Coupons and Angels (Luke 22)

Why are we sooooooooo human-centric?

So much of what we do with our lives is focused on us and what is best for me or for my family. We want to make sure we do the best we can in the time and world we are given so "I can live a fulfilled life and make my world work the best way it can." I was sucked into a show last night about extreme coupon shoppers. I was amazed as a woman went into her local grocery store and rang the bill up to $1900 dollars and then threaded the hundreds of coupons through until the total bill came out to $103.97. I couldn't believe it, but they showed it again and again people who walk into these stores and have 96-98% savings!

Several of these people had husbands who had lost their jobs or spending habits they had to make up for from college or whatever it was that got them started. Now this is what they do. Spending up to 6 hours of prep time before a shopping trip and then 4 hours in the store going through just the right motions to manage things just right. The place where it gets even more extreme is when you see their stock piles at home. Basements and closets and under-bed storage areas full of their stock pile. Our focus can zero in on anything. I have to admit I am going to be checking out some coupons, luckily I don't have a basement, lol.

The view of our world can get so narrow at times, coming all the way down to coupons. I not just thinking today about limiting the view to our families, our towns, our nations, or our world. I am talking about the limiting we do to make our view human-centric only.

In Luke 22 we begin to have things broadened for us. Judas is entered into by Satan, Jesus is strengthen by and angel, and the human race is invited to have thrones in heaven. We just don't get this. The disciples hear someone is going to betray Jesus and they ask for a little while who it might be, but then they go strait on to who will be the greatest. Jesus blows their minds but saying, "I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

We don't get it! I don't get it most of the time. We live our lives with our heads in the ground thinking we are the only ones here on this planet and off of this planet. But there are ancient beings right here with us. Angels, fallen and unfallen, moving through human existence. Jesus tells his disciples, "pray so that you don't fall into temptation." He moves away to pray pouring his heart out and an angel shows up to strengthen him.

What happens when we pray? What is going on that we cannot see? What would happen if our viewpoint shifted and widened, so we could pray for others believing angels will show up? How many demons of suicide can an angel take down? How many demons of depression can a couple of warriors from heaven ex-spell from a high school? How many marriages could be saved by a husband or wife being strengthened?

May our minds be opened today to the world around us, beyond humanity, into the supernatural. May the power of Christ move through our prayers and bring strength to the battles around us. Let's wake up people, open our eyes, and start really praying.

Airports and the coming of Jesus (Luke 21)

What is it that makes you heart race with sudden urgency?

So as you may remember from my last couple of blogs I was in Colorado last week. Wednesday morning I got myself out of bed and dragged through the motions of getting packed and out the door to the airport. I had come down with some sort of nasty bug which left me feverish and aching all over. I wasn't moving very fast so I gave myself plenty of time to get my rental car turned back in and get to the airport.

I got through security and rather uneventfully and still have a couple of hours before my flight. I wondered up to the mezzanine level with the restaurants and made my way to paradise cafe and bakery. They have some really good fresh food there and I was in need of something with less grease then the average fast food joint. So I ordered a sandwich and salad combo and sat down enjoying my meal with plenty of time to spare.

At about 10:45 I heard something over the loud speaker referencing a flight to Portland but didn't think much of it sense my flight wasn't leaving until noon. Then about 5 minutes later I heard it again. Flight number 369 to Portland is departing from gate B26. I look at my ticket and sure enough that's my flight. I grab my stuff and race towards to the gate in my weakened state. Maybe my phone hasn't made the time change I must be late.

I get to the gate with a rather panicked look on my face and get the word "Portland" out of my mouth. The jet way is not attached to the airplane. I start to panic that I have missed my flight. The woman kindly says the flight will be boarding next. The announcement had apparently been simply a gate change. I really wish they had said in the announcement "gate change!" Maybe they did and I missed it, but whatever the case may be, it got my attention.

Luke 21 catches my attention in much the same way. I have read the prophecies of Jesus many times. I know they talk about wars and rumors of wars. They talk about earthquakes, famines, and all kinds of other nasty things happening through out history. But it's through out history. It is to be expected, these things will happen says Jesus they are not the signs of the end.

But then we get to verse 25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." Sound familiar to anyone yet? "Men will faint from the terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

I read this and I can't help but think of Japan and the tilting of the earth's axis with the raging of the seas. It gives me the same feeling as "flight 369 to portland is departing from gate B26." There is something happening there is something coming. I have been content to know Jesus is coming sometime soon, but this is not soon as in sometime in the future this is soon as in soon.

I get a little bit of fear in my gut, until I read the rest of the passage. Stand up lift up your heads because the end of the world is coming??? No! Because your redemption is near! This is good news, this is a relief, this is what I want. I don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming, I think scripture is pretty darn clear about that one. But no matter how soon is soon I can look forward to it remembering why he is coming.

Redemption is near!!!

If you are not sure redemption is something you want to be near, I encourage you to take the time to find out. Take a look around this old earth and see the suffering abounding. Then take a look at Jesus again or for the first time and see if he isn't the kind of person you would like to spend eternity with. The nice part about it all is we can start spending time with him now, we don't have to wait for the day the earth falls apart.

May we take a better look at who Jesus is today and why his coming would be such a very, very good thing.

Water, wind, teaching, and Life! (Luke 20)

Are you really alive?

Day three of the wild at hear boot camp. We were asked today to think about when we feel alive. What is it that makes us feel alive. I started to make a list; times in the water: cliff diving, swimming in mountain lakes, scuba diving, body surfing, the wind: on top of a mountain, whipping past me on a snowboard, on the river in alaska holding me up, moments of teaching: when I have a new sermon on my lips, when I am fully connecting with an audience or class room, when the message God has for me to share is pouring through my finders on the keyboard.

What are the times when you feel alive?

I have asked this question around the country in different places when I speak and share the gospel. I have heard some great stories; surfing on top of cars, the day my child was born, hitting the highway with an full tank of gas, catching a wave, etc. When do you feel alive? Are you alive? Really?

In Luke chap 20 Jesus is accosted by some teachers of the law and others trying to trap him with questions. "Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar?" "Jesus, by what authority do you do these things?" Then we have a really complicated one. This group of Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection bring Jesus a story problem. "If there are seven brothers and the oldest brother marries a woman and has no children with her so she passes on to the next brother and the next through all seven with the same result, when we get to the resurrection whose wife will she be?" I love the way Jesus responds to these questions, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is Gods," and "Tell me by what authority John baptized and I'll tell you where I get my authority." The the story problem. "You guys don't even know what you're talking about, marriage in heaven? When the resurrection comes this whole scenario will be a non issue. Oh an P.S. the resurrection will happen. God is a God of the living not the dead. To him Abraham and all those guys are alive, he can see the end from the beginning."

The scope of God's vision is amazing. He is watching the parade of life from the blimp in the sky he can see the end, the middle, and the beginning. So for him all those lying in the grave right now are also alive. He is the God of the living not the dead. So here is my question; Is he our God? Are we alive or are we dead? I know Jesus is talking about the physical grave here, but I think it goes farther than that. God is the God of the living. Are we living? Is he our God?

Do we spend our lives in the dead doldrums of life, going from routine to routine appointment to appointment. When was the last time you felt alive and when was the last time that feeling involved God? He is the life giver, he is the God of the living. The letter to the church of Sardis in revelation says they are spiritually dead. They appear to be alive in the actions, but they are just going through the motions they have no life in them.

Wake up! Oh sleeper, wake up!

The God of life is calling you. Sin is the separation from God. It is no wonder sin leads to death. When we separate ourselves from the source of life, from the God of the living, we will surely die. Unfortunately a lot of us are walking corpses right now. We are physically alive walking, talking, and eating. But we are spiritually dead separated from God.

God is the God of the living. He looks at us and sees the potential of every man and every woman to come alive. he is drawing us to himself. He has reconciled us to himself through Jesus. There is no more barrier between us and him.

May we draw near to God today. May we come to him and approaching his throne of grace boldly stand in the glow of his glory the source of our life. May the God of life be our God, may we be fully alive!

Smoldering fire (luke 19)

Do you feel like your fire has gone out?

I am currently attending a wild at heart boot camp with John Eldredge and his team. It has been good so far and it seems each meeting although I have heard or read most of this stuff before there is something that hooks into me and makes me think and ask the questions of my life God has for me to ask.

We are having some time in silence right now and asking the questions how do we see ourselves and how do others see us. I have already spent my time of reflection on these questions and have come to an interesting word picture. I see my self as a smoldering fire. On the outside I appear as a dead heap of ashes, but under the surface there are still coals smoldering. Most of the time it looks as though I have gone out. This comes from multiple reasons, stress, depression, struggle with addictions, isolation. But every once in a while there is a flame up. Every once in a while the passion burns hot again. I will flame up in my study of the word of God and produce a new sermon or write a new blog. I will flame up and actually exercise consistently for a while. I will flame up and romance my wife. I will flame up and actively play with my daughter. Then I seem to go underground again the light in my eyes turns to ashes again.

I was reading Luke chap 19 this morning. I am struck by the fire burning in Jesus. There are times when he is fully ablaze like when he is clearing the temple for example. I think of the fantastic for movie with the human torch, flame on these guys are out of here. But even in the more subtle times. When Jesus is telling a parable of the minus there is a flame in his eyes. The figure in the analogy who represents Christ, the one who goes away to get authority for his rule comes back and has those who opposed him put to death in from of him. Jesus is not a particularly safe person for those who oppose the kingdom of God. He sends them out of the temple burning brightly, he tells them they will be put to death with fire in his eyes, and he offends them by going to the home of a sinner tax collector.

I pray today as you and I draw nearer the heart of God, as we become more like Christ the ashen times will become less and less and while I may not always be burning full on you will see the smolder in my eyes. The passion of the heart of God.

May this be your journey as well, may God rekindle your life today.

I love it when high school students shout! (Luke 18)

When was the last time you shouted in public?

When I was a youth pastor in Denver Colorado I had this group of kids who were completely unashamed. I loved it. I remember one weekend retreat in the mountains. We were walking around the camp with guitars in our hands shouting a song at the top of our lungs and the whole gang was totally going for it. The amazing thing about this group was they would do this in public as well. Another time downtown Boulder we had the guitars out again and we were singing and shouting for the whole street to hear. One of the guys who had some low blood sugar issues went to get some pizza. He sat down next to a guy to eat and while they were sitting there the student asked this random stranger what he thought of those crazy Christians out there singing. These kids were just bold and it was awesome.

I sit here writing this trying to remember the last time I sang at the top of my lungs let alone outside on a public street. It has been a while I have to admit. I might sing at the top of my mind while driving or something, but it has been a while sense it has come out, and a really long time sense anyone else has heard it.

In Luke 18 there is a story of Jesus healing a blind man. When the man hears Jesus is coming by he starts to shout. The people around Jesus try to shut him up. He shouts all the louder. Jesus hears him and comes to him. Jesus heals him and now the man is following Jesus shouting praises to God and everyone else joins in as well. I wonder, do we shut down the praise of God sometimes because we shut down those who are seeking him?

The crowd was not praising God before the healing, they were just walking along following Jesus trying to be a part of what was happening. They even tried to stop the blind man from calling out. That's not proper it's not right do disturb the master. This happens earlier in the passage as well. People are bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples try to send them away. Don't disturb the master he has a lot to do he is too busy for you.

Its no wonder we don't come to God more often in our lives. We are always to busy for others so why wouldn't the God of the universe be to busy for us. He has a lot on his plate after all. But he's not to busy for his children. He wants them near, he wants to bless them, hear their cries, and heal them.

God isn't too busy for you.

I pray we would learn to follow Jesus in this as well. I pray we wouldn't be found too busy or too important to stop for the children and for those in need. I am often caught in this, running too and fro and not taking the time to stop, listen, care, and possibly help someone.

May we know God isn't to busy for us today, and may we also not be to busy for others. May we accept the care Jesus wants to give to us and in turn extend the same care to those around us. And when we meet with God and he with us, may our praise ring out for all to hear and know what he has done!

God isn't to busy, are you?

Jesus Uncensored...ouch! (Luke 16)

Have you ever let the full impact of Jesus' words hit your life?

When I was in high school, my friend and I rented a movie called fearless with Jeff Bridges. It looked interesting enough, we weren't really all that picky. We were going over to his girlfriend's house. She had one of her friends over. I guess it was supposed to be a double date or something...maybe...I don't know. Anyway we put the movie in and began to watch the story unfold of a man in a plane crash, suffering from PTSD, who thought he was invincible, and saved many of those around him. Only to find out he needed saving himself. We got to the end of the movie and the girls were ready to talk. My friend and I couldn't say a word. He walked up to the VCR, got the movie out, and we walked out the door. The impact of the story was just too strong for words.

I was at a planning meeting the other day for camp meeting. The theme this year for the over all camp meeting is "Coming back home." Basically a call to meet Jesus again and reconnect with him on the foundational level. We talked about what this might mean for the youth tent this year and discovered meeting Jesus might mean something very different then some sort of nostalgic home coming. If we were to meet the real Jesus, to hear the uncut and uncensored message of Jesus, it might just make us a bit uncomfortable. The impact might be more than we are ready for.

I find this to be true in Luke 16. There are several difficult parables and teachings here for us to take in. Jesus starts with the story of the shrewd manager encouraging us to use worldly wealth to make relationships for eternity. That sounds OK, sure we are all for using money in any way we can. But he follows this us with you can't serve God and Money. The money theme is continued with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. They die and the rich man goes to hell and Lazarus the beggar at his door goes to heaven. We don't have any reason for the disparity other than the rich man had luxury and ease in this life and Lazarus did not. Do we go to hell because we have experienced luxury and ease in this life? This parable suggests the answer might be yes, especially in you have a beggar suffering at your front door and do nothing about it. This is a hard teaching.

In the middle of the money talk Jesus reminds us of his stance on divorce. If you divorce and marry another you commit adultery, if a man marries the woman who has been divorced he commits adultery. When was the last time you hear a sermon on this one? The divorce rate in the church is the same outside the church, both running at about %50. These are hard teachings! Jesus uncensored? It makes us just a little uncomfortable.

The positive side of these teachings are really worth thinking about though. If there are poor on our door step caring for them is important. If the rest of the world is suffering for lack of food and water and we have plenty, then let us care for them. Marriage as well. Rather than having to worry about divorce and adultery let's be intentional in making our marriages even better.

I am glad we have a God who is forgiving and when we are less than loving to the poor or too our spouses he forgives us when we come running back to him. I also want to let the words of Jesus impact my life. It's uncomfortable sometimes to really engage with the down and out, with the poor, with the homeless and addicted. When we are running around in this world just trying to make ends meet, its hard not to get focused on money. With all we need to get done in life it can be difficult to step back, take some time, and focus on our marriages. When was the last time you had a really true heart to heart with your spouse? When things blow up at home the grass is greener on the other side of the desk.

When we let the words of Jesus, the uncensored Jesus, truly impact out lives it can be difficult. But it's worth it! My marriage is living proof!

May we open ourselves up to the words of Christ today and let them impact our lives. May we become followers of the uncensored Jesus.

What are you doing with those punk kids? (luke 15)

Have you ever been drawn to a group of people, just inexplicably drawn?

Sense I started youth ministry there is a group of students I am just drawn too. I think this is true for all of us. There are people who we are drawn too, people we identify with, maybe people who we are like. The whole "birds of a feather" thing. I took one of those silly little face book quizzes a couple of months ago to find out what kind of high school crowd I would be hanging with in today's groups. It turns out I'm an emo punker at heart who really wants pink hair.

I don't know about the pink hair, but I know these are the kids I am drawn to in ministry. The brooding artists, the fringe kids, the one who march to a different drummer who no one else seems to hear and who is playing with some serious ferocity. I remember going on an 8th grad trip a few years back now and meeting one of those kids. I knew the moment I met him, I wanted him for my student leadership team. He was just one of those kids I was inexplicably drawn too. I had to wait 3 years, but he finally came and engaged and led. He is leading still, just by who he is. I had the chance to tell him as well. "I wanted you man, from the first time we skated together, I knew God had something special for you."

These are not the stereotypical youth group kids. These aren't the jocks who are going to draw everyone else in. Not the popular crowd. Jesus didn't hang with the popular crowd either. In fact the pharisees in Luke chap 15 where pretty offended by the crowd Jesus ran with. Why do you spend time with these sinners and eat with them!!! Jesus tells the lost parables at this point. A lost sheep, the shepherd leaves the 99 in open country to find the one. A lost coin, the widow sweeps, cleans, and searches the house although she still has nine others. The lost son, after a life of rebellion returns to his father to be a servant, instead he finds his son-ship reinstated.

Each one of these stories has the "God" figure searching for and drawn to the one who is lost, the one who has wandered off, the one who is in strait up rebellion. I desire for my heart to beat with the heart of God don't you? So who is the one in the corner in your life? Who is the lost one? Who is the one in rebellion? Jesus is drawn to these and so if our hearts are to beat as his, then we must be too.

This is not to say the jocks, scholars, nerds, and pretty people don't need Jesus. Each of us has our affinity for a certain group of people. There are lost sheep, coins, and sons among them all. Search for them, look for them, find them and when you do celebrate them with all your heart. The angels are throwing a party, so let's join in!

May you find yourself drawn today to the lost ones, the rebellious ones, the ones Jesus is drawn too.