sample from me at this point.)

So today was another day on the road for me, delivering appliance parts to a couple of cities about 2-1/2 hours from Lubbock. Actually, if you remember the movie Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thornton (I never saw it), then you know where I was. It is those two cities that were most spotlighted in the movie. Anyway, on the way back from my delivery, I take a route that is different from the one on the way there. I go through a lot of desolate country that would make most snakes want to leave the area when compared to almost anywhere else. Still, there are also a lot of plowed fields this time of year with pre-irrigation and planted fields that are starting to grow well.

I'm always pleased to pass one farm in particular. It is somewhere not far out of Lamesa, TX, and the house is not that big and the rows of red soil go on and on, just like most any farm in the area. But the one striking feature is that out in the middle of the field is a giant yellow smiley face--the kind you've all seen a hundred times, at least. It's just a giant, bright yellow "Have a great day" to any and all of us who pass along the road about a hundred yards away. As "corny" as some might say it seems, the truth is it really is a bright spot in my Thursday. I love the smiley.

Don't we all need someone to smile at us everyday? To tell us that everything really is OK and that a smile will go a long way to helping us have a better day? I think we do. We need hope, joy, smiles in our life. It really is catchy. I'm glad I get to pass that farm every week, and I'm glad they keep that smiley set up for all of us. The farmer's life is no picnic, I know. So if they can keep a smile on for the rest of us, then it shouldn't be too difficult for me, should it?

Family in Paradise

2006-06-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to do--plus I'm minus my family until tomorrow afternoon. That could be good because it gives just a bit of personal time to try and finish a couple of things. I'm writing an archaeology paper for a class I haven't completed yet from the spring. I also need to get an annotated bibliography done. These are fun things, though, because I love school and the study of anything biblically related is wonderful. But it still takes time and between two jobs and helping as much as possible at the church, I'm a bit strapped for time.

But, as stated before, the kids and wife are away and they are having a great time in Ruidoso, NM. I've never been. We got the invite just a couple of days ago from my mom-in-law who was going there with a friend but the friend had to cancel. It was too late for me to get off work but the wife and kids decided to take a short getaway. It sounds so wonderful temperture wise. We are having hundreds here now fairly consistently, which is above our normal by several degrees. Yesterday, when my wife arrived she called and told me it was 73. Wow! Plus the view which is incredible, I've always heard, and the place their staying which is the second home of friends who live here in Lubbock and is perfectly build with all the amenities and a wrap-around porch(!). I'm very jealous. Still, I'm just glad their getting away.

I hope I can get a little accomplished today.

You Won't Burn My Beans

2006-06-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Lubbock, TX, is unseasonably hot right now. It was 124 degrees today! Oh, alright, perhaps it was slightly cooler than that, though "cooler" is a pitifully ill-used term when comparing tempertures over 90. Anywhere between about 95 and boiling is enough to turn an ordinary avenue upon which ordinary people make ordinary (albeit unnerving and reluctant) trips to Wal Mart into a stew of taffy-like tar, asphalt-speckled cars, and beet-red feet of daredevil children who like to explore their burgeoning masochistic tendencies.

Still, amid the heat, there is a fantastic and welcome thirst-quencher that puts the likes of Gatorade and (I speak in hushed tones here) Coca-cola to shame. ("Shame" is likely a harsh term, but you get my point.) What is this great thirst-tamer? This joy of tastebuds? This elixir of the exhausted? Get ready, now . . .

It's Coffee.

"Crazy!" you say. "Nonsense!" you exclaim. "What a caffinated loser," you mock haughtily. Well, it is not crazy and it is not nonsense.

I love coffee. Even as Achilles was dipped into that which made him impervious to the attacks of his foes, all except for his heel by which he was held while dipped, so that it was not covered but remained susceptible to attack, so it is with me. I am at least somewhat able to handle the trials and unpredictability of day-to-day earth-shaking craziness--but only with the help of coffee. Without it, I become lethargic and meloncholic. (Quiet honey, we both know that's not my normal demeanor. Or is it just me who knows that? No matter.)

I wasn't born in the Northwest and I rarely enter a Starbuck's. I'm no big fan of the great coffee conglomerate. I'm a postmodern at heart. That means back to the basics. Me, a few beans, a rock to crush them with, an open fire and a small tin bucket of water--that's coffee. No, it's not. Coffee is what comes out of my best friend--Gevalia--in the morning when nothing else is good enough to drag me from the borders of the dream continent.

Yes, heat is no obstacle. My loyalty to the greatest of all drinks will not be hampered by nature's evil will to ruin my palate with it's unscrupulously (that's right, I think nature is against me, unscrupulous in it's derisiveness) climbing tempertures.

I will continue to drink my coffee. I have drawn my line in the grounds. I will not give in. Coffee rules!

(Ice coffee? Never tried it. August may be a good time for experimentation.)

Lots to do

2006-06-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty good weekend. Really, I worked a lot of it, so . . . y'know, kind of typical. But there are some good things starting to happen, possibly, and that could be very good for my family. I really look forward to getting some of the things I have to do right now behind me. I have too much on my plate. I am starting the process of getting "credentialed" with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. That basically means getting them to recognize me as a "legitimate" ordained minister. The process seems lengthy but I'm sure all will go well. I like the potential our future could have with this group so I am OK going through the process.

I need to complete a paper on Balaam from Numbers 22. It is an archeaology paper. Hopefully I actually get it completed, though right now I'm not so sure. Everything is behind. I need to get something done for my work at Texas Roadhouse that is essential if I expect to keep working there for the next little while. It is completing the Texas Alchoholic Beverave Commission course online so I can serve alchohol. Actually, I can serve now, but it gives a bit more security if one ever has a mishap on the job, etc. I make fairly decent money serving on the weekends so I need to get this done for the remainder of our time in Lubbock.

This is all quite a bit of stuff. I think I can still get it done. But today, I will spend a little bit of the day with the family walking in the mall. We have no money to spend, at all, but we will walk around and have a good time together while we can. Then more work.

Muslims Dreaming About Jesus

2006-05-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

I heard about this very widespread phenomenon a few years ago, actually, and wondered if it was more wishful thinking than anything. But apparently, it is the real thing. Lots of Muslims are coming to Christ on a steady basis. They are coming by various avenues, but the most remarkable is the very over-arching and widely experienced dreams and visions that are being the spark for Muslims to seek Christ. Christ comes to them in a dream which may take any number of forms, but it is definitely Christ and he is definitely calling these Muslims to follow Him. It's quite remarkable. I'm still intrigued. I look forward to hearing more in the years to come.

Chocolate Chip Black Belt

2006-05-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever eaten the best chocolate chip cookies there are? Wait a minute. I can answer that question for you. If you haven't eaten those made by my wife, then I regret to inform you that whatever cookies you ate, no matter how joyfully scrumptous, were actually inferior.

I can't tell you the wonder that surrounds the great event of fresh chocolate chip cookie baking in my home. Oh, my wife is an excellent cook of almost anything, mind you, and baking is definitely a specialty. She can make an apple cake that will leave your sweet tooth begging for mercy, and a peanut butter cheesecake (Yes, I said a PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE!) that requires us to forcably remove houseguests long after the dinner party's conclusion (OK, only one incident, but you get the picture). But back to the CCCs (Choc Chip Cookies).

Well, around here CCCs have become, by far, the family favorite. She still makes peanut butter cookies, and snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies, and oatmeal cookies from time to time. But most cookies are received with the usual question: "Wow, are you makin' chocolate chip cookies?" which is either quickly followed by the joyful "Yippee!" of finding out they are the beloved CCCs or the casual "Oh." which follows revelation of another, less appealing recipe.

Now, my wife is an expert. So much so, in fact, that she was willing to test her expertise. She actually challenged herself, as a fun experiment for the family to watch, to make CCCs blindfolded. Now, I can do a few things really well, but most of them involve a maximum of not more than two steps. So to see someone go from a clean kitchen where all ingredients, bowls, and utensils were put away in proper places to a completed batch of CCCs was something I wanted to see.

Well, we started by safety pinning a blindfold on her and then we turned her loose in front of a family audience to see how she would do. It would be an interesting story to tell of a flour-strewn floor, chocolate chip countertops and slimy, egg-coated bowls and drawer-pulls, but such a story is one I cannot tell. The fact is it was nothing short of "a master at work." Anyone who can remember the old Kung Fu television show (or who has ever heard it parodied) knows the phrase "When you can take the pebble from my hand, then you will be ready." It is said by the master teacher to the young student near the beginning of his training. With my wife, it was "when you can make the CCCs blindfolded, then you will be a master baker."

She has graduated. The cookies that came out of the oven (and that blindfold was worn between clean kitchen and pulling the second batch of cookies out of the oven!!) were as good as almost any sighted person could hope to attain to. I would unhesitatingly place her in the baking octogon against the best bakers in the culinary universe. She would hand them their spatulas on a platter.

Nice going, sweetheart! I'm very impressed. Not to mention that this will comfort me as age overtakes us and our sight becomes less acute knowing that I will always have the smell and taste of the world's greatest CCCs throughout my elderly years. Thank God for the cacao bean. (Yes, "cacao", believe it or not. We looked it up.)

Sick Day

2006-05-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

I don't feel well today. I'm not usually one to get sick, though I have noticed it seems to happen a little more as I grow older. Growing up, though, I was taught to work through it, for the most part. That is certainly not always the best idea and it is generally better to rest one's way through it, I've discovered. Still, old habits are hard to break. I worked last evening and I'm sure it didn't get me much closer to health again.

I think it is the sudden change in weather that's got me feeling low. Here in Texas, we don't get much of a spring, we just head straight into summer. We've already seen triple digits here in Lubbock. But then again, better a long summer than a really long winter, for my money.

Maybe Shrek Should Have Been Scared

2006-05-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you all remember the movie Shrek--one of the best movies of all time. I simply love that movie and with msot people who have seen it, my favorite character is definitely donkey. But there is a reason to look warily in donkey's direction. It is a reason we learned from early in the Old Testament. That lesson: Talking donkeys could be an indication of a serious heart problem.

Returning to Numbers 22, we see that Balaam is on his way to see Balak now. He shouldn't be, remember, because even though God told him he could go in 22:20, the reader is told that God was not happy about Balaam's decision to go (22:22). Remember that Balaam had to ask God twice to go even though he should have been quite satisfied with God's first answer of "No."

So here he is, going to see Balak, king of Moab, who is willing to give Balaam any amount just so that he will pronounce a curse on Israel. But while he is on the way, Balaam is going to get a lesson from a very unexpected source.

While he is going, his donkey, which Balaam has owned for a very long time, sees an angel of the Lord standing in the middle of the path and attempts to navigate around it (v.23). Unfortunately, Balaam himself--the great "Seer"--doesn't see the Angel of the Lord and strikes the donkey to get him back on the original path. Again, a similar scenario takes place in a narrower spot on the path and Balaam's foot is squeezed painfully against a wall as the donkey tries to go forward at his master's instigation while still navigating around the angel that seems so obvious to the animal but is again unseen by the prophet (v.25).

Finally, the angel appears in the middle of the path at a point where there is no room on either side for the donkey to pass and the donkey simply lays down under Balaam, unwilling to walk straight into the angel of the Lord (v.27). Now Balaam is really angry and wants the donkey to continue. He strikes it again and claims he would kill it if he could.

But the donkey, at this point, does the strangest thing. He speaks. He asks Balaam why he treating him this way. Listen closely to what he says. It is as if God is speaking to Balaam through the donkey's mouth. When the donkey asks why Balaam would treat him this way--for example, why would he strike him continually since the donkey has only been good to him for so long--it is like God is asking, "Why are you so bent on doing what I told you in the beginning was unacceptable?"

But it is our way, isn't it. We are always going after what we really know is not right. But the great part is that God never gives up. He stands in our way and calls out to us. He tries in every way to get our attention so that we will retrain our eyes on him. His grace is ever pouring out on us and we are recipients of it, willing or not. God is righteous and our unrighteousness will not cause him to be otherwise (II Tim. 2:13).

Still, we need to watch for the angels in the path. And hopefully, it never gets that far and we can hear the first command to steer clear of a bad situation. And without question, if a donkey starts talking, we better listen.

Keep Asking 'til You Get the Answer You Want

2006-05-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot in a particular Bible story lately. It is the story of Balaam. For those who aren't very familiar with their Bible (and for many who are) the story is found in Numbers 22-24.

In the story, the prophet Balaam is asked by Balak, the king of Moab, to put a curse on the children of Israel who have recently arrived in the area. Balaam, it turns out, is a prophet of YHWH. (This is a very interesting point in the story because Balaam is not an Israelite. I really like this point because I think it simply goes to show that God has always used those outside of the normal, visible "boundaries" to do His will. But I digress.)

Balak, the king who wishes to have Israel cursed, knows that what this prophet says comes to pass (22:6) so he wants to pay Balaam for a curse on God's people. Balak sends delegates with cold, hard cash to pay for a curse (22:7). When they arrive and state the purpose of thier visit, Balaam tells them to remain while he seeks the Lord's will on the matter. That night, God instructs Balaam that he is not allowed to curse this people. The next day he tells the delegation to leave without him.

After returning home, the delegates tell Balak of Balaam's response and Balak counters with a larger delegation made up of more "respectable" people (22:15). He sends them with the message that he will pay any asking price Balaam sets in order that Balaam will simply curse the children of Israel (22:17).

Now here is where Balaam likely screws up. Why did he return to seek God's will on this matter (22:19) ?God has already told Balaam that he cannot curse this people so Balaam should already know the answer. Now that you've read on a little in the story you know that God does tell Balaam he can go with them but that he is to do only as he is instructed by God (22:20). But just two verses later shows us that God is very unhappy with the decision of Balaam to return to Balak (22:22).

One of the major themes of the story is that what God says is what God says and that is the end of the matter. There is no dealing with God to get what you want. You can't pay God's prophets for a curse or a blessing or anything else. That is what Balaam should have sent as his final answer back to Balak by way of the delagation. But he didn't. He heard their offer--"whatever you ask, you get"--and decided maybe he should return to YHWH to find out if He had changed his mind yet.

Of course, God doesn't change his mind. God is not so fickle that he will change his mind on a whim, not liking and idea one moment and then deciding the next that it is brilliant. It is the same with us as it was with Balaam. Often we will try to bang on God's door until we feel we have the answer we want. We know God doesn't really want us to do something sometimes but we somehow justify in our minds why this time it will be OK. But God is so good that he doesn't leave us alone even when we make such pitiful, self-centered choices.

He doesn't leave Balaam alone, either. We'll continue to look at this story over the next several days.

I Married Mark Cuban

2006-05-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I married Mark Cuban--well, kind of (I mean if Mark Cuban was a really beautiful woman).

Even most people who are not basketball fans have heard the name Mark Cuban. He is a very outspoken figure.He was one of the early dot-com millionaires. He is widely known as a great philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is the owner of the NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks. He even had his own reality series for a while (but who hasn't, actually).

But back to the Dallas Mavericks comment. He is the owner, to be sure, but he doesn't act like most owners. He doesn't sit in any climate-controlled, buffet-bordered owner's box situated fifty feet above the basketball court floor. He is right behind the bench, sitting next to his players and alongside his team's greatest fans. He jumps, screams, cheers, shouts, pouts, stomps and claps--all with great enthusiasm. He's been known to storm onto the court during a game to argue with a referee over a perceived bad call. He even blogs--that's right, blogs--with ferver, and enough ferver to get him fined by the league for blogging the wrong thing regarding NBA referees. Needless to say, his enthusiam is never hidden.

Well, that is my wife. When we married I was not a sports fan. I didn't hate sports mind you, not at all. But I didn't go out of my way to watch any games. Well, my wife was just the opposite. She has had favorite teams since she was a little girl. She got hooked on pro football before she was ten and she has extended her addiction until today. When there is a close game on involving one of her teams, she vacillates between covering her eyes and screaming at the top of her lungs. She does it alone and with others, the company that may or may not be with her being only mildly influential in her excitement level.

She just loves sports. That is all there is to it.

But why? Easy. She is PASSIONATE to the core. She lives a passionate life. She loves her family and her God with the same kind of Passion. I'm so blessed. I love her for her enthusiam. She often asks why the church doesn't worship God with at least half the enthusiasm that many Christians show at a sporting event for their favorite team. I have no answer for that. She loves to worship and does it with Passion, also, coming to tears many times in the presence of God's people singing praise to Him.

The Mavericks are on right now. She is standing up next to me clapping while the rest of our family does our various things. She doesn't care. Passion stands in the midst of complacency and simply says, "Maybe you can understand someday, too." I'm starting to, Honey. I'm starting to. GO MAVS!

Maximum Mustard Seed

2006-05-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

What is it about a mustard seed? Why all the hubbub? It is just a little seed after all. We can't really expect that much out of it. It makes a little herb and we use it for cooking and eating--big deal. It gives us a little flavor where we would have been a bit bland before. But isn't that about it, really?

What if its not it, though? What if the mustard seed is a lot more than that? What if what we have seen throughout our millenia of harvesting mustard plants has only been the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is really possible? What if we are all still living like mustard seeds when we should be living like Giant Sequoias?

Gina and I visited the Giant Sequoias in the national park in California about ten years ago. They are the largest living things on earth--and wow! We had never seen anything that left us in such awe before.

The fact is that we are looking at an image of the Kingdom of God as it was intended. Jesus compared the Kingdom to a mustard seed. You plant it, you water it, it grows. But he described its growth as unlike anything that can really be expected to come from the seed. He didn't mean to say that we should ever see a mustard seed grow into a tree. My goodness. How shallow we are and how we miss His meaning if we think this was it. He intended that we would break free of our limited mindsets and understand that the Kingdom, even with its terribly ignominious beginnings, would be incomparably huge--and so it is.

I can't help but think we are somewhat similar. We are a part of Christ's Kingdom, to be sure. We also have not even begun to reach our potential. There is a sequoia in me, I think. I'm not sure how to tap into it, but I am feeling more ready than ever these days to find out. I don't want to be a mustard seed forever and I know He doesn't have that in mind for me, either, or for any of us. Time to drink some water.

"PB4UGO"

2006-05-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

I saw the greatest license plate today. My family and I had just come out of the bookstore together and got into the car. Right before I backed out of my space I looked at the license plate of the car just in front of me and it read "PB4UGO". How great is that? Somehow, this very creative car owner has managed to encapsulate the most important rule of travel (certainly comfortable and dry travel) on one of the most indispensible pieces of legal auto insignia. I'm impressed.

But when I was laughing I couldn't help but think of what excellent advice this is when the principle is applied to life. It is akin to the great Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. The six-letter exhortation tells us that we must start something with as much readiness as possible, lest we make it only a few figurative miles from our departure point before feeling the dam about to break.

Jesus said something similar regarding the need to take into account the personal changes and commitment that will be required in order to truly follow Him unswervingly (Luke 14:28ff). If one were to dedicate oneself to this most lofty of callings and then realize only a short while in that the discomfort was too much and veering from the necessary path because of the discomfort became an option, it would be problematic, putting it mildly.

Jesus wants us to commit to him readily. He wants us to give serious consideration to what it means to give ourselves over to him completely before agreeing to follow Him. There will be many off ramps along the road that we travel with Him and many chances to get off for the sake of our own comfort. But we are called to be in it for the long haul. We are called to determination. We have "set our faces toward Jerusalem" as did Jesus, and we must make it to the end of our journey in His footsteps. It is our commitment. It is our spiritual duty as a disciple. So don't forget to PB4UGO.

"DiVinci" Curiosity

2006-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

I just got out of our little church service this morning. We are in the middle of a series on the DiVinci Dode. The pastor wanted to have the series situated so that it would fall a couple of weeks before and a couple of weeks after the movie premier. We are trying to see it for the opportunity it is. It is a chance for us to have conversations with others who will be curious about the veracity of New Testament claims after they see the movie. In that way, it is not at all unlike The Passion of the Christ. Perhaps many will investigate the claims of the Bible for themselves, particularly the gospels and find the truth that is certainly there. I hope the church is ready to meet the suspicions of those questioning in acceptance and sincerity.

I also think that the questions will be raised in many of the minds of churchgoers. They will see the movie and begin wondering if there is good reason to mistrust the biblical gospels. I may be a bit cinnical about the state of the church, to be sure. But I do think that the depth of the church and the depth of belief is lacking and it could cause a crisis of faith in many churchgoers lives. That is not to say that the crisis of faith wouldn't come from another venue, also, if it did not come from Hollywood.

I'm hoping I'm wrong and that there won't be much reaction from the church, except of course to be mindful of those outside the church whose curiosity is peaked.

Driving the Parts Truck

2006-05-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I will drive my appliance parts truck to a town a little over a hundred miles away and deliver parts to various dealers/repair people. I do it every week and really, it is not that bad at all. It is actually something that goes well with my personality. It involves some heavy lifting but there is a lot of time alone which is good for me to think. It doesn't pay much, though. My other job pays better for the most part but I can't get enough really good hours there. What I mean is that I work for tips at my other job and when those are good, I can get around fifteen dollars an hour but on weeknights they are not that good and I can get more hours at the appliance parts store on those days. So I work the two jobs for now. I don't really dislike either of them and they keep me in contact with several lost people who I get to know much better by being in their lives on a consistent basis. But I do have to find something else before long as the pay is not consistently something that we are able to live on and we need a little bit of help occasionally.

God bless and more tomorrow, probably:).

The Story is Everywhere

2006-05-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

I talked to our newly forming small group last night as we were just having burgers at a local restaurant. We have a new member who is a very recent Christian and converted from a Hindu background. She is from India but was originally inspired to begin her search by the movie "The Passion of the Christ." She has such an incredible thirst for God and Jesus and it is primarily exhibited through her love for the Bible. I can hardly come into contact with her at all without getting a (sometimes very difficult) faith based question.

She just returned from a trip to Cancun yesterday and she had done some touring while in the Carribean. She toured some Mayan ruins and was particularly intrigued by their use of a cross, apparently as a navigational/directional device (she had a hard time expaining it as exactly as the tour guide :-b. ) But she asked me if there was any way that this large cross that was a part of the ruins she saw could be connected to their thoughts of Jesus.

Now, of course, we all know that this is not the case and it would be unreasonable (in the least) to make such an assumption. But what it did do is get us into a discussion about how God has been telling His story throughout the history of mankind, in all cultures and places. We also discussed a bit of what the Bible might say in this regard, from an anological point of view.

Consider Jonah as a possibility of an OT story that is a great foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive work (Christ, Himself, opens the door to such consideration--Matt. 12:40). Jonah was a prophet of God to a horribly sinful people, was "put to death" by foreigners (Mark 10:33) who were previously unacquainted with Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, and who referred to Jonah as an "innocent man" (Jonah 1:14/cp. Luke 23:13; 47), he spent three days in the belly of the whale comparable to Jesus' three days in the tomb, he was spat out on land ("like being raised from what should have been certain death), went to a distant land proclaiming God's forgiveness for all who repent of wickedness.

Now I know the analogy breaks down, of course. Jesus never ran from God's calling as does Jonah, Jonah didn't actually die, and Jesus didn't sulk because the unrighteous masses were spared by God! Still, though, Jonah was the imperfect prophet and Jesus the perfect. Jonah represented sinful, resentful Israel where Jesus represented Israel as the suffering and missionary servant of God that was intended. Surely Luke 24:27 speaks to passages such as these--and all of scripture, I believe--when Jesus made clear the foreshadowing that was taking place of God's ultimate plan to save all peoples from their heinous sinfulness.

The Bible is so much more than what we have credited it as. We must dig into it. We must allow it to be the book of unlimited facets that God wrote it to be. I look forward to seeing more and sharing what God leads. May the Lord bless you all.

Doubting Road

2006-05-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

In church today we received our first installment of a four-part series on The DiVinci Code and how to answer questions that may be asked when those without a foundation in faith see the movie. I felt that our minister did quite well and I am pleased that we have begun the series two weeks before the movie debuts.

The truth is that I have already been approached about the subject myself because I am a vocational minister and work as a server in a popular local steakhouse where one of my fellow servers was asking me about it. I hope the church doesn't miss the opportunity to speak to the culture in light of this well-publicized, ficticious story.

I'm quite pleased with the willingness of the emerging church to entertain the questions and doubts of the public at large. I'm glad we are having the conversations which might at one time have caused us to simply question the willingness of the asker to even seek truth in the first place because anyone willing to entertain such doubts is either stubborn or just plainly beligerant.

Still, there comes a time to sidestep our doubts, doesn't there? We know there is that time. We have them and we won't have all our questions answered but we realize that this is how life in faith is intended to work. Questions come along with us. We pack them up and carry them along. Some fall out of knapsack as we travel, others get answered along the way and some we pull out now and again to comtemplate if we might have an answer yet. In the last case we generally replace the querry in the sack to be carried for an unknown future time limit in hopes of eventual solution.

Bring your questions and find the answers you can, but be ready to stand before God and realize that He is real and that He is not here to answer all your questions on your timetable. The best friends of the doubters will eventually tell them (in the proper way) that a few doubts become part the mortar that holds the house of faith together.

Daughter's Birthday

2006-05-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

It's my daughter's ninth birthday today. That's right, all of Mexico celebrates her birthday with us every year. She is the youngest of the two that we have. We can hardly believe it. I know that we've all heard it fifteen-hundred-thousand times but now I'm just a parent saying it again--How in the world are my kids growing up so fast!! I've been a father for almost 12 years (in July, anyway) and that is just crazy sounding.

In relation to parenting, my wife and I have often talked about how much closer we feel to God. Parenting teaches one more about God than it seems one could possibly ever learn without it. There is no way to describe or explain in a reasonable manner how much love exists in a heart for a son or daughter. That the God of the universe would consider us sons and daughters and love us so much more than we love our own human progeny almost makes my head explode.

We are both so blessed to have her. "I love you" will never cover it all, baby doll, but I do. I love you, I love you, I love you, and in some small way, maybe this blog will let the world know!

Loving the Written Word

2006-05-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm a minister. That is just what God made me and I can't get away from it. Not that I want to . . . though there have been moments.

But still, I don't love the Bible just because I'm a minister. I love it because it is so utterly impressive on so many levels--so many I'll never know. I see the Lord's hand in its creation as surely as I see it on the mountains and in the stars.

I am curious, though, about attention given to the Bible in most churches that I have visited or of which I've been a part. It seems to me that the written word doesn't get the attention it needs. I'm dismayed usually because although I believe--and I hear most church leaders quiclkly profess--that the Bible is the only real, meaningful, tangible and sure source of divine guidance that a Christian has, this doesn't seem to be how it is engaged. (Don't get me wrong, I put an incredible amount of importance on the Holy Spirit's role. I am a postmodern at heart, after all.)

As a lover and a teacher of scripture I am concerned that the Bible does not get enough air time. I think there may be a bit of a turnaround underway among newer churches although much shallowness regarding God's word still pervades. There is a real hunger, though, and the more I come into contact with new Christians who know virtually nothing about the Bible, the more I discover that they are truly hungry for the Word of God. It seems the deeper they are taken into the word--the Bible--and by a gifted teacher, the more they love it and the harder they seek it. I'm very pleased.

Modern and postmodern young Christians, and perhaps all Christians, have a love for the Bible that will come out if the flame is fanned only a little. I think the church has been longing for the Bible, plumbed deep and taught in its power. We need to talk about it more, discuss it more and give it a position of prominence that it may have not lost, altogether, but that has been occupied by Bible studies and books about God (other than what He wrote, Himself). I'm very pleased to see the hunger be addressed in some quadrants. I hope we see a resurgence. God is good and his word really is alive (Heb. 4:12).