Called out

What does it mean to live dangerously?  I believe Jesus calls us out of our comfortable places and he expects us to live dangerously.  Now, I’m not saying he has called us to do foolish things that would endanger our lives, but I believe he calls us outside of our comfort zones to do amazing things for him.

 

Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”  Doesn’t sound too safe to me!

 

I think Jesus calls us out.  He calls us out of our comfortable churches and wants us to apply the things we learn from all those Bible studies we’ve attended.  He wants our total worship, 24×7.  He calls us to love unlovely people, all of the time.  He calls us to step up to be what he has predestined us to be. 

 

I know it’s scary.  It’s scary to step out of a nice corporate job with good benefits and follow the calling that God has put in your heart.  It’s scary to sell everything you have and move to Rwanda, Africa because God has put that passion in your heart.  It’s scary to love your neighbor as yourself, just because God told you to. 

 

What has God called you to do?  He may not be calling you out of the corporate world into a full-time ministry position.  He may not be calling you to Africa, or any other foreign mission field.  But, you can be sure that He’s calling you to total worship and He’s calling you to love the unlovely. 

 

Don’t be afraid to do what He’s called you to do.  He calls us to have faith.  He’s not going to leave you hanging all alone on the limb.  He’s there and He’s faithful; all the time.

Awesome!

The word ‘awesome’ has become a big part of our vocabulary over the past 10 or so years.  We use it all the time by saying, ‘wow, that’s a awesome car’ or ‘hey, I’m glad you’re here, that’s awesome’ or something similar.

But have you stopped lately to notice some of the things that are truly awesome in our world?  I’ve just started reading Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love”.  One of the first things Chan asks us to do is to stop, put the book down if we need to, and take in the awesomeness and wonder of our God. 

Stop to look at the sunset.  Watch the waves pound the ocean shore.  Think about Psalm 139 that says that God knew us and loved us before our parents even thought about us.  Take a look at a baby and wonder at his tiny fingers and toes.  Think about the beauty of your wife’s smile and the feelings you get when she smiles at you.  God designed those things.   

We serve an awesome God!  He made the heavens and the earth; He made the animals; He designed the intricacies of the human body.  Have you stopped to wonder at the human body and all the things that have to work properly for us to function as humans?  God did that!

The challenge for me, at least from the first two chapters of Chan’s book is to stop at least one time per day and notice something truly awesome in our world and thank God for it.  Today, I’m in awe of rain as it comes and goes through the area.  Who knows what tomorrow’s awe inspired thought will be.

I’ll challenge you, too, to find at that one thing every day that inspires your awe.

Back to my reading…

Interesting insight

I just got done watching Dan Merchant’s movie/documentary Lord, Save Us From Your People.  It is a great work and made me think about a lot of the ways we Christians make it difficult for others to understand us and to become believers themselves. 

 

One point that keeps coming back to my mind is this; Christians believe in Jesus Christ who performed miracles, loved the unlovely, and talked to sinners (and even tax collectors).   We have the Holy Spirit in us to guide us and empower us with words and deeds.  So, why are we so afraid to sit down with a non-believer and have a conversation, both listening and talking, with him or her? 

 

Why do we insist on getting our points across while refusing to listen to the other guy?  It’s all right to talk with others and to listen to their views.  It’s all right to try to understand their views.  Many times we will learn and our faith will grow simply by listening to the other guy and giving him or her a chance to voice his beliefs. 

 

I encourage you to watch this movie/documentary, maybe even with a non-believing friend.  Listen to what your friend has to say.  Try and see yourself through the other guy’s lens.  It will open your eyes but it will also open your opportunities to talk, share, and love on the other guy just like Jesus does.

I’m excited…

I’m brimming with excitement about what God is doing in our midst.  We can truly see Him working in us as we get to the heart of worship and acknowledge and affirm that it’s all about Him.  

I’m also excited about seeing teenagers filling up the first two rows of the sanctuary in both of our celebration services.  They were leading us, by example, into worship with hands upraised, knees bowed down, and true hearts of worship.  I’m afraid a lot of us ‘wiser’ folks are going to have to step it up just to keep up with these guys.  So, thanks to all you guys who sat up front today.  You blessed my heart and challenged me.

 

“Christian” is a noun

I’ve noticed a subtle, or not so subtle, shift in the use of the term “Christian” over the years.  It seems that Christian has turned into an adjective, but I think it should be more of a noun.  Adjectives describe things; nouns are things.  We have “Christian” bookstores, “Christian” theme parks, “Christian” camps, “Christian” cruises, “Christian” campgrounds, “Christian” culture, and on and on.  The word “Christian” has come to describe what we do and where we go.

 

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not bashing these activities that describe themselves as Christian.  Most of them are good things.  But I want to look at “Christian” as a noun.  Maybe I could look at this word as “who I am” instead of as a word that describes what I do. 

 

I think it’s easier for me to show the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Jesus to those who don’t know Him when I’m engaged in commonplace things where all kinds of people go.  I think I’d like to ‘be’ a Christian and go to a bookstore, or ‘be’ a Christian and go to a theme park, or ‘be’ a Christian and go to a camp, or on a cruise, or to a campground; you get the idea.  

Back at ya’

I get a kick out of heat waves in New England.  New Englanders get so concerned about the heat wave, the local TV news makes it a top story, and everyone has advice to give about staying cool and healthy.  My sons farm league baseball was canceled on Monday night and his Olympic day at school was canceled on Tuesday because it was too hot!  

Now, I grew up in Tennessee and it gets pretty hot and humid there.  I always chuckle inside when New Englanders complain about the humidity for a day or two.  In Chattanooga, the temperature can be 90 degrees and the humidity 85% for the entire summer.  

And, you New Englanders and thunder storms!  We got daily thunderstorms in Tennessee with lots of lightening.  Again, in New England it’s front page news.  

That’s fine, I understand that it’s a rarity in New England to get heat waves and thunderstorms.  I can deal with the hoopla over them.  Just don’t be giving me a hard time about us Southerners shutting down the city if an inch or two of snow happens along.  It’s rare there and we like to create a lot of hoopla about that.

So, there you go…back at ya’!

Baptism at the lake

My father-in-law got baptized on Sunday.  I got to experience it as it was held at Webster Lake in Franklin.  It’s great to see God working throughout the area and throughout the entirety of New England.  The revival we’re seeing isn’t confined to one church or even one denomination; God is doing great things in New England. 

Back to the baptism.  Kathy and I have prayed and talked about the day this would happen, feeling fully confident that her dad would find his relationship with God and act on it.  He said he was watching a show about crucifixion and the full weight of what Jesus did for us came into focus for him.  The reality of what crucifixion is and that Jesus did it willingly for us caused him to look at God and His Son in an entirely different light.  It caused him to look at it in a way that changed his life.

We all come to Jesus in our own way.  There isn’t a ‘right’ way or a ‘wrong’ way; there is just God’s way for us to come to Him.  God’s timing is perfect all the time and His arms are opened and welcoming to us when we are ready to come to Him.

Everything I need to know – I learned from Charlie Brown

 

I’m a child of the ‘60’s; born in 1960 and raised during this tumultuous time.  One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to watch the Charlie Brown specials.  I vividly remember waiting for Charlie Brown and his Peanuts friends to be on TV for holiday specials.  In the ‘60’s you only got 1 shot to see these specials.  There was no cable TV to show them over and over ad nauseum.

Charlie Brown became one of my role models and I learned a lot of lessons from him.  I’ve applied these lessons throughout my life and believe that life today is richer because of what I’ve learned from Charlie.

Charlie Brown, or Chuck as Peppermint Patty and I call him, is a sincere, misunderstood kid.  It always seemed that he was sincerely trying to do the right thing, but being Charlie Brown isn’t easy so he sometimes struggled to get his messages across.  There are 4 distinct lessons I learned from Chuck; let me share them with you.

First, Chuck knows who he is and doesn’t look to others to get his identity.  Chuck is a trusting guy.  Do you remember the times when Lucy was holding the football for him so he could kick it.  It never failed, she would pull the ball out from in front of him and he’d end up on his behind.  But he kept trying and trusting Lucy.  We sat in front of the TV and said, “no, Charlie, don’t do it she’ll just pull it out from in front of you’; but Charlie knew he was a trusting soul; he knew that Lucy was his good friend; and he didn’t look to me to make his decision about kicking the football.  He just did it.  And without fail, Lucy pulled the football away and Charlie ended up on his backside.

He was always proud when Lucy said, “Of all the Charlie Brown’s in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest” because he knew that it was good to know himself and to be better at being himself than anyone else.

Chuck is a seeker.  When he was doing his best to direct the unruly Peanuts gang in their Christmas Pageant, he stopped practice to bellow out, “doesn’t anybody know the true meaning of Christmas?”  Charlie wanted to know.  He was looking for meaning in the overly-commercialized society of his day.  He didn’t believe fulfillment could be found in commercialism, gaudy decorations, or fancy Christmas gifts.  He sought meaning in his life.  

He seemed so content to hear Linus deliver the true Christmas Story from the book of Luke.  I memorized this version of the Christmas Story from watching this special year after year after year and I learned to seek truth from Charlie Brown.

Chuck taught me that regardless of how sincere I am, my sincerity doesn’t mean that my beliefs are true.  Charlie’s friend Linus sincerely believed in the Great Pumpkin.  He knew that the Pumpkin would show up in the patch on Halloween.  He believed this so strongly and sincerely that he passed up a whole year’s worth of trick-or-treat candy to hang out in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin.  Of course, he talked Charlie into staying in the pumpkin patch with him.  But, it really didn’t matter how sincerely Linus believes in the Pumpkin, the pumpkin is not real. 

You and I can believe in a lot of things, but if our beliefs are not based on the true truths of our world, then we’re no better off than Chuck and Linus sitting out in the middle of the most sincere pumpkin patch they could find.  We need to search our beliefs and know that they are true.

Finally, Chuck knew how to find beauty and potential in simple and ugly things.  Do you remember the Christmas tree that he chose in A Charlie Brown Christmas?  Remember how tiny it was.  Remember how it drooped when just 1 Christmas ornament was on it.  Chuck chose this tree because it was the only ‘real’ tree available.  All of the others were plastic and fake, but Chuck saw beauty in the real thing.  Charlie could see through this ugly outer façade and see the true beauty in the tree and know how great things can come from things that seem to be ugly on the outside. 

Chuck’s friends finally saw the tree through Chuck’s eyes and decorated it beautifully.  Maybe we should try to see our world through Chuck’s eyes and realize there is great beauty in many of the things that, on the surface, seem pretty ugly to us.  Maybe, then, we can make something beautiful out of some of the eyesores of our lives and our world.

Charlie Brown is, indeed, a great teacher.  He has taught me many more things than these, but these are some of the most valuable things I learned from him.  I learned to be comfortable being myself; I learned to be a seeker, looking for true truths in life; I learned that sincerity is great but only if the things I sincerely believe are truths; and I learned to see beauty and potential in all things.  Thanks, Chuck.