Interesting quote

While raking the yard today I finished listening to the audio version of Anne Lamott's latest book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.  Now that I've heard it, I need to buy the book so that I can go back through it and note all of the good quotes.  Here's one that I remembered... 

 

"We are not humans having a spiritual experience.  We are spirits having a human experience."

 

PS - I love Anne Lamott.  I would recommend reading Traveling Mercies: Thoughts on Faith first.  Just to get to know her.  She is raw and honest.  She is a left-wing, feminist, recovering alcoholic, San Francisco Democrat who, in her words, "didn't mean to become a Christian."  But she did and I'm glad.  It's fun hearing her views and her love for Christ.

Thoughts on Race, Mortality, and Love

Last Saturday I had the privilege of performing a wedding ceremony for a wonderful young couple.  It was my first opportunity to ever be involved with an interracial marriage.  The groom was black and the bride was white.  As I stepped out into the wedding chapel at the beginning of the service, it was hard not to notice that everyone on the groom's side (with the exception of my wife) was black and everyone on the bride's side was white.  The center aisle clearly divided not only the families but the races. 

 

However, we did an unusual thing near the beginning of the ceremony.  After standing and singing "Amazing Grace," I asked both sets of parents to stand.  Then I said, "It is traditional for the father of the bride to give her away.  However, in a real sense, both sets of parents share in the giving and receiving.  It is the joining of two families."  Then I asked the parents of the groom if they not only gave their son to be the bride’s husband, but also joyfully receive the bride as their daughter.  The groom's parents replied, "We do."  The same question was asked to the bride's parents.

 

Beth told me that the folks sitting near her really liked that.  The parents and families gave this Christian couple their blessings.

 

It was a joyful union of not only a man and a woman but also two families...two families with different histories, different cultures, and different skin colors.  I found it interesting that this wedding was on MLK weekend and thought to myself that this ceremony would probably not have been well received 40 years ago.  We haven't solved all of our race relation problems but I thought it significant that this wedding was a joyous occasion between these two families on the annual weekend when we think about these things.

 

Sunday night, my 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, came home crying.  I thought maybe she'd gotten a ticket or hit a dog or something.  She had just received word that one of her lifelong classmates was killed in a car accident.  She had lost another friend in a car wreck at the beginning of this school year.  Two friends in one year.  It's almost not fair.  There was another boy in the car with Bailey's friend.  A total of three students from her high school have died in car crashes.  It is difficult for these teenagers to face.  It is definitely a wake-up call to the dangers we face everyday in our cars and to the mortality of us all.  God bless those families and the students at NAHS.

 

Yesterday I was reading C.S. Lewis.  He wrote something that I thought was profound.  The world exists not so that we can love God but so that God can love us.  He went on to explain that our job is to soak up his love for us.  We tend to get so busy loving God and working for God that we don't take time to let him love us.  At least I do anyway.  I need to stop my busyness for God long enough to enjoy his love for me.  I confess that I don't do that near enough.

She Did What She Could

I was recently made aware of an interesting statement in the Bible that I had not noticed before.  Mark 14 tells the story of the woman who broke the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus' head.  Some of those present thought she was foolish to waste what amounted to more than a year's salary worth of perfume.  Jesus rebuked them and said that she had done a beautiful thing.  Then the statement that struck me where Jesus said, "She did what she could."

 

This beautiful thing that the woman did to Jesus was more than sacrificing a fragrance worth more than the average Hebrew's annual salary.  The beautiful thing was that she did all that she could for Jesus.  Like the widow who gave all that she had, this woman exhibited her love for Christ by giving all that she had.

 

Which begs the question to us.  Are you doing all that you can?  Are you loving God and loving others (The Great Commandment - Matthew 22:37-39) with all that you are and all that you have? 

Judy Barnes

We lost a wonderful missionary this week.  Judy Barnes, a long-time friend of our family, was overcome by an aggressive cancer last Sunday morning.  Survivors include her husband, Ed, sons, Kevin and Kelly, daughter, Jenny, their spouses, and 11 grandchildren.  She was 57.

 

I wish you could have known Judy and her heart for missions.  She was a missionary in Tanzania and Malawi.  She especially loved ministering to children of AIDS victims.  She and Ed formed a partnership that showed the love of Christ in practical ways.  I had the privilege of helping Ed put together a PowerPoint slide presentation to be used at her funeral tomorrow.  He gave me some pictures of Judy and asked me to put quotes from Proverbs 31 (The Godly Woman) under them.  What a blessing it was to be able to review Judy's life and see photographic evidence of her godliness.  Where Proverbs 31 says, "She holds out her hands to the needy,"  there is a picture of Judy giving food to the poor.  Where Proverbs 31 says, "She opens her arms to the poor," there she is again holding a small child in a remote African village.  I told Ed that many people claim to know Proverbs 31 women but he has pictures proving that Judy was one!  Every passage from that chapter had a picture of Judy in action doing what God's Word said a godly woman would do.  I wish you could see it. 

 

Pray for this awesome and godly family during this time of grief.

A Christmas Story

 

And there were in the same country, children keeping watch over their stockings by the fireplace.  And, lo, Santa Claus came upon them; and they were sore afraid.  And Santa said unto them; “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people who can afford it.  For unto you will be given great feasts of turkey, dressing, and pies; and many presents; and this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the presents, wrapped in bright paper, lying beneath a tree adorned with tinsel, colored balls, and lights.  And suddenly, there will be with you a multitude of relatives and friends, praising you and saying, ‘Thank you so much, it was just what I wanted.’ 

 

And it shall come to pass as the friends and relatives have gone away unto their homes, the parents shall say to one another, ‘Wow!  What a mess to clean up!  I’m too tired.  Let’s go to bed and pick it up tomorrow.  Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year!’  And they go with haste to their beds.” 

The Thanksgiving Killer

(The following is the introduction to a message from Thanksgiving weekend 2003.  Thought it was worth repeating.)

 

How was your Thanksgiving?  Mine?  Well, we filled up on turkey, honey ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rice and gravy, cream corn, dressing, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli casserole, mmm, mmm.  For dessert, we had red velvet cake, pecan pie, coconut cake, fudge, and chocolate chip cookies.

 

When I walked in the kitchen to see all of the work that went into the meal it looked like the first three rows at a Gallagher show. 

 

We all sat back stuffed, miserable, and grateful for all of the food.  We reflected on the past and dreamed about the future.  We enjoyed seeing family and friends that we don’t often see.  Later that night, I went to bed grateful for all the blessings that I have.

 

Then the Thanksgiving killer arrived.  Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving when Christmas shopping officially begins. It is represented by this huge newspaper that arrived at my house.  The largest newspaper of the year with sales inserts galore.  Virtually every retail store in Augusta has an ad or insert in here.

 

Why is this the Thanksgiving killer?  Because on Thanksgiving Day, we thought about all that we have and we were grateful.  But on the day after Thanksgiving through the rest of the holidays, we focus not on what we have but on what we want.

 

The Thanksgiving killer is the Christmas commercialism that says we need more.  Just when we have a day to be thankful for all of our blessings, the Thanksgiving killers show up and tell us that we will not be happy until we have something more.

 

Someone wrote, “Half the world is unhappy because it can’t have the things that are making the other half unhappy.”

 

Author Steve Brown writes, “The most unhappy person in the world is not someone who didn’t get what he or she wanted. The most unhappy person is the one who got what he or she wanted and then found out that it wasn’t as wonderful as expected. The secret of a happy life is not to get what you want but to live with what you’ve got. Most of us spend our lives concentrating on what we don’t have instead of thanking God for what we do have.” (Servant Magazine, September, 1993, p. 8)

 

Our problem is that we are looking at the Christmas catalogs focusing on what we want rather than looking at our photo albums and rejoicing in what we have!

The Sin of Busyness

Busyness is the American way.  It’s an expectation.  It’s a status symbol.  We greet each other with “How’s it going?”  “Busy” is the reply.  You don't have to have small children to be busy.  You can have a job, serve in a volunteer organization or two, take a class, and be active in the church and you'll have a full calendar.  My in-laws have been retired for many years now and they claim that they are busier now than ever. 

 

There's an old saying that says, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."  I believe that busyness is the devil's workshop too.  There’s a line to be drawn somewhere between busyness and laziness.  If idleness is the devil’s workshop and busyness is the devil’s workshop then how do we get into God’s workshop?  As God’s people, we are to be progressing, moving along, and growing.  But it is necessary for us to know the difference between progress and pressure.  A Christian should always be progressing but rarely in a hurry.  Where to draw that line between busyness and laziness can only be determined by you and God.

 

It isn't wrong to be busy.  Look through the Bible and you'll see godly men and women who were busy.  Moses, David, Joshua, and Paul were busy doing God’s work.  But you need to know that a busyness that is not directed by God is not blessed by God.  Busyness can devastate your spiritual life as easily as idleness can.  Jesus did not say, “I have come so that you can be busy.”  He said, “I have come that you may have life.”

 

One of the keys to living a satisfying Christian life is finding that path that allows you to progress and grow and serve as a Christian at a pace that doesn't create burnout and broken dreams. 

A Life Changing Day

27 years ago today, my life changed forever. It was on this day when I understood that if I was going to live a life with meaning and purpose I would need to hand it over to God. So I did. The night before, I called a Christian friend of mine, Richard Smith, and asked him what was up with all the Jesus stuff I'd been hearing about lately. In August 1978, some friends and I went on a fishing excursion one night. None of us were church-goers or religious at the time but somehow the subject of the second coming of Christ came up. It intrigued me. I didn't know anything about it. I thought he'd already been here once. I didn't know he was coming again!

Later, as the school year progressed, there was a spiritual awakening going on at our school. I didn't realize it at the time but God was up to something as he was getting the attention of a lot of high school kids. A small group of Christian students were making quite an impact on our school. They weren't preachy or holier than thou. They were just loving life and all of those around them. I wanted what they had. My curiosity led me to learn the basics of the gospel and enough interest to attend a youth-oriented revival service at the local First Baptist Church. I attended that night with one of my fishing buddies. I knew that I needed to become a follower of Christ but I was scared. Thus, the call to Richard on the night of October 25.

After my conversation with Rich, I knew what I needed to do. I went to First Baptist again the next night and Don Brock, our youth pastor, showed me the way to Jesus. That one decision has changed my life.

Since becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ, he has blessed me immensely over and over and over again. Has it been easy? No way. The Christian life is not an easy life. But it is the most awesome thing in the universe to have my Creator, who loves me more than I can imagine, leading me every step of the way. I recommend it to everyone.

Velvet Elvis book review

Rob Bell's first book, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, is as enticing and challenging as his teachings from his pulpit. Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI, has quickly climbed to the top of the charts among young, emerging church leaders. His curiosity, insight, and honesty makes for a somewhat "outside the box" type of read.

What if the Velvet Elvis painting he owns was the definitive painting of Elvis? What if no other paintings of Elvis were necessary? What if that one painting of the King defined everything about him? It's crazy to think that there is only one accurate portrayal of Elvis.

What would the church be like if someone decided that there is only one way to do church? What if we did not allow church leaders and next generation Christians to paint the church in a fresh way? What if we said that the church has already been accurately portrayed and there is no reason to mess with it? It would be sad.

Rob Bell challenges us to think new thoughts about Jesus and how we "paint" his church. I highly recommend this book.

Click on the headline above to get it at www.timelywords.spreadtheword.com

The Perfect Church

Question: What has so many imperfections that, as a result, it is perfect? Maybe the church can be compared to a golf ball. A ball with one dimple, i.e., imperfection, makes it worthless. A ball full of imperfections helps it fly straight and true. (Assuming that the person striking the ball is any good!) The church, when full of imperfections, is perfect. It is the way God designed it.

It is generally agreed upon that there is no such thing as a perfect church. When Christian leaders define the perfect church they go to Acts 2, especially vv. 42ff. In this passage, we read about the earliest Christians studying and learning together, worshiping corporately, sharing meals and common physical needs. There was harmony, unity, love, and apparent heaven on earth.

But not far into this model of perfection do we discover it’s fallacies. By the time we get to Acts 5, we read that Ananias and Sapphira deceived their perfect spiritual family. Acts 6 introduced the first formal complaints against church leaders. Partners in the faith were being overlooked. Why is it that when we read Acts 2 we forget that the people in the early church in Jerusalem were sinners just like us?

The perfect church, as we define it, was not full of perfect people. Yet, in God’s eyes, it was perfect. It was perfect because it was full of imperfect people. It was perfect because it included those who had fallen but on their way down they grasped God’s perfect solution, Jesus. It was perfect because when God created it he most likely responded like he did after his creation in Genesis. It was good. God created the Church. When God creates something, it is good. The Church is good. Yes, it is perfect.

How can the Church be perfect when it is filled with imperfect people? Who else is going to fill it? If the Church is created for mankind it must be occupied by people who are prone to sin. There are no other people available. We are sinners. We are born sinners. We will die sinners. This is a fact of the Christian life. However, God’s grace has been revealed to us in Christ so that he overlooks our sin and sees us as righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). When God looks at a follower of Christ, he sees a perfect, forgiven sinner. When God looks at a church full of his followers, he sees perfect, forgiven followers of Christ. God sees perfect people in his perfect church.

The Impromptu Football Clinic

I’ve done my fair share of knocking on stranger’s doors in my ministry career. Confrontational evangelism was never my favorite thing to do. I always felt like I was intruding on people’s personal lives when I arrived at their door unannounced between 7 and 8:30 PM on a weeknight. That’s because I was.

I can recall a few victories over the years and I know many churches rely on door-to-door visitation but is it really effective to invade the lives of strangers to share the most important message in the world? Yes, there are periodic victories but how many defeats have there been due to our bad timing? How many forced gospel presentations have hurt the cause of Christ? Wouldn’t non-followers fare better if we took the time to establish a relationship with them instead of bombarding them with the greatest news known to man?

I was reminded of this one day on the beach. My wife and I were in the middle of a wonderful vacation on the Carolina shore enjoying our paperback pursuits when I looked up and saw a father and two boys throwing a football. Of course, this is a common scene at the ocean so there was nothing to note other than the wonderful picture of a father sharing a bond with what appeared to be his two sons. Being an athletic father myself, I stopped and watched them throw the ball around a little. Each boy appeared to be no older than ten-years old. The father was demonstrating how to properly catch the football as they were enjoying the sun and salt air.

Suddenly, their game of catch became an impromptu NFL training camp. A bicycle-riding gentleman in his 60’s approached the trio and obviously felt compelled to stop and share his knowledge of football with the group. Before I knew it, the father and sons were running drills and pass plays on the beach at the command of the Coach who was yelling, clapping and pumping his fist with every perfect play.

“How odd?” I thought. Was this man a NFL scout? A NCAA football coach? A retired high school coach still carrying a passion to share his knowledge? Maybe he was none of these things. Having coached a little football in my past, I knew that the fundamentals that the Coach was showing the young men were sound. How to properly hold the ball. How to catch it. How to do a three-step drop. There was nothing wrong being taught at this spontaneous football clinic. The father played along with the Coach. One boy apparently didn’t want to invest much time into it. He went in for a swim just a few minutes after the session began. The other boy patiently listened and did what the Coach insisted.

Is this what the trio wanted when they started their game of pass? Weren’t they just passing the time away on a lazy day at the beach? Did these boys really have a passion for football? Did they even play organized football? I know they didn’t anticipate Vince Lombardi riding up on a bicycle on the beach and giving them a personal twenty-minute clinic on the fundamentals of throwing and catching a football.

The Coach had the knowledge and obviously had the passion to share his wisdom. Everything that he showed them included proper fundamental football techniques. He apparently knew what he was talking about.

But I had to ask myself, “How was it received? Did the father and sons appreciate the mini-camp experience or did they tolerate it? Don’t they want him to go away?” Chris, the future Hall of Famer who stuck it out the entire time and the only name I picked up throughout the entire event, was tired. He bent over at one point trying to catch his breath. The Coach wore him out in a matter of minutes. When pleasantries were exchanged at the end of the practice and the Coach finally got on his bike to leave, Chris fell into his dad’s arms as they made their way off of the beach to their condo. To hit the showers, I presume.

Is this the effect confrontational evangelists have on people? Do Christians too often bombard people with all of their knowledge of the gospel and life without first building a relationship? Does the confrontational evangelist’s audience just tolerate the twenty-minute impartation of wisdom on life wishing he would go away? Does the reality of the gospel of Christ really sink in over a matter of a few minutes of unannounced coaching?

I confess that I found myself thinking that I was like the Coach many years ago. Thank God I’m in a ministry today where knocking on cold, even warm, doors is discouraged. We let people investigate Christianity and get to know us first before we put on our gospel clinics. I wonder if Chris will ever apply what he learned that day to his football career. I wonder if he played catch with his dad the next day looking over his shoulder for the Coach and on guard ready to run to the ocean if he saw him coming again.

Passions and Burdens

A popular question among Christian leaders today is "What's your passion?" In other words, what makes you tick? What keeps you up late at night? What conversations motivate you to action? What are you built for?

For me, my passion came to me in 1985. I believe without a doubt it is a God-given passion. My passion is for the Church. (That's Church with a capital C, i.e., not just my local church but the entire Body of Christ as defined in the New Testament.) My passion is to see the Church grow in unity, grow in numbers, and grow in effectiveness. As I read the story of the early Church in the book of Acts, especially Acts 2:42ff, I think and pray, "God, give us that kind of church."

Yesterday in a long church staff meeting I told them how frustrating church work can be. This was not a news flash to them. They know this better than I do! But my point was to remind us all that ministry is a cycle that never ever ends. There is always one more person to reach, one more person to mature in the faith, one more person to challenge, and one more vacant spot in the nursery. Unlike many jobs, our job has no end in sight.

This being true sometimes a passion becomes a burden. I have allowed my passion to become a heavy burden too many times. Quite honestly, I've struggled with it quite a bit this year. Finally, just the other day, God gave me relief from this. He brought me to Psalm 68:19 which states, "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."

This was a refreshing reminder to me. I don't have to carry my burdens each day. God will bear them for me. Now, I will begin each day reviewing this verse. In fact, it is at the top of my to-do list so that I will see it first thing in the morning. I will carry on with my God-given passion and allow God to lead me in the fulfillment of it but I will let God carry my burdens each day. I'm not big enough to carry them on my own.

Costa Rica Update

(This post should have been up prior to the previous post.  For some reason, it didn't show up so I'm posting it again so that the previous post makes a little more sense! GJ)

 

I'm in San Jose, Costa Rica on a mission trip with a team of 12 from our church.

 

Everything is going great so far.  We've been really busy.  We are already exhausted.  We had a little down time this afternoon.  Friday night we had orientation at the missionary house, unloaded, and got settled.  Went out to eat at a typical Tico restaurant.  Saturday AM we went to a July 4 celebration for Gringos.  Phil Jones, our host missionary who is also a band leader/singer, was one of the featured singers so we went to support him.  There were between 5000-10,000 people there.

 

Saturday afternoon we gave away over 650 articles of clothing in the precario (a 3 acre shanty town with 1600+ Nicauraguan refugees) where we are serving this week.  Last night we went to Walkers of the Covenant Church in Alajuela.  My son, Cliff, sang a couple of solos.  He did a great job.  I preached and Pedro did a wonderful job translating for me.

 

This morning we started with a Men's Breakfast at 8.  Then church services in the precario at 10.  Cliff accompanied Phil during praise and worship.  I shared a brief message.  After church, we grilled about 500 hotdogs for the people of the precario.  We came home and grilled hamburgers for lunch.  We've had some down time this afternoon and prep time for tomorrow.  Tonight, after dinner we'll have some more devotional time and sharing.

 

Our folks have been super.  God has already used this experience to move in their lives.  I look forward to our team time tonight to hear how God is speaking to our team.

 

 

A Note from the Pacific side of CR

We are at the Fiesta Resort tonight in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  I´m in the internet cafe checking emails.  The all inclusive resort is very nice.  They have 3 pools and 3 restaurants to choose from.  The beach is black sand.  We got here around 1 PM today.  Checked in our rooms and went to the pools after eating lunch at the Seafood buffet.

 

Everything is still going well.  We will leave here around 2 tomorrow.  Will be back in San Jose around 4:30.  We´re going to show Madagascar in the precario tomorrow night. The kids are going to love it.  We´re going to leave for the airport at 11 Saturday AM and I´ll see you late Saturday night.  I hope our flights are on time.

 

It´s been a wonderful week.  The team has been awesome.

The Rock Wall

(This is a story I've included in my upcoming book, Selfless Living in a Selfish World.)

    

    Nine-year-old Mak Shulist of Ellisville, Missouri was battling an incurable brain tumor that robbed him of his sight when the Make-A-Wish Foundation came to his side for comfort.  Instead of wishing for a meeting with a celebrity or going to a theme park, Mak wished that his friends could have a rock-climbing wall on the school playground.

    "It says a lot about the family and the type of person he was -- selfless, thoughtful and caring," said Dave Knes, principal at the 600-student school.  "We learned a lesson from a 9-year-old -- that even when we're going through tough times we should be thinking of other people and not ourselves."

    “I thought he was going to wish that there was a medicine or something, and he just wished for that,” schoolmate Will Randall told a local television station. “And I was like, ‘Whoa, he's nice.’”

    Mak's health was declining and the Make-a-Wish Foundation had to work fast to build the 7-foot-high climbing wall.  It took volunteers less than two weeks for the wall to be erected and cost nearly $15,000.  On the Thursday before Mak died, his principal videotaped Mak’s friends playing on their playground’s newest piece of equipment.  Mr. Knes immediately delivered the video to Mak’s parents so that he could hear the audio of his schoolmates laughing and playing on the wall.  His mom said that he was able to hear their joy on tape.  The next day, Mak died with his family at his side.

    "Every time I'm going to get on this wall I think about him and what he did for us," said one of his friends, Michael Stafford.

    No doubt, Mak Shulist left a wonderful example of selflessness to an entire town.  In the midst of the pain and agony of his illness, he wanted his friends to have fun.  Mak wanted his schoolmates to have an abundance of joy on the playground.  His attitude mirrored that of God – to sacrifice self for the joy of others.

    There is no better example of unselfishness than the example of God in Christ Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  He selflessly went to the cross for you and me knowing that it would bring us joy and – in an unusual way – it was his pleasure to sacrifice himself.  Hebrews 12:2 says, “Who (Christ) for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.”  While giving his life up for our own joy, Jesus had an inner joy knowing his sacrifice would pay unbelievable dividends.  This is the kind of example we are to mirror.

 

 

A Fool For Christ

The story is told of an agnostic anthropologist who visited some islands in the South Pacific. He was critical of the chief of the tribe. "You’re a great leader, but it’s a pity you’ve been taken in by those Christian missionaries. They only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now.  It’s foolish for you to accept their story." 

 

The old chief said, "Do you see that big rock over there? That’s where we used to smash the heads of our victims. See the furnace next to it? That’s where we used to roast the bodies of our enemies. If it hadn’t been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from cannibals into Christians, we’d be eating you for supper tonight. Be glad I’m a fool for Christ.”

American Idol

If I hear one more thing about American Idol I'm gonna puke.

Before I begin this article that may at times sound like it's coming from the keyboard of a raging fundamentalist, I need to confess.  I watch TV.  A couple of weeks ago I sat in front of TBS and watched a 3 hour Friends marathon about Ross going to England to get married and Rachel following him over to tell Ross she loved him.  It was addicting.  I usually make time to watch Everybody Loves Raymond.  The final episode is this coming Monday at 8 - a 90 minute show.  I like to watch reruns, proven classics, like Seinfeld, Andy Griffith, and All In The Family.  I've caught parts of 24 and Revelations and have been interested but haven't made time to watch them.  Teenagers and church activities keep us busy. 

Years ago in my first pastorate after graduating seminary, I had a revelation.  I used to go out a lot at night visiting members and prospects.  Monday Night Visitation we called it.  There was one particular subdivision of cookie cutter homes where I made a lot of visits.  Most of those homes had a large bay window in front and you could see the living room inside.  I remember cruising down the streets of the neighborhood at night seeing house after house after house with a square blue light glowing in each den.  "How much television do people watch?" I asked myself.  Is this all they do with their down time?  Does anyone know how to read or converse or, God forbid, play a board game with their kids?

You've seen the studies about how many hours per day people watch TV.  I'm not going to go Google the statistics right now because you know it is embarrassing.  I'm probably a little below the national average.  We don't and never have had a TV in our bedroom.  Our pastor advised us not to when we were married almost 22 years ago.  I don't wake up with the TV on.  I don't watch it much in the daytime so what TV I watch is at night.  (Oh yeah, I like to watch The Daily Show at 11 PM, weeknights on Comedy Central.) 

I cringe when I hear people talk about not having enough time to get important things done, like spending time with God and family.  Then they tell me every detail of every show that was on NBC during prime time the night before.  A few weeks ago I included a story from John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life, about the couple who may only have seashells to show God when they get to heaven.  (Go read it now if you haven't already.)  What if we get to heaven one day and God reveals to us that we spent 145,549 hours watching the American Idol, i.e., TV?  Won't that be a proud moment? 

 

How to change a life

"It takes a changing life to change a life." - Joseph Stowell

 

 

A New Thought: Being Balanced

For years I've heard the analogy that when we have our relationship with God in order (illustrated with a vertical line) our relationships with others (horizontal line) will be in order too. You've probably heard this illustration many times. Recently I was made aware of an interesting thought, i.e., the need for the relationship with God to be balanced. If our relationship with God goes too far either way (fanatical or rebellious) it affects our relationship with others.

In other words, if you are going to be an influence for Christ in the culture and in the lives of those around you then you need to be sure you don't go to any extremes. An extreme devotion (e.g., a monk isolated in a monastery or a radical fundamentalist) has little or no influence on those around him. Let's face it. Most people think they are kooky. A rebellious lifestyle that claims a relationship with God but shows no evidence of a genuine relationship with him (e.g., Christians on the twice a year plan who attend church on Easter and Christmas) has no influence either.

We must balance our relationship with God so that we can have a solid relationship and influence on others.

Don't Waste Your Life

Here's an excerpt from John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life.  I thought this was strong.

 

In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa.  Ruby was over 80.  Single all of her life, she poured it out for one thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick.  Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby's side in Cameroon.  The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly.  I asked my congregation: Was that a tragedy?  Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ - even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles.  No, that is not a tragedy.  That is a glory.  These lives were not wasted.  And these lives were not lost.  "Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:35).

 

I will tell you what a tragedy is.  I will show you how to waste your life.  Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader's Digest, which tells about a couple who "took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51.  Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells."  At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke.  A spoof on the American Dream.  But it wasn't.  Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life - your one and only precious, God-given life - and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells.  Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: "Look, Lord.  See my shells."  That is a tragedy.  And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream.  Over against that, I put my protest: Don't buy it.  Don't waste your life.