Sticks.

Sticks.

The King walks outside of the Garden,

Among the forest trees.

It’s different: damper, darker,

In the Garden, nothing is broken.

But The King has left the Garden.

Still, the forest echoes his own perfection,

His intended perfection.

He gathers up the broken sticks.

He holds them in his hand.

He rubs them, removing dirt, decay and broken bark.

He smoothens them.

He marvels at how far they have fallen.

He smiles knowingly at their weakness.

He looks up at the trees and takes in the beauty of his creation.

The contrast of the dark, fruitless, dead branches 

Against the vivid forest canopy above is beautiful to him.

Against.

Against is a reality.

The snake slithers away up ahead.

His Majesty smiles again knowingly.

But he aches.

He aches for the broken branches, 

They do not know where they came from.

They do not know what they are made of.

They do not know where they belong.

Still they lay there, comically defiant: 

A stick raging against the Universe.

He takes the broken, decaying branches,

He sears against the death lying within.

He burns at the destruction of his perfection.

He gathers the kindling for a final funeral pyre.

But he fashions a Cross instead.

A Cross is not a tree.

A Cross is not perfection, but a declaration

Among the broken branches.

A Cross is fashioned,

The broken branches held fast by the splintered man,

Iron driven into the extremities, spanning the Cross. 

The sky is broken.

Death is broken.

Wrath is satisfied.

The Cross is not a tree,

The Cross is for thee,

The Cross declares, God from the Garden:

“You belong to me!”

Waiting.

I wait here, thinking I'm patient.  I'm waiting on the Lord I tell myself.  Things will be better soon.  I list in my mind all of my worries and tell myself that they won't always be there.  I think of how the world needs to be in order to accommodate me.  These are sincere thoughts and desires and yet they seem so silly as I write them out now.  I know better don't I?  Do I?  Apparently not.

I wait.  But even in my waiting I stop short of the Glory of God.  Almost immediately after I feel God's work in my life, his presence and revelation, I start to think about what it means for me.  This isn't what I'm built for.  I'm not here to work on my career, my family, my rapier wit.  I'm here to work for, Love and be Loved by the Creator of the Universe.  In finding my true place, I find myself blessed beyond all measure.  That's just who God is: Good.

But still I wait.  And I think it a noble sort of waiting.  But here is what I realized today: I'm praying and waiting for God to reveal something about me.  The better portion would be to ask God to reveal TO me, something about himself.

"Hey Mozart, man did you compose some amazing music.  Instead of learning more about you, I'd like you to hear the three chord song I wrote on my guitar."

I have chosen the lesser portion.  I have chosen myself.  Jesus is infinitely more interesting than everything else in the Universe combined.  And yet I thought I had known all of him.  I was getting frustrated trying to apply his teachings without desiring to know him.  I was plucking away at the Turkish March hoping to impress Mozart.  But when you have an audience with Greatness, it is better to sit and learn.

When we wait on the Lord, we should expect more than learning an interesting tidbit about our spiritual development.  We should expect nothing less than the Great and Might King to overwhelm us and teach us about himself.

Mary chose the good portion.

Luke 10:38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Hands up: Surrender, Obedience and Worship.

Obedience, at its core, is simply a step in the right direction.  It needn't feel like you are required to move the mountain, pick and ax.  Instead, think of it like being buried alive and deciding to reach your hand out of the soil.  That is obedience, and it is God's good pleasure to lift you out.  But he cannot do so if you decide to remain in the dark, thinking yourself too bad or too good to make an effort.  Maybe you don't think enough of Him to hope that he will rescue you.  Faith is evident in the action.  Though efforts are not the same as believing, you can hardly express the simplest of beliefs without some sort of effort.  Belief stirs to action, even the beginning of belief.  A seed laying dormant pokes it's leaf out of the soil and to the light to grow.

Much like the Mustard Seed of Faith, it only takes a small amount for Christ to work.  In some cases, obedience is simply to stop moving in a direction that you know is leading you to destruction.  Let yourself be found!  Give him a chance to rescue you!  

You are being called, his Spirit is crying to you, into you, reverberating throughout your bones, rattling you from the inside.  His voice is calling you out of the darkness, raising you up to something greater.  There is an evil voice at work as well.  This condemning spirit of Satan bids you to stay put, to dig yourself deeper.  He tells you that you cannot be loved, you are not worthy or worse yet, telling you God is not Good.  

Which voice will you respond to?  It is not easy to take that first step out of darkness, out of comfort and seemingly out of control.  But in that moment which you realize you cannot do this alone, reach for him in hope and faith and you will not be disappointed.  Simply calling on the name of Jesus is enough.  An out-stretched hand will find the warmth of the Savior who has been there waiting for you all along.

James 2:15
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

What if Sex...?

As participants and as parents, what if we treated Sex like it was a gift from God?  What if we handled it like the treasure that it is?  Instead of separating God from Sex, what if we told our kids that God gave us this joy because he loves us.  The way we have the scenario set up now, it leads our children to a choice: either God is good or Sex is.  Well, they may have some doubt about God, but they won't have any doubt about sex.  (Hint: sex is good.)  If all good things come from God, and sex is undeniably a good thing, then why not embrace it instead of setting up later contradictions.  We have set our children up for failure, by creating a false choice.  In short, we say Virginity and Abstinence make God happy.  This may very well be true, but as usual we tend to stop short of the bigger factors at work.  God is Good.  God wants the best for us.  The fact's are this:  Sex is better in the context of a loving relationship.  And though it feels like our hormones are telling us different, telling us to take as many chances as we get, the reality is that one man and one woman yields our greatest chance for security, happiness and love:  emotional and physical satisfaction.  Marriage is a great gift to the world.  Sex is the seal to that covenant, the physical and spiritual joining of two people.   


We can debate Marriage.  We can debate whether or not waiting for marriage is even a reasonable expectation.  What I hope that you might see is that God is not a cosmic killjoy, constantly depriving you and keeping you from joy.  He made you and knows what your heart and soul need.  Promiscuity, random casual sex does not lead to more pleasure, it instead leads to a depletion of the soul.  Pornography doesn't satiate, it inflames and leads to escalation.  These short term fixes are not the answer.  Sex was meant to seal the deal, not BE the deal.  

“Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain. Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure.”  G.K. Chesterton

If we can start to believe that God is good and that he wants the best things for us, then we have a chance.  We might be able to stop abusing each other.  We might be able to stop using sex as currency, extortion and collateral.  We might be able to start enjoying it with God present in it, instead of always trying to hide something we can't seem to do without.  

What if waiting wasn't about will power, impossible pride or fear of disappointment, but instead it was about hoping in something more?  It's not about doing without, but increasing future Joy.  What if Father's told son's that waiting was honorable instead of encouraging conquests?  What if Mothers didn't threaten daughters and use fear tactics that are sure to fail and create rifts?  What if parents were honest about their own failures and regrets?  What if we Loved no matter what, just like our Father?  Jesus doesn't want or need our sacrifices.  He wants us to seek more pleasure and to stop settling for such short sighted gains.  You were made for more.  When you can finally see that, and finally believe that He is good...things change.

Matthew 9
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Shalom

There it's no human effort that is free of the fall. There is no drug without a side effect. There is no warmth without a burn. There is no increase in yield that does not produce a greater pest. Shalom is the freedom from consequence. And that freedom comes when every decision we make, every thought is the same one that God would make. The possibility for this increases in our proximity to Jesus. Yet even in our best moments we can't quite get close. But someday He will be our only thought.

Easter 2014

Why is Easter such a big deal?

In short, without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, nothing else matters: not the miracles, the healing, the feeding of 5000, not the amazing teaching, not the work of the disciples, the Virgin Birth.  Unless Jesus died and then rose from the dead then the rest of Jesus' life is just Vacation Bible School Fun Facts.

Annoying Christians.
We like to talk about Sin.  Your sin, our sin, the sin of the world.  We like to dig into it and let everyone know why they are bad.  It can be hard to take, but our intentions are good.  It really does come from a place of Love.  We talk about sin for a couple of reasons.  
      1.  It accurately describes the world around us.  Things are jacked up.  The world seems not quite right.  Other people seem awful and if we are honest, we see that our own hearts are incurably selfish.  Instead of shouting "Everything is Awesome.", we are forthright about what's broken in the world and our part in it.
      2.  If Christians are talking about Sin correctly, we are conveying that we are all in the same boat, we are all sinners.  Most of the time, though, it sounds like we are talking about how wrong everyone else is, and how right we are.  But the reality is that a true Christian will see that distance between the worst guy in the world and my sweet Grandma is not very far...we are all sinners.  
     3.  Sin acknowledges that we need a Savior.  It not only puts us in the same boat, but it explains why that boat is so far from God.  He wants to be near us, but in his perfection and our serious imperfection he cannot.  We need to be saved.  And the reason we need to be saved is so we can be clean, cleared of this sin and near our Creator.  People don't like to be in need, they don't want a savior, they want to do it all themselves, they don't trust God and they resist the notion of Sin.  This resistance, is also because of sin.

Mercy. 
God could just wipe everything out.  The fact that we are still here, in spite of sin, is mercy.  Justice is that we all get wiped out, Mercy is that we continue to exist.  

Grace.  
But God didn't stop there.  He came here to make a way for us to be saved.  He came to show us love, give signs of his divinity but most important, he came to make a way out of this Sin struggle.  We inherently understand the terms of sacrifice because we have Justice written in our very being.  Do you ever ask yourself why you crave fairness, why injustice is so sickening?  If we understand Sin, even a little, then we will understand that a price has to be paid.  The Cross is this price.  On a cosmic scale, it is that point in a movie where the Villain is about to kill the child and then the hero steps in and says, "Take me instead".  We get sacrifice because we understand injustice.  But God blows our understanding out of the water, when he himself steps in.  We can't quite comprehend it.  We are left with this inescapable choice in life.  He leaves us no out.  Either we accept this is true or we reject it.  Either Jesus is God, or Not.  Either he is my Savior or I choose my own route.  Either he died that we might be with him in eternity or it's just Time+Matter+Chance.

Resurrection.  
People like to call Jesus a great teacher, a powerful leader, an amazing figure in History that changed the world.  But they do not like to call him what he is: God.  This is why the Resurrection matters, why everything hinges on it.  It declares God's victory over death, over sin, and points to our life eternal, with him.  It is the point in history that allows for everything to be made right.  We clearly aren't there yet, he has to come again, but without Jesus rising from the dead, all things being made right cannot happen.  When Jesus died, all his believers ran scared, scattered and went into hiding.  But when Jesus came back, we have 12 clumsy men ready to change the world with their message of Salvation for all for those who believe: The Gospel: The Good News.  If Jesus didn't rise for the dead, he is just a nut job cult leader who said he was God and not worth following.  If he did, well what does that mean to you?  Who do you say he is?

He is asking...What's your answer?  If he didn't love you, he wouldn't ask.

John 14

Rivers.

Wiring and Rivers.  As I think about our brains, hearts and our emotions, these are the images that come to mind.  I have been studying about depression recently, reading and auditing a course on counseling.  As I study I think about the intended paths of our hard-wiring.  I think about how the amazing chemicals that flow through our system go about their business, the ebb and flow.  I think about how interactions and learning create new paths.  I think about the good paths that are being formed in our brains.  I think about how the wiring, the rivers that flow are supposed to be.  I pause as I think about the gap between what God has intended for our design and what actually comes to be.  The broken parts of us and of this world are only recognizable because within our creation lies the original blueprints for how things are supposed to be.  There are ancient river beds that outline the intended destinations of our wiring.  (I apologize that I cannot really quite separate nor unite these two metaphors, but bare with me as I push through).  We only know how bad things are because there is an echo of how good things are supposed to be.  Injustice only exists because we have a sense of justice.  Evil only exists as a perversion of what was once Good.  God has an intended version of us, in which all the millions of wires and tributaries of hormones, chemicals, emotions and reactions flow in perfect harmony.  It is an unbelievably complicated symphony of beauty and glory.  Of course, this perfection is not our current reality.  All of us experience a perversion of our systems.  Starting from the moment we are born, we are influenced second by second by the world and the people around us.  Indeed, some are born with a genetic disadvantage that hinders their flow.  Things are haywire from the womb.  Inappropriate gushing of chemicals, out of sync connections, crossed wires, flash flood and desperate droughts overwhelm us from the start.  Some enter into this world with horrific circumstances affecting their flow.  Genetic miss firings wreak havoc on their systems.  And heart-breakingly, some are exposed to unthinkable injustice and abuse that in essence drop bombs on the victims river paths.  These events are so destructive that any evidence of the original intended path disappear.  

But there are glimpses of goodness.  We get moments when the river is flowing beautifully within its banks, when the currents surge with remarkable efficiency.  The world seems clearer, sharper, more beautiful than you previously imagined.  And while your fellow humans retain the evidence of their busted banks, you somehow swell up with compassion for them because of it.  Despite all odds, you continue to Love.  

God has given us Love, that we might help to restore his creation.  It is Love the compels us to attend to our damage, to seek the help in repairing our pathways, and once we are able we cannot help but to want to help others.  Our rivers flow together, and our poison flows to our neighbors and our love does as well.  Our circuits are irretrievably intertwined.  If we choose to sever these connections completely, we may avoid the damaging voltage, but we also remove the chance for healing and repair.  As you read this and as I write this I can think of dozens of friends and loved ones who are recovering or reacting to the devastating bombs that have been dropped in their lives.  One way or another, they attempt to make sense of the mess they have been left with.  Hope remains, and Love bids us to enter into the mud.  Medication can help.  Counseling can help.  But more than anything, we have to realize that every interaction we have with each other is affecting the others and our own course.  We are directing each other, for good or for bad.  Some are dealing with the effects of a re-routed river.  A change in course that happened so long ago and that is so far off course that we don't know how to help.  All we can do, is to little by little, help to change the course.  In Love we must gently and consistently be a presence for one another, gradually moving the banks of the river.  If we choose to be in the mess with each other, we must also rely on God's guidance.  We must trust in his direction, not only because he knows best, but because we cannot possibly see what is needed to be seen. We may help, but only God can wash away the damage and make us new.  

 The one who created all, who watched as man betrayed him, still calls us to restore that which we destroyed by our original sin.  That is mercy.  We can struggle and blame and be angry with God for the current condition of the world and of our own hearts, but we must do so realizing that it is his Love and Mercy that allow us to exist to even consider that struggle.  And so we dive in to love one another, to work towards restoring his creation, to bring others into the fold, so that someday we may all get to rejoice when he makes things right again.  The day when all rivers lead to Jesus.  We ache for the time when all of our energy will flow in the right direction and be eternally powered by his Love and Glory.  

God dwelt with us in perfection.  
         We chose our own desires.
God gave us direction to be saved.
         We chose our own desires.
God pursued his people.
         We chose our own desires.
God came in the Flesh, Died to overcome our choices, and in his Resurrection changed the course of history.
Because of His perfect course, His perfect death and his Life again, he has flooded the circuits of creation. Out of all the meandering tributaries he has forged a new course, one path available for all that call his name. The one whom the winds and waves obey, has come to save you.  
For his Glory and our Joy, let us not choose our own desires, for we have been given a new course.  

Genesis 2

8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

Ezekiel 47

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[b] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

John 7

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”