Note to my younger self.

Age 5, 1958

 Today, I write to my younger self, FOR my grands--Kellen, Gabriella, Grayson, and Gwendolyn.

I know you will all make choices about the way you live your lives, how you will invest your energy, and what kind of legacy you will eventually leave behind. I'm writing because I love you all and don't want to leave these words unsaid.

It's taken me a few years to figure this much out; were I able to send a note to my younger self, this is what I'd say... 

Know, Trust, and Serve God.
Follow Christ.
Be kind.

Act justly.

Be humble.

Lean into weakness, seek God's strength.
Think noble thoughts.
Read and reflect on history.
Be inclusive.
Love people.
Never mistake tolerance for love.
Be generous.

Invest your best in people.

Take care of your bodies.  Stay fit, alert, and cultivate mental acuity.
Teach yourself to say "I do not know."
Think God's thoughts after Him.
Be patient.
Stand up to be heard, sit down to be appreciated.
Cultivate quirky, life is more fun in the quirky lane.
Be a leader, willing to follow.
Invest in your family, you don't get do-overs.
Work hard to make other people successful.
Make mistakes. Learn from them, then celebrate them.
Wake up every day with a hunger to grow.
Be accountable.
Trust that loss isn't the end of life.
Believe that death isn't the end of eternity.  It's a portal, not a wall.
Be grateful.
Learn that God meets us in the stillness.
Embrace the things you fear. You may never master them, but then again, you might.

Finally, I pass on to you my life verse, Micah 6.8.  In it God provides us with an amazing guiding principle for our lives:  "With what shall I come to the Lord...He has told you, O man, what Is good; and what does the Lord require of you?  But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."   

Your choices will shape your character. 

Good character will empower you to be the kind of person God uses to make hard lives easier.

  

Making hard lives easier is a legacy that will transform your world, one needy--and often underserving, person at a time... 

This is the miraculous power of grace.

I love you all more than life, wish I could be there to see your lives play out to the "end of the race."  I'll be waiting for you at the finish line.

Do. Love. Walk.

One life to live.

Liveitwell!

Whisper their names.

Taps begin.
Time stands still; this I remember.
  Their laughter, their scent.
  First smile, first step, first word, first love.
  A Friday night; life was simple.
  The future, a certain dream.

Bulletproof, not.
Whisper their names.

Taps begin.

Time flashes back, tears flow freely.
Pride in lives well lived.
Grieving for lives given, invested, gone.
The loss, the pain; broken plans, broken hearts--shattered.
Whisper their names.

Taps begin.
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast-Guardsmen, Airmen.
Duty, honor, country.
Last full measure, their devotion.
No greater love, their sacrifice.
In peace, now rest.
Whisper their names...and remember.

Liveitwell!

 

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 seeming National obsession with abortion, perplexed by the disdain modern cultures have for human life, and high regard they show for endangered species?  Find your voice and speak up 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 attempt the master-work of discipling for our children.
• 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.

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 authenticates 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 model the transformational reality of the Gospel through the choices and investments we make with our lives and His resources, as we proclaim boldly the amazing grace of God, who offered up HIS Son for our sin; 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 Christ, let it be.

Liveitwell!

Wrong War.

The "culture war" is the wrong campaign. It's a battle for minds; people of faith are called to battle for hearts. Bad hearts produce bad minds; surely, we aren't shocked by the fact that minds have become utterly corrupt.  

In this process, we see how people of faith have been seduced too. The culture war is self-serving. It's an attempt to preserve and re-create a world less hostile, less chaotic, less wrong-headed for OUR benefit. It's about preserving our values, protecting our children, maintaining equilibrium and economy so we can live out our god-informed vision of what our lives should be like. This is normal; it's also carnal...it's the way most humans think and act.

This is not the vision people of faith have been called to by God. We have been called to justice, to selfless living, to compassionate action, to loving the unreached citizens of this world as God does. When people of faith do that, people with no hope notice. They understand that this kind of concern is counter-intuitive. It's not the way normal people live; they want to know "why?"  

Peter's first letter to the church contains instruction for us "...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..."  1 PETER 3.15  ESV

We win the world one heart at a time gently, respectfully. It can't be done with legislation. We don't win them with constitutional amendments. The silver bullet isn't packing the courts with the "right kind of thinkers." It's done by living alongside people who aren't like children of the King, who don't share His values and act in ways that reflect how radically confused people without effective faith are.

When people of faith insert themselves into the culture in a transformative way, hearts begin to change. When hearts begin to change, minds begin to change. When hearts and minds begin to change, culture begins to change. When people with no hope begin to see faith, hope, and love in their neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, they pay attention! They realize they are thirsty, hungry, and without hope. They realize there's more, and they want to know where they can embrace it...one heart at a time.

For too many people of faith, living this way just isn't something we want to do. We're more comfortable on church properties that create space between the world without effective faith and our world of grace. We shield our children from the world without effective faith in ways that create fear and contempt in their hearts. We forget what life without grace is like, and we become entrenched in a battle for minds using the least effective means available to us--the wisdom and power of the world system. 

Little wonder we seem befuddled, put-off, by those Jesus described as "sheep without a shepherd." They aren't like us; they don't think or act like us. They are driven by different passions, by different values. Yet, they carry the same godly imprint on their souls that people of faith reflect...we are all created in His image. We are all loved with unconditional love. We all have access to the same unmerited overflow of His grace. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. 

These lost sheep, these lost souls, are not the enemy. They are victims in Satan's attempt to foil God's purpose in the redemption of all people. That purpose begins with a battle for hearts...and minds will follow. We win hearts when, in the power of the Spirit, we come alongside these "unlovely" people and their messy lives and seek to serve them in compassion, with sacrifice, through love. 

One heart.

One mind.

Gently.

Respectfully

Powerfully.  

Life is fast, love well.

Liveitwell!

What joy!

Water flows, silk across rock.
Resounding concert of joy.
Linger, listen.  Do.

It comes, it goes.
A course of life it forms.
Reflect, rejoice. Love.

Linger, listen
Reflect, rejoice. Walk.

New Every morning--His mercies.

Do Justice.
Love kindness.

Walk humbly with God.

Micah 6.8 

What joy...

Liveitwell!

SOON. VERY SOON.

V\This is the hardest part of the weather calendar in Northern Indiana.  The calendar says it's spring; reality says, "it's ugly."

Things are ready to go; mowers have been serviced, the hedge has been trimmed.  The irrigation system "safe" to be made functional again.  Bud's are on the trees and bushes...the evergreens aren't just green now; they are awake!  Robin's are busy being the "dirty birds" of the neighborhood.  Chance and Jett track fresh scent everywhere we go.  We are ready; where is spring?

It feels like Thanksgiving Day when I was a little boy.  Would our guests and extended family ever arrive...

"Mom, how soon will they be here?"  

"Pretty soon, BJ."  

"Mom, do you think they're still coming?" 

"BJ, they will all be here, just like last year." 

"But mom, we are ready; where is everyone?" 

"They are on the way."  

"Then, where are they?"  

"BJ, why don't you wait outside for them, 

greet them when they arrive."  

"I think they changed their mind, 

they aren't coming this year." 

That's the way our conversation advanced every year.  A little boy, anticipating a favorite event, thinking it would never happen, but it always did.

I'm ready, but spring just hasn't arrived...yet.  When it does come and the days slip quickly into summer...the memory of this misery becomes dim, almost dreamlike.  Every day a new color explodes someplace along my route to the office.  It's warm, balmy...with life-sustaining showers from time to time.

There are many "seasons" in our lives; they come, they go--some are better than others.  They make life exciting and always produce something my memory clings to, which delivers a lifetime of pleasure and expands my perspective.

Yes, spring hasn't arrived--and COVID remains, the world is more confused than ever, but summer's comin' and most importantly, by hope in Christ is immutable.

It will be OK sooner than later.  I can wait; in the interim, the memories from "seasons past," the good, the bad, the painful; and my confident expectation about neXt...sustain me.  It's a wonderful life.  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
We don't get to be here long...
Liveitwell!

Flesh it out.

 The culture war continues to take America by storm. The stakes have never been higher. The temptation to double-down and engage in the debate, turn back the tide, is more compelling than ever. 

 Just say "no."

As believers, we have been "gifted" to add value to the lives of people and make disciples. We are called to love people--the best and the worst--with a love that looks past how they live 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 because 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 this kind of "vision" to transform hearts, minds, and lives.  Resurrection Day isn't about power, it's about empowerment.

This needs to inform our outreach effort, the way we see people, the way we see their sin. When our attempts at outreach do not holistically 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; we erect substantial barriers to effective-faith for people without hope.

God's plan does not require His church to fix our culture. His plan does call us to engage in the work of seeing people's hearts transformed by the Power of the Gospel (Matthew 28.18-20; Romans 1.16-18). When hearts change, minds change. 

Paul, in his second letter to the church in Corinth makes very clear our role in a world that is hostile to the Gospel and Christ's church, 2 Corinthians 4.7-12...

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you."

This is especially relevant given the devolution of culture and character in our Nation 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.  Micah 6.8 underscores what God wants from people of effective-faith...

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"

Life is fast; do, love, walk. 

Flesh it out...
Liveitwell!

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.

It's been the most difficult year I can recall in my time on the planet; torn by COVID, the contentious spirit of the age, mayhem in our cities, an economy ravaged by it all.  People paralyzed by fear, turning on each other in the ongoing pandemic debate, ruined by a microbe.

Life is hard, then we die.

Death is, of course, a very present reality for all of us--the daily COVID statistics trumpeted each evening through a thousand different news portals slaps us in the face with our inevitable end.  This Year of  COVID has made us all acutely aware of our mortality.  

Now what?

He is Risen!

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 need not be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a "face to face" real-time relationship with God. Without death, we would be eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels, which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion, eternally separated from God, without hope of redemption.  Death became the modality that God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, humankind. 

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 Adam and Eve's rebellion to sin and its 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 humankind.

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. 10 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." 

"Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God wouldst die for me!"  The Passion of Christ restores us to our place as God's children, as joint heirs with Christ, as people who have an assurance and hope; this because we know that death simply marks the first day of the rest of our lives, 2 Corinthians 4.16-18...

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly, we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are 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...."

Each Sunday, it's our privilege to gather with others in our community of faith and there, to go Vertical in our worship of God Almighty, the Creator, Sustainer of the universe; the Lover of humankind. 

His glory fills that place we gather in, and He inhabits the praise of His people. In those moments, I am frequently reminded of friends and family who have preceded me in death and are in His literal presence even as we are gathered in that crowded room; no more heart-failure, COPD, cancer, diabetes, stroke, dementia, arthritis, infirmity, organ failure--no disease, no broken hearts, no flaw, no pain, no suffering, no regret...

Joy unspeakable.

Blessed h0pe.

We will rise, thanks be to God. Stand-firm; no plan, no purpose will be left undone.

He. Is. Risen.

It's a GRACE day.

Liveitwell! 

Politics & Power.

 Father-in-heaven...

Politics has become a growth industry in America, this is a problem; too much ambition and too little service. It didn't start this way. What was honorable has become dishonorable.

Regardless of party affiliation, the pursuit of power, wealth, and celebrity has become the focus of many elected to serve "the people." Congress has been sullied by gridlock, the love of money, sexual scandal, graft and abuse of privilege--regardless of color, gender identity or sexual preference.

I pray God will raise up people from every segment of political vision, women and men of integrity;  selfless leaders willing to make tough decisions that reflect justice, kindness and humility, without regard for how those decisions poll: that, will be patriotism.

...Deliver us from evil.

Let it be...

Liveitwell!

Dust To DIAMONDS.

Given the presence of carbon--along with vast amounts of time, temperature (ranging between 1800 and 2400*F) and extreme pressure (650,000-850,000psi), the Earth will produce diamonds.  

It's this remarkable process that makes diamonds a relatively rare and always valuable commodity.

It should surprise no one that God uses a similar process in bringing people with effective faith into a beautiful reflection of the image of our Saviour, The Lord Jesus Messiah.

Dust to Diamonds.

Paul describes this process for us in his second letter to the church at Corinth...

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 we are 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.

11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

--2 Corinthians 4.7-18 NLT

Pressed on every side, perplexed, hunted, knocked-down; NOT crushed, NOT despairing, NOT abandoned, NOT destroyed.  BUT suffering, sharing in the death of Jesus--for one glorious purpose: that the life of The Savior might be clearly seen in our bodies, IN us.

Dust to Diamonds.

God uses hard places to fashion us into a new version of ourselves, still us, but transformed in ways that manifest His presence, His grace, His mercy.  This is not what we will be, but we are sufficiently different in ways that produce confident expectation--hope.  Look at how Paul describes it to the church in Rome, where he compares our struggle with the cataclysmic impact sin has had on the Earth; thus, all creation waits...

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

--Romans 8.18-25 NLT

Dust to diamonds.

What is responsible for this transformation and the hope it delivers?  Paul makes this clear to us at the beginning of the eighth chapter of his letter to the Roman church...

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

--Romans 8.1-4

Don`t miss it...for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (humankind) and for sin (He absorbed the penalty for sin on His own body in our place) He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Sin broke the planet.

God is in the process of restoring what He created.  The tipping point of the restoration is the passion, sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah.  We have been redeemed and restored positionally, now we are waiting--suffering still, but knowing that "it is finished." 

In that suffering, as we lean into our weakness, our fragility, there, at that moment, the Manifest Presence of God shines brightly through us and our suffering; for us, for a watching world to behold in wonder.  His strength made manifest through our weakness.  Indeed, "the wound is where the light shines through."

Dust to Diamonds.

Suffering is NOT payback.
Suffering is NOT God's plan spinning out of control.
Suffering IS the last dying gasp of sin--Check, NOT Check-Mate.
Suffering IS the process God has sovereignly allowed to transform our lives on this side of the veil, from...dust to diamonds.

We don't get to be here long.

Liveitwell!