Soldiers in a Foxhole

We have a tendency to make mountains out of mole hills.  There are minor inconveniences that can get magnified into full blown crisis.  We are at the grocery store and there is a lot of people and only a couple of lines open.  It's a disaster.  How long will we need to wait?  There is a traffic back up and that package didn't arrive and our computer crashed and and and and and.  Every day there are struggles but that's not what we are talking about.  No there are struggles and then there is true suffering.

In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Mrs/ Lydia Bixby.  Mrs. Bixby had lost five sons in civil war.  The thought of losing a child is horrific, let alone five.I am sure in penning this letter President Lincoln both felt the need to express compassion for this great loss and completely inadequate for the task.  But still he tried.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.  I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

We all go through tough times, but some of us more than others.  I can't say that I've gone through as much as many.  I look at some people and think, "How do they make it?" It seems like they would just give up.  People go through devastating loss and horrible sorrows and make it through.  I think we are more resilient than we give ourselves credit for being.

Suffering.  Real suffering, Tragic suffering teaches us patience and endurance to survive it.  It brings out Jesus-like qualities as we grow from the experience.


Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

\\\\

When we suffer we get through it.  Through the experience we learn to lean on God. So is that its purpose?

I can't picture a God that tortures us so that we will need him more.  I don't think it works that way.  I think suffering happens.  Bad things happen.  We make bad choices or some one else does.  Sometimes there are natural disasters or random attacks.  There is plenty of suffering in the world without God needing to make more up.  But when the suffering does happen, there is God to provide shelter and see us through.  

It is like soldiers in a foxhole.  The enemy is shelling them.  They don't see how they will ever make it to morning. But then the dawn comes.  The shelling stops and a new day breaks.  And those soldiers will forever have a special bond that is only forged by going through trials together.  In the battles of life, God is in our foxhole.

We make it through and we are closer to God as a result.

Defying Logic

We have an expectation in this world that things will make sense.  There is a cause and a logical effect and we expect one to follow the other.

There is a place near St. Ignace, Michigan called the Mystery Spot, and it is a first rate tourist trap. As you walk through the exhibit you will see balls roll up hill and sit in chairs that can't be gotten out of.  Of course it's a trick and good bit of fun.

A similar place is found in the back roads near Rose City.   You stop your car, put it in neutral and it rolls up hill.  It seems to make no sense at all.  Of course both places are tricks of perspective.  The local topography is such that things appear to be uphill when they are really downhill, but when you first experience these places it plays with your senses and makes you say, "What?".

We like predictable.  When the modern nation of Israel was founded shortly after World War II, Albert Einstein was offered its presidency.  He however refused saying that he likes working with equations over people because equations are at least predictable.  And was he ever right.

It's hard for us to make sense of the motivations of others,  I think it''s because other people have their own goals and motivations.  What seems like a crazy decision from out perspective makes perfect sense from theirs.  We just aren't in their heads.

If we can't understand the mindset of another person, how much less are we able to understand the mind of God.  We all wonder why bad things happen.  What is the purpose to suffering.  If God is love and God loves us and all the rest, why does he let suffering go on?  

There are many thoughts on this subject.  Whole books have been written on the subject.  Here is the thing.  When We are the ones going through it, none of those ideas matter.  It is between us and God and we are left asking the question Why?

Watch this video clip from Pastor Sparks

The very nature of Christianity is a personal relationship with God.  To be a Christian is to have the sense that yo and God have a closeness,  So when we are suffering, we want to say, "Hey.  God.  It's me." If people are unfathomable, how much more is God?

A pastor once told me that we should embrace the challenges to our faith.  There will be questions and uncertainties.  We should not hide from them, but rather wrestle with them, and our faith will be stronger as a result.  This is hard to remember in the midst of a storm, but we should all try.

Shhhhh. It's a Secret.

Zicam.  It is a cold medicine.  And I tell you it really works.  No kidding.  I used to get these colds 2-3 times a year.  It would start with a sinusy sore throat, turn into a full blown head cold then migrate to my chest.  The day that I woke with the sore throat, I knew that I was looking at two weeks of misery.  Then I got turned on to Zicam.  Now I take it and the cold is all done in about two days and it's never so bad. It's brought such relief that I find myself suggesting it to everyone I meet who has a cold.  You just can't keep some things secret.

Sure, there are those things that we keep to ourselves, like a secret told in confidence or the location of that great place to pick morel mushrooms in the spring.  But most of the time, good things are for sharing.

We share our opinions about a great number of things, that new restaurant,  a book we just read, the Tiger's bullpen.  We have opinions about everything and through comments and "Likes" and word of mouth, we let the world know.

There is one good review that we are reluctant to share,  For some reason our faith is off limits.  They say that you can't discuss religion or politics, but that's not true.  All kinds of people make bold declarations about their party of choice.  It is only faith where we find ourselves reluctant to share.

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

As I have approached this post, I have been asking myself why it is so hard to share our faith.  I think it is because faith is so enormously personal.  It is not a preference for cold medicine this is about who we are down in our soul.  It is hard to share, but that is exactly what "Make disciples of all nations means."

Well That's Done

We love the sense of accomplishment of a job that's been finished.  A friend on Facebook just posted that when she does a task that it not on her list, she writes it down so that she can cross it off.  I am a fan of lists too.  It seems that I used to remember things but as I have gotten older a list is really a necessity.

I once worked with a person who was a big believer in the "To-Do" list.  Every day he would have his list of things to do.  One day he left his list laying around and someone noticed that the first item on this list was "Treat People Kindly".  Now this is a nice thought, except he had a check mark next to it.

Really.  It was checked.  As if to say, "There.  That's over with.  On with my day."  I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, but he took some good natured teasing none the less.  Of course Treating people kindly is not a case for one and done.  It never gets crossed off the list.

Some projects never ever end.   It's like washing the windows on the Renaissance Center in Detroit.  Several massive, window-covered buildings.  By the time the job is done, it is time to start again.  There are others.  Painting the Mackinac Bridge or resurfacing I-75.  When was the last summer that a section wasn't closed for repairs?

Relationships are like this too.  We need to constantly work on the way we relate to others.  We can't expect our relationships to stay in tact untended any more than we can expect  windows to wash themselves.

And finally, our Christian walk.  A christian life is a call to action.  It is a life of doing, not just being.  As Christians we are called to step out and do as Christ would have us do.  It is a way of life and not just one and done.  

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

When Jesus commanded us to love one another as ourselves, I don't think he meant only in theory.  I think that he really wanted us to love other people and to live our lives so that people know it.  I can't say that I am personally always very good at this.  But like washing windows or building  roads, the work on me is never done.

A is for action and it is pretty simple.  We need to let the love of God flow through us.  It is not over and it never is crossed our to do list.  It is a way of life.  

Time for action.

Our Worst Critic

There is this one place on the wall in our living room.  A few years back I was painting the walls and I missed this part when I was going back over it with the roller.  A series of drips are clearly visible.  Now this spot is behind the television.  Nobody ever sees this part, but it bothers me anyway because I know it's there.  Sometimes when we critique our own work, we only see the flaws.

I think that it can be like this in life as well.  We have a hard time letting go of the flaws that we see in ourselves.  It doesn't really matter what else we do or what we accomplish, we still see that one flaw.  We need to learn to forgive ourselves.  Everyone's life has a few paint drips and we need to let them go.  Once we have asked God for forgiveness, once we have sought out forgiveness from others, we still have a hard time forgiving ourselves.

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

I think that deep inside of each of us is a concept that we need to be perfect.  We don't expect perfection from others, only from ourselves.  It really is time to let it go.  There is nothing to gain by blaming ourselves but yet we do.

I think that we need to be deliberate about our personal forgiveness.  We need to keep reminding ourselves that it is the past and over.  Once I woke in the night from a bizarre dream.  In the dream I came home and caught some friends breaking into my home.  It seemed real and it took me a while to remind myself that it was a dream.  The really weird part was that the next day I kept remembering the dream and I found myself feeling a little angry and hurt with my friends.  I had to keep reminding myself, "No.  They did not break into our house." Like I said, it was bizarre.

I think that in the same way,  when we keep beating ourselves up with out past mistakes, we need to say, "No.  It is in the past.  I am forgiven,  It is over." Then we need to keep it up until it fades like that silly dream long ago.   

The Impossible Will Take a Little Longer

There is impossible and then there is impossible.  Some things only seem impossible while others truly are.  I once heard a speaker say, "You have one week to raise $200,000.  How do you do it?"  My first answer was that it's impossible, I don't do it.  Then he rephrased the question, "Your child is sick and on the verge of dying.  There is a procedure that will save his life.  It costs $200,000 and is not covered by insurance.  You have one week.  How do you raise $200,000."

If we allow ourselves to play that game.  If we go beyond the boarder of what is reasonable.  We come up with more options.  There are things to sell, credit cards to max out, retirement accounts to plunder, people we know.  If we do it all, could we come up with the money?  Hard to say.  But there are a lot of options if we let ourselves think about it.

At NASA they have a saying, "The Difficult we can do right away.  The impossible will take a little longer." It is an attitude about pushing boundaries and doing great things.  It reminds us many things that once seemed impossible, happened and are even common place today.  Humanity can do amazing things when we put out minds to it.

But then there is the truly impossible.  It can't happen no matter what we try.  In the Bible are the Ten Commandments.  Rules to live by of course, but there are other rules listed in the Bible.  Things to do or not do.  This link will take you to several Biblical rules and here is another list of Judaic Laws based on the Bible.  The lists go on and on.  The Judaic Law of Mitzvot contains 613 rules.  Then Jesus took this rules business to the next level.  He said that being angry was as bad as murder and lustful thoughts were as bad as adultery. 

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to judgment. - Matthew 5:21-22

If you want to think about the truly impossible, not the improbable or difficult, but the truly impossible, think on this.  To be reconciled to God we need to follow them all.  Not most, All.  In school a passing grade is 60%.  The Honor Roll for the As and Bs, but even 99% isn't good enough.  Living a life that is good enough to be Holy in God's sight is IMPOSSIBLE.  And that is where forgiveness comes in.

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

We cannot reconcile ourselves to God on our own terms.  It is impossible, and taking a little longer will only dig us in a deeper hole.  We need the forgiveness of God.  Because that is the only way that the truly impossible can happen.

Like You Mean It

This will probably sound familiar.  Two little kids are fighting.  The insults start flying.  "You're stupid."  "You're Ugly."  An adult intervenes with, "Say you're sorry."  The response is either a bitter, "I'm sorry." or a sarcastic, "I'm sorry that you're stupid." If you really are sorry, you have to say it like you mean it.

We all mess up from time to time.  Sometimes it's a little inconvenience, but sometimes it's worse and sometimes way worse.  As we go through life we leave a wake behind us.  We affect those that we touch and most people affect most people in a positive way.  Or at least neutrally, but we all have those times where it just isn't good.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

Seeking out forgiveness from others is a tough thing.  In many ways it is harder than seeking out forgiveness from God.  After all God has promised that He will forgive you and His promises can be trusted.  Other people have made no such promises and even the most honorable of persons are still not God.

So seeking out forgiveness is a risk.  You may be rebuffed and rejected.  You may be looking for peace and they may be looking for vengeance.  But still we need to try.  We cannot control how others respond, but still we need to know that we made the effort.

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

In the essay, All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, author Robert Fulghum lists several basic life rules that we all should live by.  Among these rules is "Say you are sorry when you hurt someone." It's a simple rule that we all should remember.  And I would add that when you say that you are sorry, say it like you mean it.

The Permanent Record

It was 1993 and the University of Michigan was in the finals of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.  Eleven seconds to go, Michigan is down by two.  Chris Webber has the ball and is bringing it down court, and then it happens.  Chris Webber calks for a time out when his team is out.  It;s a technical foul and that's it.  The game becomes out of reach.

It was a mistake and mistakes happen.  Chris Webber went on to have a remarkable NBA career scoring over 17,000 points and 5 all star appearances, but people still remember the time out.  After retirement when he was joining the broadcasters on Inside the NBA he was still being teased about his ill fated time out.  Sometimes we mess up big and publicly.  The football player runs the wrong way; or the goalie puts one in his own.  Usually it isn't as big or as publicly, but we all mess up.  And sometimes the mess up is what we are known for.

In life we have high points and low points and people remember.  Alfred Nobel was the creator of dynamite.  When his brother died, a newspaper mistakenly reported that it was Alfred that died and described him as a merchant of destruction.  Alfred was disturbed that he would be remembered that way and so he used the vast wealth to create prizes for Peace and achievements in Science, Medicine and Literature.    And it worked.  Today when people heat the name Alfred Nobel they are much more likely to think Nobel Prize than Dynamite.  However, most of us don't have vast fortunes to use in this way.

For most of us we have to rely on forgiveness.  We need people to accept our mistakes and look past them.  We need to be forgiven by others, we need to be forgiven by God and we need to forgive ourselves.

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

We all need forgiveness and we all need to be forgiven.  We need to be forgiven by other people and we need to be forgiven by God.  In the Gospel of Mark it says 

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins

So forgiveness needs to start with us.  We need to forgive others so that our heart is right with God.  And there is the crux of it.  Unforgiveness is bad for us.  It hardens our heart and separates us from God whose forgiveness we all need.  So while our mistakes might forever be remembered in the minds of people it will be forever removed from God's permanent record.

Maybe You're Not Hitler

As it happens each New Years Day, people engage in the making of resolutions.  What is it about your life that you plan on changing in the coming year.  Sure, most of these are over before the end of the Rose Parade, but still we make them.  In the spirit of continual improvement, I would like to offer a resolution for all of us.  Each individual and across society as a whole, we should all resolve to listen more and talk less.

Throughout our society people are quick to give opinions and slow to listen to the opinions of others.  This doesn't change when you consider the expertise that a person has in a given area.  We treat the man on the street interview with the same credibility as overwhelming scientific research.  And it doesn't matter because we aren't listening.  We are waiting our turn to speak.

Political talk shows are the perfect embodiment of this effect.  Have you ever watched the McLaughlin Group?  It is a PBS talk show involving a moderator and pundits who spend most of the half hour talking over each other.   It is one of several like this on the different channels.  Just once, wouldn't you like to see someone present their side of an argument and the other speaker say, "You know, I've never really thought of it that way.  Maybe you're right." And with that, the show is over.

Lack of listening to others is a problem that we all face.  Think about this.  When was the last time that you were talking about an issue with someone else and your opinion was changed as a result.  Think about it.  We interact with people all of the time.  We offer out opinion of social and political causes, the merits of Obamacare, gun policies, immigration reform, affirmative action.  The other person speaks theirs and no one is different.  Our news shows repeat our points of view and discount the opposition, and we tend to do the same.

Do you know what happens when you listen?  I mean really listen.  I mean open up your mind and think this person speaking is an intelligent thoughtful person with something to say.  You walk away thinking that the other person is not crazy, foolish or immoral.  They are not the reincarnation of Hitler.  They just have a different point of view.  

Take a divisive issue in our country like gun control/gun rights.  Both sides want to feel safe.  Both sides want liberty and freedom.  Both sides want good things for their families and their children to grow up in a world that is safe.  One side thinks the bast way to do this is to remove  guns from society and the other thinks it would be better if more people had guns.  Both sides have similar goals.  Both sides involve good people who want the best for this country and society as a whole.  Neither side is either trying to take over the country nor destroy it.  If we spent more time listening and less time talking, we would all know this.

As Christians we should be the stars of listening.  We are called to spread the Good news.  There is no way to do this with out communicating.  We would be better to find out why people believe what they do. 

Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

When we listen to other people remember that this person is not the opposition. They are a person who is important to God and loved by God.  Therefore, they should be important to me as well.  

Be it resolved, in 2015 we should all listen more and talk less.

Looking for What Is Lost

Have you ever lost something that was important to you?  When I was born, my great grandmother made me a quilt.  It is large an blue and on it are several panels that she embroidered scenes from children stories and nursery rhymes.  And while I don't use it anymore, it is important to me.  In making the transitions between college and work and marriage there was a period where I moved multiple times within a few years and in that time I lost it.

Boxes of my things had been stored here and there and honestly, I hadn't thought about my old baby quilt in some time.  One day I remembered it and wondered where I had put it.  I started looking and it was no where to be found.  I stewed about it fo a while, then one day I got serious.  I went through it all, looking in all of the boxes.  It made me sick to think about, but it was gone.  

After some time I was looking in a box for some thing else and there it was.  What a relief.  I had given it up for gone, but it was back.  Now it is in that same box.  It's not like I use it, but I like knowing where it is and that it is secure.  When something is lost and it's important to us we put a lot effort into its return.

The great Commission is all about finding the lost.  As Christians people should be important to us and we should be putting effort into their safe return.  Watch this clip from Pastor Sparks.

People are important to God and they should be important to us as well.  In that regard we need to be always looking.

New In Box

In the world of toys there are really two types of consumers, collectors and players.  Of course most toys are bought to be played with.  Christmas morning the paper gets ripped, the boxes are opened, the assembly is required and the games begin.  Imagine telling the kids on Christmas morning, "No!  Don't play with it.  If you leave it in the box it will be worth more later."

There is that other groups of consumers, the collectors.  They have no intention of playing with the toys, ever.  They will be left in the box.  They are valued certainly, but never ever used.  Both the player and collector appreciates the new toy, but in very different ways.  

Christmas is a time where we celebrate God's great gift to humanity, Jesus Christ.  He gives us the chance to rebuild our relationship with Him and find peace in a troubled world.  But just like with the toys, there are those who take it out of the box and those who leave it on the shelf.

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

There are those who dive into their faith.  They wear it every day and it becomes part of who they are.  Others leave their faith on the shelf.  They get it out and dust it off on special occasions like Christmas, Easter and Funerals, but by and large, it still in the box.  

Faith isn't really like a collectible figurine that loses value when it's opened.  Rather, it is more like a cast iron skillet.  The more it is used, the more it is seasoned and the better it becomes.   Merry Christmas, time to open the box.

Aloha

I have never been to Hawaii, but I was recently talking with a friend of mine.  He described Hawaii as the perfect place to be.  Perfect weather, beautiful scenery and friendly people.  He said he wanted to go back to Hawaii every year if he could.

The Hawaiian greeting, "Aloha" doesn't have a direct translation in English.  It is an idea that combines affection, peace, compassion and mercy and of course it is used as a common greeting.  It is not just part of the Hawaiian language but part of the culture.  We think of Christmas as the season of peace, mercy and charity.  We could think of it as the Aloha season.

Of course, the attitude is easy to maintain when you are on vacation.  There are a lot of places that seem like paradise when you are on vacation.  A cabin by a lake, a deer camp with a wood stove, or even a Super 8 Motel with a pool.  It's easy to have peace when you are separated from the daily stress.  It's a little harder day to day.

The trick is to get the peace of Aloha in our every day with out a several hour plane ride.

There may not be a word for Aloha in English, but in Hebrew it is called Shalom.  It is also used as a greeting and a wish of peace.  I am sure that a linguist would explain how these words are totally different, but from my limited perspective they seem pretty close.  Peace, Aloha, Shalom.

But the peace of Shalom does not just mean a lack of conflict.  There are conflicts and problems and turmoil.  To be at peace is not to just avoid conflict, or to be on vacation from them, but to be at peace in spite of them.  In the classic hymn, "It is Well With My Soul" the verse says Whatever my lot, though has taught me to say, It is well, It is well, with my soul.    Not that everything will be easy, but no matter what, I will have peace.

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

Christmas is a time of peace,  Not just good will and feelings of charity to all.  No this is true peace.  Emmanuel, God is with us and everything will be ok.  No matter what else happens, you can be at peace with it.  Peace.  Shalom.  Aloha.  Merry Christmas.

Are You In?

The third installment in the Hobbit series has just been released.  I haven't seen it yet, but soon.  The Hobbit is a classic story of a simple man (or rather a Hobbit) caught up in an adventure and discovering that there is more inside of himself than he ever expected.  There comes a point in the story, early on when Bilbo needs to decide if he is going on the adventure.  Most of the Dwarfs believe what Bilbo knows for certain in his heart, Bilbo is not up to the task.  He is a soft little man who only wants comfort and is not prepared for an adventure.

So Bilbo decides that he is in.  He is very stressed that he left in a rush and forgot his pocket handkerchief, but he is in.  And along the way he discovers more than he bargained for.

We love the story of the unlikely hero against great odds.  Think about how interesting would a story be if it was about a well prepared, well trained, well equipped hero facing a reasonable foe that is dispatched according to plan and the hero is home for supper.  I can see it now.


Jumping In

At some point our unlikely adventurer has to decide if they are in our out.  Like the person at the pool, are you on the deck or in the water.  You can only hover in the air for so long.  I think that making the commitment changes our perspective from a spectator to an adventurer.  It makes us say to ourselves, "OK, I'm in, time to rise and meet the challenge."  Up until that point we are asking ourselves, "Can I do it?." After the commitment it becomes, "How will I do it?" And those are two very different questions.

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

God wants us in.  He has great adventures for us, but first we need to be in.  We can ask ourselves how will we ever do it?  The answer is always, "with God's help." but that is hard to see from the outside.

Joseph and Mary and the shepherds and the magi all had to say at one point, "I'm in." The world was never the same and neither were they.  Now it's our turn.

Twenty Miles and a Power Point

There is a saying in sales that you are an expert when you are at least 20 miles from home and have a powerpoint presentation.  There is something about our natural tendency to give instant credibility to some one new.  It is like we are saying, "I don't know you, so you must be an expert," When we only look at the surface we see more polish than blemish and the pitch sounds like a winner.

It probably isn't the credibility of the new comer as much as we discount the familiar.  We want to say "Oh right, you're the expert." With the familiar we have long known about the blemishes below the polish.  We want to say how could this person be an expert, I knew them back when.  Life is often about the ordinary every day stuff.  How could what we see every day be truly special.

It makes me think about the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Stay with me here.  I remember growing up learning about the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Air Lift was before my time, but I remember Reagan calling out Gorbachev telling him to "Tear down this wall."  At some level I knew that the wall couldn't last forever, but still.  The day that I heard on the radio that the Wall was coming down, it was unbelievable.  To think now?  Right now?  This is the time?  It didn't feel like a special day.

Sometimes the extraordinary is right in front of us all of the time.  Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

The Jews believed that God would send a messiah.  They really did.  But now?  Today?  And it's Him?  I knew Him back when.

We believe that someday Jesus will return.  But today?  Who knows.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

I'm sure that you know the story of "The Wizard of Oz".  The book was originally written as a political satire of the 1896 presidential election and was turned into one of the most beloved movies of all time.  One of the things that I like about the story is that the characters are so often much more than they first appear.  The scarecrow professes to have a head full of straw, but is called upon to solve the problems, the heartless tin man has the most compassion and the cowardly lion stands his ground when it's needed.  Most people are actually like this.

Most people are more than the labels that define us.  Most people are deeper when you get to know them.  Most people, when the time calls for it, rise above their circumstances to perform great things.  I think of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus or the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who overcame the hijackers to crash their plane during the September 11th attacks. They didn't get up that day intending for it go that way.  The circumstances presented them selves and they were there.

God is well known for calling on the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary.  With God it so often seems to be about the person and purpose rather than the position.  Sure, there are time when God's purpose is fulfilled by a King or a Priest, but it is just as likely a shepherd or tax collector.  

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

God uses ordinary people for extraordinary purposes when they obey His commands.  Mary and Joseph were ordinary people called to raise Jesus, the son of God.  I think that any of us could use a bit of extraordinary in our life.

Arriving in Style

When I was in college I had a job through a county program watching special needs children.  Parents of autistic and hyperactive children have a very hard time finding sitters.  So the county hired some sitters, provided training and filled the need.  One family that I became acquainted with during this time was hiring a limousine to take them around places on one of their birthdays.  They were really poor and it seemed pretty extravagant to me at the time.  But for once they wanted to go in style.

 

Let's face it, extravagance can be fun.   We see what's out there and dip or toes in the water. For some people though, extravagance is just a way of life.   In Calumet, Michigan there is a mansion that you can tour that was once owned by one of the miner barons.  Everything about it is over the top and excessive.  In one room, in place of wall paper the walls were covered with hand painted albino elephant skin.  I can't even wrap my head around how you come to the conclusion that what this room needs is the hide from albino elephants.  

While most of us don't live lives to be featured on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", we do have standards.  We don't buy that brand, go to that restaurant, stay at that motel, go in that neighborhood.  Me too.  And for the most part we have good reasons for this.  We have experience that tells us the other isn't worth it.  It still costs money and it won't be very good.  I think that we need to watch though that we don't fall into the trap of thinking "a person like would never go to a place like that"  Is it a question of preference or do we think that the other is somehow beneath us.

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

There is an expression, "Were you born in a barn?" which I often hear used when someone leaves a door open, but is sometimes used to call someone a hic, a redneck or uncultured.  For Jesus, the answer would be a resounding, "Yes.  I was born in a barn." He wasn't too good for it.  Many of the greats in the Bible come from humble beginning.  David was born in the home of shepherds.  Moses was born in the home of slaves and abandoned in a river.  And of course Jesus himself was born in a barn.  

God isn't concerned about where we come from only where we are going and that is truly extravagant. 

A Day We Remember

Politicians are always trying to drum up support and public opinion for their causes.  They can't pass laws, so they have to convince the public to put pressure on their representatives to get the job done.  Teddy Roosevelt said that he had a "Bully Pulpit"for making his case.  In that effort sometimes politicians use a declaration of war to try to communicate that they are serious about something.  So we get the War on Poverty, or the War on Drugs, but no one, not even the politician making the declaration believes that it's the same thing as a real war.

When a real war is declared, the country is saying "We are all in." We have an enemy.  It is them and we want the world to know it.  We will make sacrifices and do what it takes to see this through.  Such was the case after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  There was no turning back.  President Franklin Roosevelt called it a day that will live in infamy and we remember it this time every year.  The US joined the war in an effort involving sacrifices both nationally and for each individual.

Of course, there is another day that we remember at this time of year.  We often think of Christmas as a time of Peace, not a time of war.  But that really depends on your perspective.  I often think of the Old Testament in the Bible and God's way of showing us that it just doesn't work.  Whatever you are thinking, apart from God humanity can't work.

Living as slaves, living as freemen, nomads in the desert with manna falling from the sky, living under judges, living under kings, living as conquerors, living as refugees, living with prophets wiping it all out and starting over.  None of it woks.  At best people will follow good for a little bit, then it all falls apart again.  Christmas remembers the time when God said that enough was enough and it was time to bring his children home.

Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

And the battle begins.  The final assault was started by a baby in a stable surrounded by shepherds.  It seems a little different than d-day, but it has worked out well so far.

The Position is Taken

You may find this hard to believe, but there are many decisions made in this world where no one, and I mean no one, bothered to check with me first. I mean there are several nights that there really isn't anything interesting on television and other nights there are multiple shows all on at the same time.  I could halo them with that if they only asked.  Our state legislature could use my help.  There are any number of laws that should pass that don't and other laws that do pass but shouldn't.  And of course the Tigers bullpen is in serious need of my advice.  I wonder why no one asks.

Most of us have strong opinions about something.  There's that table in the corner of the restaraunt where the old guys meet each day.  Most coaches hear a lot of suggestions about who to play when and where and for how long.  And those are the comments that they hear.  Often other people's thought processes make no sense.  It's hard to remember that just because our decisions would have been different, does not mean that they would be better.

And if people don't make sense, it's even harder to wrap our head around what God is thinking.  Why would God pick Moses, who stuttered, to go and talk to Pharaoh?  Why would God have picked Joan of Arc, a teenage peasant girl, to lead an army.  Why?  I'm sure that I wouldn't have made those decisions.

And so we come to the Christmas story.  Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

\

God is in the habit of using ordinary people for extraordinary purposes.  Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi they all seem like an unlikely cast.  But in the mix of it, they story works.  The disciples were an unlikely group that formed the basis of the new way.  David was an unlikely hero defeating Goliath and an even more unlikely king, but God makes the improbably look like the obvious choice.

There was a movie about the creation of the first atomic bomb called, "Fat Man and Little Boy".  It stars Paul Newman as General Leslie Groves.  At one point in the movie a doctor is talking with Robert Oppenheimer and says to him the line..

"Stop playing God Oppenheimer.  You're not good at it, and the position is taken."

I think that we would all do good to remember that advice.  God is God.  We are not.  The position is taken.

Hiding in Plain Sight

This is a true story.  A friend of mine once bought himself a ukulele.   His wife had told hime not to buy more things.  They had too much stuff and in particular he had too many musical instruments.  He didn't need any more but this was a particularly nice one at a good price.  So he came up with a plan.  He would put it behind the sofa.  And after a day or two he would move it so that a little of it could be seen.  Then a little more and a little more each day.  His plan was to slowly get her used to seeing it, until it seemed like it had always been there.  I would put this plan into the category of just crazy enough to work, because amazingly, it did.  That was several years ago, and if I'm outing you with this blog post, sorry,  Sometimes we don't see what is in front of our eyes.

Sometimes we don't see what is right in front of our eyes.  Sometimes at school when I am looking for a student, it turns out that they are in the front row, right in front of me.  They were too close to see.  There are all types of examples of things we look past because we are used to it.  We don't see the spot on the rug, be no longer hear the humming of a fan, the ache in our knees.  We become used to it and it just seems like it was always there.  In the movie "The Blues Brothers" they are living right next to the train tracks.  When asked how often the train goes by, Elwood responds, "So often you won't even notice it."  We don't notice things that we see all of the time.

This is equally true for our sense of awe.  The amazing is just normal when we get used to it.  When my son was little he would ask me to "make up"a story.  I put it in quotes because I would shamelessly tell classic stories as if I were making them up.  I remember telling him the story of jack and the beanstalk.  Jack climbs the stalk and sees a castle in the clouds, my son's eyes got wide with excitement.  He was seeing the story in his mind for the first time.  

And so it's the Christmas season.  Pastor Mike used to say that preaching at Christmas was difficult because most people had been hearing the Christmas story since they were children.  It was very familiar and unlike a fairy tale, these events happened and are relevant to peophe trick is getting people to see it.  Here, watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

Our Christmas traditions are familiar and comfortable.  The trick for each of us is to keep it fresh as if we are hearing it for the first time. 

Mental Yoga

Some people have minds like concrete - They are firmly set and all mixed up.

I am always amazed at people who have only a vague understanding of some issue, but have definite opinions.  We are uncomfortable with doubt and we want to fill in the blanks with things for which we are certain.

There are things that I know nothing about.  I don't understand why there is rioting in Ferguson.  I am am a middle aged white guy living in a small town.  I get along with my neighbors and the people in the community.  I don't understand what causes people to riot.  But that's just it, I don't understand.  Other people must see their communities differently than I see mine.  I can't just say that they're all crazy.  No, there is something else there.  I just don't know what.  Probably in times of uncertainty we would all be better to keep an open mind, listen more and talk less.

If we can keep an open mind in areas where we know little, we have the opportunity to perform a bit of mental yoga.  Our mind can bend and stretch as it wraps itself around new possibilities.  And as Emerson said, "A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions."

.

And so it was with Thomas, the disciple known for doubting.  He didn't get to see Jesus when he first returned and he found it hard to believe.  But he also didn't walk away.  He stayed with the group and kept his opinions flexible.  

Watch this clip of Pastor Sparks talking about Thomas.

I find myself identifying with Thomas a lot.  I am a first class doubter.  I want evidence and most things in life don't happen as controlled experiments.  We pray for provision and when the money comes in it is easy to think that it might have happened anyway.  We pray for healing and when the person gets better it is easy to think that they could have gotten better anyway.  After all, people get better without prayer.  If you don't have these doubts, then your brain is wired significantly different than mine.

A pastor once told me that we should not avoid the questions and the doubt, but rather we should embrace them.  We should treat them as opportunities to grow.  God is God.  He is up to the challenge.  We need to have a mind and a faith that is flexible enough to let God work in us. And like Thomas, we can be stretched to a new dimension.  Now there is something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

What We Were All Thinking

In every circle of friends there seems to be that person who is in charge of brutal honesty.  When something is going on they say something that seems outrageous and they are left saying, "Hey, we were all thinking it."  Joan Rivers was quoted as saying that she made a career out of saying what everyone else was already thinking. Our culture seems to have two settings.  We are either on politically correct-beat around the bush or full throttle rude.  There does not seem to be a setting for straight forward honesty.

Among the disciples, Thomas seemed to be that person.   He is criticized for being the doubter, but in fairness, the other disciples did get to see Jesus for themselves.  It's hard to believe that the other disciples would not have had a similar reaction in his place.  

Watch this video clip from Pastor Sparks.

The hardest type of honesty is with ourselves. Even for that person who is willing to say outrageous things, being honest with self is a rare gift.  It is easy to say what everyone is thinking about them, but not so much what they are thinking about me.  Or more importantly, what I'm thinking about myself.

So there it is.  Honesty is tough and the toughest kind of honesty is admitting to ourselves about our own weakness and doubt.  We like to put up a front on the outside, but we often put up that same front on the inside as well.  

A good prayer for today is "God, please let me be honest with myself." There is a good place to start.

Post 100 - Something a Little Different

This is the 100th post on this blog since it launched last February.  Thanks for all of the support as we have been casting a few more stones into the soup.

In honor of post 100, I thought that I would share with you a passage from Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.  If you have never read this book, it is well worth your time.  You will ger much more out of it than you will reading this blog.

One thing that I had always struggled with was the idea that Christ has to die to pay the price for my sins. My thought process was, "Well God is God.  He could set up a system that doesn't require Christ's death."  Now I am not a theologian but I found some reassurance in this passage.

We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed. Any theories we build up as to how Christ's death did all this are, in my view, quite secondary: mere plans or diagrams to be left alone if they do not help us, and, even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself. All the same, some of these theories are worth looking at.

The one most people have heard is the one I mentioned before -the one about our being let off because Christ had volunteered to bear a punishment instead of us. Now on the face of it that is a very silly theory. If God was prepared to let us off, why on earth did He not do so? And what possible point could there be in punishing an innocent person instead? None at all that I can see, if you are thinking of punishment in the police-court sense. On the other hand, if you think of a debt, there is plenty of point in a person who has some assets paying it on behalf of someone who has not. Or if you take "paying the penalty," not in the sense of being punished, but in the more general sense of "standing the racket" or "footing the bill," then, of course, it is a matter of common experience that, when one person has got himself into a hole, the trouble of getting him out usually falls on a kind friend. 

Now what was the sort of "hole" man had got himself into? He had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself. In other words, fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor-that is the only way out of a "hole." This process of surrender-this movement full speed astern-is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. In fact, it needs a good man to repent. And here comes the catch. Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it. The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person-and he would not need it.

Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot hap pen. Very well, then, we must go through with it. But the same badness which makes us need it, makes us unable to do it. Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak. He lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another. When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it. Now if we had not fallen, that would be all plain sailing. But unfortunately we now need God's help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all-to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die. Nothing in God's nature corresponds to this process at all. So that the one road for which we now need God's leadership most of all is a road God, in His own nature, has never walked. God can share only what He has: this thing, in His own nature, He has not.

But supposing God became a man-suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person-then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God's dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all.

Again, I don't know the theology behind this, but the idea that God needed t surrender and repent so that he could share His experience with us is one that I can wrap my head around.  As we enter the Christmas season, it is good to remember why he came.