Contemplations…

I woke up this morning to the soundtrack of my life announcing….”Well, here it is… today is your birthday…” and the first thought I had was… “Thank you Jesus…” It was all I could think to say…

I have written devotionals, and I have given talks about keeping Jesus in the forefront of your mind… I will date myself here, if you relate to this next statement…. but, I have led worship and sand the song “Seek ye first” more times than I can count… (remember the campfire songs that are spiritually rich in content?)

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” Matthew 6:33

It took me 33 years to get to that place that the very first thing I am thinking about in the morning is my Lord and Saviour… To put the focus of thanks and celebration of a day that is supposedly “all about me” where it really belongs is something that I have strived for… something that I desire to keep as a habit and discipline in my life…

So, while I have already received so many well-wishes from dear friends and family… My present already came… in the form of simple signs of, dare I say the word…. maturity…

What do you think when you first wake up?

Tomorrow I will turn 33 years of age. It is a really weird age. It is a really weird time in my life. For all the things that I feel like I have figured out in life, I also am more well aware of all the things in life that I know very little about.

I was talking to a friend the other day who has already turned 33. She brought up the idea of Jesus being 33 when he died. I think that when I was a kid in Sunday School learning about Jesus, I thought of him as this really old and wise man. While he was very wise, now that I am about to turn 33, I realize that he wasn’t what I want to consider to be really old.

I have a new found respect for all that Jesus went through in his life. His public ministry happened when he was in his thirties. I can get where the elders and the different people in authority, probably much older, and assuming they are by default wiser that he was… gave him such a hard time.

I don’t think of myself as a kid anymore, but I do feel young, and feel intimidated by people who are older than me. I was in a meeting just the other day at church and thought to myself, I am the youngest guy in this room; to think that Jesus dealt with issues and the pressures of the world (literally) at my age is really dumbfounding.

It makes it appreciate all of the stories throughout the Gospels even more.

I went this past weekend home to Pennsylvania. I had the opportunity to see my folks, which was great. I ate way too much food the whole time I was there, a lot of good stuff you can’t get in the south. I was the emcee for the Purple Door Arts and Music Festival. I have been involved with the festival since its start twelve years ago; different capacities and this year was my first year to emcee. It went really well and I truly enjoyed my experience.

On my arrival back into Nashville, I was waiting for my luggage to arrive and realized quickly that my bags were not on the plane. I went over to the little counter and explained to them what my bag looked like, what the tag number was, and then they said there was another flight coming in, and I should hear something that night. I used to travel all the time, and this wasn’t completely uncommon, so I wasn’t freaked out… and thank God, I am home so I have everything that I “need.”

I call in the next morning to find out that they don’t have my bag, and are having a hard time finding it. I give them all the descriptive info that I possibly can. I don’t have an external name tag on the bag, which is totally my fault, but, I have my reasons for not putting one on there. Still, I should have one on, and believe me always will from now on.

The staff from the airline has been excellent to work with and are committed to finding my bag; and like I said, I am home, had they lost it on the trip up, it would have been much more of an inconvenience. The true inconvenience now is remembering that I am dealing with it, cause there is nothing missing that is interrupting my schedule of daily routines…

My dad is a very wise man; and very simple no-nonsense type of guy. Whenever I was growing up and would misplace something, and tell him it is lost… he would respond with a fairly simple statements… “it has to be somewhere” and “it is really only lost to you”… My mom’s advice was always, “pick something up, it is always under something” which seems silly, but often times works…

I got thinking this morning as I talked with another staff member at the airline that said to me… “well, it has to be somewhere” Wow, where have I heard that before…

I started to think about the line from “Amazing Grace”… “was lost but now I’m found”… Now I realize it is a stretch to go from my silly lost bag to a spiritual application… but follow me here… I don’t know where my bag is, the airline doesn’t know where my bag is, but God knows where it is… and hopefully it will be found. What is interesting to me is that my soul was never lost by God. God always knew where my soul was. I was the one who was lost… I am the one who is found IN HIM…

In the same way that I want my bag to be found to me… God wants us to be found to HIM…

I told you it might be a stretch for some… but, it got me thinking…

I had the opportunity to go to a radio interview with the artist that I manage, Nate Huss, last night. Nate has been out on the west coast playing some shows and festivals, and I have been in my ridiculously hot house working on getting all the details for the Fall worked out. I am not complaining, I am just saying that it has gotten a little more like work and less fun. It had honestly become a little stale.

The interview went really well. Nate is a “media darling” (our publicist’s words). He just does really well communicating in that format, which is a great blessing. He is able to come across as lovable as he really is. Being in the studio and watch him interact and sing his songs and do his thing really got me pumped up and excited. It was great to see him do his thing and remember… wow this is really worth getting behind.

On my way home, I was shocked at how impressed I was with Nate. I have seen him play before. I have seen him grow. I have seen him hit it out of the park, and honestly seen him go through some rough sets. As I was driving home and processing everything, I thought to myself… could you just imagine being one of the disciples? I am in no way comparing Nate to Jesus… I am comparing the experience of having that firsthand experience…. how did they feel walking away from spending time with Jesus firsthand?

It is just an incredible thing to imagine… being a disciple and just hanging out firsthand with Jesus… I wonder if they really got what it was all about… how blessed they were… oh well… just a passing thought…

I realize in life that it seems like there are a lot of things that take balance… There are two things that I felt like really evidenced themselves yesterday; business and ministry, and worship and performance.

Business and Ministry

It is a real challenge to be involved in ministry as your business. When you chose to do something which you hope has eternal value, you end up running your business differently. It is hard… because at the end of the day, I can’t tell my landlord or the electric company that I am going to pay them with eternal impact. I think it becomes a test of faith, trust, and patience. God knows my needs, and he will truly bless the ministry in the way it needs to be blessed in His time. It is hard to choose not to measure yourself up against the world’s standards. It is hard to remain faithful and know that God is preparing for a season of great reward. But, it is balance… I have to be faithful to diligently prove worthy of the task and run my business with enough savvy to pay my bills and be responsible while I trust God will provide both the greater impact both here on earth and beyond.

Worship and Performance

I used to be on staff at a church where I was the worship leader. I enjoyed it greatly, but there were aspects of working in a church that lead to be too much for me. I have recently been asked to lead worship at the church I currently attend for the youth programs… I have done it twice for the 5th through 8th grade, which is an age group I just love… and then last night was the first time I lead for the senior high, a group I have learned to enjoy, but am clearly intimidated by…

There is a balance to leading in worship. It is more than just music, it is more than just performance, but it does involve both. We had a weird configuration of musicians last night, and, I was not real confident going into the set that things were going to go really well, or that it would be well-received… The first song was rough… and I think I knew what the hang up was.. a technical error on my part… but, it was just one song and I didn’t get anything thrown at me… so it was a success… After the announcements and skit, we did the rest of the time… and into the second song of the night, I backed away during a chorus and heard an amazing sound… voices… youth voices… singing… the words…. If you have never had the opportunity to lead worship or be on stage during corporate worship, it is an amazing feeling to hear the choir singing back at you… it really struck me… this is what it is about… not the technical crap… not about the perfect chords and band and what-not… it is about youth singing great lyrics and having an opportunity to worship… I actually had the big bad senior high youth group singing along and the whole thing went really well, and was cohesive with the message… it was a great service…

As I was leaving, one of the recently graduated senior-highers who I have known for a while stopped me in my car… he was like… “that was great… that was real worship”…. it really floored me… and encouraged me that I might just have found that balance.

Luke 19:5, 7
“When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! For I must be a guest in your home today.” But the crowds were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner” they grumbled.

When I grew up as a little kid, I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I would sing the “Zacchaeus was a wee little man” song. It was a fun song to sing, and Zacchaeus is just a really cool name.

The Story of Zacchaeus is one of the stories that I love incredibly… because we see a lot of really great things happen in a really short story… The danger in a really short story is that we can tend to run over it really quickly… We can sometimes miss the greater meanings… I don’t want to superimpose anything, but there are a few little things that are just really great here…

My first favorite thing in this story is… he “called him by name.” Just think about the idea of Jesus walking through the middle of your town and looking and calling out to you by your name. There is something really special about people who know you by name. To help put it in reality, think of whoever your hero in life is… sports, music, movies… they are on the red carpet going to the big deal or whatever, and you are there just to get a glimpse and they look over and call you by your name.

I know where it is I know some people from, just by what incarnation of my name they choose to use with me… There are some nicknames that I am glad that have died off… but, if I get a call with someone proclaiming one of these nicknames, I know exactly who it is on the other end of the line.

Now this is not dumbfounding to think that Jesus, who was in fact the all-knowing God, would know Zacchaeus’ name, but at the same time, there is something intimate about him using it. Simply the idea of hearing Jesus say my name creates a unique warmness in my heart. I cannot wait for the day to hear him say my name as we stand face to face.

“…for I must be a guest in your home today…”
I don’t think that Jesus was running through town and thought, wow I am hungry, I need a place to eat… watch this I will just call out a name and we will get a free meal… I think that there was a divine purpose and intentionality… I love that he says, I MUST go with you… There is something very different in… “hey, you wanna grab lunch?” and “we MUST go to lunch together.” Usually the latter is uttered to me when I have done something really wrong… it is the grown-up friend equivalent to your mom calling you by your full name.

I am going to skip my discussion on the crowd… mainly because I already feel my blood boiling thinking about my thoughts of disgust with the crowd…

The next word that stands out with me is the concept of a “notorious sinner.” Zacchaeus was a tax collector, he was wealthy, and he was a short fella… not a lot working for him… Go ahead and insert your own IRS joke, Napoleon complex joke, or some rip on the wealthy… He was a guy who basically was judged for what he did… and was known to be shady.

Here is where I unfortunately feel that I identify with Zacchaeus… I am a sinner… and I would like to think that I am not commonly known as a shady person… but, I fear that I could be judged by some to be a “notorious sinner”… and the fact that Jesus hangs with those… despite their past… it is very encouraging…

There is something very encouraging about knowing that God would choose to associate with a “notorious sinner,” like me. All that from a silly little song I used to sing… huh…

I will spare you my George Beverly Shea impersonation… but, if you grew up anywhere near the Christian Faith in the last 30 years… You know this old hymn…

“He touched me, O he touched me,
And O the joy that floods my soul!
Something happened, and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.”

Mark 1:40-42

“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing, ” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.”

What is truly amazing about this old hymn is found in this story in Scripture. Leprosy was no joke. There really is nothing in our culture currently that I have seen that really equates. Other than in sci-fi movies dealing with people being quarantined because of being exposed to chemical warfare.

The most amazing thing happens in this story when Jesus reaches out and touches the leper. The miracle is in what we cannot define and so we simply say… “something happened”… There is something that is so special about touch.

I feel like I have heard that people need a certain amount of “touches” a day… I want to say seven, but I don’t have a reference, so don’t hold me to that… There is also some story in my diluted memory from college of an experiment with monkeys where they deprive them of touch from birth and the monkeys don’t even make it a week…

How many times have you been in a spot in life where all you really needed was someone to put their arm around you… they don’t have to say, “it’s okay”…. they just need to touch you… There is something important about touch. And what is amazing about the touch of Jesus is the “something happened.”

So again, I encourage you to give what you need… and in the appropriate circumstances of life… reach out and touch someone… let them know that you care…

There are a couple of thoughts that I have on some blog topics that I want to post, but they seem a little heavy for a Monday morning. I feel like I would rather write about something a little more positive.

We were talking about Christian believers being defined by there love at church this week. One of the things that I love about my church is that the pastor got up and instead of lowering down the guilt and boom on everyone about the ways in which we could be doing better, he got up and extolled how over the last year he has seen the community of believers truly demonstrate God’s love.

We could all obviously continue to strive to be better, but, I am encouraged that my pastor had the wisdom to present this topic in the way that he did. I think that the pulpit has been used for too long been misused to impose a guilt-induced response to the Word. I don’t want to seem like I am bashing the church, but I think we, as the universal church, could also strive to be better.

All of that to say this… My pastor had introduced a concept that I just thought was really cool… He was talking about how he has seen so many people be true encourag-ers over the last year. He had made a joke about how great it would be to have “life cheerleaders.” Now in my head this looks a lot like a skit from SNL… something akin to Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri performing the “ultimate cheer” at a swim meet or a chess contest… If you have never seen those skits, please take the time to hunt them down online…

But, Seriously, how great would it be to have someone in your office, or home, or car, or with you at school… just kind of going “yeah stephen, you can do it… you are good enough, give to them… show them what you are made of…. leave it all on the field… you are the man… woo hoo…” (insert high kick here) Would that change your attitude? Would that make you “go the extra mile?”

Well, I don’t think that we should expect little imaginary fairies to come alongside of us in our life and provide this service…. I think that if you want to receive something, you need to be willing to give something… and so… figure out a way to become a “life-cheerleader” to someone else today…. Who is around you that you can encourage, not in the SNL-cheesy-skit-way, but in a genuine encouraging friendship kind of way… Could be as easy as an email that says… “you are a great mom”… maybe a call that says, “you have really been a good friend to me, and I appreciate you”…. I think we will all be surprised to see how this encourages us… How giving encouragement will bring a certain amount of joy into your own life…

Just some positive food for thought…. Yeah team…. (sorry couldn’t resist)

I met a guy the other day who was given a task to write down three things that he thought were completely unattainable, but things that he desired. As he tells the story, two of the three things are completely accomplished.

I love that we serve a God who makes the unfathomable attainable. I love that “if we can dream it,” he can do it. I think that too many times I find myself putting God in a box, limiting what He is capable of accomplishing. I know in my head that He is still in the business of miracles, but I don’t know that I live my life really expecting them to happen.

I don’t know that I believe that if I dream a big dream of accomplishing three unattainable things, I am not sure that I truly believe that He can deliver. And I know that is lack of faith, and according to my last post, a denial of the very existence of God.

I think when it comes right down to it, you need to just believe. In acting there is a term, “act as if.” When you are acting the part of a businessman, you “act as if” you really are a businessman. (Let me clarify that when I talk about “acting” I don’t mean “faking or pretending” I mean to take to action with that actions of something) I think that when we call ourselves believers, then we need to “act as if” we truly believe that God is who He says He is and can do what He says he can do.

I know that I need to act (or take to action) like I believe better than I have.

Sometimes I think too much. This is evidenced in most of my blogs. I got thinking about faith. This Sunday’s message was about faith. One of the first “small steps” towards faith in the outline from the message is… “Acknowledge Me.”

Hebrews 11:6 says
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

I am not making this direct inference from the above Scripture… but I thought to myself… a lack of faith is truly in essence a denial in the existence of God… What I mean is when we in our lives lack the faith or belief that God can do something, we might as well not even believe he exists. If we truly believe what the Bible tells us about God’s character, then we shouldn’t doubt His abilities. With a clear knowledge of who God is… the “leap” of faith should appear small… (I know that this is all easier said than done)

I was in a conversation with a dear friend and we got talking about self-doubt, and how that self-doubt, or lack of self-worth is really like slapping the face of God. We need to know that God has created us with the ability to do far beyond what we can even imagine… When we deny that God can do something… or even when we think we cannot accomplish something… we very severely are questioning the existence of God…

So, I caution you along with myself that we think twice before doubting ourselves and/or God.