Mr. T and the Pearl of Cheap Price

Like all kids Hannah has chosen her favorite Christmas present right out of the gate: a fist-full of cheap Mardi Gras beads that my brother placed in a treasure chest he made for my oldest daughter Olivia.

Every day she teeters over to the chest, looks in and points with absolute joy in her heart that indeed, the beads are still there!

...and then Hannah proceeds to put on each stand, one at a time, and then do a little dance of joy...

Like the man who found the treasure chest and the other who found the pearl of Great Price, she has placed all of her attention and affection on one Gift.
...have you? Do you still peer into the eyes of Christ with the same wonder, love and praise as you did that first Christmas Morning when the Holy Spirit revealed the King in all his splendor?

bullet proof collar or Pope-mobile?

 I tend to go to places alone alot...dropping off furniture, clothes, food, carseats. Now the places I go to are safe compared to where my friends go...Afghanistan, the Meth-Belt of Kansas City MO..etc. But still...

Sometimes I get freaked out before I go, but I always pray...and wear a collar. Why?

Well, collars are meant to remind me that I am yoked to Christ. I wear them on these runs to remind myself that Jesus came into my neighborhood to get me. I don't wear them for anyone's benefit. They are not a fashion statement nor a badge of anything I have earned.

But I have to be honest when I do solo-runs I wear them to put the folks I'm ministering at ease and to let them see a ambassdor of Christ  in their neighborhood getting dirty....and I also think that someone might think twice about jumping me.

How stupid is that? Did they think twice about anything when they killed Christ? Have the countless martyrs been spared anything because of their affiliation with Jesus? Did Jesus promise we would live like Holy Bubble Boys?

Of course not.
As we enter into the last week of anticipation of celebrating the event of God making a solo run (well, Trinitarian run I guess) into the world, let us not forget that He left His credentials at home (see Phillipians 2).

Are you going into these places? Christ did.

Into the Heart of Christ...living art in a pick-up truck

I had the overnight shift driving during one of our yearly Thanksgiving Surf Trip to the Outer Banks. Allen and I took shifts sharing the 15 hour drive to get to our favorite waves on the East Coast; the Outer Banks of Cape Hatteras. Thoughts of glass-smooth 6-8 foot waves curling into perfect barrels over my head...albatross dancing on the thermals just above the waves, dolphin leaping around us, hot apple fritters after six-hour long early morning sessions. I had mentally changed into my baggies and was running across the parking lot at the lighthouse.

And then we drove through it; heaven meeting earth....

We were on one of the long, low bridges spanning the marshes. The timing was perfect; that time of day in the warmer climates when the cool air of the night meets the warm air of the day and both sit still. The air was so motionless you could hear a butterfly's wing rub against the wind and the water sat motionless like school-girl when her crush walks by. 

The sun had just risen over the tops of the pines lining the bay and  we  were caught up right in the middle of  360 degrees of the Glory of God touching the stuff of earth...you couldn't tell heaven from earth...perfect mirror image. We were flying over the water.  We had escaped earths' capture and we ascended into Joy.

I did the only thing I could do when you confronted by such Holiness.
I screamed.

"Wake up!" Allen was  afraid we were about to die.
I couldn't keep this beauty to myself. In times like this can't keep your eyes shut or your mouth closed.

The image is burned into the corners of my imagination. And the Holy Spirit brought it back today as I journey into Advent...
The bridge of Death was spanned during the longest of nights, when the Glory of God shown down on the stuff of earth, when God was perfectly reflected in the One ...and the Angels screamed "wake up!" to the shepherds because they couldn't keep the beauty to themselves.

Have you see it? Did you scream?

Archimedes and Advent...esspresso on the floor

"Give me a place to stand and I will move the world"... This is the common translation for Archimedes' declaration that if you have a fulcrum and a long enough lever you can move an object of infinite size. So theoretically speaking, if he could develop a long enough lever he could move the earth....

True as this statement is, the problems lie in the fact that we cannot build a lever that large and there the world needs to move in a deeper fashion that simply physically.

This is the problem, and the solution of Advent...

The Hebrews knew (as we all should if we are paying attention) that the world needed to be moved. It was busted because babies were dying, folks were committing murder, and the physical world produced hardship (among other things like idol worship). They had done their best using the fulcrum of their hearts and the lever of the law but it had failed...not because of the lever, but because the fulcrum was in the wrong place... (see Numbers 11:23 and Isaiah 59:1)

So enter the Advent solution: a new fulcrum (see Ezekiel 36:25-27) and a new lever (John 1:14)....
and ever since that first not-so-silent-night the world has moved indeed...

So are you trying to move the world on your own? Sure, you can do some good things, but that's just budging the world. For me, my little earth-moving-place is a  stool I bought in seminary. I sit on it, drink espresso and read of the saving acts of the loving God who rocked the world through a little baby...and I move the earth by starting with myself.
blessed Advent to you all
b

cow chips, trail chips, and Jesus

The other day I was out for a trail run in the Metacomet Trail. It's a blue-blaze trail that crosses Connecticut..classic ankle-grabbing-stone-tripping-root-fest. I love it! I had never been on the section I ran before, so I kept my eyes open (always a good idea on a trail run any way)

I taught by daughter to keep an eye out for blue blazes on the trees and rocks when we hike it, and once and awhile to glance over her shoulder to make sure the trail home is clear as well.

..but it's an older trail so some of the marks of rocks are covered with moss and some to the marked trees have died and fallen.

When your out alone running you need to keep looking so you don't lose your way. Chasing Jesus is a lot like this:

It's been a long time since He first blazed the trail and over time some of the marks have been covered or hidden. Some of this has been intentional like when people steal trail markers, other times it's just because of time...and the folks who knew the trail when it was new and fresh have died or no longer point the way. 

So I ask you, are you keeping your eyes open for the blazes, or you just walking through the woods hoping you'll find the way? Do you look around you for the signs? Do you ask the and look to the pioneers before you? Are you bushwacking in the brambles? Are you following cow chips?
b

tomatoes and the soveriengty of God

So I've been busy and haven't weeded the garden in a while. I took some time this morning to listen to what the Lord was saying about the readings for this Sunday and I found these three perfect tomatoes hiding in my garden.

So I didn't do anything but turn on the drip hose and this is what happened. Tomatoes and the sovereignty of God...we can put in some effort but the Lord does a whole lot more...

So how do these three lovely orbs of red relate to me (besides matching my former hair color)

I'm called to drink from the Water....and let God make me beautiful. Are you drinking? Are you growing?

Or are you chasing the sprinkler and drying up?

Door gods in Africa...

Back in the day when I was actually surfing daily and not just dreaming about it, weekend nights were spent at the bar washing the pain of "noodle arms" away...paddling all day kinda hurts. We knew most of the "door gods" at the club so we got in for free...

These guys controlled who got in...they were the judges...if you didn't fit the type of client they wanted....well as was often heard "sucks to be you"...

I was reminded of those days when I went to the Orion Hotel down the street from the Diocese Compound in Tabora for dinner... the same attitude no matter where you go I guess....

so here's where i land of this....door gods are like the Pharisee's and the Scribes...looking at the outside of people and judging them on appearance. Jesus just ain't cool with this...He looks into the heart, past the rags and the fur coats...smart attire is a transformed loving heart, one that has been given by none other that the chief door God...God himself...

and yes, He does reserve the right of admission...
"come unto me all who are burden and tired of carrying your heavy loads. Take my yoke from me and learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is lite..."

I'm all for The Door God...and trying to get others into the club too....trust me, it's Heavenly!

Lo, I will be with you always!

"Triple A" Tanzanian style! Gas tank repair with rope

I have been back from my trip to Tanzania for two days and I am dealing with the jet-lag and Malarone cocktail fuzz pretty well. Yesterday speaking with a friend I was struck by words that were coming out of my mouth as I told of the protection I had received during my trip, so I need to testify to God's grace:
First, you must grasp the seriousness of breakdowns and accidents even in "peaceful Tanzania". I learned of this by way of the news story of the week before...a bus had crashed in one of the villages and while the survivors lay bleeding and helpless, they were pillaged of all they had. In a more personal note, my good friend Emmanuel was in a motorcycle accident the day after I arrived. He was spared serious injury, but as the crowd gathered around him as he lay on the ground, his helmet was stolen and his keys from his bike...this happen just down the street from where I was living. But God promised to be faithful, and He was...four times over!

1) I had traveled out to preach in the village of Sikonge, a three hour trip on dirt roads that were OK since it was an election year. Never-the-less, we had no driver (who is actually a bodyguard/driver/mechanic) and a breakdown would have been very bad. We arrived at the pastors' house, and as I walked around the truck to get my bag, I heard a hissing sound...I looked down and saw a gash in the sidewall of the tire. When I put my finger on it, the hissing stopped. Somewhere on our three hour drive we had gotten a flat...and the tire carried us all the way to the pastors' front door!

2) In town I was traveling often on the back of a piki piki (motorcycle) sans helmet, doing pastoral visitations with a pastor friend. As we passed through the center of town, a bike cut right in front of us at low speed...we hit the bike, and the man was fine, but as soon as the accident occurred, the voices rose and the crowd formed...yet we slipped away as did Jesus from the crowd.

3) I was returning from preaching in Tura and Goweko, almost six hours by very bad dirt/sand roads, when all in the Land Rover had to "go did roots"...ie, use the "restroom"...or tree...as I walked around the back of the truck, I smelled gas. Looking under, I found that our reserve tank had been partially ripped off by a rut. It was hanging by one strap, the fuel fill line was spilling gas, and the connecting lines to the main tank were stretched. The driver tied it back on and it held the remaining three hours back. Praise God the tank did not rip off at the speeds we were driving!

4) ...lastly, my transfer flight leaving Dubai was an hour late. We were taxiing away from the gate when the pilot announced we were having some trouble loading the luggage. Just then 6 security officers entered the plane escorting a man who was having "heart problems" they told us and had to disembark the plane and claim his luggage. I am trained as a back country EMT, this man was NOT in cardiac distress...furthermore, every passenger on board had to identify all of their carry-on luggage. God's hand again was on us...

So when Jesus promised His disciples in the Gospels "Don't worry, I will be with you always, even to the end of days" He really meant it...and sometimes we are blessed to not only believe it, but to see it!
b

Compost for Christ!

I took my three year old daughter Olivia fishing for the first time two days ago...she was excited about it as all three year olds are excited about most things but what got her really jacked up was hunting for worms!

We went up the street to the parking lot of a big church because they have massive compost piles next to them. We found a couple of snakes  and a few worms..it was chilly...

But I couldn't help noticing the dirt...dark, black, loose...perfect for all kinds of life...

And it hit me "unless a seed falls to the ground"....in death come life, yeah? When we die to our plans and agendas then they rot and become fertile ground to plant Gods' life and agenda. When you dig under leaves that have not yet begun to break down, you don't find much of anything...may a worm or two and perhaps a pill bug or earwig (hate those things)...but the good, long ago dead-and-down stuff yields so much life! We didn't catch any fish, but it was the best of days. My agenda fell by the wayside.

...so where are you? Are you compost for Christ bringing forth life from death? Or are you rotting on your own vine wondering why nothing is growing?
b

"let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" 

So a kid in Florida named Chase lived this verse out and answered the question we should ask...how can we encourage one another do do this...to radically live out our faith so as to encourage others to do it? Simple, do it. Folks say that talk is cheap and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I was living that out myself but a young kid who came to my workshop in North Carolina last week didn't and encouraged me to do the same.

For the full story go to my other blog  and read it but the short version is this..he ended up taking care of a neighbors house who had fallen into a tough spot..but they did it in the dark, while their parents and the owner was away, a completely free act of will to a neighbor as we read in the parable of Luke.

So there is an elderly person across the street from me who last year had half of her house rebuilt because vines over the years had covered it and destroyed it. She keeps to herself so no one really knows her. The work was extensive and the job was beautiful and the neighbor was thankful that the work was done because they were afraid of the air conditioner falling out of the window and into the driveway.

But last fall the vines began to come back...and we all just watched and commented on it, waiting for the envitable covering of the house again. So this morning as I walked out my front door to get my trash can from the curb I realized how stupid my actions had been and the Holy Spirit asked me to do some weeding. So I walked across the street and up the neighbors driveway, behind the bushes and began to pull up the vines. There were a lot and they were wrapped around the windows and stuck on the screens so I thought it best to knock on her door so as to not frighten her.

I rang the bell and told her I was her neighbor across the street (we've met before) and told her I had noticed the weeds growing again and asked if she minded if I pulled them off for her. "No, oh thank you for coming over!" she said.

And as I walked across the street with my huge bundle of vines in tow to toss out another neighbor saw he as called out "stealing vines again?!"..."no" I replied, just helping out someone"

so are you pulling weeds to make your yard look good, or to advance the kingdom of God? Join Chase and I as we follow Christ...here's the resolution that Jonathan Edwards made...he would have pulled the vines too...how about you?

1.     Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad's of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

are you a hot Christian?

The other day it was 93 degrees in CT and I was jumping out of my skin to get out and have an adventure. I had a clergy meeting in the morning so I tossed my climbing rack, shoes and rope in the bed of my truck and sat through the meeting with really itchy feet....

I parked at the trail head and started to hike in when I remembered just how hot 93 is, especially in early spring! So I''m drenched but loving the afternoon and the smell hits me...do you know it?

When you are in a very sunny spot in the forest with dry brown ground cover you can smell the heat, it's like a blast furnace really. The heat bounces right back in your face and there never seems to be any wind....

This only happens when there is no cover, just direct sun, and as I hiked in to the cliffs the Holy Spirit reminded me that this is our life with God...when there is no darkness covering the direct effects of the Son (of God) the heat bounces off of us and when others step near us they are blasted by the heat...their breath is taken away and there is a holy stillness....

Are you a blast furnice, or a space heater that only comes out when it is cold? Is your heat always on, or seasonal? Are there people walking into your heat, or running away? What is blocking the Son of God in your life?
b

coming out of the fog

I minister in a small town in the Naugatuk Valley in CT. It's a rather amazing place full of natural wonder if you slow down and look. There is a small river that is being reclaimed after years of abuse by mills. It's a great source for paddling, it's cut several small climbing crags with it's power, the fish are coming back and it produces intense fog banks and thermal zones in compact little areas.

The other morning driving in for a 6:30 am Good Friday Service I drove through the sunrise. I lost count of how many times I drove in and out of the fog...

I finally crested the hill where the church we were borrowing is and I was literally blinded by the blueness of the sky. The color change was incredible and I felt as if I had come out of a dream.

How often do we get glimpses like that in our lives with Jesus...in and out of the darkness and light? What was the last bright thing that blinded you? What was the last dark thing that kept you from seeing the light? It seems almost dream like at times, others a nightmare, but when those in Christ wake, Oh yes!
"It seemed like a dream, to good to be true, when God returned Zion's exiles. We laughed, we sang, we couldn't believe our good fortune

is spray paint a sin?

The other day we had the MDC come to replace our water meter..but they couldn't complete the work because the shut-off valve by the street was broken.

So they left and spray painted the street in front of my house marking the area that had to be fixed. I hate it when workers spray paint the street! I always have...I wish someone could tell me why folks have to mark a temporary repair site with permanent paint!

The work hasn't been done in weeks and whenever I drive home I see this nasty thing in front of my house and wonder "how long?"

That's the same cry of the Saints under the altar in the Throne Room of God. Revelation 6:10 asks "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

God's not in a hurry as He wants to bring more in...yet i wonder how many of us see the true atrocities of life around us, the ugly marked ones that are crying out how long? Are you as offended as God is? I drive home wondering how long until they'll fix my house and remove the paint mark in my street...yet how much more does God sit in front of His home waiting to repair the broken and remove the mark of sin?
b

Dog Spit, God's Love and Facebook...

Yesterday as many know I turned 44 and it was a great day...I celebrated a home Eucharist, had a Bible Study on Genesis 18, went to the local senior center and called their bingo game, came home and had dinner with my girls (ribs!)...

But all day long I had a Pavlovian Reaction to the little bell dinging on my iPhone...

If you have forgotten or never heard, Pavlov ran an experiment in which dogs were conditioned to expect a treat when a certain bell was rung. He measured the amount of saliva excreted when the condition occurred, showing a automated conditioned response to a stimulus. The dog heard the bell, they expected a treat, they drooled.

So this happened to me all day long yesterday as my iPhone bell dinged and dinged telling me I had another post on my Facebook Wall. I spiritually salivated as I was filled with the love of Christ as message after message came through blessing me and loving me.

Ding, He loves me! Ding, He love me! Ding, He loves me!

Now I know first hand that God's love is not conditional and is upon me even when my spiritual iPhone bell is silent...but we are called to make each other drool for the love of God in this life... why? "He died for us, so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him."...
Therefore~
"encourage one another and build each other up just as you are doing"...
who has posted on you wall, who's wall do you need to post on? Who do you see that needs to have their bell rung?

Jesus likes to use sugar

So I walked into the living room and there was my daughter in her playroom singing and dancing into the mirror on the wall...

"just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, the medicine go down, the medicine go down.
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way!"

I was cracking up... not just because of the song and dance (it was awesome) but God has been doing some deep work on me this Lent...and just that day He gave me such a spoonful of grace that I busted out laughing...

Growing into the man God wants me to be is painful at times and when the deep interior work is being hashed out often God is merciful and tosses us a bone.

The real medicine God gives us is the power of the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out...He doesn't just mask the symptoms while the body heals itself, He makes a new body..and that can get uncomfortable...

So the sugar I was tossed was absolute grace from a friend...and in this action God showed me that although Grace is undeserved, it is something that God died to give away...and that my friends, is love...
and nothing is sweeter than that. With the love of Jesus in us, any medicine can go down...so what kind of sugary grace has God used in your life? What kind of medicine did you have to swallow and how did it change your life

squeaky wheels roll to heaven

I was at a nursing home yesterday with a handful of my folks from my parish. We had been asked to hold the Eucharist service that month and since our call is bring Jesus to the ends of the earth it fit into our mission statement.

I had prayed that the Lord would manifest Himself to the residents in a powerful way...and He as truly present during the service, but He revealed Himself to me as we were setting up and getting ready for the service...

I was setting the Alter and looked up, and there before me was a multitude of wheelchairs and walkers, real blind people and folks who couldn't hear a lick without a hearing aid. Most had Alzheimer's and all were not young (except for one youth volunteer)...

And the Lord took me to the words from the prophet Jeremiah 31:8 "Behold, I will bring them out from the north country and gather them form the farthest parts of the earth, among them will be the blind and the lame..."

We often joke " you'd be surprised at who you will see in heaven".... we have no need. The Word is clear...the broken who have heard and seen will be called...and they will come by whatever means necessary... squeaky, shuffling, and some even running (couldn't take a picture..but it's in my mind forever)

we all wake up at different times

I wake up early and always have. When I'm out with friends climbing or surfing they're happy because I always start the coffee...but there is a reason why I love the morning...life wakes up and I get a front row seat.

We all open our eyes at different times...and we all wake up in different manners. Some are morning people and sing sweet songs like a songbird, others hate the sun and scream like a crow...yet whatever the song or the time, we must get up and sing something...

Paul writes in Ephesians (5:14) "awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you"...

There is one song we must sing, and one director we must sing to...Jesus...

are you awake yet...do you know where the sun rises from...are you still waiting in the dark night...awake and feel the life wake up and burst into songs of praise for Christ

out of bounds...where did this come from?

So it was almost 70 degrees today and I headed off to some local power line trails near my house because I know they act like a hot house when the sun is out...

So the sun was hot, the sky was bluebird and I had a reading from Phillipians in my head from chapter three where Paul is writing about counting all things as loss compared to knowing Christ. I walked for a bit so I could think out the passage in my head and I see these three white dots off to my right in the tall grass..golfballs?

If they were darts they would have been a good clustering but they weren't and there wasn't a house any where near me....so I had to go and see these things...

And as I sat there looking at them my mind kinda went to God leaving the garden to look for us in the way out places....far from His will, far from our original home...in the far country as Andrew Peterson sings...

I couldn't leave them there (it seemed like littering to me) so I stuffed them in the pocket of my trail running shorts and carried them home...just as Christ took us into himself to bring us home...

golf balls....goof balls...both home now