I did seek His counsel on one very important issue regarding this blog, however, and that was the question of whether or not to continue.  I believe He’s answered that with a definitive “yes.”  And for that, I am so very grateful!  I can honestly say I feel ready to return to regular writing and am invigorated to share life through this medium once again.  I’m just not sure about the regularity just yet.  As the last post stated, I have another site that is just beginning and seemingly tons of other weekly responsibilities I have to tend to.  Responsibilities that I am unequivocally called to…I’m sure of that.  And as difficult as it is to admit, this blog plays second fiddle to those responsibilities.

So, I continue to wrestle with those questions and continue seeking God in more deliberate ways this upcoming week.  One way or another, the blog posts will resume.  The interaction will continue.  And the heart of this website will remain.  I’m excited to return, but for at least another week I ask for your patience as I seek God’s heart a bit deeper.  May you be blessed!

UPDATE: While I still hold to the fact that I will continue writing, I won’t be doing a whole lot on this site for the time being.  Sometimes we just have to cut out the things that aren’t necessary for a season, and that’s exactly what I’m doing for now.  I will, however, be doing lots of work with the Open House webpage and blog.  So come by there often to connect!

http://openhouseky.org

Until then, thanks for coming by!  I’m sure I’ll return some time in the future!  =)

Psalm 71 ( <— scroll over to read), at first glance, is just another psalm from David.  It is littered with language of salvation, rescue, hope, trust, rocks and fortresses.  The message from David is very clear.

Save and protect me God.  Life stinks, I need help, and you are the only help I can rely on.

And, as Bible-believing followers of Jesus, this should be our reaction to trouble, right?  Cry out to God and wait for His answer.  Wait for His action.  Wait for Him to kick butt.

Yeah, I said kick butt.  

If we’re all honest, we can all admit that we read and respond to everything around us through the built-in filters we carry.  Our lives, circumstances, hang-ups and baggage all contribute to the way we understand and relate to everything, including the Bible.  And my particular wiring makes me respond to this passage in this way when trouble comes:  ”God, I’m in a mess right now.  Life stinks and I can’t figure a way out of this.  Please show up with Your great strength and power to destroy my enemies, my struggles, my pain, and my problems.  Wipe them out!  Get rid of it so I can be safe and happy.  After all, You are my protector, right?  The scripture is full of language of a God of love and compassion who wants to deliver His people, right?  So please, let’s see some action!  Let’s see some A-bomb force, here!  Do something!!!”

That’s me.  Perhaps you are different.  Perhaps not.  I just know that I expect God to swoop in and set it all right.  By His power and might, I expect big things moved and small things to be trampled under-foot.  I expect a conqueror.  I expect a Savior with a sword in His fist and fire in His eyes, mad as hell that His child has been wronged.  I expect vindication.

But I’m beginning to learn that, while God may respond in this way from time to time, this is absolutely not God’s M.O.  It’s just not how He works.

In studying this passage this week, my eyes were drawn to the many references to fortresses and rocks.  To language of help, protection and salvation.  And as I thought about those words, I found buried slightly beneath them a very different perspective on our multifaceted God.

Imagine for a moment a huge rock or fortress.  What do you use either of these for?  Do you throw the giant edifice at your enemy?  Do you hurl a fortress at them?  No, of course you don’t.  Last I checked, you use these things to hide in.  To hunker-down behind.  To be protected by.  We’re not speaking offense, here.  We’re speaking defense.  Guarding.  Protection.

And I think this is worth noting.  Maybe, instead of seeing God’s provision in times of trouble coming from some sort of attacking, offensive-minded God, we should figure out where God is working in the midst of our pain and trouble to guard and protect our hearts.  Maybe we should be praying for Him to shield us from the bitterness, rage, self-loathing, anger and hate that threaten to tear us apart when tribulation comes.

What if we, as I’ve harped on so many times before, could see the work God is doing in us right in the middle of the suffering and pain?  What if we could really see this stuff as opportunity for God to grow us up a little bit?  What if we could celebrate, as David did, a God who is faithful and who is right there in the midst of the strife?  It’s not to say life isn’t incredibly difficult sometimes; it’s just a new way to perceive  it.  It’s not minimizing God’s ability to step in and intercede in our lives; it’s a greater vision for us to see God shaping us for His mission.  It’s Kingdom thinking.

The difficulties will always exist.  The hard times will always come.  But, in Christ, there is a real hope.  By His Spirit, we can overcome all things and become stronger, wiser, and better equipped for His mission.  Shaped by our circumstances to become more and more like Him.

What do you think?  Do you deal with this?  I’d love to hear from you…

I’ve read the story of Adam and Eve many times and heard a variety of sermons on the subject.  The delightful thing about the Bible, though, is its ability to speak to you in new ways each time it is opened.  It’s really incredible!

In the account of the fall of man, we all know and understand that the forbidden fruit was eaten against the request of God, and mankind fell into sin.  I knew all about that.  What struck me during this reading, however, was completely different.  I’m sure I’ve read and heard about the Tree of Life that was placed next to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil plenty of times, but I don’t think I ever considered it.  You see, God placed the Tree of Life in the same category as all the other trees.  They were free to eat of it.  They were free to receive life.  And God could have left it that way.  No Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, no problem…right?  Just offer life with now choice of rebellion or death.  Why not? (Genesis 2:8-9)

Unfortunately, there can’t be love when that kind of control is present.  God offered a choice.  He took the risk and allowed His creation to choose their desires over Him if that was what they wanted.

And He does the same with you and I today.

We all have the choice to live and move and exist completely in Him.  The door has been opened for every human being in existence to call on the name of Jesus and have life.  Life abundant.  Thus we have the Tree of Life.

Yet, we are also given the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, too.  We can choose to fulfill our desires, our short-sighted wants, and our selfish goals.  We have that freedom.  Will it lead us anywhere?  Will this choice give life?

Never.  But the choice remains.

Because of love, the choice remains.  God loves us so much, He’ll never force it upon us.  Freely given, freely accepted.  And when we choose to respond, it isn’t because He has, by His mighty power, forced us into loving Him.  We choose Him.  We desire His life over our own.

Not control.  Love.

Do you try to control situations and people around you to make them love you?  Have you ever been controlled?  Did it ever lead to lasting, true love?

I look forward to your thoughts…

Cleansed :: Cleanses

Same word, right?  Same idea?  Same meaning?

You would be tempted to think so, and in so doing, find yourself on the short side of God’s immeasurable grace.

1 John 1:7 tells us that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from all our sin.  All our mess and failings.  All that separates us from God.  Scroll over that verse and notice the tense there.  What if it said “cleansed?”  What if it said Jesus’ blood cleansed us of all our sin the moment we accepted Him as Savior? Past tense.  Singular event.   That would still be a pretty awesome feat.

But what about tomorrow?

And the next day?  

We, as broken humans, need a continual salvation.  We need help every single day.  It’s not a one-stop shop when you come to know Jesus.  It’s not an “accept this and never mess up again” mandate.  It’s a constant cleansing.  Not to get real deep, but the original Greek word in that text is the present, continuous tense of the word cleanse, meaning a continual purification that doesn’t stop after it’s first application…a cleansing that never stops.  Imagine comparing a trip through the car wash.  You go through, you get cleaned up, but then you are messy again.  Now imagine a waterfall.  Water running continuously, constantly sweeping away the mess on the river’s bed.  It never stops.  It never relents.  It never lets the dirt build up.

God’s grace and forgiveness is just like that.  He never stops.  He never relents.  He’s always loving, forgiving, and reaching out to His children.  He never lets our dirt, our sin, build up.

His cleansing of us, through the power of Jesus’ ressurection, is perpetual.  Unending.  Without fail.

And it all serves to testify to the greatness of God.  When He sent Jesus to the earth, He didn’t perform cheap tricks or hand out a gift that was not costly, but instead paid the ultimate price for a gift of absolutely infinite, and seemingly unstoppable, worth.

No doubt, I am a flawed man who needs that more than anything…what about you?

“God, give us a Holy itch.”

A “Holy itch?”  Seriously?  What kind of a random thought is that?  Couldn’t I get something more profound or cool or just not-so-stupid?  But it wouldn’t cease.  A holy itch.  What is that, anyway?  I mean, I’m a guy and I itch a lot, so which one’s are Holy and which one’s aren’t?  (No comment.)  Is there a definitive difference?  Are you itching now?

But as we continued to pray, I found that the idea of an itch was precisely what I want.  I want God to place down in me and my wife some sort of itch that we can never scratch.  You know, like those annoying throat itches you get that can’t be scratched from the throat or the ear.  They just teeter in there in some sort of tactile limbo, eluding every effort to appease the itch.  But when you finally contort your face, mouth and eyes to get that thing, it feels so good that you should win a medal for reaching it.

The “Holy itch” is not too different.  There’s something more in all this, isn’t there?  There’s something more profound and more compelling and more motivating to this Jesus than just Sunday morning rhetoric, isn’t there?  Something deep inside me whispers that truth.  I want that something more to cause a desperation in both me and my wife.  I want that desperation to cause us to truly find out who our Creator is and what He truly wants for our lives.  I want to go to another place not because someone suggested it or I read it in the latest book I picked up at the bookstore.  Not because I feel guilty if I don’t read enough, pray enough, sing enough, write enough, talk to people about Jesus enough… Not because I have to at all.  Instead, I want to, simply because I can’t stand it if I don’t.  The itch is driving me crazy.  

Somewhere, there is a faith, a living in Christ, a connection with the Father that goes way beyond what I’ve ever known.  It’s not a feel-good-on-Sunday but I-can’t-connect-with-real-world-people-on-Monday faith.  It’s not a do whatever I want and cover it all in “grace” faith.  It’s not a one-size-fits-all faith.  It’s something so much broader.  So much more…real.  

I want that.  I want it for me, for my wife and those close to me.  But I want it for the church, too.  I want us to all realize we are fighting the same fight.  My judgement of how you are wielding your weapon in this fight is really worthless, right?  I’m not the judge, and you aren’t either.  We’re called to love.  Love the unlovable.  Love those who hate you.  How do I do that?  How do we do that?  How do we allow Jesus to live through us effectively?  I’m not sure.  Oh, there are 37 Sunday school answers swimming through my head right now, but I’m sure you are very much like me when those questions are posed…deep down we just aren’t sure.  And that’s cool.  It’s ok not to know.  It’s ok to wonder.  

And that’s the itch I want.  The unrelenting desire that will never completely be extinguished.  The drive to do more so that I’m equipped, not so that I’m a “good Christian.”  I want to be effective.  I want my wife to be effective.  Effective at what?  Spreading this good news that we have.  Is it good news to me still?  After all these years and all this life I have put it through, is it still good news to me?

I have an answer for that one…absolutely yes!  

Now how to live that truth out and see it’s power effect everyone around us…that’s the other part of the story.  That’s why I want the itch.  To keep me digging, relentlessly, without pause and without excuse, until I find the better way to live this thing.  Until I find God’s way…