Moving My Blog to "Tumblr"

Hey everybody,

I am moving my blog from Blogger.com to a new blog that will allow me to sync up twitter, facebook and my blog. It will be a while before the new blog is synced up with the Bay Pointe website so for now if you want to check out my new and future blog with posts, pics, videos, etc. Be sure to check it out.

Life Verse - Part 8

SCRIPTURE: "Search my heart, O God. Test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalm 139:23-24

OBSERVATION: Who writes stuff like this? "Search me?" "Point out my faults?" When was the last time I came home from work and said to my wife, "Hey honey, could you do me a favor and spend some time reviewing my day with me and give me the straight-up truth about my behaviors and motives? Don't hold back...just bring it on..."? Let's see, the last time I did that was...NEVER!

My tendency is to either minimize or deny my faults. I suspect I'm not alone in that. So why would King David invite God to shine the light on his heart and root out anything in his life that is displeasing to God? Perhaps it is because David had learned that facing the truth--even the hard truth about ourselves--leads to exactly what Jesus said it would: freedom ("You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" - John 8:32). One of the clearest signs of spiritual and emotional health is our willingness to keep our lives anchored in reality--dealing with "what is." And long before he had ever heard the phrase, David wanted to "keep it real."

It seems to me that it takes a strong person--someone confident in the fundamental goodness and graciousness of God--to invite that level of inspection.

APPLICATION: For me to lead well and to live my life well I need God's wisdom in the inner crevices of my soul--to reveal my blind spots, to heal my brokenness, and to keep me humble and honest in my relationships with others. If I am unaware of the world inside me it will eventually mess up the world around me.

PRAYER: Thank you God that you care enough about me that you want to bring truth into my life so that I can live well and honor you. This is a bold and somewhat daunting prayer but here it goes: "Search MY heart, O God. Test me and know MY thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Amen.

Life Verse - Part 7

"...everyone did what was right in their own eyes." Judges 17:6

I come from a fairly large family--mom, dad, eight children and Boozer (the family St. Bernard). Nice name for a dog, right?! Boozer died from liver damage (just kidding).

With a family of ten life can get pretty hectic. If there isn't some cooperation--some "pulling together" a family can get pulled apart. If everybody is intent on doing their own thing it won't take long for chaos to ensue.

To keep any cohesion in a group of people--whether it is a family, a business, a church, etc--requires a common mission with some common values. Without that people start splintering off in all directions.

Take my marriage, for example. If I have a totally different objective or goal for my marriage and a totally different set of values from my wife, chances are the marriage won't last. Thankfully Rose and I have been on the same page--although she still fails to see the redemptive impact of ESPN (still working on her). But when marriages, families, churches, businesses--even nations--start pulling apart, there are real and predictable consequences.

Go ahead and read through the book of Judges. You will find a recurring theme with a recurring statement: "everyone did what was right in their own eyes." Why? Because they took their eyes off God. Once they bailed on God's agenda--his purposes and priorities--it became a free-for-all. And the free-for-all always produced negative consequences. Israel, quite predictably, moved from apostasy (unfaithfulness to God) to moral decline to oppression from foreign nations (the book of Judges views this as divine chastening) to urgent appeals to God to deliverance through a judge/ruler.

And it didn't happen once, or even twice. It happened over and over and over. Each subsequent generation seemed to have to learn the hard lessons of the previous generation for themselves.

While there is a part of me that wants to say, "What a bunch of dummies!" there is another part of me that says, "I'm not so different." If there is a generation in American history that bailed on God in record numbers it would be the baby-boomers because, after all, we had it all figured out--sex, drugs, rock and roll and down with "the man." Now we boomers have raised Gen X and Y who, in huge numbers, have no spiritual roots or moral compass whatsoever.

The thing Israel had going for them is that when they were in trouble they were at least smart enough (or humble enough) to call out to God for help. I pray we will do the same. If we don't--if everyone does what is right in their own eyes; if we reject absolute truth (by the way, truth by its very nature is absolute) and mock any sense of a binding moral code we will get exactly what we ask for--everyone doing their own thing.

And the results, as the book of Judges attests, are quite predictable.

So what do you say? We who call ourselves followers of Jesus, let's submit ourselves to our leader, call out to him for divine wisdom and guidance, and DWJD (do what Jesus did).

Life Verses - Part 6

Joshua 24:15 "But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

The statement above comes with some time... some experience... some perspective. It may sound like a Christian (or Jewish) cliche, but Joshua--who originally spoke them--spoke out of years of being battle-tested.

Is serving God (vs. serving self) really the best way to live? I've walked both sides of that road and watched thousands of others walk it too. I can't speak for anyone else but serving me has never worked very well. The problem with me is...me. When I focus on me I'm like this insatiable beast whose hunger is never satisfied. I tend to grouse and grumble about how things aren't going my way. I fuss and fume when the world doesn't align itself with my plans and priorities. What's wrong with everyone...can't they see they are messing up my life?

I'm sure none of you reading this (assuming anyone is actually reading it) ever struggle with that.

On the other hand, serving God by serving others has always led me down a road toward humility and gratitude. Somehow in God's strange economy it turns out that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said, "He who loses his life for others will find it."

One night my wife Rose and our daughter Krissie served together at Safe Harbor (a ministry to the homeless in our community. It turned out to be a magic night of love, laughter and caring for others that filled our own souls. Serving others sets me free from me. But at the same time a more noble and joy-filled me surfaces.

So decide for yourself. If you sit back passively and go with the flow you will ultimately make the choice of making life about you. Sorry...it's just part of our messed up spiritual DNA. Serving God's purposes in the world--sharing love and compassion? That's a decision. But it's a good decision.

I hope you make that decision--today. And do it again tomorrow. If you string enough days of you and your family serving God together, you'll get what you really want: a life of significance.

PS. The photo above is a shot from a helicopter of the Grand Traverse region. It reminds me of Joshua--at the end of his life--looking over the land that God had given to Israel. It was a good land flowing with milk and honey. So is ours--flowing with almost unimaginable natural (supernatural) resources. Steward well the gifts God has given you. In the end it ALL belongs to Him.

Life Verse - Part 5

Deuteronomy 6:1-6

Okay,  I skipped all the way from Exodus 20 (The Ten Commandments) to Deuteronomy--skipping the entire books of Leviticus (check out chapters 16-17) and Numbers (check out 6:24-26--very famous benediction/blessing).  The book of Deuteronomy is a big summary of what happened in the previous four books.  It recaps major events and reminds the nation of Israel--one more time before entering the Promised land--who God is and who they are as God's people.

While Deuteronomy 5 also contains the Ten Commandments, chapter 6 is one of the most formative passages in the Jewish religion: "Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength..."  (v. 5)

Every Hebrew child memorized this verse and the larger passage.  And later in the New Testament, when asked to name the greatest of all the commandments, Jesus referred back to this command: Love God with your entire being--heart, soul, mind and strength.  Jesus added a second command that flowed out of the first: love your neighbor as yourself (see. Matthew 22:37-39).

Why is this a key life verse?  Because loving God is the key to a life well lived.  People who don't love God, or deny God, or marginalize/trivialize God end up living for themselves.  That makes perfect sense.  If there is not God that puts me at the center of my universe.  

The problem with that is that my self-centered, self-absorbed life never leads me in the direction I desire--a life of peace, joy, meaning and significance.  When life is all about me, me is not a very happy camper.  But when the focus of my life becomes God--to love and honor him above all else--everything else falls into place.  

Jesus put it this way: "Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  And everything else you need (for daily living) will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

Make loving God and serving people the number one aim of your life.  Start today.  Do it again tomorrow.  If you string enough of those days together you will end up with a legacy beyond your wildest imagination.  And you will end up wildly fulfilled.

Would Jesus Go to the Micro-Brewery Fest?

I confess...I went to the "beer-fest" in Traverse City Saturday night.  I went back and forth on it but finally decided to go with a couple friends--mostly to listen to the music of Levi Britton and Mike Moran (who, it turns out, were not playing during the time I was there).

When I entered I paid my money and they gave me an 8 oz. cup with 8 tokens for the various specialty beers.  Mind you, I'm not a big drinker.  They were small glasses, but eight of them add up.  So I did a bit of "beer-math."  8 oz. X 8 cups = 64 oz.  That's a half-gallon of beer!  On Saturday night!  The eve of worship!!!  

You'll be glad to know that I did not use all of my tokens.  I gave my leftovers to another Bay Pointer!  Rest assured, I behaved myself.  I didn't do anything illegal, unethical, ungodly, etc.  

What I did do was have fun.  It's true.  I had fun at the beer-fest.  I had fun meeting new people, talking to old friends and listening to music in the rain.  I even engaged in numerous significant faith-related conversations.   All in all it was a fun night, and I was back home at the outrageous time of 7:30 p.m.

But would Jesus have gone to the beer festival?  I don't know.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I don't know if he liked beer--although he seemed to have an affinity for really good wine (see John 2). The fact that Jesus turned between 120-180 gallons of water into wine and hung out with some shady people earned him the reputation of being a glutton, a drunkard and a "friend of sinners."  

I'm not a drunkard.  As for gluttony, I try to behave myself but truth be told I've crossed that line a time or two (as in my wife's lasagna tonight at dinner).  But if someone  hung the label "friend of sinners" on me?  I would accept that as a high compliment.   

PS.  I even debated whether or not I should post this.  Kelly Ellis made me.  It's Kelly's fault :)

Life Verse - Part 4

THE BIG TEN

Among the "must read/must know/must do" passages in the Bible, let's not forget about what lies at the center of the book of Exodus.  Exodus includes lots of amazing stories--God speaking to Moses through a burning bush, sticks turning into snakes, rivers turning into blood, invasions of gnats and frogs and other sordid plagues, the exodus itself, the parting of the Red Sea--you know...very cool stuff.

But when all is said and done what lies at the center of the second book of the Bible is the "Big Ten"--God's commandments of how we relate to him (first four) and how we are to related to each other (last six).  

Read them; think about them; apply them.  You will be amazed at how well life works when, for example, we choose to honor God first rather than trying to pretend that we are God.  You will discover that lying, cheating, committing adultery, etc never really benefits anyone--least of all the one doing the lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, etc.

I know they are old, but so are some of the finest wines and instruments in the world.  Age has nothing to do with it.  Truth does.  Call me "old school" if you want but I happen to believe that truth matters...and all truth (by definition) is absolute.

What I love about the Ten Commandments is that they are timelessness.  They are "trans-generational" in that they apply to all people of all times.  I also love the clarity.  They are not fuzzy or ambiguous.  They simply state it: Do or don't.  Then we decide.

It's not always crystal clear as to why God says what he says.  He doesn't lay everything out there for us: "Don't do this...because if you do..."  I suppose that's where faith comes in.  Do you believe that the God who created you and redeemed you would create commands and principles that would guide your life into anything other than a blessed life?  

Think that one through...and then build your life with God and others on the unshakable foundation of these ancient truths.

Life Verse - Part 3

Genesis 50:20

Okay...I am skipping from the beginning of the book of Genesis to the end.  Obviously there is tons of important stuff in between--Cain kills Abel, Noah builds an ark, Abraham and Sarah leave home to start a new destiny, etc.  

But I want to point to an amazing statement made by Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Israel, after he had been sold into slavery by his brothers.  Joseph keeps doing the right thing and gets shafted over and over.  But eventually he comes out on top--2nd in command over Egypt. When his brothers come to him--starving and in need of food--and discover that the brother they sold was the one in charge of the food bank, they were freaking out.

So here is the verse--Genesis 50:20.  "As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil."  

I think it took Joseph a while to come to that conclusion.  I suspect that during those times he was sitting in jail--wrongly accused--he wasn't thinking such gracious thoughts.  I suspect you have to live a while to come to the conclusion Joseph eventually arrive.  

In the midst of life's  injustices, struggles, disappointments, illnesses, etc. all we can see is loss. But over time it is amazing how God can take what others intend for evil and redeem it into something good.

How do I know this?  I need look no further than my own story.  I recently wrote a book called "Wrecked" that chronicles a defining moment in my life when a really bad decision I made was redeemed by my dad in a way that later led to my conversion.

When you are neck deep in a swamp filled with alligators, remember the story of Joseph.  And remember that God has an amazing track record of turning life's lemons into lemon-aid.

Life Verse - Part 2

The Blame Game 

“It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12)

The second significant verse all Christ-followers should know is found in the story we simply call "The Fall."  The fall, by the way, wasn't a trip.  It wasn't simply a matter of losing one's balance.  It is more like a crash and burn.

Directly disobeying God, Adam ate the forbidden fruit.  Granted, Eve was the first to eat it--and she actually initiated the blame game--"It was the serpent who tempted me--it was his fault!"  But Adam quickly joined in on the game.

It appears the blame game has been around a looooooong time.  The trouble with playing that game, however, is that it never solves or resolves anything.  When was the last time you pointed an accusing finger at someone else and said, "It was his/her fault!" and things turned out well?  I rest my case.

We won't make any significant progress with our lives until we stare down the truth by staring ourselves in the mirror and saying, "It was me.  I did it.  I messed up.  I'm the rebel."  

I know--it's  scary to admit that.  We think we will be rejected by all those perfect people who've never mess up.  But eventually we figure out that those perfect people who never mess up don't exist.

So the next time you find things going wrong, push the pause button and ask yourself this question: "Any chance this has anything to do with me any part of me?"  Getting in touch with your "inner flawed-ness" is the first step to finding freedom.  

Life Verses Part 1

I mentioned during worship last Sunday (July 26, 2009) that I would be spending time reflecting on some of the key verses in the Bible that are foundational to our life and faith as followers of Jesus--verses or passages we need to know, understand, and act upon.

Here's the first:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  (Genesis 1:1). Granted, that's pretty basic.  But it's also a pretty important place to start.  

Why?  Because if God is not the source of everything then the rest of what the Bible teaches doesn't matter a lick.  Without God we are reduced to some sort of "cosmic hiccup"--an accident of evolution.  In other words, we (the human race) are on our own.  

For some people this feels like freedom--we are masters of our own destiny.  For me it feels like utter foolishness (how did all of this "happen?"  And how do you account for such order and beauty?).  

There are a lot of arguments and debates about exactly how God created everything.   For instance, was it a "big bang?"  Maybe.  I suppose if God spoke and entire galaxies were formed by the sheer power of the words that flew out of his mouth a "big bang" seems reasonable.  The real issue behind the big-bang, or any other theory regarding the origins of life is "Who caused it?"  Who or what is the uncaused cause?

The atheist says no one caused it--it just happened.  I've examined the statistical probability of the five elements needed to form a dead molecule--one in 10 to the 17th power.  That's a lot of zeroes.  

The agnostic says, "I don't know and I don't know if you can know."   It's okay to not know.  It's not okay to shrug your shoulders and say, "Who cares?"  One second after you die you will care...a lot.

The Christian says, "God, in his goodness, created the world."  

You'll have to decide for yourself but I believe all the evidence points toward the latter.  And that leads us to other issues, such as "What is this Creator God like?"

More later...

Unclogging the heart

Wow...I saw a vivid picture of what happens when you're living with a clogged heart physically. What isn't always so "diagnos-able" is the effects of a clogged-heart spiritually and emotionally.

My mom just had five stents put in her heart.  She had 85-95% blockage in seven areas.  She could barely walk 10 feet before collapsing from exhaustion.  Now that the blockage has been removed she looks ten years younger.  What a difference it makes to get obstructions out of the way.

The parallel between physical blockage and our spiritual, emotional and relational lives is clear. For instance, unforgiveness, bitterness, greed, gossip, etc. all clogs up our relational world--with God and others.  

The apostle Paul calls us to "forgive, as God in Christ has forgiven us."  Great advice for unclogging the invisible arteries of the soul.  

Getting Older

My mom had a heart attack last week--a couple weeks after her 80th birthday.  The doctors told her all her major arteries were completely blocked.  They are shocked she's still alive. Open heart surgery looms later this week, provided her lungs are healthy enough to handle the surgery (years of smoking hasn't helped the situation).

Getting older, getting sick, facing our mortality...it's such a drag.  We were made for life and when death comes knocking on our door--or at least waves from a distance--it feels like such an interruption.

That's because it is.  Death is the unwanted, unwelcome intruder to  life.  But it's here.  It is coming...for all of us.  Sooner or later, today or tomorrow or fifty years from now, death is coming.  It doesn't matter how many vitamins we take or how many plastic surgeries we have to try to retain that youthful look.  Death is coming.  Deal with it.

But most don't.  Most of us stick our head in the sand.  Or we buy into the idea that "good people" go to heaven, and since we all consider ourselves good (or at least better than average), we assume we will be okay.  Meanwhile, we wonder..."How good am I, really?  And who determines how good you have to be?" (see Andy Stanley's excellent little book, "How Good is Good Enough?")

But when you get to where my mom is--with the imminent threat of death--all of our wishful thinking goes out the window.  We want answers.  We want truth.  And most of all we want assurance.  

Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he/she live."  

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life (huge, huge, HUGE claims).  No one comes to the Father except through me."  They killed Jesus for saying things like this.

The apostle John wrote, "God has given us eternal life (note that eternal life is a gift--not something we earn or deserve--see Ephesians 2:8-9), and this life is in his son (Jesus).  So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life...I have written these things so that you may know (i.e. be assured) that you have eternal life."  They banished John to a prison island for writing such things.

When you get right down to the end of life people who know and love Jesus--and I mean that at the deepest, most intimate level--face their death with an amazing peace and even a sense of anticipation.  

I hope that is true for you.  If you've not wrestled with those big issues before--as in your own mortality and appointment with death--what are you waiting for?