40 Days of Easter

This Easter I wanted to not only prepare for Easter through Lent, but to give the resurrection the same kind of 40 day attention. I have challenged our Fellowship to think about what kinds of things can they pick up for the King and Kingdom. It has been more of a challenge than I thought. It is difficult to know what things would be meaningful and not gimmicky.

So far I have decide to focus on the people I would say I love and yet seem to be the people who get the least of me. I am attempting to tell my wife and children I love then in different ways every day.
My wife Andrea seemed stunned that I wanted to know how I could be more Christ like to her. After 24 hours and several requests she told me to take a day off. Ouch...

So far what I have discovered is that by picking up just any old thing, its possible to do more harm than good. Who are the people you would say you love and what would being more Christ like look like for them?

40 Days of Easter

I am on the journey to become the man of my imagination. I can imagine a man of character and integrity. A man who's yes is yes and no is no. A man people can count on. A man I can count on. 

This Easter I want to commit to becoming that man. The first thing I want to do is make certain that my wife and children know that in spite of my real time stumbling and bumbling, I love them. 

In my imagination, a very scary place, I could continue to try and fail. I commitment for these next 40 days is to keep on trying. What are you going to do to extend the Kingdom?  

How far would you go?

This past Sunday I was retelling the story of Paul and Timothy in Acts 16. Here Paul asks Timothy a young man, to get circumcised in deference to the Jewish people they were looking to reach.
I wanted to have a tattoo artist come and give me a tattoo while I was preaching the message and when I could not get that done, (regulations) I wanted to show a video of someone getting a tattoo. That did not happen either. (Technical difficulties)

The question was how far would You go to extend the Kingdom? Getting a tattoo was not a new idea for me. I came very close a few years ago while speaking on 1 Cor 9, 'I have become all things to all people..."
We all have opportunity to stretch to reach people. For some the idea that I would get a tattoo was way over the top. For others it may be going into a bar or a club. I believe that with the freedom we have been given comes great responsibility.

How far are you willing to go to free others? Why would God free you first?

Tear your hearts not your cloths.

I was with a group of people involved in ministry and they were talking about how much transparency is too much. After I speak I am usually questioned about why I would tell people the stuff of my struggles. Even the way I frame the question is telling.
I feel that the more transparent I am upfront the more real God becomes. Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth and the life". I believe that we get the Way, and the Life and somehow miss out on the Truth. Every time I rely on fiction I obscure Jesus. I muddy the Way and rob myself of really Living. My walk reveals my heart and my belief in His ability to work all things together for our good.
I feel that it is easier for me to make a show of my transparency by tearing at my veneer and still miss out on the opening my heart. Follow me as I attempt to open my heart to the truth of who I am and Who is making me.

Media Bias.

Just this week I happened across a radio talk show where a well know conservative reported his most recent evidence of media bias. In February there was a gruesome murder in which a man is suspected of beheading his wife. The discussion centered around how this story didn't get the head lines the conservative thought it should. The accused man is a Muslim and the founder of a TV station dedicated to changing the negative stereotypes of Muslims.
At face value beheading appears to be an oddity in our culture and seemed irrefutable evidence that the media is sympathetic to Muslims. Why did this story not merit the same attention as some "lesser evil" done by another?

As I understand it, news is when man bites dog, not when dog bites man. It is expected occasionally for a dog to bite a man, but unexpected for a man to bite a dog.
Is there another reason that the beheading wasn't considered newsworthy?
Media bias exists. Yet, what if media is biased in the opposite direction from what we are led to believe? I think it is possible that American media expects Muslims to behave badly, so a man beheading his wife is not news. In the same way, American media expects Christians to behave well, and when that expectation is not met, it is news.

It saddens me that Christianity as a religion has become a "don't do this" methodology. The religion gets the reputation it is promoting, then blames others when held accountable for what it promotes. What a disappointing distraction from the glorious Kingdom of God that Jesus was here to establish. How do I maintain focus on what I am called to do, while turning my back on issues that rob my time and keep my attention? Is the fact that the Kingdom of God exists -- while people are looking for something they have yet to see -- news all on its own?

Fear the final frontier

My life has been a rocket-ship of God moments. The phrase:  "somewhere between terror and exhilaration" seem to describe it best so far.  I shrink away from attempting to tell people about the emotions and experiences, because it is too much to tell and too hard to believe. 

Yesterday while hurtling toward heaven; I was at a meeting where a prophesy over a dying boy was fulfilled through the stumbling of three independent people. While at this meeting we heard and saw the power of God and we saw how He had used our attempts to follow Him.  I caught a glimpse of just how enormous the project is and how small we are in the scheme of things. One of my more pragmatic friends said the following of the meeting:  "That was the first time I understood the fear that you guys talk about." 

I am finding that in between Terror and Exhilaration is faith.

In the Bible there is a story about a mustard seed.  God says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains. We are seeing mountains move all on their own. We are watching the living Creator God reveal Himself to and through His people. What an amazing time to be alive and in His service!

These ideas and events are way too big for any one of us. Even if there were tens of thousands of people involved we could not do what He is doing. The fear/terror comes from recognizing that we are not in control. The exhilaration comes from the realization that God is right here. The only power we have is over our ability to say, "Yes Lord".  Then that power is fulfilled as we put our weight behind the "Yes" and move.  It may be easier to move a mountain, than to move our hearts.  

Blind in Besthaida

I have been thinking about vision and focus for most of my life. I have over 20 years in optics and know the functions of light and lens. For the past 11 years I have been helping people through Touched Twice United. It is a movement based on how Jesus helped the blind man from Bethsaida in Mark 8. 

Here some people believe that Jesus has the power to heal. Heal blind eyes and broken lives. 

Some people think that Jesus has the power to fix the unfixable.  Some people believe. 

As I sit here today it seems as if the majority of people believe that the government has that power. I feel as we are no longer slipping away, but we are running. 

I once was blind. I was unable to see as my lens for viewing the world was just that, mine.  I was singularly concerned about me. I would see people bent and distorted just as I was. I would project my bent everywhere I looked and then was affirmed based on my blindness. I found myself helpless and hopeless. I was facing the loss of my father, the loss of a marriage and the loss of my perception of control. I was lost in my blindness and desperate for help.

I found myself powerless to change the things that were broken. All the world views I had found were equally without power. I discovered that there was a way of looking at the world that changed my hopelessness and gave me access to more power than I could hope for or imagine. I once was blind and now I see...

Instead of changing your location, exchange lens through witch you see. Instead of the opaque choose the translucent. Instead of dark shields choose full spectrum. Open your eyes to the projection that is coming from with in. 

Ultimately our illusion is that we have control of anything other than ourselves. We can influence the world. We can modify behaviors, but we need to be transformed from the inside out. When we see that we are powerless to control things outside of ourselves, then we are free to live the lives we dream of. When we are willing to surrender our perspectives, we can gain pure clarity.