More Human Trafficking

This isn't enjoyable but I dare you to check out this nytimes article on human trafficking.

Inside Peace

As the climate begins to approach fever-pitch this election season it's good to be reminded that regardless of who's in the white house, or on capital hill, or in your town, family or marriage... regardless of the financial outlook facing us as a nation or you personally... no matter what issue is currently staring down at you..

the Kingdom of Heaven is currently available to you through Jesus Christ.

It seems counter-intuitive... no, it is counter-intuitive in the midst of chaos to assume that peace is available. It appears more rational to assume that noise must be eliminated and clutter organized before God's internal work can begin or continue. Yet, Jesus communicated that via Him - not the systems of the world - that God was accessible.

The people of Jesus' day had a problem with his approach. They assumed that God would come only through their prescribed way of thinking... The Pharisees said that the law had to be interpreted more strictly. The Zealots said the government had to be overthrown. The Herodians/Saducees said that working with the government was the only way to usher in God's kingdom. Jesus didn't fit into any of those groups.

In 2008 He still doesn't really fit into any of those groups... or any of our groups... my groups... His way is different than mine. I tend to form opinions from the outside in. He always works from the inside out.

Do not assume that God's kingdom is accessible unless something changes. The only thing that needs to change is your willingness to change.

The Kingdom of Heaven is presently available to everyone.

Sink or Sit

My friend, Ron Lush, sent me this excerpt taken from: In a Pit with Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson, pages 114-115

Sink or Sit

Peter gets a bum rap. Peter is the disciple who denied Christ three times, but he was the only one who got close enough to Jesus to get caught. Peter is the disciple who impulsively cut off Malchus' ear when the lynch mob came to arrest Jesus, but he was the only one who came to Jesus' defense. And he is the disciple who sinks in the Sea of Galilee , but he was also the only disciple who walked on water.
It's so easy to criticize Peter from the comfortable confines of the boat.
I think there are two kinds of people in the world: creators and criticizers. There are people who get out of the boat and walk on water. And there are people who sit in the boat and criticize water walkers.
Here is what I think: Sinking is better than sitting.
I'd rather get wet than have a numb gluteus maximus. When everything is said and done, I think our greatest regrets will be the God-ordained risks we didn't take. We won't regret sinking. We will regret sitting. In the words of German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Hell begins the day God grants you the vision to see all that you could have done, should have done, and would have done, but did not do.”
Anything less than getting out of the boat is spiritual voyeurism.
It is so easy to criticize water walkers from the comfortable confines of the boat. But I think the other eleven disciples were haunted by this missed opportunity. Think about it. They could have walked on water. But they chose to stay in the boat. They missed a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity because they weren't willing to take a God -ordained risk.

Questions lead to Answers lead to Questions

There are questions that need answers. Fortunately answers can be found. But that only presents another set of problems because I've found the best answers always to lead to more and better and deeper and interestinger questions.

I believe Jesus is The Answer.

But sooner or later He leads me to more questions. So, I keep living in the middle of answers and questions... in that shadow thing that Elliot wrote about in "The Hollow Men"... I live there because honestly, where else would I go? (Isnt that what Peter exclaimed? John 6)

I live there also because not having everything explained seems to make some sense. Mystery isn't the absence of meaning it's the presence of meaning too great to understand.

But then there are the things that do make sense to me and here's one that keeps me hanging around Jesus... He's the only religious leader to talk about sin and claim to be the remedy for sin. Other religions offer enlightenment, habits, karma, reincarnation, rules, the law and other belief systems in order to make up for my deficiency. Jesus is the only one who said to me, "Hey, you have a problem that is way worse than anything you could dream up and it's not going to change by trying harder. It's only going to change by letting me pay the price. And I will. Because I love you more than anything you can imagine." (that's me paraphrasing what Jesus said in the NT) He's the only one in history who ever said anything like that.

Something like that is just crazy enough to believe.

The Will to Believe

Pilot said, “What is truth?” You can almost hear him scoffing or maybe squirming… Jesus just stood there. He didn’t respond with a book, a website, or a campaign slogan.

He stood there.

Pilot was looking for answers, for resolution, for a response. And Jesus stood there in the way of truth and in the way of truth. Think about the two different ways… Depending on how it’s used “in the way” could mean a barrier, something blocking progress or “in the way” could mean in the flow, the right way to go.

Jesus stood there in the way.

Pilot didn’t get it. Maybe he was pressured for time. Maybe he was someone that just couldn’t see it. Maybe he wasn’t used to looking real hard for something. Maybe most everything was handed to him and this time it wasn’t handed to him. What he needed to do was stop, pray, think, listen and accept responsibility for his choice. But he didn’t.

Maybe you don’t get it either and like Pilot you’re frustrated. Listen, I have watched a lot of people struggle with their belief system. I have listened to many offer excuses. I’ve known people who always needed one more answer or some specific response or one more piece of evidence. Maybe you’re one of those people. Sorry to be so blunt but here’s my reaction…

No one walks away from Jesus because they can’t make the mental ascent. Good grief. Who can? No one can understand it.
Some say they can’t believe in Jesus because they need more evidence. Who doesn’t want more evidence? We all do.
I don’t believe people turn their backs on Jesus because they can’t reconcile science and the Bible. Yeah, even believers struggle with how to interpret the Bible sometimes.
People don’t walk away because of the church. Guess what? All of us at one time or another have wanted to walk away because of the church!
It’s not because of Christians although, again, trust me, I’ve been tempted
It’s not because of education, or politics, or race or pain in the world or anything else. You might think so but I don’t buy it.

People walk away from Jesus because they simply refuse to believe.

It’s a matter of the will. That thing deep inside of you that says either, “Yeah I want to believe in Him. I need to have someone else in control of my life.” Or “I could believe in Him but I will not.” You see, there’s a difference between saying, “I can believe in Jesus.” (which means you may or may not) And “I will believe in Jesus.” (which means you will).

So, I’d say stop, pray, think, listen and accept responsibility for your choice and then decide if you will or will not. Don’t blame it on something else.

It always comes down to the will.

Giving

One of my favorite authors, Eugene Peterson writes in his book Run with the Horses,

"Giving is what we do best. It is the air into which we were born. It is the action that was designed into us before our birth. Giving is the way the world is. God gives himself. He for any of us. We are given away to our families, to our neighbors, to our friends, to our enemies - to the nations. Our life is for others. That is the way creation works. Some of us try desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves. We look so bedraggled and pathetic doing it, hanging on the dead branch of a bank account for dear life, afraid to risk ourselves on the untried wings of giving. We don't think we can live generously because we have never tried. But the sooner we start the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives finally, and the longer we wait the less time we have for the soaring and swooping life of grace."

And in a seperate but related issue... world hunger crisis

Excuses

The beautiful thing about an excuse is… there’s usually an element of truth to the excuse. But the point is not about the excuse. The point is so what? So what are you going to do?

• Don’t have time to work out? So what are you going to do?
• Your church is not meeting your expectations? So what are you going to do?
• Not getting what you deserve at work?
  
• You’re single and no one seems to be asking you out?
• The bible is hard to read?
• Your boss is racist?

So what are you going to do?

Reading people like John Ortberg, Dan Baker and Henry Cloud has helped me along these lines.

Ownership

Someone asked me recently to give my opinion on why their life wasn’t ‘working better’. I responded with what I think is likely your number one issue as well…

Ownership. You get ownership all wrong.

You think you own what you don’t. And you seldom own the things you should.

Many of us don’t own our houses, our cars, or our possessions. (The bank or the credit card co owns them.) Nevertheless, we act like we do. Even if we didn’t finance our possessions the further point here goes deeper than just dollars. In a classic understatement I would point out that there is simply too much energy, emotion and attention paid to our possessions. Yet, we love possessions. Because…

We are possessive.

Meanwhile, what happens is the stuff ends up possessing us.

To borrow from Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club or Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich or Gandhi or Jesus.

And then there are the things we should be owning and spending our energy on… our motives, problems, needs, wants, blindspots, our issues and our faults. These are the areas we should be working on.* Yet, we divert attention, we create excuses. We look the other way. Because…

We don’t easily own our faults.

Have you ever tried to get someone to own up to something they did wrong? I have. I have three children. With children though, excuses are expected. They haven’t developed the maturity yet to understand that the sooner they admit fault, ask for forgiveness and try to work on their problems the sooner life starts to ‘work better’ for them. But, of course, that’s the problem… many adults haven’t learned this either. Getting them to own up to something is like backing a wild animal into a corner. Many of us would rather die with our excuses than own them.

This is all a part of our DNA. Remember some of the first conversation recorded? God says to Adam after he eats the forbidden fruit, “What were you thinking?” (And Adam thinks to himself, “I don’t know why I did that. I should just admit it and ask for forgiveness. Man, I feel really bad.) But then he opens his mouth and says, “The woman you put here with me… she made me do it.” Adam in a few short words blames God and then Eve rather than owning up.

Well, you see where this is all going. It’s time to take some inventory. What are you owning? What is owning you? What excuses are you making? If you want life to ‘work better’ you’ll have to wrestle with all this. It’s worth it!

* Oh, I should mention here that I’m not talking strictly about strengths and weaknesses of your personality, giftedness or aptitude. Marcus Buckingham has a lot of great stuff to say along these lines that I agree with whole-heartedly. What I’m referring more to is the inability to admit culpability in why your life is not working better. Hope you see the difference in the two.