Fear not

If you were to meet a disciple of Jesus what would he tell you about him?  To clarify, if you were to ever meet one of the 12 Disciples of Jesus what would he tell you about Jesus? You know, one of the special 12, those inner 12; one of those guys who lived beside Jesus, walked beside Jesus, ate with him, camped out with him, worked with him, laughed with him, cried with him, learned from him, for over 3 years.  Those guys; if you met one of those guys what would they tell you about Jesus?

Chances are that they would tell you a number of things.  They would tell you stories that followers of Jesus have known and love for years.  They would probably also tell you things you’ve never heard before.   You will not meet one of the 12 this side of the Kingdom of God.  And yet their Gospel accounts live on.  And according to what has been recorded, Jesus said, “fear not”…a lot

He said it in sinking boats.  He said it when sending his followers out into the world.  He said it when he himself had more to fear than anyone else.  He said it when he was departing from his disciples to “prepare a place” for all who believe.  He said it when his disciples saw him walking on the water.  He said it when Peter, John, and James watched Jesus Transfigure.  He said it a lot more.  Easier said than done Jesus.  Fear not?  How do we do that with all there is to fear in this life? 

Jesus doesn’t point to you when he says fear not.  He doesn’t ask you to look in the mirror.  He doesn’t ask you to muster up your strength.  He doesn’t ask you to do anything.  In fact according to Jesus, fearlessness has nothing to do with you at all.  It has everything to do with Jesus.  Fearlessness for Jesus is not closed eyes.  Fearlessness is not sitting buried–head in sand.  Fearlessness is not foolishness; nor is it pulling yourself out of a world full of dangers, toils, and snares.  Fearlessness is completely, totally, utterly and alone...life in Christ.  It is a life that in all the scariness and real danger of this real world, that continually stands behind our great big Savior Jesus Christ.  A great big Savior that went first–like a big brother.  He is–He's our big brother.  And this big brother has won for us the right to be in His family...to be a Child of the Heavenly Father.  And He is fierce–He is fearless in our place.  Even when the REAL scary shadows creep–the evilness of Satan, and Sin, and Death that eye has not seen, and tongue cannot tell.

In the Revelation given to John of Christ in His Kingdom Jesus says this, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore…” –Rev. 1:17-18.  Jesus has died and raised back life in order to say to you, “fear not!”  I have overcome death, I have overcome sin, and I have overcome any fear in life.  The creator and sustainer of all things seen and unseen says, fear not; not because of who you are, but because of who I am.  And because he is the God of the universe, we know he is able to what he says.  He will receive all who believe in him, into his Heavenly Kingdom.  A place where, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away”—Rev. 21:4

Lines

Paint

A couple of guys have been hard at work making sure that the lines in the back St. Paul parking lot get repainted.  All of our lines need repainting in fact.  Lines at our church–lines at our Academy, they could all use a fresh coat.  Lines are good.  They turn open an patch of asphalt into a parking lot.  Lines divide.  Lines make boundaries.  Lines make parking spots.  Parking spots that some people in some places fight over.  It's funny how a thin layer of paint on the pavement can turn nothing into something.  Something that can be personal (my spot).  Something that can be coveted (if it's close enough to the entrance).  A thin layer of paint on the pavement makes people–almost universally, realize something: lines define.


–Ish

I'm a Millennial.  I'll just accept it–although at first I fought it like the first gulp of Robitussin at the outset of a cold.  A Millennial, means I'm about 30 years old or younger.  The kids born in the last 15 years–I don't know what they're called.  I am told that being a Millennial has permeated every part of my being.  That probably has a larger foot in truth, but also a tip-toe in doubtfulness.  I am also an old Millennial, and the baby of my family as well.  That means I was raised and influenced by older generations in the most formative times of my growing up.  Nevertheless,  I admit I am a Millennial.  And in so doing, I recognize that I grew up in a world of ish.  My generation, and especially this being of society we are currently living in is full of ish.  It's the freedom of choice.  It's the consumerism of our culture.  It's the marketing to my generation.  Ish is the one of the biggest tell-tale signs of virtues around us.  The anthem marketed to my people growing up is that you can be whatever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, and accomplish whatever goal you set before you.  And here is the kicker–here is what makes everything different for my people–being whatever you want to be includes...being ish.  Be exactly whatever mosaic of a person you want to be.  Be what you like.  Whatever you like.  As much as you like.  Leaving out whatever you don't like.  But whatever you do–at all costs, be unique.  It has made ish people.  Conservative-ish, Liberal-ish, Religious-ish, Christian-ish, Traditional-ish, Contemporary-ish...ad infinitum.  Dig if you will a picture:  My people sitting at Starbucks.  We have macbooks glowing while writing notes in a moleskin notebook.   We listen to throwback music pumped into our ears from our Quad-core smartphone.  We put vintage filters on our Instagram pictures taken with 8 megapixel cameras.  And if you are really, really cool you might even be wearing shoes that look like they were dug out of a yard sale 40 years ago, a waxed mustache, the necessarily anachronistic hat, glasses that look like you should be in a control tower in Houston smoking a cigarette and trying to get Apollo 13 back into earth's atmosphere–all while feverishly trying to consummate your WiFi connection.  It's ish.  It's not new or old.  It's not this or that.  It's ish.  Ish gets to pick and choose.  Ish gets to mix and match.  Generations, ideologies, doctrines, expectations, fashions, formative narratives, worldviews–all of it, you name it, it's all fair game.  So grab your tray, pay the lady, and go nuts–because the buffet is set!  My people are ish.

2 Things:  First,  I am not complaining about ish.  I am not complaining about Millennials.  I am not complaining about my people.  Second, I am not saying this generation is special or unique.  We do not stand out.  We are not exemplary, or bad, or this or that.  There is just the flavor.  Every generation has it's own flavor.  Ish is just a flavor.  Days will continue to come and go.  Millennials have come–we are in fact already going.  But I do talk about ish for a reason.  I am very interested as to what is touted as good, right, honorable, and virtuous by Millennials today.  After all my people are the ones already running the show in society.  A person as a mosaic is favorable.  Picking and choosing things–any thing is favorable.  Ish is favorable.


Whateva

All of the above stated has made a nice warm comfy bed for longtime coming and expected guest.  The bringing down of lines.  What a time to live in for bringing down the lines.  Lines that divide.  Lines that separate into categories.  Lines that define.  They are all getting sick and dying.  And boy are things moving fast!  You better look fast if you want to stay on top of things.  Caitlyn Jenner has received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award from ESPN for making the transition from man to woman–Bruce has become Caitlyn.  NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezai has had mixed responses about her identifying as black although she is a white woman.  Not everyone has stood behind these individuals in their decisions, but there has been a somewhat positive view surrounding these folks by a lot of voices.  There has definitely been a positive view of trailblazing in general.  Most importantly these instances have bred conversation.  And conversation is the beginning of most everything.  "Let us make man in our image..." #trinity

The lines are coming down folks.  They are fading away like Michael J. Fox at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in Back to the Future.  The lines don't mean as much.  Genders, roles, relationships, race, sexuality etc. etc. etc.  The lines are being erased.  Well sorta.  Kinda.  In a way.  The lines are being erased.  But like a child wielding a oversized gum eraser we have made a mistake.  We have went to deep.  We have erased too much.  The lines are gone.  But so too the pain–so too the backdrop.  And with the paint gone the nothingness–the void of the paper has made new lines.


New Lines

New lines are being drawn.  Lines that are being born as we speak.  Lines conceived in the lust of ish.  The lust to pick.  The lust to choose.  The lust to decide.  The lust to self define.  The lines are different, but they are visible as ever, definitive as ever; they are as intentional as ever.  The new lines are not the old.  But they have been born out of the intentional erasing of old.  Erase the lines that inhibit choice.  Because its all about the choice, all about decision, all about creating your ish.

Here is the truth:  God makes people.  God makes all kinds of people.  They are not the same.  He makes men, male.  He makes women, female.  He makes black people.  He makes white people.  He makes brown people.  He makes all the colors in between (like me half brown / half white).  He makes them of same value, same worth, with the same amount of Godly love.  But the point is GOD made us.  We do not get to pick and choose.  "Separate but equal" is not right.  We should be together and equal.  But being together and equal doesn't mean we have the ability and fluidity to move between the one thing out of our hands–the events surrounding our birth.  God is the creator and we are not.  And yet the ultimate ish, the highest degree of our human autonomy, the tippy-top of our hubris as human beings is that we can pick and choose those few things that are out of our grasp.  It is the last great battle of mankind being their own god–deny the created.  Deny the tangible.  Deny corporeal truth in front of you.  These are the lines that are being erased.   *see above Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezai.  The Millennials have made the bed–Gen X, and Boomers can stay the night.   You are less of what you are.  You are more of what you decide to be.  You are more ish – because ish is better.  And if you don't believe that people can decide.  If you think God made not just who we are, but how we are, for a reason, intentionally, with thought and care that totally surpasses our temporary and small existence–then you have just crossed the line.  The new line.  The line found at the bottom of the erasure of the old lines.

Crossing the new line is unforgiving.  Crossing the new line is unfair.  It calls those who believe that God designed partnership for a man and woman–homophobe.  Even if there is no phobia or hatred to be found.  It calls those who think God made men and women, as such, for a purpose and reason–backwards.  Even though they are formed by a book and narrative that is so up-to-date and relevant that it even reveals the future of things yet to happen. #nothingnewunderthesun  I never thought being a backwards homophobe would feel like this!  It's so not what I expected.  Because I don't hate.  I am not phobic.  Because my Lord Jesus also told me to love everyone (John 13:34-35).  Yes, that part is formative too!  I reject the line that says I am, what I am not.  I know that God has been in the creating business a longer than man has even been on the earth, and a LOT longer than ish seemed so sexy.  I know that He is creator and we are creation.  I know we do not get to pick, choose, decide, some things.  I will not be pigeon-holed.  I reject the line that makes me a backwards homophobe.   And if you interpret God's Word the same way–if you still love everybody God has made, because it is God who made them–you should reject that line too!


Some lines are legitimate, and some aren't.  And deciding the lines that need to be erased–well that's the hard job.  I'm glad it's not my job.  But isn't it all of our jobs?  Should the rebel flag come down over South Carolina?  In one breath I think yes.  In another breath I think I'm not so sure.  *sigh*  Who gets to define if that flag is the boundary between racism and not racism?  Right now I guess it's whoever has the biggest platform.  I wish wisdom was a platform.


End of the Line

I am sitting here chuckling to myself.  Not lol-ing.  But I'm actually having a real human chuckle.  (the folks in the office are probably thinking that I am finally losing it).  I am remembering that one Sunday I watched a 3 second video clip on repeat for no less than 30 minutes.  What a weirdo right?  Well, not really.  I'm sure plenty guys and gals around the country watched the same thing.  The clip was a game defining challenge of whether a player broke the plane of the end zone in a great NFL game.  In that game–in that time, that line that marks the beginning of the end zone really matters.  That line and what side the player was on, made all the difference.  All lines in sports really matter from time to time.  But that line really, really matters–frequently.  But after that 4th quarter, that line doesn't matter quite as much.  And later that day, that line mattered even less.  And at the end of the season, that line mattered even less.  And when that field in that stadium was transformed into a stage for a concert, that line mattered not-at-all.  It was torn up, erased, removed.

These lines that I have been talking about matter now.  Here, now, in this time, on this plane, these lines really do matter.  But it will not be so forever.  Far transcending the transformation of a football field into a concert stadium, Jesus is coming to transform our...well our everything.  Thy Kingdom Come!  Jesus come and bring your kingdom with you.  Transform our bodies, and lives, and sin, and hate, and love, and our everything else into what only you can imagine it to be!  On a new plane, a new stage, the only line that neither you, nor I, nor anybody else could bring down will be erased forever.  That is the line that separates us from God.  The line put up on that day of rebellion when the creation decided we would do the line drawing around here!  The line that went up when we decided we would be our own god.  The line that put us–every one of us–on the wrong side of God's presence, and Will, through every breath of our life.  Guess what?  That line is going.  That line is fading.  We are at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and THIS line will not be restored.  The closer Jesus draws near the more this hideous lines fades.  Jesus is coming.  He's closer.  Closer than He has ever been before.  His return is more imminent than it has ever been.  Fade, fade away line.  Bring it on Jesus.  Thy Kingdom Come!

Through the Viewfinder

The Real Thing

C.S. Lewis...man that guy could write.  If you haven't read "Out of the Silent Planet" or "Perelandra," you should.  You really need to.  Like it's almost imperative for you.  You might as well add "The Great Divorce" to that list.  Anyway, in Perelandra one of the overarching themes, which happens to be truth, is that God's Kingdom takes any goodness, sense of identity, or reality, and amplifies it into something so much more beautiful, vivid, and awesome, that it is almost entirely inconceivable to us.  In other words the goodness, truth, and love in this world that we perceive is really just a vague, dim, pixelated, representation of what the creation was actually intended to enjoy.  And so in Perelandra our hero visits another world that has not fallen into sin.  It is a good world.  And aside from the presence of the Satan figure on Perelandra (Venus), it is a perfect world.  Things are still functioning as God intended them.  There is an Adam and Eve figure.  They don't just have control over the creation–they love the creation.  And the creation loves them.  Huge fish fighting over who gets to serve as the aquatic ride to the adjacent island.  Every piece of fruit the characters eat is the best they have ever had.  Ransom, the protagonist is the only human creature who knows what sin is–because he's from earth.  It's weird, because the long talks with the Eve character show a considerable disconnect between the two.  Ransom is baffled that the Eve character has never wanted something that God has not provided.  She does not know discontent, or greed, or envy, or hatred, or any of it.  She can't understand Ransom's probing questions that are sin-laced.  It becomes clear that even his basic understanding of the functioning of life is wholly infected through and through with effects of sin.  Ransom looks at her in some way like a child.  And yet he craves to have what she has.  It is incredibly beautiful way to live.  Mr. Lewis also writes about similar things in The Great Divorce.  A bus ride to heaven–what's not to love?

That sizable jaunt was laid out to come to this point.  The un-falleness of Perelandra was real.  It was more real.  It was more vivid.  It was brighter.  Quickly, it became evident that Perelandra was what it was supposed to be like.  Same with Adam and Eve's earth.  For the short time (could have been days, weeks, years, or what I think a LONG time) that Adam and Eve lived on this earth before the fall into sin, that was their reality.  It was as God created it.  Sinless.  Wantless.  Painless.  Deathless.  It was full of life.  That's the real thing.  Ain't nothing like the real thing baby! 


Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

Now you and I know there is good stuff in this world.  There is a lot of it.  I can show you some if you'd like.  But the good-est of good, the most beautiful, the most kind, the best of the best in this world is just counterfeit.  It resembles in some small way the original beauty–but slightly.  It's not really that close.  Not good enough to be horseshoe.  Not good enough to be a hand grenade.

The View

I thought about the good ole viewfinder recently.  Filming during our Academy graduation, I found myself dialing things in through the viewfinder. Watching closely...it was finally perfect.  And yet I continued to watch the next few minutes of the  service through the viewfinder.  It was dim, it was pixelated, it was small, and it was hard to see.  For a few short minutes it was the reality. It was the show. But it wasn't. It was wasn't reality. It wasn't the show. It was counterfeit. It was just a cheap representation. The viewfinder's job is to make sure you are getting the subject of the video into frame-thats all. It's not the clarity of the video being recorded. And it's certainly not the real thing. No the reality. Not what is really happening.  And yet I found myself staring at the viewfinder instead of watching the real. 

Everything that we experience in this life is through the viewfinder. That's not to say it isn't real. It is real. What we do and do not do in our lives is real and it matters. What we do with Jesus, who we say and believe He is, is real and it matters in this life.  How we decide to treat people is real and it matters. But beyond he view in the finder of this life is something more. It is more real. It is really real. Ain't nothing like the real thing baby!  Beyond the here and now is another truth-another reality. It's all around us. It's heartbeat is felt by us. It breaks through here and again. And when it happens sometimes...sometimes we spy it. It's God's Kingdom.  The truth. The reality. The real thing. Our beautiful hope and future that every once in a while gets so energized, so electric, that like a child on Christmas Eve can't help but jump the gun just a little. And when it does sometimes we are lucky enough to catch it on the viewfinder. The hungry person fed. The downtrodden gospeled. The sin falling from our tightened grasp. It's still small. It's still dim. It's still pixelated.  But it's caught on the view for me and you. And we marvel through it all because it is the counterfeit of the real thing to come. And everyone knows ain't nothing like the real thing baby!  The Kingdom is coming. The show is coming.  The action is coming. No more viewfinder. It's all coming.  Sinless.  Wantless.  Painless.  Deathless.  Soon we are getting pulled into the Kingdom. Soon we are getting pulled into the reality. 

Calibrate

At Trinity Lutheran Church Brownsville, TX

What's in a name?

The day before yesterday the Lord united these two in Holy Matrimony.  He used me to do it.  It was a great celebration.  After the blessings, prayers, vows and ring exchange it became real–I pronounced them Husband and Wife.  Both Patricia and Gerardo got a new identifier that day.  For the first time they were announced as Mr. and Mrs. De La Rosa.  Patricia got a new last name, and was called wife.  Gerardo was called husband.  The pronouncement of those words–wife, husband, Mr. and Mrs.–they indicated something changed about this man and woman after stepping up to the altar that day.  Names are important.  They are important to God.  They give us identity–like Child of God.  God calls us His Children.  And when He does–we are.  Through the vows and pronouncement of God's blessing this man and woman became husband and wife in the eyes of God.  Through my signing their marriage license they became husband and wife in the eyes of the State of Texas.


Self given names are a different story.  Self identification is a different story.  We can self identify wrongly.  We can can self identify selfishly.  We can self identify ignorantly.  Words matter.  Names matter.  And sometimes what we call ourselves, the boxes in life we check, don't give an accurate picture.

There has been quite a bit of heated opinion about a recent Pew Study (what's that?-Wiki Pew Research Center) that has indicated a change in the "religious" landscape of America.  Let me save you all the messy reading.  The major finding of the study is that over the past 7 years the number of self identifying Christians has declined by 8 percentage points–from 78.4% to 70.6%.  That's significant for 7 years.  In the same period, those who identified themselves as "unaffiliated" has risen over 6 points from 16.1% to 22.8%.  There are the numbers, folks.  Now let's talk about them.
Remember: names are important.  They are important to God


Calibrate

A lot of my feelings in response to the results of the pew results are not new or special.  I agree with a lot of what others have already said–like this pastor in Canada eh!
Everybody Panic!–why we are all wrong about church decline.
At the heart of the matter is being able to let the results speak to us.  And the best way for the results to speak to us is to listen to what's being said.  A knee-jerk reaction is to simply look at the drop in those self identifying as Christian, and clutch our pearls in fear.  But because Jesus–great big ole Jesus is Lord and King of the Church, let's listen closer.  The majority–the near whole of those who are no longer identifying as Christian, aren't identifying with any organized religion.  They are not following Allah, or the teachings of the Buddha, or the pantheon of gods in Hinduism, or any other religious value system.  They are identifying themselves as "unaffiliated."  Some of us in the business call them the "nones"–not Nuns, but "nones."  As in the religious affiliation box is check marked "none."  So isn't that a negative thing?  It is if we believe that this shift is an actual change in real faith in Jesus Christ.  But some folks, myself included, believe that the 8 percent shift is actually a symptom of something else.  It is the death of the Nominals

See "nominal"–think "name."  Like nombre in Spanish means "name."  Nominal Christians–the nominals–are those who are Christian in name only.  That doesn't mean they are big 'ole sinners or anything like that.  It doesn't mean they are "bad" Christians.  If you show me a "good" Christian, I will tilt your head and make you see a Christian who doesn't need Jesus–that is to say no Christian at all.  Nominal Christian doesn't mean that they didn't put enough in the plate last year.  A Nominal Christian is truly a Christian in name only.  Somebody who self identifies themselves as Christian for a myriad of reasons that has nothing to do with faith in Jesus Christ as the savior of the world.  Some may identify as Christian for cultural reasons–as in it's an American thing.  Some may identify as Christian because baptism is cute for the picture album...plus it couldn't hurt right?–placating Grandma by going to church on Christmas Eve and Easter keeps you in the families good graces, and the cash stuffed birthday cards coming–having a moral structural system looks good on college applications, and in the community sphere–etc. etc.  I think a large portion of nominals identify as such because...well they know they aren't anything else.  So Christian is the least demanding from people who have no clue–at least here in America.

So here is where the death takes place.  The death is in the need to identify with a religion–with an organization.  It's a tendency that has been sick for a while.  And the past 7 years or so–it has begun to succumb to its injuries.  Here is somebody who says it better than me.
Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways from Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey

Thank God for the Pew Study.  I'm not encouraged by any declining numbers.  I am encouraged by followers of Jesus.  I am encouraged by faith in Jesus Christ–as it manifests itself in many different forms.  The death of some pressure–whatever that pressure might be, to identify as Christian apart from the faith and obedience to God's Will that actually believing in Jesus brings, leaves something behind.  It leaves a number behind.  Maybe that number is 70.6% of Americans–it's probably less.  But we are moving in the right direction.  Towards a direction of truth.  The remanent of the death of the nominals is this–believers.  Followers.  Christians.  Children of God.  The Kingdom of God remains.  And so I don't see these declining numbers as a fall, a failure, or any indication that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is any less effective than it was in the 1950s–or any other time.  I see it as a calibration.  It is a calibration of the real truth of things.  And for that I am joyful.  Because we have a clearer view of the mission field.  I rejoice because we have a bigger opportunity to Gospel people with the good news of Jesus.  I rejoice because the label Christian is being moved closer to what it was in that 1st century Church.  It is moving closer to indicate a follower of Jesus.  Thanks be to God!

Wild things

I never saw a wild thing 

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D.H. Lawrence

Wild things

The above poem from D.H. Lawrence is titled "Self Pity."  It was highlighted in a movie that I watched for the 3rd time just the other day–G.I. Jane.  You can see the clip here
It's kinda true.  At least from what I can tell, wild things, do not feel sorry for themselves.  I don't know if a wild thing can really "feel" anything like humans do–but it doesn't feel sorry for itself.  Hungry yes.  Threatened yes.  Loyal some animals yes.  Happy probably.  Sorry for itself–as in self pity...no.  What do wild things have to do with the Jesus' Kingdom?  Well more than we might think without looking further into it.  God likes the creation.  All of it.  Not just humans.  God likes all of the creation.  He knew what He was doing when he made it.  God's Word–the Bible, talks about the creation A LOT.  Like a lot, a lot.  Jesus talked about the creation too.  He talked about wild things.  Mr. D.H. Lawrence is not the only one who talked about the nature of small birds, and what they can teach us humans.

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them..."

–Jesus (Matt. 6:26)

Jesus was in full-out teacher mode that day on the mount, when he spoke those words.  Jesus was a good teacher.  He was a good speaker.  Jesus was masterful at the use of rhetoric.  He use to do this thing–let's just call it lesser to greater.  Jesus wanted to make an important point, and so he would bring the hearer carefully to the understanding of a simple point–something like "Hey look at those birds living their little bird lives.  They don't seem very stressed out over where their next meal is coming from."  The simple point would be that the Heavenly Father feeds His creation.  Because He likes His creation.  Because He cares for His creation.  After the simple lesser point was made, Jesus would drive home the thesis, greater point of His teaching.  He continues in the same verse

"...Are you not of more value than they? [the birds]

–Jesus (Matt. 6:26)

Jesus likes the birds.  But Jesus was not interested in talking about birds that day.  Not really.  He wanted to talk about other created things–you and me.  And so in true Jesus fashion, He didn't encourage us to the party of one, navel-gazing that usually fits so comfortably on us.  Jesus points us outwards to wild things.

Woe man

Woe is me!  It's a favorite song of ours.  A seductive picture.  An alluring addiction.  We like self pity.  Even if you aren't the quintessential pity party of one, you like self pity.  I know you do.  Because, I do.  We all do.  It's the reason that our heart beats a little faster when the people that sat down after us at the restaurant get their food first.  It's the reason we are stabbed in the heart a little bit when we find out we weren't invited to that one get-together.  It's the reason that we sometimes go to bed collecting all of the terrible, sad, unfortunate moments of the day, and hit the repeat button in our mind.  We are quick to pity ourselves.  We kinda adore it.  Deep down we do.  And I think it's because it's the easiest way to deal with pain of this world.  The sin of this world.  Pity is the easiest form of pain to feel.  Because it's out of our hands.  It's what's being heaped upon us.  And so we translate a lot of the hurt of this world into self pity.  Pity is the tasty poison.

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself...

Teachers in our midst

And so why are Jesus and Mr. D.H. Lawrence interested in us looking to the birds?  Assuredly, these two men are on slightly different trajectories.  But there is commonality that remains between them, and that is fantastic enough to highlight.  Wild things are teachers in our midst.  And the lesson?  Being a creation.  Wild things know that they are a creation.  They, and we, were created to worship God.  Whereas, we make the SELF, the infinitely small part of who we are in our self-to our self, the universe-shaking Governor of our lives–wild things don't.  Wild things worship at the thrown of God when they are fed by what the Lord provides.  Wild things worship when they expect the rain–the good rain, and the bad rain.  Wild things worship then they receive from God both good and bad, abundance and famine, favorable and unfavorable, and without any pity or confusion at all, live as what they were created to be–His creatures.  Are you a creature?  Yes–thank God, yes!  You were created.  That makes you a creature.  In fact you are the best created, creature.  You are the pinnacle of His creation.  You turned the Creators "good" work, into "very good" (Gen. 1:31).

"...Are you not of more value than they?

Free lunch

The good, the bad, and yes, the ugly will continue to come our way.  We will pout.  We will drink in pity.  But every once and a while...stop...find a bird to look at (seriously they are everywhere, you won't have a hard time finding one).  These, and other wild things remind us that good and bag things come to everyone, everything, everywhere.  And yet one goliath truth remains–God has not forgotten a single one of His creation...not now, not ever.

"and yet your heavenly Father feeds them..."

And yet...yet...your Father feeds them.  "Yet" is a beautiful word.  It's a Gospel word.  It's a Kingdom of God word.   "Yet" is our word.  Pity is on repeat, yet that song is almost played out.  The world is broken, yet Jesus' Kingdom is coming.

Need a reminder?  Look to the wild things.

Best served

It's Cool in the Furnace

Looking the wrong way

Last Friday we had our spring musical and BBQ at St. Paul Academy.  "It's Cool in the Furnace"–a telling of the story of Daniel and his buds Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in a heated situation.  (For more read the first 3 chapters of Daniel in the Bible).  I could say a lot about how proud I was of everything–but I'd rather say a little.  It was a great night.  They are great people.  A lot of hard work.  One thing I like to do when I go to big worship service, a performance, a concert, or something similar is to watch what everybody is doing.  No I don't mean I like to people watch–I do that at the airport and the mall.  I mean I watch what everybody working the event is doing.  I often find myself looking the wrong way because to me, what's going on up front is only a piece of the show.  I like to see everything that it takes to get an event going–the orchestration of it all.  It's definitely something to see.  Last night I saw a lot of servants.  Servants doing things they liked to do, were trained to do, maybe even were born to do (we might have a future actor or two).  Now here is the best part–nobody was more important than anyone else, and nobody was working harder than anybody else.  Everybody was doing there part–and it was just happening.  And, unless I looking you the wrong way, I might have missed it.

The proper ingredients

One of the things that I believe–am wholly convinced of–have swallowed feathers and all–is that God's Kingdom is filled with all kinds of different people.  I don't mean red and yellow, black and white.  I don't mean tall and short, guys and gals, old and young.  I don't mean any of that–although it's all entirely true.  I mean it's full of people who like different things, who are good at different things, who excel at different things.  And,  just one of the cool things about God is that he uses us just as we are.  Jesus didn't pick guys that were just like him to follow and be His 12 witnesses.  God used all kinds of people throughout the scriptures to serve Him.  Different people and one God.  Different strengths, and one God.  Different times, and one God.  Different personalities, and one God.  Different problems, and one God.  You get the idea.  The constant here is God, and what He does with His people.  It's undeniable.  Something beautiful happens when God's people get together.  It's beautiful.  Let's just take a second to gawk at it.


Plan A

What if God's Kingdom had to be that way?  What if you need to be in His Kingdom–here and

now– because you fulfill a specific role?  I believe it is so.  Here is the really cool part.  It's not like God is just working with what He has available.  I do not believe He looks at us and thinks to himself, "now what to do here?"  You are not lemonade because sin in the world has given God lemons.  Are we sinners?  Yes.  Is sin still a hauntingly relentless factor.  You betcha.  But having particular strengths is not a result of sin.  And God's Kingdom (here or heavenly) doesn't make us the same.   Will we be good at everything in heaven?  I have not clue.  Will you continue to excel in what you are good at now?  I have not doubt.


Exponential 

There is an extremely cool idea that C.S. Lewis plays around with in his novel "The Great Divorce."  Lewis writes fantastically about a group of travelers taking a bus ride to just outside the gates of heaven.  They find out that inside the gates God has glorified the strengths and weaknesses of people in the Kingdom of God (heaven).  Strengths are better.  Weakness have been transformed into beautiful things.  I think Lewis is on to something.  What if in the future Heavenly Kingdom, what we are good at now is made exponentially better in the service of others and God's Kingdom.  What if you are going to be more YOU in heaven?  The glorified you–the non fallen you.  What a glorious thing indeed.  So I want to rejoice in all kinds of service now.  Not just what's going on up front on the stage, I want to rejoice in the whole production of life.  That's you–however, wherever, whenever you serve.  Serve God.  Serve others.  What's the best way to serve?  Well...like you do.

-DK

Small and scared

A damp downtown Harlingen

"The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever."
Isaiah 40:8


Small and scared

Last night there was a large thunderstorm that hobbled it's way across the Rio Grande Valley–deep south Texas where I live.   I know that some were not particularly looking forward to the rain.  I know a few who were not all that fond of the thunder; especially if they needed to get up earlier than usual this morning (cough, cough-Jennifer).  Thunderstorms are beautiful–as long as they don't directly effect my everyday life.  I mean who wants to be woken up every 10 minutes by thunder that rattles the windows and seems to vibrate the whole house?  Well nobody really.  But who can control such a thing?  No me–not you.  And that brings to mind something that we all know deep down.  Whether you love a good storm, or would rather it miss you just to the north, storms don't ask your opinion.  Storms don't belong to you.  Storms are big–and you are small.  I know because I am small with you.  Small.  That's a good word for it.  If you haven't felt small while a storm rages, a tornado looms, wind destroys, water eats away, and lightning zaps–well then you haven't been in a big enough storm.  Truth is it just takes the right weather to remind us that we are small and scared.

Yesterday yet another earthquake hit Nepal.  It wasn't small or scared.  It was a 7.3 on the Richter scale.  That's BIG!  Add 19 more people killed to the death count of the previous earthquake.  That's over 8,000 people killed.  If you don't remember what it feels like to feel small and scared turn on the news–feel small and scared for the people of Nepal.


Against the grain

Most days we would stand back with arms folded and snicker at small and scared.  But some days, different kind of days, we understand small and scared.  But let's not kid ourselves, these days are the exception.  Too often we are convinced that we are big and in charge.  In charge of our day, in charge of our circumstances, in charge of our breath and strength, in charge of our life.  We are in charge right down to the miniscule.  If you don't believe me go sit at Starbucks and listen to the audible *huff* of a patron who just found out that the supply of half-and-half has run out–and before you laugh turn to make sure that it's not me.  Truth is friends, we don't like to be small or scared.  We darn sure don't like to be small and scared.  Out of our control, well it's just not chic.  But sometimes the big and out of our control strikes us.  Sometimes it strikes us in a small way like wind, rain, lightning and thunder.  Sometimes it strikes us in a more substantial way like natural disaster, cancer, mental illness, war, or plague.  And when it does, we are made small and scared.  It goes against the grain.


Make room for "I AM"

I don't like small and scared.  I don't applaud small and scared.  Small and scared is not good by any stretch.  I do however find value in the small and scared moments of life.  Not because it puts us in our place.  Not because people need to be taught a lesson.  Small and scared is not something to play with; and it's not a romantic idea.  But when we are small and scared, we will do anything to be under the shelter of something that is big and strong.  There is only one thing, one person, one force bigger and stronger than the big scary stuff in life–God is bigger, God is stronger.   The children at our childhood ministry remind me of this often.  "My God is so great, so strong and so might, there's nothing my God cannot do."  When you are small God is big.  When you are scared God is steady.  Sometimes it is only when we are caused to shrink back and be small that God can fit, and sit in the comfy chair of our lives.  God being big to us is good for us.  Because it's seeing clearly.  Because God really is big.  He's the biggest.  In fact nothing is out of His control.  Not even that thing that has been continually rubbing your mind raw with worry.  I'm serious, He's huge!  When we see things clearly, not in a dark dirty mirror, we get a glimpse into Jesus' Kingdom.  A place where God is neither big nor small–He's everything.  Let's just be small and scared together when those times come.  And let's look towards God together when those times come.  Let's hide under under His roof together when the storm comes.

A guy by the name of Buddy Davis–who works with "answers in Genesis"–wrote a song with a line:

"I've often wondered what Noah thought, after the flood when he felt a raindrop"

-DK