Procter & Gamble exposing minors to sexual innuendo

For the Record,
Dear Procter & Gambel,
Thank you for exposing my inquisitive, constantly reading six-year-old to sexual innuendo. 

I had not noticed that your new advertising campaign on your products was trying to tell me that if my armpits smell great thanks to your products women will have sex with me. 

My six year old daughter however.

Perhaps your ad team is that shallow and disrespectful of women.

Perhaps they were hoping your product is used in homes that cannot read.

 
Perhaps you are raising your daughters to chose "mates" by smelling armpits.

Perhaps you are raising your boys with an understanding that all girls will have sex with you if your armpits smell good.

Perhaps THIS is why to tell your consumers to keep your product our of reach of children.

I learned to be thirsty

I learned what thirst was in Fort Collins, CO, inside and out. Up until then I didn't know what real thirst was like.

I was house-sitting for the summer but thought I would use the opportunity as a spring board to launch out on a life of adventure. I was an obsessed rock-climber, surfer, and free-spirit who had know idea what to do with his college degree.

Within a week of landing in Fort Collins I found Grey Rock just off the road 20 miles from town. I was an easy six mile hike. I didn't take into account that I was new to altitude and it was summer. I had never hiked trails so steep you could see the switchbacks right next to you.

Wait, it gets better.

I didn't see the looks on seasoned peoples' faces as I started to RIDE my mountain bike up the trial, then walk it, then carry it.

I didn't think it odd I had only 12 ounces of water and no food.

So I made it to the summit, all dizzy from lack of food, water, the heat, altitude and excursion and started back...on the wrong side of the mountain.

Oh wait, it gets better.

I was trashed from trying to ride my bike down trials that are listed as "difficult" to hike so I began to literally THROW my bike down the mountain over the switch backs. By the time I got back to my car I was never the same, nor was my bike.

We think we know what we are doing, but in a new land we really never know what to expect.

Enter the life of following Jesus;

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, 

it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? 

You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. 

What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 

When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. 

But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—

out of this world, so to speak. 

You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. 

You hear it rustling through the trees, 

but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. 

That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

John 3:4-8 (Message translation)

It was that summer in Colorado that God grabbed hold of me. It was uncharted territory for me, this new life of following a God I never knew. I had no one around me who had hiked this trial to ask, no one to tell me what to bring, where the trail led. Nothing. 

I just saw where the trial was and what was at the end and walked....

It has not been easy. 

I have at times gotten off trail. 

I have thrown my bike. 

I have been hungry.

I have been disoriented. 

I have thirsted. 

But God has not left my side. He promised he never would. 

Jesus once addressed a group of people and warned them it would be like this;

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. 

Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, 
doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? I
f you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? 
And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple." 
Luke 14:26-33

Is it worth it? 
That is up to each one of us to decide. What exactly is "it" we are being asked to forsake everything else for? 

I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! 
They’re his people, he’s their God. 
He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. 
Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” 
The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. 
Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”

Santa celebrates the Eucharist

We gathered around the lake before dawn waiting for the tell-tale sliver of light to pierce the darkness and announce to all the world that it was Easter Morning, the day of great triumph and that victory over our ancient foe Death was wrought by Christ, our victor!

We had brought bells from our home to join our shouts of Hallelujah and ring in this great day. My beloved deacon, Marios, had brought his bell, as he had done for many years. 

Marios was raised in Cyprus in the Greek Orthodox Church. His love for Christ is palpable and permeates his life to the core. His love for the Church beings tears to his eyes many Sundays. We have wept together, he and I, often during prayer, many a song, and many a Eucharist.

He held his bell with a smile pasted across his entire face. I noticed the figure on top and asked him who it was. Knowing his love for icons and the saints I expected it to be one of his heroes of the faith, a fellow sojourner to shout out the Great Peace of Easter.

"This, oh it's Sant....." came out with his think Greek accent...."a Clause!" Santa Clause!

The entire gathering erupted with laughter! Our first shout into the darkness was joy.

Perfect.This is all that the Great Vigil is...an deep expression of the Ultimate Joy.

My last Sunday my beloved deacon handed me a gift:
 "Father, you have given me a great gift. I have never seen a man celebrate the Eucharist with such joy in my life.  I wanted you to have this to remember the joy." He handed me the bag. It was his Santa Clause bell.

How can I not have such joy? When I look at the plate I see the Body of Christ, not me.

All I can say is thank you. I am not dead. And Lord, neither are you!

It is true. Really, really true.

Ring it out from every hill and mountainside! Christ the Lord is risen to day! Hallelujah!

There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us

"Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?  I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Why would Jesus have confronted the keepers of the Law and the Temple with these words? Did God not command the sacrificial system? 

It's rather simple: 
We can offer our sacrifices without fully understanding the mercy that was given to us. Jesus was clear on this when he spoke of the debtor who's debt had been cancelled and did not show the same mercy (Matthew 18:28ff).

If we know that we have been spared from the wages of sin, which is death, then we will live lives of mercy. 
We will offer forgiveness to those who kill us. 
We will not slander those who slander us. 
We will give to those who cannot pay us back. 

Simply because that is the way of God.  

"There is more mercy in Christ, that sin in us"

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. 

“The Father has given me all these things to do and say....I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:25-30 (ish)

Years ago I learned from a pastor that you can tell which side of an ox yoke the lead ox took because it will show more wear. Silly me. I should have asked a farmer who uses them. I would have learned this a lot sooner: 

 "Training oxen requires taking two separate animals,  which have previously been their own masters, and making them a team, that will work for another master. Behaving this way is contrary to nature. These animals have already learned many things before they began this training. It is your job to undo some of the things they have learned, and to teach many new things. Every time they are in the yoke they will learn something, either beneficial or unbeneficial. And they will challenge you as their new master, as they try to continue to meet their own needs and desires."

He invites us to take the yoke. He is trust-worthy. Why do you pull so hard on your own?

Slowly, over time, we no longer need to be pulled. Our will conforms to his. We walk in rhythm with the Master.

He knows the way.

dirty diapers and discipleship

I have two kids and when my oldest was born hers was the first diaper I had ever changed in my life.  I would tell folks I took the "silver diaper pledge" and they would laugh and then say "really? The FIRST?"

Yes. Why does that sound stupid? Diapers are not a pleasant thing....everyone finds this out and has a favorite story they share at daycare, or church, or wherever.

But it's reality. It's messy. It has to be done.

And it is the way our salvation plays itself out. Honest.

I first heard this from my Old Testament Professor in seminary...he walked around this desk at the end of his lecture and sat on the corner. His slowly lifted his head and gave us all a look over and dropped the most life-changing words I had heard in school:

"God works out his plan of salvation in the mundane tasks of everyday living. Changing diapers, taking out the garbage, doing the shopping."

I mean, here is the guy who opened my eyes to the first five books God had given his people, had spent his life studying it in the original languages, and had such a faith and passion for God. Diapers?

Yeah, diapers.

See it's all about trust. Trust in God, not in ourselves.

It takes trust in God to change a diaper when your wife has cancer.
It takes trust in God to take out the garbage when your husband has been laid off.
It takes trust in God to buy groceries when your daughter is back in the hospital because of her eating disorder.

The book of Lamentations says it well. It's a book that is brave, bold and honest. It pours out our hearts to God in all it's pain. And then, in the midst of it, a chorus of hope:

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

Lamentations 3:23-24

Some days it is very hard to see that God is good. 

Some days it is very hard to see that God will redeem all things. 

Some days it is very hard to trust that God is indeed for us and nothing can be against us. 

On these days, change a diaper, take out the garbage, buy some food, and in the numbness of the fog get real and honest with God and pray as simply as you can. 

God, I have no freaking idea how you are going to turn this around. I have no freaking idea how I am going to make it through today. But you said you are good, and I am going to trust you. 

the slaughter of the King

Made in His image,
crafted,
formed,
warm moist breath that hoved over the void in a long puff as a gentle wind fills dift-caked flesh.

muscle, tendon
love, and fear join together and stand

new eyes behold the face of the King,
and run...

and turn on each other
in murder
in theft
they beat their young,
sell their women for lustful desires
steal food from the weak, the sickly

they mock the hand that pulled them from the earth
...and spit on his face
     ...and made him a crown of thorns
          ...and placed him on the alter and killed the lamb of life

and his last words...
forgive them?
yes, forgive them...

on you mark, get set, go, no wait, wait, wait, waiting.....

I want to be honest with God which just makes sense.

Sometimes when I read the letters from Paul to the churches I get caught up in the immediacy of them. The first letter to the church in Corinth is a fine example.
If you are  virgin, don't get married because of the situation, and if you are married don't leave, and in all of it don't get caught up in your marriage.

It reads like "cancel date night".

Now for the honesty....that was  really long time ago.
And I am waiting...and sometimes doubt creeps in.

Now folks throw verses around like 2 Peter 3:8...with God a day is like a thousand years..
but if I am honest (good idea, remember) it doesn't help some days.

Sometimes God's word is just really hard to deal with.
This is when I look past the word of God to the God of the Word.

Jesus was resurrected and showed himself to others and this is documented by other historians outside the Bible. Those who testified to it were killed for it and did not deny it. Those who saw him alive did not recant.

This, as much sense as it does not make (life from death) makes sense.
Guess God knew it was hard to believe, so he he showed us...

If God had a smell

He will shield you with his wings! They will shelter you. His faithful promises are your armor. 

 I have known fear in my life. 

I have known loneliness too,

and a hefty dose of uncertainty.. .

and all to the measure of late-night-numb-face-can't-pray-levels.

I have cried uncle, or rather screamed it.

I would love to tell you that at these times I heard an audible voice from God...I haven't so much. 

But I have truths and promises hidden, and friends who will sit with me. 

God told me that in times like this he wraps me up in his feathers. 

I know what this smells like. I used to have a adopted parrot who had 11 owners and was a chronic feather plucker. I would hold him close to my face and feel his warmth.

He smells like new feathers to me. 

He also smells like wine...

when i needed it most in my life God gave me a gift;

the smell of wine overcomes me at church...no matter where I sit. 

So to me, He smells like feathers and wine

which is the best way express love.... adoption and sacrifice

the most beautiful word in the whole world?

I was stuck on watching "Super Nanny"for a while and I have no idea why. I guess it was the accent. British folks just know more than we do...

Anyway she had this thing called "the naughty spot", a physical dot she would place on the floor and tell kids to sit on it. It was like a movable penalty box. I guess it was a more PC than a chair in the corner and a dunce cap.

Most of the world has a hard time with correction and disciple. We feel like this guy with a "stupid" sign over our head.

It's no different in church in that it must discipline and correct...except perhaps that church folks often really do put signs over our heads when we fail.

But it's important to note that God still does judge and hold us accountable and tells the church to do the same. We just don't hold the sign up.

Super Nanny would say it's like the list of "family rules". Certain rules apply to our family. This is Torah...what we do. So if in our family folks are living lives that are not in line with the family rules, we are to remove them from church. Honest. God made the family rules, and if folks don't change, then the naughty spot is outside the church. But there is  a method that must be followed;

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, 

you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. 

And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Galatians 6:8

The goal of God's disciple, and yes, even anger at times is not to make us cry "Uncle!" but "sorry".

The bible uses a lovely word for this. It is the most beautiful world in all creation. 

It says:

i love you

come back

i forgive you

i will hold no list of wrongs

The word?

Repent.  

we are called to help those in our family...

 

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 

I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

 

It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

change your life in 30 days!

Would you like to change your life? Pray this prayer and meditate on it each day for a month. Trust me, it's not a magical thing, it will train your heart to put things in proper order. 
Almighty God,
         Father of all mercies,

we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
     for all your goodness
     and loving-kindness
     to us and to all whom you have made.

We bless you for
      our creation,
      preservation,
      and all the blessings of this life;

but above all 
           for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
                      for the means of grace,
                            and for the hope of glory.

And,
       we pray,
             give us
                 such an awareness of your mercies,
                 that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
                 not only with our lips,
                 but in our lives,
                 by giving up our selves to your service,
                  and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

my personal testimony; i am dumber than dirt

I didn't graduate high school.

There were three (3) people in my class with a GPA lower than me.

After summer school I was given my diploma and accepted to a summer program at a college.

One month into my time there I almost died from blood-alcohol poisoning. When I came to in the ER all wired and tubed up the doctor said "congratulations. I wish I could have video taped you. You should be dead."

I was dismissed from that school twice, and finally left because of "poor performance" but not before one of my friends was killed while a bunch of them drove home drunk from a bar.

I attended a community college and applied to another school one year later.

I was on academic probation three times at that school. I was about to be dismissed when, by God's grace (whom I blasphemed daily), I was enrolled in a study course. I lost the one thing that kept God from working in my life;

My pride.

My GPA rose from a 0.67 (point-six-seven) to a  3.25 (three-point-two-five). I graduated from that school on the Deans' list, but not after I picked coffee for the Sandinistas' during the contra war, became a rabid surfer and rock climber, made many protest marches at the UN, the Capital, and the White House.

There I lost a friend to a drug overdose. I stopped that lifestyle.

I graduated with a degree in Political Science/History and roamed until two years later I found myself in Fort Collins, Co. house-sitting for a friend while he went back East to get married. I was climbing with the folks I was reading about in magazines. Big, crazy stuff...

Then one day something (I would later learn His name) crept into me. I sat down on a rock beside the cliff up the Poudre River in Fort Collins, CO and said "god, you know I don't believe in you, but if you are real, please show me. I've had enough. Help me."

And I experienced one of those "blinding-light" things folks talk about. I was bathed in a gold light I could feel more than see.

The next day I bailed. My car was already packed (at that time I was living in it), and drove home non-stop.

I went through a carton of Marlboro's, my brakes went in Ohio, my 5th gear disappeared somewhere  by the Gateway Arch in MO. When I pulled in the driveway 39 hours later my dad's face was like "what are you doing here?"

To make a long, beautiful story a bit shorter:
I was married-divorced-married (YEAH!)-went to seminary-buried my first son at childbirth-graduated-blessed my a daughter-deposed-blessed my a daughter-ordained in Tanzania-worked in America as missionary-helped start a church-woke up today-read the passage below-wrote this.

Why?
I want to encourage you all who are like me who are told you are dumber that dirt by world standards, that you are the apple of the eye of the God who crafted the universe with a whisper, and to remind you that Christ, His one and only Son, values you above all else, even to the point of death.

may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. 

May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, 

every good thing that is pleasing to him. 

All glory to him forever and ever! Amen. (Hebrews 13:21)

You are beautiful. I am beautiful.
...oh, and I think it's pretty sweet that one day God introduced me to the lead geologist of the richest mine in East Africa and had us sit down in the Gold Lounge in the Dubai Airport and talk about Jesus over Hagen-Das and espresso.

"The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,

I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.

So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, 

“If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”

                                                                        1 Corinthians 1:21-30

cry me a river

You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn
    through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
    each ache written in your book.
     Psalm 56:8 

We cry.
We cry over broken relationships.
We cry over lost loved ones.
We cry over tragic situations we cannot change.
Do we cry with God?
Not cry out to God, but do we cry with God.

Why would we do such a thing? 

...because our hearts have be exchanged for his heart. 

God puts a new heart in those who come to him, really come to him. 

God consumes them from the inside out. 

When we realize that there was a beautiful exchange of Christ for us we are undone. 

It's easy to spot the person who has seen God face-to-face. 

They have puffy circles under their eyes some days. 

Their beds at times are not slept in. 

There is a dull ache in them that cannot be soothed by anything except by the presence of God.

God, eat me like a fig!

The deacon at our church grew up in Cyprus. He is constantly telling me stories about life there. I love them because they are about village life: honest, open, raw.

We were talking about figs one day
"You know Father Bryan the figs in Cyprus are just the best! But you have to check them before you eat them, not so for the ones that come to America, they spray them. You need to cut them open closely and look at the little white dots. My mother's eyes were no good for this so it was my job to do it. If you see the little white dot move, it was a worm and you threw it away. It could not be eaten."

This is how God examines us too. He looks at the inside, not the pretty outside

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
    a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
    and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
    I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
    not as they pretend to be.”

                                                         Jeremiah 17:9-10     

                      

God uses the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts. He looks for worms and of course they are full of them deep-down in side. That's because we are human...and even if we are truly abandoned to God, our heart's will never be worm-free until Christ comes and claims us, or he returns.

God does not simply rid us of all our worms and eat our hearts in one big bite. Oh how I wish he would.
We need to offer it to him for checking, and the only way we will ever do that is to look into ourselves and compare our hearts to His.

When we do this two things become apparent:
His heart is lovely.
Ours is not.

God knows are hearts are like this but he does not see them as they are, but as they will be!
Clean, whole, restored, perfect...

 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. 

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart 

and give you a tender, responsive heart.

  

Then we can love and praise him as we should...

But we need to ask him to do this from the inside out, not the outside in. 

We need new hearts first, not just stop bad actions...

               

feast in the dirt

A) "The Bible is our instruction book!"
B) "The  Bible is God's love letter!"
C) "The Bible is the manual for life!"

or D)...the Bible is the history of a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

 Yep, there are commands in Scripture.
God tells us to do and not due certain things.
Yep, it speaks of his love for us when He left the throne and was humiliated on our behalf.
Yep, it says "this is how to live life until I come to claim you.

But above, and in, and through it all...

The Bible is the record of God's faithfulness. 

I've been reading the First Book of Kings. It recalls the stories of a mighty prophet who ran away in fear all the time from people. Now, that may seem silly, but I find it comforting and in a good way.

If you read the bible according to A, B, or C, you will say;
 "look how God uses imperfect people like us!

If you read the Bible like D you will say;
 "look how Elijah is scared because he can't do it! See how God provides for him!"

Read the stories. It's about a God who feeds a man spiritually with his presence and physically with bread but more than that!

God reveals himself as above governments. 
God reveals himself as above wicked men who plot ruin.
God reveals himself as commanding birds and streams.
God reveals himself as controlling the wind and the rain.

To Him be all honor and praise and glory!
 

happy, shiney playdough people

The image is well-known and well-used:
We are clay, God is the potter, he does what he does we have no say...that's how it's preached.

Then people hem and haw and most often complain "oh it's not fun being mushed!"

...why this response?

Because we like what we make of ourselves, not what God does and this funny because the Bible says that we make a mess our ourselves and only God can make us beautiful!

"What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure."

God tells us to cheerfully respond to his work in and through us. We are his for him to use for his glory. Be happy when things change! God is bringing you to a new place, to a new level of trust, to a new expression of him. 

Don't be afraid. 

He has good plans for you. Plans to bless you, not harm you. 

The NIV states in Philippians 2:12ff that we are called to work out our own salvation with "fear and trembling"...what God is getting at is that He saved us into a new life, come under his headship, and live out who he has made you to be...free, loved, redeemed, eternal people. 

To God be the Glory!
amen, and amen! 

Give it up, it won't kill you

Have you ever had nothing?
I mean nothing at all.
Not a dream, a hope, a plan?
Ever been desperate to the point of death?
If I don't have this I will die?

I mean desperate like making light from dark.
Life from death kind of desperate.



The Bible records in the first book of Kings chapter 17 a remarkable tale of just what kind of trust God asks of us...and proves he is good for it.

Elijah the prophet was sent on a rather unpopular mission to call a nation to repentance and announce a drought. No rain meant starvation and death...humiliation because God had turned his back. God told him he would be taken care of. He would drink from a nearly dry brook and the only food would be delivered to him by ravens. Elijah had to trust the water would hold and the birds would come.

He did and went
It did he drank
They did he ate.

Eventually the brook dried up and God provided another way even more ridiculous than a mud puddle and birds 

Elijah, I have a desperate woman who is near death. She has no one to care for her. All of her means are about to run out. Go to her and ask her to feed you.

He trusted and asked, she trusted and gave. God provided.

I ask you.
Will you have the same trust?
Will you take what God gives you?
It may be food from a mud puddle and scrapes from a birds mouth but if that is what he gives you will you take it in this life? Is God enough for you?

Elijah and the widow were both desperate and trusted and God provided.

You and I are in the same place of dependence, we just fool ourselves.
We are dependent upon God for food and water.
But even more so, we are dependent upon him for salvation. And just like he provided food for the prophet and widow and her son, he provides the impossible way for us.

Our life comes from trust, obedience and death. Not ours, but Christ's.

 [Jesus} Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Jesus gave all he had in trust and lived.
God asks the same of us.

I did, and went to God.
Jesus died in my stead and I live.
I gave up my life, and saved it.
...the option is there for all

God uses folks who are a little nuts

I was never a boy scout.
My dad somehow got involved with a program called "Indian Guides"instead. For a young boy it was pretty cool. We had fires, learned native dances, wore felt loin clothes over our blue jeans, and headbands with feathers and plastic bear claw necklaces.

My dad was the "Medicine Man" and even had a real buffalo head-headdress! He would run around the fires at big Pow-Wow's calling out to the winds and elements to send fire down. It always happened too...but as his kid I knew his elaborate system of trip wires and test-tubes or wires in trees. It was still cool, but all fake.

I can't find any information on the "tribe" we belonged to but the name sounded like "soo-key-og" which wasn't as cool as Mohawk or Appache.
We each chose our family name and since my parents had a massive Oak in the front yard  my dad claimed the name "Tall Oak", my older brother became "young oak" and I was "little Acorn."

Needless to say I was the brunt a a bit of harassment but it was always mitigated by the fact that my dad was the head pyro.

The cool thing now is that I understand God was setting me up.

The Book of Judges, chapter 6 tells of Israel's plight and the runt whom God chose to save his people so that they would never boast of their own power (Judges 7:2ff). This "tween-ager" was hiding in a wine press out of fear and God shows up and calls him out. "Greetings mighty warrior!" the angel declares and for the good fortune of God's people Gideon didn't believe it!

God does not need powerful men and woman. He is powerful. He uses the weak to shame the strong.

What God does use no they are insignificant yet are are faithful people who trust God's simple math;

Nothing + God + Everything
Everything - God = Nothing


God called down more than just Fire from the sky.
He called Jesus, and he brought the Fire of the Holy Spirit. No wires. No Tricks.

Are you hiding?
Re-check the work on your math folks.
Oh, and if you still get stumped. Check the back of the Book...

My church really stinks

 "In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.
This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No—but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ’s presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can."

2 Corinthians 2:14-17

As we left the house of  the family we were serving last night the third youngest girl (whom I had just given a dollhouse donated by my two very own daughters) looked up at me, my shirt soaked front and back, drops of water running down my entire face and froze.  Her face turned from a smile to a cross between fear and disgust and proclaims:

"Hey mister, you"re smelly!"

If I had the time, or my wits about me, I would have retorted:

"No honey, my whole church is smelly!"

I was blessed to watch a team of 13 drench themselves for over three hours in a blazing hot third floor apartment as they carried, cleaned, and assembled a box truck full furniture for a family of seven who were sleeping on the floor on a couple of air mattresses and only two chairs for the lot of them.When we found that the box spring for the parents bed would not fit in the winding stairwell we asked a neighbor for saw to cut it in half. He not only offered up his tools to complete strangers but gave us scrap wood to patch it once it was upstairs and refused payment for his broken saw blade.

There were no arguments. No complaining. 

The running joke was "man, hurry up, my back is freezing!"

The group contained a mix of folks that ranged from middle-school students to Aerospace engineers and everything in between all held together by the common bond of Jesus Christ. 

Yes, we reeked. Yes, we were drenched. But to our Master, the One who prayed sweating blood over our souls, who ascended more than three flights of stairs to plead on our behalf in front of His Father on the behalf our very lives we an exquisite fragrance. 

Years back, while at a Young Life Camp I was talking with a young football player well into the night after that evenings' talk. He had just come to faith in Christ and was so excited he couldn't shut up. 

"Bryan"  he said, "I always thought that following Jesus was something you did alone. But now I see you don't. It's a parade, and I love parades!"

I love them too....

and so does the Lord. Especially when they reek.

restoration

...Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.

Without God we perish
He brings the rain
He brings produces the harvest

He alone can draw life from bareness;
hardened hearts can yield repentance
barren wombs can yield kings
Death can yield Life...

Restore our lives, dry as they truly are, with streams of living water...

when judgement doesn't stick

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction 

that we are loved.

-- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

When my first daughter was less than one month old my wife gave me a sage piece of advice;
"Let her know that she is loved"

It became my quest. I told her daily, and often. The trick was to not allow the words to become hollow and meaningless. For me and for her>

I love you when you behave
I love you when you don't
I love you when I reprimand you
I love you when we snuggle
I love you because you were given to be by God.
I love you simply because I love you.

When a girl (or a woman) or a boy (or a man) is convicted in their heart of hearts that they are loved they are free.

Free from judgment
Free from anxitey
Free from a multitude of disorders
Free to become all that Christ died for them to be.

Max Lucado captures this perfectly in his children's book "You are Special"(buy the book now! Even if you don't have children!).

The jacket writes;
"Every day the small wooden people called Wemmicks do the same thing: stick either gold stars or grey dots on one another. The pretty ones -those with smooth wood and fine paint-they always get gold stars. The talented ones do too. Others, though, who can do little or who have chipped paint, get ugly gray dots. Like Punchinello.
     In this heart warming children's tale...Eli the woodcarver helps Punchinello understand how special he is-no matter what the other Wemmicks may think. It's a vital message for children everywhere; that no matter how the world evaluates them, God cherishes each of them, just as they are...

So one day Punchinello (who is covered with dots) meets a girl who has none! He learns that stickers don't stick to her because she listen's to Eli, the one who made her...he visits him too...and slowly, one by one, all his dots fall off.

My daughters have been told since they first came out of the womb that they are loved with a never-stopping-never-giving up-always and forever love- from God. I speak the truth into their lives that they are loved God, the One who carved their bodies and ordered their days.

I pray this has set my girls to be free...and to know real love...

Do you know this?



One day P

doubt is not failure

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt."
                                                         Fyodor Dostoevsky

Doubt is not failure.
Doubt is the absence of pride and self-reliance. It is the point were  we find ourselves at the end of our rope.

This is a good place to be.
The end of our rope is precisely where God's rope begins.

Jesus allowed Thomas to stare doubt square in the face.
The result?
The profession "my Lord, and my God"

We cannot shout praise to anything other than ourselves until we learn that there is One, Holy Other than ourselves who is deserving of our hour Hosanna. 

We cannot, however, stay in doubt.
We doubt when we listen to ourselves recount our failures
We trust when we talk to ourselves about God's victories. 

Our voices tell us it is impossible.
God's voice tell us differently.

Beloved. I pray you cry praise today...

unleashing the power of God through prayer

ἀλλὰ λήμψεσθε δύναμιν ἐπελθόντος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς, 

καὶ ἔσεσθέ μου μάρτυρες ἔν τε Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ καὶ Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς.

These are the words Jesus gave to a bunch of guys who had locked themselves in a dark room, bolted  the windows and were shaking in fear...

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—

in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

Acts 1:8 (New Living Translation)

God has a habit of using choosing the weak things to display his glory (Judges 7:2,1 Cor. 1:27).   Those whom he chooses he empowers. My children's bible states it this way;

Because God sees not just who you are-

but who he is going to make you. 

If you are a lover of Christ and have laid down your life for him as he has for you than you are δύναμιν in his hands. This word translates "power", specifically The Holy Spirit.  It to weak, nor subtle. 

 Unfortunately  have bought the lies that the Deceiver has whispered (or shouted) into our ears that the Holy Spirit has truncated sporadic power in our lives. Was Jesus wrong? No. 

So are the lives of most followers of Christ so different from the twelve frightened,  hiding men? 

Perhaps it is because we forget to ask for the the power to live. Here is the prayer I pray with and over my family at the door before we head to work, kindergarten, and daycare. 

"Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us into safety to this new day: preserves us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all that we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

This short prayer found on page 137 of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer holds all the pieces; submission to God as Lord, acknowledging his provision of life and control of our bodies while we sleep, asks to be sustained throughout the day spiritually and physically (for without him we die both ways), begs help to not sin admitting we are powerless, and calls us to die to ourselves and agendas and to replace it with His. 

Pray it with your family for 30 days...if cannot because you are too scattered in the morning do whatever you need to do to stop that and focus. It seems as if you are more concerned with your agenda...

i have beautiful words in my head daddy

I have two amazing kids. Sure, there are days when they drive me as crazy as any six and 3 year old can. Sometimes they refuse to eat, talk back, don't clean up...you know the drill.

But they are a-mazing, especially when they speak of love, compassion and God.

"daddy, I have beautiful words in my head" my little three year old blurted out a few months back and trust me, she does.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as most of those words in her head came from us but there seems to be a special power when the promises of God are spoken in a little three year old girls voice;


"We will only be dead for a little while, then we will be with Jesus forever"
"Some people don't love Jesus, but he still loves them"
"God can heal you daddy"

These truths are from God. They are not mere sentimentality.  I find myself challenged (in a very good way) when I catechize my children...do I really believe what I teach about the Trinity, or do I take it as good advice?

To aid in my trusting of God I plant flowers. Yes, they have great curb appeal but that is not why God invented so many colors, sizes, shapes and smells. He made the flowers to teach us how to trust in his abundant provision friends.  These beautiful words in my daughters head inspire me to trust, trust, trust.

“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

                                        Matthew 6:25-34 The Message

trusting in the chaos

All the Lord's promises prove true
                             Psalm 18:30
I grew up going to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut,  a reproduction/restoration of a historic shipbuilding and whaling town.  The sights, sounds and smells held my boyhood imagination captive. Creaking wood, smokey coal fires and old canvas transported me far, far away.

I heard sea-shanties sung by weather-grizzled men that spun tales of heroic fishermen who would spend up to a year living on board ship chasing wales, risking their lives for the oil in the beasts head that would make them rich.

Bards bragged of the moment when after harpooning a massive whale the hunters became corks as they held on for what was referred to as  a "Nantucket Sleigh Ride".


The rope trailing from the harpooned whale was lashed to the small harpoon boats bow.
Either they or the fish would die.

Oh how I wanted to be a whaler. 

However romantic whaling seemed to be it was not whales that kept people alive then, it was Cod. Cod  were caught by the thousands using the mundane technique of long-lining by hand. Men would be dropped off the main ship in a John Boat and they would set out long thin ropes with hundreds of hooks and then pull them back in.

No sleigh-ride, no beast. Just Cod.

I am slowly coming to understand that God has made most of us Cod fisherman in his restoration plan. It is the slow, meticulous, steady work of trolling the unfathomable depths of God day in and day out that sustains us.

...give us this day our daily bread

It is here were our faith is proven and tried.

"I will give you manna for the day" The Father tells us.
"I will be with you always" Jesus told his followers.

Trusting  God and his promises is the greatest act of defiance 

we can show the world in these troubled times.

This past Monday while my family was on vacation our world was once again rocked my deep evil. It was very personal for our family as we had a number of dear friends (who live only a few feet away from us) running  in the Boston Marathon. They had been within a mile of the bombs. All of our hearts stopped then pounded. We wept, prayed, and screamed. When we finally learned they were safe we began to breath again.

The next day on Tuesday morning my wife and I had to take our 3 and five year old daughters out for breakfast. It seemed almost irreverent but they had to eat.  While we waited for their pancakes and our omelets we did what we do every morning.

We thanked God for keeping us safe last night.
 We praised him for the morning.
We read his word and talked about his love and his promises.

The Beast had tried its beast to pull us under. By God's grace we went fishing for Cod, reminding ourselves of the one sure thing in the world:
...All of the Lord's promises are true.

NB. God desires none of his beloved creatures to be lost. Period. My family is broken for those who were killed and injured. As a dad who has buried a son I grieve deeply, and grieve well. May God have mercy on us all.