Unplugged.

The Church in America is unplugged, it's powerless.  By power I mean spiritual gravitas which is the result of a clear anointing from God.  Most of the country perceives the confessing church to be the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.  I grew up hearing my mom say, "if the shoe fits wear it!"  Unfortunately, we've been tagged with this perception the old fashioned way, we've earned it.  We've chosen to contend for the soul of America using the political process--a grave error.  The shoe fits. 

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power."  2 Tim 3.1-4 

We routinely come to cultural "waypointes--places on a journey where the traveler can stop and change course."  It's past time for the confessing church to change our trajectory and become THE church. The fact is we've settled for sloppy seconds; too many of us worship in places that are driven by forms rather than power.  We've allowed popular culture to shape our vision of what Christ's church should be, what it should look like; we have embraced the wrong set of outcomes.

Today we measure the quality and effectiveness of our ministries based on the Big 3: People, Buildings, Revenue.  In fact, it's not difficult to erect buildings and fill them with people that generate million-dollar budgets.  False religions, cults and sects do it all around the world.  Jim Jones did in San Francisco and finally in Guyana.  Jimmy Swaggart did it, then did it AGAIN in Louisiana.  

People, buildings and money aren't wrong, they simply aren't the unique signature of Christ's Church. These, alone, won't produce transformational-redemptive power, nor are they the indicators of the anointing of God.  Powerless religion, form-driven religion has a micro focus: it sees "the church" as the end.  Forms--the way we "do church," the things we do or don't do that identify us as "christians," are paramount.  This is the kind of context Jesus came into in Judea; the context the Religious power brokers endorsed and protected.

Form-driven religion becomes a template that blinds us to the brokenness which surrounds us.  Form-driven religion makes us think in "wrong-headed ways" about what the world deserves v. what God desires--Us v. Them.  Form-driven religion becomes a tyranny which chokes our vibrancy and shrivels our generosity.

Power-driven godliness sees loving, reaching and changing the world as the end.  Power-driven godliness acts without conditions.  Power-driven godliness seeks to make hard lives easier.  Power-driven godliness understands that wealth, leadership, talent and spiritual gifts are resources graciously given by God for His redemptive endeavor.  Power-driven godliness doesn't seek relavance; it is relevant.

Outcomes are critical.  Matthew 9..."35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.  36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  37 Then He said to His disciples, 'the harvest in plentiful, but workers are few.'" 

We've come to a waypointe.

Life is fast.

Live it well...M6.8 bN

Less. More.

Control the "Controllables"

Time.
Activity.
Stress.
Distress.

Why don't we say "no?"  Our fear of loosing an edge is ravaging relationships, creating monster expectations, ruining our health and creating distance between us and God.

The fact is we really do live in a "less-is-more" world.  White-space is what makes good Art so fetching, great landscape design so dramatic and relationships work.  It gives us permission to breath, to be creative, to recharge and recreate.  

Who "moved the cheese" and convinced Americans that the contemplative life is empty and worth-less?  We did.  

Stop.
Breath.
Listen.
Smile.


Life is fast.
Live it well...M6.8 bN

What Joy!

Flowing water, silk across rock.
Concert of joy resounds.

Linger, listen.

It comes, it goes.

Course of life it forms.

Reflect, rejoice.

Linger, listen

Reflect, rejoice.

New mercies, every morning.

Life is fast.

Live it well...bN M6.8

We will Rise.

Several years ago I received a note from a good friend..."my dad's cancer is progressing. His time here is probably down to days..." When I read those words I was transported back to the last time I was with his dad. I was saddened by this news, concerned for the grief this final act of life would introduce to my friend and his family...and not.

My friend's father did lose his life; but not once was he in danger of losing his hope: the certain promise that he, as a believer in Jesus Christ, would finally be transported into the presence of His Lord and Savior, there to enjoy life as HE designed it to be.

Life is hard, then we die. We will all lose our lives, but we need not lose our hope.

Praise God for the hope we have in Christ, and the healing death brings for those who have embraced Christ through effective saving faith. For these, death is not something to be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a face-to-face real-time relationship with God. Without death, we become eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion.  Without death we would be chained to a relationship of enmity with God, no reverse, no repair--NO hope.

Death became the modality that God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, the human race. So then, death is the definitive check-mate and demonstrates God's mastery; always steps ahead of evil and the chaos of sin. Genesis 3 describes the event that initiated the rebellion of Adam and Eve to sin and it's necessary result, death; it's also here that we learn that death is part of God's bigger plan for hope and the redemption of human-kind.

The rest, is history, 1 John 4.9,10...

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

We know that love is a four letter word, spelled H-O-P-E; more importantly, we know that death simply marks the first day of the rest of our lives; Paul give us very specific instruction in his second letter to the church at Corinth...

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4.16-18

We will rise, thanks be to God! It's a GRACE day.


Life is fast.
Live it well...bN M6.8

The Great Debate

Politics is part of our DNA.  It's why we don't choke up when we hear our cousins from across the pond singing "God Save the Queen."  That said, let's work to keep the Debate civil and respectful.

Let me be clear here; civil doesn't mean we can't passionately disagree with each other.  It doesn't mean we can't say what we think and apply with dazzling skill (or not), the amazing resources at our fingertips to back up our opinions.  It's ironic that we have come to believe that it's politically correct to be neutral--or at least give the appearance of neutrality.  The term "political" has no application apart from the idea of people engaged in advancing a specific set of ideas to govern the way we do things--in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, communities and government!

The freedom to speak is part of the foundation of our nation; our nation, that survives today because citizen-soldiers have taken up arms against those who would seek to subjugate us and our way of life--without regard for wether they agreed with all the politics.  We owe those who gave so selflessly a debt of great responsibility with regard to our deportment as a free-people.

That said...let's engage in the debate. 

• Let's speak out with boldness.  
• Let's refuse to be thin-skinned.
• Let's choose kindness.
• Let's refuse to brand "not like me" as hate speech.
• Let's make it passionate, but not personal.
• Let's give each other the space to be stubborn and blind. Not everyone is as smart as we are...that's a good thing (wink, wink).
• Let's believe the best about those who think differently.
• Let's ask questions to clarify.
• Let's exercise grace and tolerance for those who seem, from our perspective, so intolerant.
• Let's be willing to grow and change.
• Let's not be ugly.
• Let's remind those who may embrace what we believe, but do so in ugly ways, that "ugliness isn't funny, helpful or appropriate--ever."
• Let's work to control hyperbole...which is rhetorically useful and appropriate but must be done with balance.
• Let's allow for another rhetorically useful tool: sarcasm...but those who use it unwisely do so at their own peril.  Less is more.
• Let's be willing to own our errors humbly and with grace.
• Let's be willing to forgive.

Remember, we have a new-direction "fork in the road" every two years.  It's the "governor" on the system and virtually assures that the more things change, the more they stay the same; therein lies the genius of the Founders.

Politics, it's part of our DNA.  Forget the Queen; God bless America!

Life is fast.
Live it well...bN M6.8

Flesh it OUT!

The so-called "culture war" strides forward--taking America by storm.  But nothing has changed.  Nothing.

As believers we have been "gifted" to add value to the lives of people. We've been called to love people--the best and the worst--with a love that looks past what they are and sees WHOSE they are.

Whether or not they come to effective faith in Christ is not my responsibility, this is the work of God. He uses me (it's not a head thing, it's a heart thing) when I selflessly serve people in a way that adds value to their lives, I reflect Christ--no, I flesh-out Christ--and they wonder, "Why, what's in this for you?" This testimony is powerful becasue the reality of Christ in me has manifested itself in an "incarnational" way; they have seen Christ through me. That reflected image is intense and compelling. God uses that kind of "vision" to transform hearts, minds and lives.

This needs to inform our outreach effort, the way we see people, the way we see their sin. When our efforts at outreach do not wholistically address the felt-needs of people and work toward their spiritual need (it's not either/or, it's both/and) we diminish the Gospel at best, and erect substantial barriers to faith for people without hope. 

This is especially relevant given the the world we live in today. God does not need us to defend Godly values. They stand on their own. What He desires from us is to love "the lost sheep, the lost coin" the Way He does. He isn't finished yet, Matthew 25.34-40 makes this point very clear... 

"34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35  For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39  When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’"

Believing friends, the Word is still becoming flesh--through us.

Flesh it out.

Life is fast.

Live it well...bN M6.8

Keep Looking UP

On December 28, 1968 (age 15) I said yes to Jesus; in that moment my life was transformed. Forty-nine years since then is...a few.  My life has a not always been a clear reflection of His presence, but it has for the most part been, by His grace, a slow and steady "long obedience in the same direction."

The dynamics of our culture, over my lifetime, could be described as a devolution of conscience and evolution of relevance as our moral-compass.  It's ironic that the most extreme expression of the conservative mind, libertarianism, is in many ways the penultimate form of liberalism.  My point is that systems of thought, even theological systems of thought, cannot change the trajectory of the human spirit. God does that one person, one decision, at a time.  People just don't have the temperament to pull that off.  History is filled with movements which morphed into extremism that marginalized human beings, in the name of a greater-good, which produced tyranny and crimes against humankind.

It's not my job to save my culture from itself.  The part I have been given, as a Christ-follower, is to point the people in my sphere of influence to God, who can; this is "the main thing" for me.  I'm not called to point them to systems or movements that will save the day, but to the God of eternity who loves human beings with an everlasting and long suffering love, a transformative love.  He does the formative work in people, which will in turn change culture.

That said, how can I "keep the main thing," the main thing?  I offer 10 simple disciplines...

• Be humble.
• Love my spouse.
• Act as an agent of peace.
• Trust in the power of God.
• See people the way God sees them.
• Focus on walking close to God on a daily basis.
• Empower my kids and grandkids with a legacy of godliness.
• Declare the principles and precepts of God in a loving, inclusive way.
• Love unconditionally my enemies and those who might seek to hurt me.
• Pray for those raised up as leaders in my church, community and nation.  

Systems and movements--even good ones, by their very nature, devolve.  God, is the same yesterday, today and forever!

I choose God.  He produces change which gives me, gives us all, hope.  Keep looking up.

Life is fast.

Live it well...bN M6.8

Cracked Pots.

It's approaching three years since one of the Rocks of my life passed into the presence of God.  Gene Cherrie, my father-in-law, was an extraordinary man.  I posted this in February 2015.

"...As we prepared to say our final farewells in a memorial tribute to his life and legacy I ran across a pair of scissors that belonged to Gene.  My first response--I laughed out loud!  Then my heart was warmed as I realized they were metaphor for Gene's life--his legacy.

Gene's scissor project

They are an ordinary three-dollar pair, with customized handle--the one that your middle finger slips into.   It's been very skillfully fashioned from a one-inch piece of ply-wood.  It's clear that Gene had created a jig from the broken handle; carefully cut the wood using the jig, then shaped it with a grinder to fit precisely the targeted finger; sanded to be smooth and pose no splinter threat to the user.

The 'stub' of plastic it has been attached to was skillfully reshaped to be the base for the new wood-extension.  The extension has been precisely measured so that the fabrication slips tightly over the stub with one end slightly longer than the other to provide the proper leverage as the scissors are opened and closed (Physics matter).  The extension has been glued to the "stub" and secured with three very intentionally placed wood screws, two on the long end, one on the short to complete the revision. The screw on the short end has been ground down just enough to allow the scissors to close precisely as they did when they were new just coming off the shelf at Staples.

I immediately asked Betsey, Laura's step-mom, if I could have them--she very graciously said 'Of course, take them.' As I've used these scissors, and yes--reflected on them--over the past several months, I realize they say as much about God, as they do about Gene.

This came clearly into focus for me just this week as I had breakfast with a dear brother-in-Christ and our conversation turned to the impact, the life-long impact, of sin on our lives.  There isn't a re-set button for the bad choices we make.  The grooves sin cuts into our lives are deep and stubborn, they don't simply disappear when we confess our sin and seek God's forgiveness.  The consequences of our willful choices and bad decisions are still part of our daily experience.  If it ended there it would be a difficult load to bear.  But, thanks be to God, it doesn't.

When we come to Christ through effective faith, God takes us as we are, then carefully, lovingly and skillfully refabricates our lives.  The scars are there, still visible--painful--but He restores us.  Like Gene's re-visioned pair of scissors, we become fully-functional again.   He never throws us away; He picks us up, dusts us off and empowers us to carry on.  The scars, the memories, they serve to instruct us each day about His gracious provision, His empowering desire and His loving redemption.

Paul writing to the Church in Corinth (4.1,2.. 7-10) instructs us...

"4 Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. 2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods...7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

Did you see that? We are cracked pots; pressed not crushed. Perplexed not confused. Pursued not abandoned. Pushed down not destroyed. Suffering, but fully alive in Christ! The scars that remain serve as a map pointing others to Jesus. It is our weakness that serves as such a remarkable witness to the power of God--choosing the weakness of the human condition to transform our spheres of influence one person, one family, one neighborhood, one community, one nation at time. This humble path-to-power is, in fact, the real "road less traveled." 

I thank God every day for that pair of scissors.  They have an honored place in a simple container, with other tools we use on a daily basis, on one of the counters in our kitchen.  Each time my gaze falls on them, I remember Gene--and in that moment, the legacy of his life points me to God's grace, power and love.  He takes the "total-loss" that was our lives and transforms it to treasure...'all I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life.'"  

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Life is fast.

Live it well...bN M6.8

Life...IS hard.

Life is hard. Age diminishes us. Disease ravages us. Then, we die.

Or...

Life is hard and softens our hearts.  Age diminishes us and equips us with wisdom. Disease ravages us and empowers us to embrace hope.  Then we die and pass into eternity.

What happens to us, all of us, in the course of a lifetime is simply a variation on the same theme.  What sets apart those not beaten, from those that are?  It is what that "lifetime process" produces in us. 

I've been reminded recently, we are fragile and our bodies will eventually fail--some sooner than others, but for all of us life ends in one final breath.  The ability to see our sojourn as a prelude to "something more" is the key to empowering us to embrace all we experience in "time" with wonder; while anticipating what we glimpse of eternity with hope.  

Yes, I'm talking about faith.  A specific "effective-faith" we are given instruction about in the Scriptures; the Second letter to the church in Corinth, written by the Apostle Paul (5.1-5):

"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.  2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.  4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.  5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit."

Be sure not to miss v.5...God prepares us for Next, gives us a holy desire to "level-up" and then seals the deal with His Holy Spirit--indwelling, empowering, informing us--all the while transforming us into the image of Jesus Messiah--in this life with godly character--in the next life with a heavenly body.  Yahoo!

Over these past 36 months I've invested time in some weary people...all filled with hope.  They are fragile over-comers.  Their lives are a tapestry illustrating God's grace, love, presence, power and certitude about Next.  Paul acknowleges this too (5.17-19, 21)...

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them...21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

Trusting Jesus Messiah, through effective faith, is what makes the difference--"so that we could be made right with God through Christ."  No one makes it out alive.  It's what happens Next that matters for eternity.  It's a quality-of-ETERNAL-lifeissue.  The Apostle Paul spells out exactly what we must do in his letter to the church in Rome...

"...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'”  Romans 10.9-13

Next looms close on the horizon for each of us--we know it's there, what will you do with Jesus?  Life is fast.

Live it well...bN M.6.8 

Better than Beethoven. YES!

Many of my friends express concern about the fact that "God is being forced out of the public square." It's become a favorite pastime for People of Faith (yes I'm guilty)--lamenting the "sorry state" of the Nation.

What concerns ME?  It's this: People of Faith have come to embrace the notion that the symbolic presence of God is the same thing as the authentic presence of God.   Here is a short list of "hot-buttons," not intended to be exhaustive--but illustrative.

• Do we want God in our schools--disciple your children to know and love Jesus. 
• Do we want our Nation to understand that marriage is a beautiful metaphor, designed by God, of a much bigger relationship--and for this reason it is a sacred estate? Love your wife selflessly and trust your husband implicitly.
• Do we want values to govern our economy, greed to be disdained--choose simplicity and invest our resources on behalf of the poor, widows, orphans; be seekers of justice for all the disenfranchised.  
• Are we befuddled by the National obsession with abortion-rights, perplexed by the disdain modern cultures have for human life, and high regard they show for endangered species?  Find your voice and speak passionately-forcefully for the little Ones, consider... adoption, Foster parenting, Mentoring programs.

For too long, too many of us who profess to be followers of Jesus have routinely "phoned it in."

• We've been content to build private school sanctuaries, teaching Bible courses, that will disciple our children for us.
• We've turned a blind eye to the failure rate of marriages in our churches.
• We've justified selfish ambition and the boastful pride of life as "what's ours is ours" and left justice to government inefficiency and the dehumanizing impact of its one-size fits all insanity.
• We've ceded the heavy lifting for protecting the lives of unborn-children, the quality of life for born-children to others "called" to missional living.

BraveHart...Braden Hartman...lived it well!

Consider this: God's plan has always been to "show-up" via the beautiful music being played through lives well-lived by those who are His devoted followers--the Scripture makes clear that no law can stand against such purposeful, selfless living, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5.22,23 NASB

Lives lived this way will produce a breathtaking symphony that will bring relevance back to our Mission as His Church--no longer engaged in managing the kingdom (small ''k") but compelled to build HIS Kingdom (big "K"). 

WHEN we take seriously our empowerment, from God, to add value to the lives of people, to make hard lives easier, to speak the truth of the Gospel into the brokenness of life without Christ, to model the transformational reality of the Gospel through the choices and investments we make--with our lives and resources, THEN they won't be able lock God out of the public square. There is no law that can stand against this kind of authenticity.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3.20,21 NASB

I hear a symphony.  Through Jesus Messiah, let it be.


Life is fast.
Live it well...bN M6.8