Humble Snow

In our noisy and busy world, it is hard to find or create quiet moments. I am the worst offender of this. As soon as I walk in the house the television comes on and pretty much stays on until I leave. I can try to defend or justify why I do this, but if I am forced to be completely honest…. it is hard to be alone with nothing but your thoughts, isn’t it?

Even in my shower ritual in the morning, I have the radio blaring. Sometimes I can tune everything out… and this morning I did. I had a little conversation with God. It was unexpected, but it happened.

As the weather report came across the radio and said we could get 12 to 18 more inches of snow tonight, I thought to myself…”I don’t know if I can deal with this.” And then I heard this still small voice saying… “don’t remember checking in with you.”

It felt very much akin to the moments where I have shared my opinion with a boss or supervisor and they decide not to go with it, or to go a different direction.

It made me think: this must be why the bible talks so much about humility.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10

So, if you are asking for my opinion on more snow… I vote no… but, I realize that it really isn’t my call.

And, I… well, … I am okay with that.

sj

Oh silly child

This past Sunday I heard a really great story. It was a story about a father and his son. The father asked the four year old son to help him in building a shed in their back yard. The father was putting the son to sleep that night and he looked up and said, “I was big helper today, daddy, wasn’t I?” And like any good father, he responded, “yes, you were.”

The father shared that he could have easily completed the shed if he didn’t ask the son to help. But, he didn’t want to just finish the shed, he wanted to share the experience with his son. You see the father was all about the relationship.

This is a great story. It so clearly demonstrates the silly perspective that I often have with my heavenly Father. I think anyone who is in vocational ministry has the potential to struggle with this issue. I can think He needs my help. It sounds so silly to even admit it. But, if I am being honest, I sometimes think that I helped… I made a difference… When all my Father is concerned with is being with me. He is all about the relationship.

sj

A defining article

I am not vein enough to consider this to be a “defining article, ” but rather I am looking at the grammar position of an article.

College football is gone, and soon professional football will follow suit. It is a bittersweet time for me. I love football, but it will make room in my schedule to more closely follow the best sport ever, hockey.

If you ever watch when the football players will introduce themselves, they also will tell you where they went to college. This season, there is a player who has been arbitrarily changing his “alma mater” and the last I heard when it comes to him, he announces that he is a graduate of the culinary institute. You may also notice that anyone who is a graduate of Ohio State University, when it comes to their turn, they proudly state “THE Ohio State University.” I don’t know where this started, and some people have started to rip it off, and mock it. But, it is a defining article.

There was a tag line used in the current series our church is going through about the story of the prodigal son; “There are a million ways to run from God. But there is only one way back.” I got thinking last week about how people who look at Christianity as a religion; as a set of ways to follow a certain path to somehow earn entrance into God’s grace and mercy. But when we hear Jesus talk about it… He uses a defining article:

“I am THE way”

It is about the relationship. When Jesus approached his disciples, He did not ask them, “would you like me to teach you the ways?” He said “Follow ME.” They were being offered an opportunity to follow “THE way.”

The same arguments can be made for the other statements that Jesus makes in that series of defining articles: “I am THE truth, I am THE life.” We are all guilty of having our own versions of the truth, and living a life that is barely worth living. But, this very defining article makes all the difference in the world.

So, my friends, you may have gone to THE Ohio State University, and I get what you mean… but, me… well, I am following THE way, THE truth, and THE life.

sj

Perfection

Have you ever noticed a recurring theme in conversations around you?

I have heard this theme rise up in two completely separate conversations this week… for me, it grabs my attention.

What is your concept of normal? healthy? perfection?

What is your desire? to be normal? to be healthy? to be perfect?

I have never felt that I was a person that struggled with perfectionism. It seemed like a problem that other people have. I am the kind of person who is okay with good enough. In school, I was fine with a “B” as a grade. Now my sister, on the other hand, would not be okay. This was my working definition of perfectionism.

Normal is a difficult topic. It is a subjective and relative term. If we look to culture we will see that “normal” is anything but “normal.” But, we all have our own version of normal. We all desire to be considered normal… don’t we?

Healthy might be a better word. I don’t care if I am not your version of normal. I do care if I am unhealthy.

Perfect… well, let’s define this term. If I were to say that I was perfect, it would seem arrogant. It would seem assumptive. It might even seem unhealthy. Maybe a better way, or healthier way to state this is I am wanting to be on my journey towards perfect.

I am not complete.

I am not mature.

I am not perfect.

I am not normal.

I am on a journey.

I desire to be healthy.

sj

The Older Brother

Today, I took notes at church like a student worried about a pop quiz. The message was so good. And hard to hear.

The senior pastor of the church I have been attending lately is a really great communicator. He has a way of really putting the “dots close together” for me.

He is teaching a series on the story of the prodigal son. This is one of my favorite stories anyway… and today it got me even more in love with it.

This message could have been given to any group of vocational ministers as a stern warning.

There are countless notes I took… Today I want to share the two that jump out at me the most:

The first issue is found in Luke 15:30. Look very closely at the intentional word choice of the older brother;

“this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!” (italics added for emphasis)

The story is told about brothers. But, to show the older brothers disapproval of the situation, he refers to him as “son of yours.” There is no brotherly identification, there is no love, there is a very divisive “me versus him” attitude, which unfortunately defines too many sibling relationships. But, I see an overlay here of an “us versus them” mentality that is very easy to accept as someone in vocational ministry.

I don’t like it, but I can identify with the older brother. It is very easy in planning and delivering programs to look at the attendees as strictly a consumer who I desperately want to see effected by our efforts. I too easily forget that I am also a son of the Father’s. I forget that those “sons and daughters of yours” are also my brothers and sisters.

Let me be less and less like the older brother… and grow to see myself and others through the Father’s eyes.

The second lesson that I got was the one that hurts even more. It is just a bit further in Luke 15:31-32,

“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’” (italics added for emphasis)

I wrote this in my notes:

“Being near your father isn’t the same as being close to your father.”

A few weeks ago, I heard Craig Groeschel speak and he said something that ripped through to my heart of hearts… it was something like this… “are you a full-time minister and a part-time follower of God?”

BAM! There it is. I have had several opportunities to work in ministries, I went to bible college, I have had plenty of opportunities to be near the Father… it is too easy to near and not close. It truly is an occupational hazard.

Let me be less and less like the older brother… and strive to be close with the Father.

sj

Nothing better than the real thing…

I have found myself in several conversations over the past season of my life, where we discuss the pros and cons of social networking. I have taught lessons on social networking. I think there are aspects about this tool that are great and can be effective to a point. But, I also am a firm believer that social networks are just a tool. Social networks have limitations and also significant dangers. As is common, the tool gets blamed for being the bad guy, when I think the root of the issues behind the dangers have nothing to do with the social networks.

Layer on to the conversations that I work for a ministry that is missionally focused on community. It is core to who we are. There was a conversation recently about giving students at our youth camp the opportunity to get away and retreat and not have cell phones while they were at camp. This quickly turned the corner into computers, social networks, and other forms of technology.

I am from the belief that there is really no substitute for real live person-to-person community. Don’t get me wrong, social networks serve to keep me in touch with some of my closest friends that are not geographically near me. But our relationships were built on years and years of live community. I also travel to have real life interactions with those friends. Social networks serve as a tool for me.

I was reading in 2 John the other day (I like books I can read in one sitting…) and I found this little gem:

vs 12 “I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete.” (NLT)

John was writing a handwritten letter. (for those of you younger folks, it was like an email but without computers) He wanted to experience community. He wanted to visit; face to face. The result of true, live, active community is: complete joy!

There is a story that I have heard many times of a child talking to his father on the phone, who is a soldier deployed to active duty. The child yells into the phone “Daddy, I don’t want to talk to you; I want to be with you.”

Social Networks, cell phones, instant messaging, chat rooms… they will never replace the real thing. Community happens live and in person, flesh on flesh, and with minimal distractions. Who knew that the answer was sitting in a tiny book (or letter) of the Bible?

sj

Impact

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go and see “This is it,” the movie about Michael Jackson’s last tour that didn’t happen. It was an incredible movie. Having lived for a season of my life in the world of live performances and the music industry, it was so amazing to see the whole process. And no one can really dispute that he has a commanding persona. His musicians and dancers were the best of the best.

The movie starts out with some of the dancers talking about the impact of Michael on their lives. They are moved by how Michael has inspired them and influenced them. It was staggering to hear them talk about MJ the way that they were, but, I know people who were severely devastated with his passing. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for MJ and his talent and his catalog.

As I was watching these young dancers talk about Michael with such emotion, I thought… I wonder do I talk with such great emotion about Jesus, about his impact, his influence on my life? Am I daily missing him? What effect would his passing have had on me, if I lived in the time that He did?

I was also thinking that for these dancers and musicians… what an experience to be around Michael. To look next to you on stage and think… there is MICHAEL JACKSON!!! That is crazy. I have had the opportunity to run in a circle where I got the privilege to meet some pretty influential people and some that are somewhat known or famous. And those moments are etched in my memory. I would think it would be overload to be working on something with MJ. It is crazy to think. But, then I think… What would it be like to have been running around with JESUS? I heard someone hypothesizing that disciples very well could have been early teens, probably 15 years old…

What if, I mean really what if… when I turned 15… I met Jesus and he asked me to follow him… to go on the ultimate world tour… perform next to the quintessential all-time performer??? (sidebar: is there any correlation between the fact that most people have their significant life change interaction with Jesus before age 18??)

Let me say this… I am not saying that Michael Jackson and Jesus are equals. But when you hear people talk about the impact they have had on their lives… they could be competitors. I respect Michael for his talent, his abilities, his agenda to spread love… but, he is not my saviour. Jesus is the saviour of my soul. Let me be effected when I think and talk about him.

sj

Like a child…

I was driving into work the other day, earlier than I normally head into my office. I quickly realized that I was coming in while children were waiting for the school bus. There were kids playing at their street corners.

Then I passed a father and two boys waiting at the end of their driveway. The one son was probably 6 years old or so, and he was pacing back and forth while having a conversation with his dad. The other son was probably 3 or 4 years old and he was standing with his back to his father, his right hand over his head to hold his father’s hand.

I started to think to myself, at some point we all grow up and stop leaning on our father. It is very uncomfortable to stand the way that kid was standing, but it was also very natural for him. We all move away and want our autonomy from our parents… “daddy, let me…”

It is probably why when the disciples asked Jesus about entering the kingdom… Jesus used this picture we all knew… “whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (from Matthew 18) If we were like the younger of the two sons with our hand over our heads leaning into our father.

I hope that I would be more uncomfortable and lean into my Father more often, every day… will you join me?

sj

How far?

My life situation has brought me to a place where I am working in a ministry position that is a great skill-fit for me. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am where God wants me to be.

That being said, I have yet to feel like I am home.

What I sacrificed to take this new position and move my life from Nashville to North East, MD was my community. I was spoiled with a ridiculous amounts of great friends who were in similar life-stages. I truly had a secure sense of community. I had people calling me and people I could call. Here in North East, I haven’t got to that place.

Trying to overstate the glaringly obvious:
Nashville is a city with 500,000 people and about double that within the county…
North East, MD has 2,733 people

I have talked with some friends and I need to accept that I am in a different place. It is going to require traveling a distance to get anywhere… Which takes me to the question of the day…. How far? How far would you travel for; church, dinner, shopping, friends?

sj

Every Morning

“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

I am struggling with a theological issue.

I know that this is a great truth.

I know that I am tremendously blessed.

I have so much for which to be grateful.

And yet… there are days when I wake up and have a hard time getting my engines going. Days when I feel like I might have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, and/or should have just gone back to bed… they happen.

So, how do we reconcile these?

sj