I believe in Santa Clause. Yet, even more than believing in Santa Clause and waiting for the morning of the 25th finding cookies half eaten and milk have gone there is a bigger story taking place. Ringing throughout all of eternity, even before there was time, this season had everyone’s attention.
Every time a baby is born, time stops as families and parents stand in awe of the creation of life. The 7lbs, wrinkled skin, fragile body brings the persons involved to tears of joy and happiness. Their whole life and existence pauses knowing that nothing more precious is deserving in life. That life has breath for a reason only a creator can imagine. And for each, you and me, we were that to our families at one point in history. So should our God be to us even more so. For Christmas has everyone’s attention. read more…
Why were we created? If the world is saturated in darkness, or shall we say evil, then why would an all encompassing God bring life into the picture only to experience death? And not just physical death, though painful, yet a death of spirit and soul?
This is a conversation topic between a friend and I for many weeks now as we meet at Starbucks to discuss the existence of God, or the need for something that man created. Truly, our conversation over this matter has really got me to think about the creator’s relationship to his creation.
“…for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20)
Both you and I were created merely for relationship with God. And engraved in us is the detailed description and ability to love. A devout husband loves his wife moreso than his ownself, and despite what conflicts arise in the relationship his love surpasses all understanding and endures all things to sacrifice himself for the betterment of his wife.
And in our current world culture, the devout man could be seen as a radical figure and could be judged wasteful because of his selflessness. A non-devout might say that no human is worth that much sacrifice, that kind of love. And as a result, the non-devout would love himself in the same way that the devout husband loves his wife but the love and sacrifice would be focused on himself and not on another being. This nature of love and sacrifice is ingrained in our very make-up but how we choose to use it is not. This is the predicament of love.
But this mystic code that is written into our behavior and thinking patterns must have come from somewhere and something that is able to fully comprehend the idea, action and consequence of love and sacrifice. This pointing to a creator of love and sacrifice.
The very code that is programmed in people and the people who choose devotion and selflessness can only come from perfection in devotion and selflessness in relationship with the creator, our creator.
So as I sit with my friend, she asked, “Then why if we have that relationship with God are we taught to be servants and slaves? Is our creation only to serve as servants and slaves?” Yet, in love, being a servant and slave to the one who is loved is the only true act of devotion we are able to comprehend and understand.
The devout husband serves his wife because she is the true definition of his love. It is natural to him since he loves her, the devout husband puts himself aside to assure her safety and her growth.
Now, we may interpret ’slavery’ and ’servant hood’ as means for an owner to have control and command over a servant or slave. However, Christ’s calling to servant hood and slavery can only be experienced by completely giving one’s self to someone they love so they are not equal any longer, yet the lover puts himself lower and raises the loved one.
If the devout husband is asked to give his life for his wife, there is but only one option because love is self-sacrifice. A devout husband would give his life without a single thought to his own.
So then our relationship with the creator is that, that we would give ourselves to Him out of love. We can only know this because He first did it for us through Jesus Christ. He does not need our guilt or obligation in relationship, but He asks for our sacrifice, our self-sacrifice.
I find pity for those who live in obligation and guilt to God, those who saturate the hallways of religious institutions from week to week. I only find pity because they have choosen for their devotion to be somewhere other than the true relationship with God, yet they feel it necessary to offer their attendance as a guilt offering.
The creation’s body is only given because it willingly gives it. We give it because it is written in our spiritual structure and make-up. Yet we were shown the ultimate self-sacrifice in Jesus Christ and that love is beginning to make more sense to one of His creations, me.
This morning when I rose out of bed, I turned on the coffee pot, opened my Bible and began to pray. And after my morning with God, I began to close the Bible and carry on with my day until this caught my eye:
But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of religion but denying its power. Avoid these people!
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (Holman Christian Standard)
Now I know you might start reading the first sentance and think, “Oh no, he is about to begin a rant about the ‘last days’ and the Apocalypse.” But no. We are in the last days because Jesus rose from the dead and we are awaiting His return. But enough of that.
What caught my eye was the line, “…holding to the form of religion but denying its power.” That just brings chills down my back, for two reasons
1. I am a Youth Pastor – therefore, I teach about the power of the Gospel and what affect it should have on our lives and situations.
2. I don’t believe in the power of it.
Now, don’t cut me off as a Satanic, Pagan, follower of the Devil just yet. It has been a struggle of mine to really believe in this mystical power surrounding us that simply causes things to happen outside of our reality. For instance, in High School, one of our Youth Workers at church found out that she had cancer. So, that next Wednesday night we gathered around her to lay hands on her and pray for her. Soon to follow, the cancer was gone. Surely, in my mind, it was the medicine that reduced the cancer.
Another example, my wife loves to check the mail because she believes that money comes in it (crazy, I know). But she believes this because her parents have been blessed in many ways throughout life because of things that would come in the mail.
I, however, think that this idea is simply unrealistic. Yet, sure enough, my wife recieves things in the mail that are highly beneficial to us (strangely enough, they are always made out to her).
So as I teach about this healing power of the gospel, inside I am skeptical about it. But who isn’t? We live in a world surrounded by science and holding to actual facts/truth. We have been raised with the insight to throw out anything that cannot be proven. Yet, Christianity teaches that there is power in the gospel, through things unseen:
I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.
John 16:23b-24
So if I believe in the inerrant, truth of God’s word then I have to believe that some things just happen that we can’t explain, nor will we ever be able to explain, and that some how this is the mighty act of God in our world; that we can’t limit the ability of God and bind him by our own, limited mind.
What if we became a world filled with the idea, ‘God can do ANYTHING!’ Many times we say and even think we believe that, but in reality our hearts are hardened only to truly believe that ‘God can do anything, as long as it makes sense to me.’
“…holding to the form of religion, but denying its power.”
Lets pray together that we stop denying the power of the gospel, the power of Christ. I want to have faith that ‘money will come in the mail!’
What if you woke up every morning, did your hair, ate breakfast and was off to work/school, and each morning when you stepped out on your front porch, you overlooked this:
How soon would it be before you were taking advantage of such a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere?
One of the things that I am most fascinated with is history. At one point in time I wanted to be an archeologist in Egypt, uncovering lost cities and tombs, and I dreamed of being the first person to discover what (if anything) is in the Sphinx. Crazy and childish, I know.
But, even upon entering into my current Student Ministry position, I began looking into receiving a Masters in History (which is still very alive in the “Things I want to do” list). I have always been captivated by encountering people throughout history, and the ability to stand in places where history is rich and full which excite me deep in my spirit and soul.
So during this week, I have been filled with probing questions for my grandfather-in-law as I learned about the history of the farm which has been in Cass’s family for 200 years. I have been a nomad most of my life, continuously moving and residing in places for only a season, yet I have always had a strong desire to stay in one place for a very extended amount of time so that stories and legacies are built.
And the Wood family has much of that around here. Around the early 1800s, the first Wood husband inherited close to 300 acres of land in Millry, Alabama. Gorgeous hillside covered in tree, pines, creeks and beauty. There was a house built on the land where a few generations passed through. This land endured the Civil War while some of the family were involved, fighting for the South.
As time progressed and more stories and legacies were made, the original log house burnt down around the time of the Great Depression. The house, which I am currently sitting in, was then built in place of the log house dating it close to 75-80 years old. Over time, it has been added onto with rooms, closest, porches, etc.
About 40 yards from the back door sits a block of concrete which was part of the original doorsteps of the log house that holds as a reminder of the history this land has endured. To stare upon this lump of rock, it is exciting to think of the wind, rain, weather, feet and years these steps have lived through. And over 200 years later, this lump of rock shouts of stories from things we only read in text books.
As I walk the land of this farm, I can almost imagine the time and culture, without roads and working in the fields with the animals and the land. At times, throughout the week, I find myself staring out the window as the rest of the family is in the other room. I stare across the field, at that picture above, and cannot help for my imagination to saturate my thoughts.
For 200 years, the Wood family has worked, slaved and fought for their children and their grandchildren to have a place to take pride in and call their own. They did it not because it was popular, but because it was what was right. And to watch my grandfather-in-law tell stories never ending of his life and memories of this land, I can only contain myself until I to begin to build my story and my legacy to offer to my children and grandchildren.
My heart is untamed and wants so much to settle, but I plead that God would only allow me to settle for that which is beneficial for my family. To settle for something that would endure 200 years of hard work and commitment. That, I believe, is the pray of a man.
Yesterday morning, Cass and I went out to the tool shed, which was once a smoke house many years ago, and repainted it for her grandparents. I’ve been learning a lot about the history of this farm, and even though it is not my bloodline that has lived here for close to 200 years or more, I still feel that by being here, seeing the scenery and helping to work to maintain the place, it has earned me a small, minuscule piece of the history of this farm.
So as I balanced on a ladder yesterday with paint more on me then on the tool shed, some of the things Grandpa Jim was telling us (using his Southern, Alabamian accent) begin to make sense in the realm of ministry. In reality, as ministers, we are helping to restore the body and offer resources to maintain the heart for the people we serve, hoping that the good we do will withstand the weather and the storms, not by our empowerment but by God’s.
However, here are a few key terms used by my grandfather-in-law that can most definitely be incorporated into our style of ministry:
“We’re not going for look, we’re going for coverage!” - When spending 5 years in college and close to $100,000 to attend a college of your choice and study in the area of ministry you desire most, you can easily come out striving for a ministry program that is highly sufficient and productive, and you would hope it becomes the standard for which all other ministries in your area hold to. But in reality, Jesus tells us to give it all away, to stop striving for the world’s riches and begin to work on and with the heart of man; not to get caught up in the glamor of the world, yet seek out the grace of God and share hope with all those you encounter no matter how sloppy it might be.
We want a ministry that looks like it is being productive and is the model for which all ministry should be ran when in all truth, there are many more wounds throughout that ministry than there are people. However, Christ shows us that hope is not found in what the world deems as grand. The one that shows it’s vulnerability and wears it’s scars, the ministry that works to improve it’s stability and not just cover it’s flaws, this is the ministry of reality and of the future.
And as the storms hit, the winds rise and the hurricanes pass by, the only one of the two tool sheds (ministries) that surpasses the weather is the one with better coverage. Not the one with fancy doors and windows.
“Just sop it all on there, it doesn’t matter if it drips.” – If we are striving for coverage to be our goal, then we can’t afford to be greedy with the paint (Word of God). Take the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23). The farmer had the seed (God’s Word, the Gospel) and began to scatter it. Now, he was not scattering on the good soil only, rather he was scattering on all the soil (path, rock, thorns). He threw it every where he went, and whether he knew that the rocky soil would quickly lose the seed or not, the farmer still scattered seed in all the areas.
So as Cass and I continued to the paint the shed, we had to get as much paint on the brush as it would hold so that we could fill all the cracks and grains of the wood. Though much of the paint ended up on our clothing and the ground, the tool shed would take what it needed and it could use, even if we applied a heavy amount.
In ministry, we often fail to saturate the people with the Word of God to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts. In fact, churches have moved away from using the Bible as the primary source of their preaching and lessons. It could be one passage that offers the opening of the sermon, or even a simple verse that iterates our message within the sermon. We need to fall in love with God’s scripture and saturate our ministries with it instead of our own ideas and programs. Make sure the the people in the ministry take what it is needs and can use because they have to much to choose from.
“Just joog it. Get in between those cracks.” – Joog? Never heard that word before until now. In fact, it is clearly defined by my grandfather-in-law as pushing the brush into the wood alongside the edges so that all the exposed wood sidings are covered with the paint. Now, this is a tedious and time consuming project. Cass and I careful went along each column of siding, jooging them. This process secures all the wood from being exposed and damaged during any weather or storm.
But, how often do we joog our ministry, keeping a careful eye at all the edges of our program where the weather or storm begins its damage? Of course, we cannot prevent damage from occuring in all areas, but by carefully covering all exposed areas that are vulnerable for damage to take place we are able to protect our ministries and prolong their coverage.
However, the most important part of this process is the careful eye, taking the time to look over the edges and recognize problems areas before they may have to endure the storm with little or no coverage. Often times ministries set up programs that are extravagant and productive, but do not take the time to follow through with the complete process which in turn can badly harm the program, or worse destroy it all together.
“Look at that pretty thing!” – And last, enjoy the work of the Holy Spirit. Make sure you recognize that it was not you who did it, but you that was empowered by God to be responsible and maintian it. Enjoy the blood, sweat and tears that was put into it and marvel at how God can take something that was nothing (or close to nothing) and use someone like you to make it grand.
Ministry is something great and life-changing, but it is not about us. We are not the builders, we are the maintainers. Work hard, and enjoy the outcome! Peace.
8 hours and 3 states later, I find myself sitting on 68 acres of a postcard-perfect canvas contemplating the stages of life that we all might travel through at point or another (some might get stuck in the earlier of the stages). And I continue to be baffled by the question that rings out in my head continuously, “Why am I here?”
There are points where we find ourselves stretched thin, becoming addicted to the careers in our lives and losing passion for the people that surround and love us. So we purposeful retreat physically and in mind so that we can get back in tune with God and ourselves, and ‘figure this whole thing out.’
Yet, what if there is nothing really to figure out? What if you walk into your retreat begging and pleading for God to get it over with quickly so you can get on with your resting and go back to do it all over again, yet He just throws more at you? Where’s the clarification? Where’s the burning bush? Where’s the talking donkey? Where’s the frustration…oh, wait, there it is!
And it’s not that I am finding frustration in God not answering me, or let alone, fixing me but I am frustrated in the fact that I can’t figure it out. I can’t find the one little niche that will fix all the tireness, all the aggravation… And if I can’t find it then how on earth is God going to find it so he can fix it (problem!).
I forgot how to rest in God, yet God demands it:
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. — Exodus 20:11
Come to me all who are weak and weary, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. — Matthew 11:28-29
So how do you do that? What do you do? Find me and change me…
