Someone asked me today if I had recovered from my trip to Haiti yet. I told them that I had recovered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I was still very affected. I cannot get the vision of the Haitian people out of my minds. The children, the men and women, the injured, the sick, the hungry, the scared. So many have lost family members and loved ones. Homes destroyed. Futures wrecked. They were a poor people to begin with, but they are a beautiful people. The worth of a person or a nation is not found in how much money they have, but rather in what God thinks of them. God loves them, I know that to be true. Do we love them, or have we moved on?
I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next. What are any of us supposed to do? The big organizations and the media tell us to give money. But, then you find out that what has been given has not made it to Haiti yet. It is on its way, but there is so much that has to be done to move the massive amounts of supplies that are needed in an organized way. There are so many obstacles in the way. I get that. But, it does not change the fact that people are suffering right now. Rainy season starts in March. Do you realize how many people are sleeping outside? How many children? No, just giving more money is not the answer. That is the easy thing to do. Cut a check for $100 and send it to one of the big disaster relief organizations and then go on with your life. That soothes the conscience, but the reality is that it is not filling the bellies of the children who are going to bed hungry again tonight - a bed that consists of some blankets piled on concrete in the open, or maybe under a sheet that is stretched out like a tent. The truth is that we do need to give money - but we also need teams of people to go and distribute the food and medicine and help with providing supplies to put up some temporary structures to keep people out of the rain and sun. We can't just feel good about giving some money. We also need people to go in teams and do the work of helping people and proclaiming Jesus.
I got to be on a team like that at the end of last month when I went to Haiti. They are Helping Hands Foreign Missions. They are not very large, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are bringing the Kingdom of God and Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field. Little children find it. I am finding that bigger is not always better in this type of thing. We just need to help people. Helping Hands is doing exactly that. If you want to invest in an organization that is truly impacting people in Haiti right now, I highly encourage you to support what they are doing. They are going back on March 8 and need people to join them either then or in the subsequent weeks. If you can go to Haiti, you should, and you should do it through this group.
Here is their blog from the weeks that they spent in Haiti. Read about how they ministered Christ and stepped into places of suffering. The blog is really full of some incredible stories of God working by putting this team exactly where they needed to be to minister to and feed and care for hundreds and hundreds of people. Watch this video that aired on CBS News in Atlanta about the work of Helping Hands in Haiti. Pray about what you can do and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a country that is suffering greatly.
The following story from Baptist Press perfectly illustrates the point that I was making in my post earlier today. If we follow the Lord into hard places and show up, we can trust Him to multiply our provision and do miracles that astound us. If we try to work everything out in our own strength ahead of time, then we only have our own strength to depend on. We need to depend on God way more in the area of disaster relief. There is a way of Jesus here. Read my post from this morning and then read this report of God's miracle working power among a Baptist medical team that arrived a week after the earthquake:
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--Six state Southern Baptist Disaster Relief medical teams are among the first Baptists to minister in Haiti since the deadly 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.
SBDR medical volunteers from Arkansas and North Carolina have already come and gone, and Kentucky and Mississippi teams arrived on Monday, Feb. 1. Florida and South Carolina medical volunteers are due to arrive in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
The Mississippi and Kentucky teams wasted no time after arriving on Monday, turning a small library into a pharmacy and treating 550 patients. The Mississippi team is operating a small hospital out of a Haitian Baptist church located on the edge of one of Port-Au-Prince's larger tent cities directly across from the national capitol building. The Kentucky team is working at a clinic near the presidential palace.
North American Mission Board disaster relief consultant Terry Henderson and a team of six will leave Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 4, to serve as an incident command team in Haiti. They will link up with Fritz Wilson and Dennis Wilbanks of the Florida Baptist Convention, who are on the ground in Haiti for the second time since the earthquake.
Henderson and his team will be busy planning logistics, lodging, transportation, feeding and communications for SBDR's eventual "D Day" -- the day dozens of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from the state conventions begin to be deployed to Haiti, a process that will extend over many months.
The Arkansas medical team was the first to land in Point-Au-Prince, ministering from Jan. 19-22.
Veteran disaster relief workers Tamara Gore and Jerry Gay were two of the 10 members of the Arkansas unit. Nothing prepared them for their first drive through downtown Port-Au-Prince, they reported. The unmistakable smell of death was pungent and everywhere.
Haiti was in only its seventh day following the devastating earthquake. More than 100,000 bodies had already been recovered, and most had been buried in mass graves to stave off disease. The temperature was in the mid-80s.
"I was in the first car," said Gore, a law enforcement chaplain from Benton, Ark. "You could see the bodies. We would pass a collapsed building and you would smell the bodies. Everybody knew what it was without talking about it."
Gay, associate missionary for the North Pulaski Baptist Association in Sherwood, Ark., thought he had seen it all after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"I've never seen anything even close to this disaster, even Katrina," Gay said. "My wife and I both worked after Katrina. It was bad but this was a different kind of bad. This was sudden with no warning. At least there was some warning for Katrina."
Gay said his worst memory came while riding in downtown Port-Au-Prince one afternoon. Spotting the rubble of a flattened building and trying to stomach the accompanying stench, Gay asked his driver what the structure had been. The driver told him the building had been a school.
"Immediately, I thought of my little granddaughter back in Arkansas," Gay recounted. "I thought I was ready for what I would see, but my mind raced to my granddaughter.... That's the kind of thing people who come down here need to be prepared for."
As the additional SBDR teams arrive in the Haitian capital in the days and weeks to come, Gay advises them to know why they're going before they get there.
"The mission ought to be clear," Gay said. "Folks need to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared."
Gore said it another way: "I would tell disaster relief people that they need to be prayed up before they get there, because they don't know what they're going into and what they're going to be dealing with," said the 51-year-old chaplain with 28 years of experience.
Gore said the Arkansas medical team -- two medical doctors, four nurses, a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, an emergency medical technician, a crisis counselor and Gay, the unit's communications expert -- flew directly into Port-Au-Prince via Mission Flights International (MFI) on Jan. 19. They set up a clinic at El Shaddai Baptist Church on the northern outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, near the airport and across from the U.N. compound.
During their four-day stint, the team saw around 70 patients a day at the makeshift clinic, including children from the El Shaddai Orphanage where they stayed at night.
The two physicians -- one a pediatrician, the other a surgeon and pediatric urologist –- treated patients for broken bones, cuts, abrasions, depression and stress-induced gastro-intestinal problems. They also saw patients who had to be transported to other medical sites because of the more serious nature of their injuries.
The clinic had no electricity. Team members slept on air mattresses on the floor. Gore said sleep was difficult at best because of the tropical heat and the nightly crowing roosters and bleating goats and sheep. Gay had the only cell phone that worked. Otherwise, communications was possible only by satellite phones.
Until the Arkansas team departed Haiti on Jan. 23, its biggest concern was running out of the precious antibiotics, pain medicines, bandages, snacks and other supplies they needed to treat the Haitians. Because of weight restrictions on the MFI plane, the team had brought only two large black bags of medical supplies.
But here's where both Gore and Gay tell a remarkably consistent story -- the story of just one of the miracles in Haiti so far.
"The first night there, we were afraid of running out of supplies," Gore recounted. "So when I gave the devotional that night, I talked about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. I talked about how we needed to pray for God to bless what we had, show us how to distribute what we had, and that God would give us what we needed."
Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, the two physicians and the physical therapist circled the two medical bags of supplies that same night and also prayed that the supplies would be sufficient, Gay said.
After two days and seeing 180 Haitian patients, Gore and Gay both insist that the two bags -- neither of them cram-packed even upon arrival -– were still full at the end of the second day. They said the same was true of a large sack of peanuts, cheese snacks and pretzels donated to the team by Southwest Airlines. Two days later, the bag had more snacks than they started with.
"People can draw their own conclusions," Gay said. "We're not crazy people, we're professional people. We carried in two bags of supplies. The bags were full but not bulging. When we got ready to leave, it was all a couple of us men could do to zip up the bags. Nobody came in and gave us any additional supplies or snacks. We left two full bags for the next medical team coming in.
"All we could do is look at each other and laugh -- knowing that it had to have been God who had multiplied that stuff," Gay said.
Gay and Gore both said they are already making plans to return to Haiti. In addition to the two men, the other eight members of the Arkansas medical team were Deborah Quade, Angela Titus, Emily Magnusson, Rebecca Brown, Carl Garvin, Larry Gore, John Redman and Katherine Durham. --30-- Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.
What if we had had 60 teams in Haiti within the first 3 weeks instead of 6? What if we were feeding people who are starving? Could God protect and supply those teams as well? I don't want to presume upon God or tempt Him. We need to make sure that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But, sometimes I think that we don't hear from God because we think that we already know what we can and can't do and we make decisions based off of our ability instead of God's supernatural power. I am so thankful for the team from Arkansas and I praise God for the miracle of multiplication that He provided.
On Wednesday of last week, I found myself traveling through the rubble strewn streets of Port-au-Prince on my way to the US Embassy. We went there to inquire about bringing 50 Haitian orphans to the United States. A ministry that I am familiar with called Bridges of Faith in Alabama has the facilities and the desire to take care of up to 50 Haitian orphans on something that the State Department calls a Humanitarian Waiver. When we got to the embassy we were told that the Haitian government was allowing orphans to leave the country last week. But, then things changed. Inexplicably, they changed direction and now no orphans were leaving Haiti. The 10 Americans who are now being detained in Haiti got caught up in this confusion, it appears. Some reports state that they had permission but they needed one more piece of paperwork to leave the country. What they did was not wise, but the rules have kept changing in Haiti regarding the orphan situation. Apparently, UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is playing a huge role here.
According to reports, UNICEF has a standing policy against international adoption (see HERE). According to missionaries in Haiti and other reports from those trying to adopt, UNICEF has pressured the Haitian government to adhere to their policies on international adoption and cease releasing children to adoptive parents that have already been approved. The U.S. government is trying to get the children released and a stalemate has ensued. This is what we were caught up in at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it is why the policies changed. The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.
As for the 10 missionaries from Idaho, the media is presenting this like they are bunch of sex traffickers that got caught. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Were they foolish and ill-informed? It appears that they were. However, it is easy to speculate that an example is being made of them to send a message that children are staying put, despite the best intentions. One report stated that they had full approval from the orphanage and the parents of the children that they were taking. 21 of the 33 children had parents and those parents actually put them on the bus to get them out of Haiti and to the Dominican Republic. I don't know the full story. It is doubtful that anyone does at this point. I fully understand the need to have things documented and for the proper paper work to be done. Actually, I fiercely support things being done the right way when it comes to children. There are many ill-intentioned people out there that would take advantage of a situation like this and it is possibly that the group from Idaho was in that number. But, when international power plays begin to get involved in things like this, then the story is not always as it appears.
The role of the church is to be an advocate for justice and righteousness all over the world. The Haitian children should be protected from predators that would seek to exploit them in this time of disaster. At the same time, children that can be taken care of and provided for in these types of situations should be. If they cannot leave Haiti, then we should go to them and help care for them there. The 11 year old orphaned girl that we rescued from sex slavery last week is burned into my mind. Fortunately, she is in an orphanage that we are working with and is not being prostituted on the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, how many more are suffering? What else can we do?
Things are definitely changing. We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday today in an America that is moving beyond its racist past. Sure, racism and prejudice still exists, sometimes disgustingly so. But, it is obvious that things are changing. I am primarily talking about the Church. I don't know exactly where America is headed in regard to racial prejudice. I have a suspicion that things will always be difficult in that area and perhaps increasingly so as America becomes more diverse. But, in the Church, I am seeing real progress, and for that I am very glad.
In the church that I pastor in Montgomery, AL, we continue to see blacks, whites, and people from other countries worship together. The racial diversity in our church is growing. I praise God for that. Dr. Martin Luther King asked us to imagine a day when people would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That is happening in our church, as it should, and I am grateful. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only place where we have a real chance of seeing racism end, in my opinion, because it is the only place where grace can truly be experienced and proclaimed. We are all sinners and we have nothing within us to merit the merit of Christ. How can any real church separate on the basis of race, skin tones, culture, economics, or class? How can there be elitism of any kind in the church? How can we ever think that we are better than anyone else on any basis? We are all alike in desperate need of the grace of God. If not for Christ, we would all be lost. How can we separate from others?
Dr. King was a prophet and a great leader who pointed to a better way of living that was based on the equality that can be found in the midst of the beloved community. Neither he nor his theology were perfect, as has been documented by his adversaries repeatedly over the years. Still, he had the courage and vision to call us to a way of life that was very biblical when it came to racial justice and equality. The gospel does not allow there to be divisions based on race or people groups. Christ died for all. Ephesians 2:11-22 tells us that Christ Himself is our peace. The Civil Rights Movement in America was a movement that was born in the church and was victorious because it was on the right side of history and on the right side of God's will. Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary eloquently made a case for the righteousness of the Civil Rights movement and why it ultimately prevailed over white racism today. I urge you to read it.
I have become quite a student of the role of both the white and the black church in segregation and the Civil Rights movement. I am convinced that there are valuable lessons for us today that we must learn or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in different forms. Here are some of the questions that haunt me:
Why was the white evangelical church so blind to the evil of its racism?
Why was the true gospel subverted under a false gospel that caused people to look down on and separate from others because of the color of their skin?
What would have happened if the Evangelical Church would have righted itself and led the Civil Rights Movement against a Southern culture that was steeped in deplorable practices?
How would America have been different from the 1960's onward if the Southern church would have led the way on the issue of racial equality?
In what area are we now being affected by a blindspot prophetically? What are we missing today that could affect future generations?
How can we be more aware prophetically so that we can throw off the trappings of cultural Christianity, not subvert the gospel to false concepts, and boldly proclaim the biblical Jesus?
I have been trying to answer these questions for some time now and I believe that they are very important in developing a missiology for the American South and for America as a whole. People like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Fannie Lou Hamer, Phule in India, and others have had the vision to see what was wrong and what needed to happen to make things right. God has been working through people like this since the time of John the Baptist and earlier in the lives of the prophets of Israel. How can we recover their voice and apply it to our own times? What would that look like?
If we are to truly celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us praise God for the progress made in the area of race while also asking Him to show us how we can continue to proclaim truth from the rooftops in a world groping in darkness. I am looking forward to the day when the Church leads the way in restoring the world to God's intentions. I think that I am seeing that beginning to happen and for that I am very glad.
The Hindus just began a sacrifice of 250,000 animals in Nepal. As you know, there are about 1 BILLION or so Hindus in India, the country where our church does the majority of its mission work. They are sacrificinng animals for a Hindu festival honoring the goddess Gadhimai.
The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.
The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.
With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled."
Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks.
As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.
The article goes on to say,
Chandan Dev Chaudhary, a Hindu priest, said he was pleased with the festival's high turnout and insisted tradition had to be kept. "The goddess needs blood," he said. "Then that person can make his wishes come true."
Every time we visit, we go to the Hindu holy city of Rishikesh on the Ganges River. This city is full of temples, idols, holy men, ashrams, yoga centers, and pilgrimage sites. It reeks with incense and sacrificial prayers. Bells are constantly ringing to awaken the deities from their slumber in the thirteen story high Kailashananda Ashram on the banks of the Ganges. Westerners flock to this place to study yoga and fulfill their search for enlightenment. But, darkness is all they find.
"The goddess needs blood." This is true about every religion. Blood, sacrifice, and our offerings are required to awakent the gods and goddesses to our plight and give us good fortune. Religion tells us that we can get to God through what we do. This is the spell that the Hindus are under. But, the Bible declares this perspective to be patently false. We can never get to God, no matter what we do. Yes, blood is required because our sins are great and they require punishment. But, we are incapable of paying the punishment of our sins. A sacrifice is needed, but the blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient. We need a Perfect Sacrifice. This is who Jesus is. He was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The full wrath of God was satisfied by the punishment that was laid upon Christ. We do not have to continue to offer sacrifices for our sins to to gain good fortune. We must only look to Christ in faith in what He did for us. His death and resurrection is sufficient.
Hebrews 9:11-15 says,
11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Religion tells us how we can climb to God. True Christianity tells us that God has come to us to rescue us and make things right. We must only respond to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ in faith and repentance. We must look to Jesus. Hinduism only keeps people in perpetual bondage. Christianity sets people free. People who say that all religions are basically the same know nothing of what world religions teach. They are as fundamentally different as night is from day. As Christians, we no longer have to make sacrifices or perform rituals for salvation, but rather, we must only believe in Jesus Christ, the One that God has sent.
I am completely mesmerized by the pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope keeps sending back to us. We see a universe in motion that is more vast than we can possibly comprehend - and more beautiful. God is an artist and His creativity knows no bounds. Take a look at this one:
I saw where they were calling this a space butterfly. Basically, streams of gas are being shot out from a dying star for billions of miles and Hubble captured it. What beauty. In the vastness of space, God is painting a picture. This has been going on for aeons, but we are only just now able to see it.
Hubble has been sending back many amazing pictures of the beauty and vastness of the universe. Just seeing these pictures causes me to think about how small we are, how unfathomably large the universe is, and how much God loves us to do all that He has done for us. Amazing (click on the picture below for a bigger view).
The beauty and diversity of God's creation is beyond my comprehension. The heavens truly declare the glory of God. How can we not praise Him? How can we not see?
It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. "Look out!" we cry, "it's alive". And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back - I would have done so myself if I could - and proceed no further with Christianity. An 'impersonal God' - well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our heads - better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap - best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband - that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion ('Man's search for God!') suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?
This is a spiritual conversation that everyone is having without the Church.
Death panels. Town hall meetings. Grandma dying because she can't get the hip replacement. Socialized medicine. Communism. Nancy Pelosi's swastika meltdown. Chuck Grassley's whatever that was. So-called mobs protesting the whole thing and wanting to keep their privatized insurance. The public option now being removed. Obama's presidency sinking. Life, death, choice, autonomy, personal freedom, and the role of government all rolled into one big yelling match. Taxes, deficits, the slumping economy, and fear for the future. The media going nuts over all of it.
Forbes.com released a survey that says that when people think of the Baby Boom generation born after World War II that is now entering their 60's, what most comes to mind is consumerism and self-indulgence (HT: Ed Stetzer via Twitter). Ouch. 42% of respondents chose that answer. 27% said changing values and ending a war (Vietnam), and 32% said that either nothing came to mind or they weren't sure. The Baby Boomers were shaped by the events of the 1960's, where battles over race, the Vietnam War, sexual experimentation, and the changing role of women and the family took center stage.
John Zogby, who orchestrated the poll says,
Some sociologists have observed that youth culture of the 1960s wasn't so much a rebellion against our parents' values as it was a cry out for society to literally and completely follow values of democracy and egalitarianism, ones that the World War II generation fought for in battle and after the Great Depression.
Claiming that Christian and Jewish holidays are celebrated, the New York City Council voted last week to add two Muslim holidays to the city's public school calendar, citing the annual observance of Christian and Jewish holidays. Mayor Bloomberg objects, saying that you can't take off school for everything. Apart from the fact that I would have welcomed the extra days off when I was a kid, this move is truly unbelievable. Has anyone noticed the rush to secularization of what used to be considered "Christian" holidays in America. Under the guise of separation of church and state, vestiges of Christianity are being removed as quickly as possible. But, under the guise of tolerance and pluralism, some are establishing the recognition of Muslim holidays. Admittedly, this is not a nationwide thing and I don't want to be alarmist, but I wonder if we will one day see an America that is protected from Christian influence while similarily being wide open to recognizing and making allowances for other non-Christian religions? It seems that we are headed down that path.
Frederic Baue wrote a book on this a few years ago called The Spiritual Society: What Lurks Beyond Postmodernism. It is excellent. He says that we are not moving toward a secular society, but rather, a neo-pagan spiritual society that will be very hostile to Christianity. We works off of the observations of sociologist Pitrim Sorokin regarding cultural shifts. He says that we are moving toward a more spiritual age that will affirm pluralism of belief but will reject Biblical Christianity as a valid belief system during this time. It was written in 2001 and everything that has happened since then only confirms his thesis.
We've seen this story play out many times before. Adoring fans. Memorial service watched by millions. Weeping. Platitudes given, speaking of the best of a person while ignoring negative qualities. The past week of tributes to Michael Jackson after his death culminated yesterday in a veritable worship fest for the man known as the "King of Pop." I observed it briefly before quickly losing interest in the coverage.
I was never a fan of Michael Jackson. I just didn't get the appeal. Sure, he was talented, but I didn't see where he was more talented than others. I didn't really like his music, even as a kid in the 80's when he was so popular. So, needless to say, his death did not affect me that much. As a Christian, however, I should not be so quick to look down my nose at the swooning multitudes who adored the man and are now pouring out so much grief and adulation over his death. How often have I done the same thing, just in different ways?
We really shouldn't be too critical of what we are seeing happen over Jackson's death, because celebrity worship has been around for a VERY long time. It is not just a product of the shallowness of this generation. It is a product of our lostness and spiritual emptiness, but it is as endimic to humanity as the air we breathe out of our lungs. Sure, we express our worship for people in different ways and maybe we aren't screaming and crying over a celebrity, but we still do it.
I live in Montgomery, Alabama. I have lived and ministered here for almost 10 years. This past week, a horrible division occurred on Montgomery's school board along racial lines. Today, an article comes out confirming what everyone knows: White flight has completely taken hold in Montgomery County. In just 8 years, whites have gone from 50% of the population of the county to 45% and the number is declining fast. What will it be in 10 more years? Blacks have gone from 49% to 54% approximately. Of course, whether the city is primarily white or black does not really matter - it is the stigma that is attached to racial differences here that is so devastating. Racial division increases here as whites move to northern
When I was a seminary student at Golden Gate in the late 90's, Erika and I spent months looking for a church where the Bible was taught and believed and where we could engage in ministry with a loving body of believers. We looked for several months and had trouble finding the place that we felt God wanted us to be. We went to a store front church for a few months led by Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi), and ministered to street kids in the Haight-Ashbury on Sunday afternoons. But, that wasn't where we ultimately connected. A friend of mine invited me to First Baptist Church, San Francisco where Jim Higgs was the pastor. Erika and I visited and immediately sensed God's presence and a leading to join with this wonderful church. Two weeks later, Pastor Higgs retired after 17 years or so pastoring the church. We stayed.
Eighteen months later after a long search, FBCSF hired Phil Busbee to be the pastor. He was from Southern California and had served under Thom Wolf at The Church on Brady (now Mosaic). Pastor Phil had a great heart, a focus on Jesus Christ, a love for the city and the nations, a love for people, and rock solid Biblical convictions. He took stands against homosexuality in San Francisco, yet he loved gay people sacrificially. He was a man after God's own heart. He was also an extremely generous and compassionate man. Our daughter, Ashtyn, was dedicated to the Lord by his prayers when she was just a few months old. He blessed us as we left San Francisco and moved to Alabama to minister. I returned to San Francisco on mission trips for during two summers (2000 & 2001) after moving to my current church and he let us stay in the church basement and use the church as a home base. When we visited, he invited me to pray during a service, which was a surprise to me. I was also fortunate to visit with him at a conference that he was speaking at in Seattle in 2005 and we had rich fellowship together.
This past March, I took Ashtyn back to San Francisco on a Daddy-Daughter trip, my first return to San Francisco in 8 years. Of course, we visited First Baptist for their Sunday worship service and I was fortunate to see him one last time. He preached from a stool that he was rolled up to in a wheel chair. Because of diabetes and other health issues, Pastor Phil was very sick and frail at this point. Yet, he spoke of God's love and care for him, even though he did not understand the reasons for everything that was happening to Him. He trusted God and he was passionate for Christ, even as he faced his own decay. I sensed God's presence in that church and during the worship I was greatly moved. Pastor Phil was a leader, a pastor, and a prophet to so many people. Hundreds of seminary students came through First Baptist during the 10 years he pastored there and I know that they are better for it.
When he first came to FBCSF, Pastor Phil preached a series on worship. I'll never forget that. He started his ministry there by teaching us about passionate worship of Christ. He ended his ministry there worshiping Christ and I praise God that that is what he is doing now with the Lord. I can still see him sitting in that wheel chair in March, with his hands lifted praising His King. He will be greatly missed and even though I only sat under his ministry for about a year, I was greatly impacted by his heart for God, his passion for prayer and worship, his missional lifestyle, and his deep love for people.
I am praying for his family and for First Baptist Church, San Francisco.
~ Alan Cross, Golden Gate Alum and member of First Baptist Church, San Francisco 1997-1999.
Two major icons from the 1970's and 80's have died today, according to internet reports. Michael Jackson has died according to TMZ.com (via Drudge Report). Apparently, he had a cardiac arrest. He was 50 years old. Farrah Fawcett also succumbed to cancer today. She was 62.
Was Michael Jackson a Christian? Was Farrah Fawcett a Christian? What happened to them when they died? I am not aware of any confession of faith in Christ or attempt to follow Jesus by either of them (UPDATE: apparently, Farrah Fawcett was a Catholic - I still don't know what Jackson believed). The Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). The only way to Father God and to receive His love and forgivness for our sins is through faith in Jesus Christ. Apart from faith in Christ, we will all perish in our sins, separated from God. Hollywood and the media will tell us that the good life can be found when we are famous, popular, wealthy, and beautiful. Image is everything, they say. We believe it and we fawn over celebrities and movie stars and live our lives through them. But, Jesus says that that is not where real life is found. Real life, abundant life, eternal life, is only found in a relationship with Him. I pray that all those who hear about the death of these two celebrities today will think about the shortness of life and think about if they have been reconciled to God themselves through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Over the past year or so, I have become convinced that the greatest enemy to the Christian faith and biblical Christianity in the West, and especially America, is the philosophy of consumerism, which basically states that personal happiness can be attained through the acquisition of goods, experiences, or a particular lifestyle. Bombarded by goods, services, brands, commercials, and incessant advertising, we believe ignorance like "you are what you wear," "clothes make the man," that there is a "right" side of the tracks, and that our identity can be purchased by acquiring items of status based on a particular brand name or celebrity endorsement. This philosophy has crept into every area of life as we have succumbed to the idea of commodification of relationships and even religious experiences in that we use people and even God to satisfy our personal desires. When we no longer find immediate gratification, we move on to something else that promises to satisfy. Everything in our life (even God) becomes a means to an end of our own personal pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment). Of course, these views have always been present in the human condition (i.e., selfishness and sin), but only recently have we built an entire economy and way of life on the proliferation of consumption. Only recently have Evangelical churches grown based on the whims of the consumer class and their preference and choice for religious goods and services that meet their "felt needs."
It struck me that of the 15 cities, 11 of them were in states that were or have been considered Southern states. If you take out Maryland and Florida, then 7 of the 15 cities were in Southern states. At any rate, Evangelical Christianity, especially of the Baptist variety, is most prevalent in the South. Yet, the South traditionally has the most crime, divorce, alcoholism, and the worst education and social factors in the nation. The states of Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas vie for which state can be last in just about every important social indicator. Here are the cities from the Forbes list:
1. Detroit, Michigan 2. Memphis, Tennessee 3. Miami, Florida 4. Las Vegas, Nevada 5. Stockton, California 6. Orlando, Florida 7. Little Rock, Arkansas 8. Charleston, South Carolina 9. Nashville, Tennessee 10. Baltimore, Maryland 11. New Orleans, Louisiana 12. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 13. West Palm Beach, Florida 14. Charlotte, North Carolina 15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Christianity has been present in the South for 200 years in a very strong way. Why has it not changed things in a more concrete way? You can say that the legacy of slavery and racism continue to have an effect. You can say that the devastation caused by the Civil War affected the South for a long time (although when you consider how Germany and Japan were destroyed during WWII, that argument falls apart). But, doesn't it make sense that if we lived out our faith, things would be more positive, especially among the African American community? What role do white Southern evangelicals have in this?
Recently, I had a conversation with a white man who bemoaned the state of the schools in Montgomery. He blamed integration and said that things started falling apart because of the blacks. Then, a moment later, he talked about how his Baptist church was dying. I told him that the problems in the schools had nothing to do with skin color and had everything to do with parental involvement, family breakdown, and cultural problems that existed among both poor whites and blacks. He didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. It struck me as interesting that his disparaging remarks about black people would show up in the same conversation that he said that his church was struggling. He did not notice a connection between the two.
Why hasn't our Christianity addressed these things? Do we have nothing to say to our cities? Why don't Christians effectively address crime issues? Why don't we go into neighborhoods that are falling apart and raise up a standard? Why don't we restore schools and rescue young people? Why do we move away to the suburbs or outlying towns whenever things aren't wonderful? Why does racism still exist in our hearts and our churches?
I am not trying to be utopian here. I know that sin exists and that we cannot control people. I am not saying that we can make things perfect. But, if the South cannot become a better place to live for all people because of the Christians who live here and the churches on every corner, then please tell me how we can possibly evangelize anyone? Could it be that the SBC is declining because we have so inoculated people against the gospel by talking the talk but not walking the walk? Why would anyone believe us? Where is our power? Where is the change?
Sometimes, I think that we give in to fear too much. We try to hold on to our own life and we try and make sure that we take care of ourselves. But, God called us to trust Him and engage people. I really struggle to see how we can talk about missions to the world when we won't even engage our own cities effectively. For those that do, keep going. Praise God! You are making a huge impact! But, I am talking about the retreat of the collective whole and the abdication of our responsibility. If we are the light, then why do we complain about the darkness? Why don't we just shine?
Praise God that several churches are addressing this in Montgomery through prayer and action, including a stop the violence campaign and 24/7 prayer. But, so much more is needed. 65% of the 30,000 children in Montgomery's public schools live below the poverty line. That's 19,500 children! Is this not a mission field and a place to live out the implications of the gospel? If we can't do it in our own cities, then why should anyone believe us when we say that Jesus is the answer? If we can do it in our own cities, imagine what the impact would be! What stops us but ourselves?
I am glad that the gospel has power in spite of us. Praise God for grace! But, imagine if we truly lived it out!
Their marriage is imploding. TV cameras are filming the meltdown. Paparazzi line up outside the house. Both Jon and Kate are accused of affairs. Kate is traveling all the time promoting her new book and taking part in speaking engagements. Jon is partying at night and brooding over his miserable life. Their lives are a wreck.
But, the show goes on.
They're doing it "for the kids."
The money is too much to turn down.
Kate wants to keep going. Jon just wants to get gone.
They are churchgoing Christians who are caught in a trap.
Wow.
Jesus said that you can't serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). You will love one and despise the other. He warned us about all of this. James 4 says that we quarrel and fight because of the desires that are within us that are not submitted to God So, as they pursue fame, fortune, freedom, and pleasure, their lives fall apart and the kids that they claim to be doing this for are sacrificed on the altar of what they think is best.
There are more important things than providing college for your children.
There are more important things than a $1.2 million house.
I am not judging this family. It is a shame and anyone can fall into this trap. They need our prayers and they need to turn the cameras off and give up their lifestyle for the sake of their family and their souls. But, deception does its work on us and if we are not careful, we end up going down a path that we never thought possible.
We are all susceptible in many different ways, although our stumbles are not broadcast on national and written about on blogs by people who read the news. I really feel bad for them and I know that God has a better way. I pray that they find it. They desperately need to experience the grace, mercy, and healing of God. This life is not all there is.
Well, I'm shutting down this blog. I'm also giving up my Christianity, my belief in God, and I'm going to go out and do whatever I want. They've proved it. Evolution is true. They finally found the missing link that ties us as humans to previous species. This 47 million year old fossil named "Ida" has opposable toes and a bone in its foot that humans have. Evolution is no longer theory. It is undeniable fact.
Okay. Kidding.
I am not writing this just to ridicule. Well, maybe a little. But, scientists are telling us that based on this finding and other findings in the fossil record the link to humans can be shown and evolution can be proved. Has it ever occured to anyone that these might be distinct species that have gone extinct and that have some similar characteristics to humans or one another? Just because there are foot bones that are similar to human foot bones does not mean that an evolutionary chain has been constructed. And, even if they say it has, the span of time that is being talked about here is massive.
The Bible in Genesis 1:26-28 says that God made man in His own image. He breathed the breath of life into us. Being human is a lot more than having opposable toes. Even if human like creatures were found that existed a long time ago, it still would not mean that they were humans made in God's image. We don't know what kinds of animals God has created that have now gone extinct. We don't know exactly when He created them. We don't know what the flood did to the earth. We don't know exactly how old the earth is. There are a lot of things we don't know. But, we can say that since God is supernatural, He can do anything.
In reality, you see what you want to see. I freely admit this. If you believe in evolution, you go looking for evidence for it and then you find "Ida" and say that you found the evidence you were looking for. In the same way, when you don't believe in it, Ida isn't going to convince you. Science tries to explain everything and goes about trying to prove its own presuppositions. It is agenda-driven to the extreme. Scientists say that you cannot prove God, but then they ignore evidence for Him all around us and dig up "Ida" to prove that their own god, er, scientific theory is true.
While they try and disprove God and any effect that He might have on us, as a culture, we continue to turn to Eastern spirituality, medicine, religions, and techniques. There is a spiritual hunger that is emerging that can't be explained by Ida and other fossils. Because I believe in God, I say that Ida is an animal that He created. Because evolutionists do not believe in God, they say that Ida is proof of evolution. Fine. We both have our presuppositions. But, I don't have to play on their playing field and accept their foundational arguments just like they don't have to accept mine. That isn't sticking my head in the sand. It is just declaring that the conclusions that they draw from their study are based on the presuppositions that they went into their study with and I know that. Was there a single scientist or paleontologist who studied Ida who was not an evolutionist going in? I also don't pretend like I don't have presuppositions. I do not claim objectivity about this.
So, what are we left with? Ida in a museum. Scientists jumping up and down because they have finally "proved" evolution. But, what have they really proven? They found a 47 million year old fossil (according to their dating techniques) that has some human-like bone structure and features. My dog can smile and she likes it when I rub her belly. I can draw lots of conclusions from that if I wanted to, but I think I'll save it.
At the end of the day, God has to reveal Himself to you by His Spirit. No one can come to the Father unless He draws them. I am not trying to say that our faith is unreasonable and is unscientifically provable. Far from it. But, I am trying to say that I don't feel the need to play on the predetermined playing field of scientists who have bought into another worldview and then try and disprove all that they say.
This too shall pass because deep down man knows the truth and will do whatever He can to either shield himself from it or embrace it. God exists and He created us. That is what I believe to be foundationally true. You can reject it if you like. But, around 96% of the human race agrees with me. I tend to believe that God has written eternity on our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). Science will never replace that fact.
I want to affirm Richard Land, the president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in his recent statement against the use of waterboarding. You can read it here:
Torture is wrong and unAmerican. It is also unChristian, which is the most important thing. He is right to say that affirmation of torture for it's possible benefits is utilitarianism, or, an "end justifies the means" approach. Truth, righteousness, and justice should be what guides us. It is great to hear Richard Land say so. I agree that we need to fight against evil, but we remain moral beings made in God's image. If we violate God's image in people to save ourselves, what have we become? What are we without God?
I don't usually write posts like this because the atmosphere around these issues is so charged with controversy. But, the Bible speaks to it so I will as well. Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted in our culture and it is a symptom of our rebellion against God and His authority as shown in the Bible. When I was out in San Francisco last month, I told the people that we were staying with that the battle against homosexual rights was lost about ten years ago. Sometime in the late 90's, the push for gay rights became accepted in the mainstream enough that the eventual victory of homosexual activists in the public square was virtually guaranteed. The only question is, how long will it take to be manifested nationwide?
Massachusetts. Vermont. California. Iowa. State after state faces this issue and the courts and the voters continually affirm same-sex marriage. Oh, I know that some states have outlawed it, but if the supporters are getting over 40% of the vote now, what will it be in 10 years? We are, by nature, a permissive society. We want to be tolerant. By and large, we don't really care what others do and we keep defining down what behavior hurts others. If it works for them and makes them happy, then why not? That is definitely what the majority of people under 40 believe. So, 40% in favor of gay marriage will be 60% in a generation or less.
I am not trying to be defeatist here. I know that God does miracles and that anything can happen. I am praying for such a miracle. But, the cultural revolution that began years ago continues to bear fruit. Evangelicals have lost the hearts and minds of people, and the desire for personal happiness and satisfaction has overtaken all belief systems. Even as Christians we engage in it - we want our own happy life with a little Jesus on top.
How can we stand against gay marriage philosophically when evangelicals continue to divorce at alarming rates? Whenever marriage became about love and personal fulfillment and happiness instead of about sacrificial commitment before God between a man and a woman, both made in His image but both with different roles, then what did we have left to say? If two people love one another, then they should be able to be married, says the gay activist. We just mumble something incoherent and say that it is wrong.
Rick Warren seems to be backing off his earlier opposition to Prop 8 in California, even apologizing to the gay rights community for opposing it. I haven't seen the relevant videos. This is just what I am reading. If so, that is very disappointing. I imagine that he is under a great deal of pressure. He was called a homophobe by gay rights activists and a sell-out by the evangelical right when he prayed at Obama's inauguration. It is lonely to be fired at by both sides. But, didn't Jesus say that we would be persecuted for the sake of righteousness? I think that persecution is coming and in some cases it is here, at least when we take a stand on biblical issues in a society that is running away from God.
The legal, political fight is lost. We have lost the hearts and minds of people. I am not saying roll over or give up. I am just telling you what is going to happen. Eventually, people will get tired of opposing it and they will begin to rationalize why it is okay. Gay rights activists are not giving up and they are very well supported and well funded. The only way to oppose them politically is to defeat them and then you have to suffer their vicious attacks as they label you intolerant, hateful, homophobic, etc. The evangelical church has no stomach for persecution, so we will fold. Some will say that it is right that we retreat from this battle because we should be about preaching the gospel and not get involved in social or political issues. In saying that we should just preach the gospel and not concern ourselves with people's behavior, we show that we have abdicated our prophetic role. The thing is, we should have been involved in this personally a long time ago and now the ways that we choose to engage it are not working. But, retreating from the subject is not the answer, ultimately.
Romans 1:18-32 is being played out here. It is the result of a culture that is running away from God as fast as they can. God is giving us over to our own sinful desires as sexual sin runs rampant, both in the gay and straight sense. It is what happens and we should be grieving over the root cause of this more even than the resultant homosexuality. I am no homophobe. They are people made in God's image that God wants to restore. When I lived in the SF Bay Area, I knew a lot of homosexuals and had two jobs where I worked for gay bosses. They were nice people. A lesbian that I worked for was probably the best boss that I ever had. She really cared about people and we had several talks about this. I was friends with one of the longest living AIDS victims in America and went to his funeral. He came out of the homosexual lifestyle and became a Christian, but he still suffered and died from AIDS. I ministered to gay and transgender people in the street ministry that we did. They understood my beliefs, did not feel judged my me, and accepted it. There was never any doubt that I believed that they were in sin, but they also did not have any doubt that I cared for them with the love of Christ. It was supernatural, actually.
Straight people have lots of sins that reveal our rebellion against God. We should and do address those issues as well. We are no better than gay people when it comes to sin and we should not act like homosexuality is the one sin that God cannot forgive. God's mercy extends to all who call upon Him. I am only writing about this because we are witnessing a major shift in our culture on this issue just like we saw a shift in the culture when it came to heterosexual sins back in the 1960's. Do Christians get caught in those sins today? Absolutely. How do we deal with them? That might give us a clue as to how we should and could deal with this issue as well. The Church is going to be in a different place in this discussion over the next 20 years than we have been. We are moving into exile. How will we respond? How will we continue to proclaim the truth of the gospel about sin and righteousness when we no longer have the backing of the larger culture? Will we love sacrificially? Will we stand for truth or will we cave? What will our witness be?
Maybe I am being too negative, but this is what I see. I think that we need to really begin to figure out how we are going to minister in an environment where we are considered hateful if we do not affirm homosexuality. In other words, Christians will universally be declared unloving because we are not in favor of gay rights and our claims of loving others will be laughed at because we will be told that we are intolerant bigots when it comes to this issue. No one wants to be called that. Are we prepared to live and minister in this hostile environment? How will we explain ourselves? How can we show love and grace and still stand for truth? It is possible to be full of BOTH grace AND truth. We can minister grace to people and love them even when they are in sin, and we can speak truth to them and call them to turn from their sins and embrace the forgiveness and healing power of God. We can do this only if we are full of Jesus because He was full of both grace and truth (John 1:14). The Church will only deal with this new environment biblically if we are full of Jesus. Only through the love, truth, and power of Christ can we be light in a dark world.
Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. My mind was racing. Finally, I drifted off, but not before I ran through a dozen different subjects. I've been told by friends that I have adult ADD. Maybe so. It would explain a lot. Normally, I write essays for this blog because it is really rewarding for me to lock in on one topic and explore it and I use it as a teaching platform for my church. Today, I'll take you on a random tour of what I'm thinking about in classic, stream-of-consciousness form. Each of these thoughts could be a blogpost all their own and they have been building up in my head. So, I think I'll clean out my brain a little so that I can think more clearly and start over.
I'm going back to India at the end of next month. Around midnight last night, I called Thom Wolf in India and talked with him for awhile. It was almost noon there. He was my professor and intellectual mentor in school back when I lived in San Francisco and he lives in New Delhi. We will go north to the Himalayas and do our normal thing with the ministries there, and then possibly travel with him for a couple of days to the south of India to meet some people doing very interesting things.
I am working through Paul's letter to the Philippians right now in my Bible study and my preaching. I am also writing essays to go along with each topic. Philippians is a great letter to address the "God as a means to an end" syndrome that plagues contemporary Christianity. I am thinking of releasing the essays after I am through with this. It has been really interesting. Today, I am working on one called "Chains" about how Paul volunteered to put himself in less than ideal situations so that the gospel would be spread to others through his life and suffering. Check out Philippians 1:7-14. Am I willing to do the same?
"According to some estimates, Christians in developed Western countries now represent only 37 percent of believers worldwide. As I travel and also read chruch history, I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God 'moving' geographically from place to place: from the Middle East to Europe to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where He's wanted." ~ Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places.
I ran across a fascinating article today on urban development in post-Katrina New Orleans on Newgeography.com by Andres Duany. Duany, of Cuban descent, says that "New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities." He says that New Orleans is not really an American city at all. Rather, it is a Caribbean city. Jimmy Buffett, after Katrina hit, said that the northern Gulf of Mexico is actually the northern part of the Caribbean, not the Southern part of the U.S. I agree. Being from there, it is different that the rest of the country, and I love it. Totally different way of thinking, worldview, and lifestyle. Maybe this is why Baptists have had so much trouble reaching the Gulf Coast? Hmmm.
My two favorite songs on my ipod right now are "Rocket Man" by Angie Aparo and "A Change is Gonna Come" by Ben Sollee. They are both cover songs, but the music and vocals are really intriguing. If you haven't heard either of these guys, check them out. Here's a live version of "Rocket Man." I think about this when I am travelling too much.
And, Ben Sollee on the cello. Yes, the cello. This is amazing.
This week marks the 3 year anniversary of us finding a lump on Caelan's chest that was a cancerous tumor. It has been a hard three years, but I praise God everyday for His faithfulness. Last night, Erika told me that the little 3 year old girl that my family has been praying for since we saw her at Caelan's last scans died last week. Her name was Cassie. My heart was broken over that. Maybe that is why I keep singing "A Change is Gonna Come." Ben Sollee, covering Sam Cooke, says he doesn't know what's beyond the sky. I do, and more and more each day I pray that God's Kingdom come.
"As heretical as it sounds today, it is probably worth telling Americans that you don't need Jesus to have better families, finances, health, or even morality. Coming to the cross means repentance - not adding Jesus as a supporting character for an otherwise decent script but throwing away the script in order to be written into God's drama. It is death and resurrection, not coaching and makovers." Michael Horton, Christless Christianity.
Baseball season is about to start. I really don't like baseball. Too slow for my taste. During the dead of summer, it is almost like there are no sports going on. I'm just waiting for football. Although, our church has formed THREE softball teams with about 50 players and they'll be playing mostly on Monday nights, so I am glad for the fact that a lot of people from our church will be hanging out together and building relationships. Being blind in my right eye caused me to never play baseball because I have no depth perception, so maybe that is why I don't like it. I do plan to play summer league basketball, though.
The groundbreaking for our church's new building is April 5, right before we have a huge neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We've been reaching a lot of teenagers in our community lately, and God really moved in their lives at a youth retreat that we had this past weekend. Several came to Christ and many more opened their hearts to Jesus. We have also started tutoring, GED classes, and are helping with job placement. God is doing some amazing things. The building is just a tool to help us with this, and it should be finished by October. I'll be very happy.
I keep watching Jon & Kate plus Eight. I don't know why. Erika keeps asking why I stop there when we are watching TV and I have the remote and I told her that I really can't believe how mean Kate is to Jon and I can't fathom how they manage eight kids like that. Wow. It's like a car wreck. I have four kids of my own. Do I really need to watch someone else's stress? Strangely, I'm drawn to it. That, and Clean House, which is about people who live in an unfathomable mess. I guess that it is cathartic to see other people's stress and mess instead of my own. Normally, these shows come on right after we put the kids to bed. Hmmm.
I turned in my taxes yesterday and I'm trying to get some insurance stuff taken care of. It's a pain and seems to be taking forever. Car tags have to be paid on Monday and I'm doing a TV interview tomorrow for a local religious broadcasting station about our work in India. I lump all of that together because it all feels about the same to me - stuff I have to do that I don't like doing. I'm not just trying to be humble about the TV thing either. I HATE stuff like that. Communication should be two-way and interactive with feedback, not captured on a television for people to pick over and misinterpret as they wish. Maybe I'm just insecure.
Books I'm reading right now (they happen to all be "Christian" books, which is not good - I need to vary things up a bit and learn from some other disciplines):
Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey - picked it up in the airport last week. Yancey writes essays about where he sees God working in the world. Excellent.
Christless Christianity by Michael Horton - states that the American church has given itself over to an alternative gospel that he calls, therapuetic moralistic deism.
No Place for Truth - Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology by David Wells. This came out about 15 years ago, but it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It is pretty dense, but a good read. Makes some of the same claims as Horton, but from a historical perspective.
My church is always heavy on my mind and my heart. I graduated from seminary over 9 years ago. I've been the lead pastor of our church for 3 1/2 years. I'm realizing more and more each day that I am not smart enough, talented enough, entertaining enough, or gifted enough to do what needs to be done, no matter how many books I read. God has to work through me. I need Him. I carry the weight of people's struggles pretty intensely. I greatly desire for people to walk with the Lord and to glorify Him and I want our church to hunger after Christ with their whole lives and to reach people who do not know Jesus. But, I am really having to pray about this and release it to the Lord. I can't make anyone do anything. I am completely powerless to make anything happen. God has to do it. I have always known that intellectually. I am learning that emotionally and spiritually and it isn't easy, believe it or not.
Ashtyn has started soccer.
I have great kids and an amazing wife who listens to me go on and on about everything that I am thinking about. She is really patient and she always gives me great feedback. I do not deserve her, and I'm not just saying that because it is what I am expected to say. She's really something. She texted me two days ago and said that we should go on the mission trip with the youth group this summer. I told her that I agreed. Not many mother's of four kids would do that.
My city, Montgomery, just elected a new mayor in a special election a couple of weeks ago. In his election night interview, he said that he hoped that he would "rule" well. Rule #1 in American politics: Never tell the people that you plan to "rule" them. It doesn't sit well in a democracy. Then, he said that he was pushing the inauguration back a week because he was taking his family to the beach. Rule #2: When we are in a severe recession, don't tell the people that just elected you that you would begin to rule, er, serve them, but first, you have to go to the beach. Go to the beach in a few months AFTER you have worked for them for a little while. Wow.
Look, a BUTTERFLY!!!! Sorry, had to get that out. Does anyone ever feel that way? Random as can be.
I've lost 10 pounds in the past two weeks and I don't know how. I guess that I haven't been eating as much. Duh. Stress? Busyness? I don't know, but I'll take it. I could stand to lose a lot more.
Well, that's about it. Not really, but I figure that no one is still reading at this point, so I might as well stop. Believe it or not, engaging in an exercise in complete randomness actually made me feel better. So, I leave you with a picture of my kids that I really love.
God is good, by the way. And, He's always working in every thing. Big, little, important, mundane. God is always at work.
