The Preacher That Didn't Preach

Wow! Talk about your oxymoron. Most of the time you can't get a preacher to stop preaching. How rare is it that you can find one that doesn't even get started?

Last week I found myself in the awkward position of getting ready for an evening service at a youth camp but feeling led away from the message that I had prepared for the evening. It was the first full day of camp and I found the morning break out sessions to be very challenging. As a matter of fact, it was extremely unfortunate that there wasn't time in each of them to respond to the lessons that had been taught and learned.

The feeling that this situation needed to be rectified and the students needed the opportunity to respond to the messages they had already heard that day wouldn't go away. I have to say that it is hard to set aside a message that you've worked on and I often have a difficult time figuring out the direction that God is taking me. To be fair and in keeping with the theme of no masks, I have to admit that Tuesday evening's message was the one that I was least prepared for. Maybe it was God's way of letting me know that it was an unsatisfactory message or prepared in a manner unworthy of him. In any case, He took care of things.

I went ahead and opened with my "Jedi Mind Trick" (later wished that I would've skipped that, too) and then shared with the students the struggle that I had been having about preaching for the evening. So instead of preaching, I started my time with an invitation to respond to each of the morning workshops. The response was overwhelming.

All-in-all, the invitation time took more time than preaching would have. Students were talking quietly with adult leaders and praying at the altar for one another. As the band came back to the stage and brought us back to the place of worship in music, I slipped outside for a few moments. I was physically drained, emotionally exhausted. I'm still surprised at how draining preaching can be. Often times it's exhilarating. Sometimes it's exhausting. I was moved by the response of the kids -- not their response to me, their response to the Holy Spirit. I seriously doubt that there is much an old fat guy could say to these teens that would move them the way that were moved that night. Only the grace and mercy of a mighty God could do that.

It was a great week. I was so privileged to be called to be camp pastor for the week. Now to live out the challenges from the week. Yes, that's right. The challenges weren't just for the kids. They were for us, too.
Be real about your Christianity. Be "Christ"-like in all you do. Share the truth of the Bible: God loves you and Jesus died for you.

Do it.
Do it today.

John <><

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Politics and Religion ... again

I know, I know.
I've covered my feelings on religion and politics in the past, posted my personal biases (never without opposition push-back and fallout), and swore that I would never do it again ... until the next time.

Apparently the next time is here.

I'm glad that I was at youth camp last week when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) announced its ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). With any massive overhaul, there is bound to be opposition. Rarely has it been the total opposition that political parties have made it today.

I am appalled at the amount of misinformation that is being spread and at the total opposition from conservatives to what was originally a conservative proposal.

As the election cycles towards its November culmination, I will be slowly but steadily removing "friends" from my Facebook news feed. It's not that I don't want to be your "friend," I just want to guard my mind and attitude from too much negative crap. Of course, you are free to do the same.

My greatest dismay comes from our religious leaders that continually feel the need to weigh in on the politics of the nation. The implication that one side is more Christian than the other is absurd. The followers of such leaders take their words as truth and feel they can openly condemn anybody with an opposing view. When will we stop expecting non-Christians to act like Jesus?

One leader wrote (in his response to the SCOTUS ruling), "The court's actions today reflect the secularization of our society..."

WHAT?

Since the SCOTUS is not a religious organization and the United States is not a religious government, what would a reasonable person expect the High Court's decision to reflect?

When political activities, political parties and governments become effective tools in the expanding of the Kingdom of God, I'll jump back into the fray. Until then, I'm going to urge my Christian brothers and sisters to focus on sharing the love of God and the Good News of the saving gospel of Jesus. I'm not asking you to suspend your political rants. I'm just asking that you give the God that has saved our worthless souls equal time.

John <><

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. 2Tim 2:23-25

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More on Deception

It's weird how something as simple as introducing an artificial light source can mess up the simple navigation system of a moth. If you stop to think that some insects use the bright distant light of the sun or moon as reference points for navigation and can fly a relatively straight line by doing so, it becomes easier to see that a close light source like a light bulb or flame might cause the same insect to spiral inward to its demise.

Unfortunately, our brains are just as easily deceived when it comes to artificial shadows or shading. We use the shadows and light to determine depth and color in most things that we see. When the shadows are false or not really there, our brains act as if they are real and present us with false truths.

For example:
In the picture below, the shaded yellow square on the front of the cube is the exact same color as the brown square on the top of the cube that appears to be in the light. We "see" the light and shadow and perceive the colors accordingly. But the reality is that it is just a two dimensional picture that only appears to have a light source.

The best way to see this for yourself is to copy the picture to your computer and then open it with Microsoft Paint or a similar program that will allow you to cut a piece out and move it to over lay the other color.
You can do the same thing for this picture that shows that both A and B are the same shade of grey.

Cool, huh?

This last one (for today) is one of my personal favorites.

You can just cover the middle area with your hand or fingers (or a narrow strip of paper). By removing the shading, you can see that A and B are, again, the same shade of grey.

If our natural perceptions can be so easily manipulated and tricked into false beliefs, doesn't it also make sense that our spiritual perceptions can be fooled. When we look at the things of the world through the eyes and perceptions of a natural man, we see things as men. We need to see the world as God sees it. We need to remember that, as believers, we are new creations, new beings in Christ Jesus our Lord and we need see and act as Jesus would act.

John<><

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Prov 16:25

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July 1, Post 1

It's July. It's hot and dry in the Midwest.
And I have managed to come down with a summer cold...

I don't think that it's allergies since the posted numbers for pollens are low in every category. It's been so dry that I don't think that molds are the problem. Whatever it is, I'm just glad that it wasn't with me last week at youth camp!

Speaking of youth camp, I may as well start my July posting quest by talking a little about the week I had at Grand Oaks camp. I was there for the Linn-Livingston Association's youth camp. We had 108 (I think) students, two adult cabin leaders for each small group and a great volunteer kitchen staff; all led by two well organized and  Spirit led camp directors. I was blessed to be called as camp pastor and doubly blessed to serve with four talented young men in the band Calling Glory, our praise and worship band for the week.

"Trade the Show for the Substance" was our theme for the week as we focused on setting aside the masks that we wear and actually becoming more like Jesus rather than just going through the motions. The students were challenged to boldly stand up for what they believe whenever they may find their faith and convictions questioned.

Our theme verse was Galations 6:3, "If any man thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

We started the week talking about deception; how we are deceived, how easily we are deceived and how we can even deceive ourselves. I showed several optical illusions and explained how our brains are tricked (deceived) by functioning naturally in a situation when our eyes are viewing something unnatural. I'll share some of these in the coming days.

We can also be deceived when we look at our situations through our own understanding--our natural way of seeing the world, rather than through the Holy Spirit's understanding. Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

We have to train ourselves to see things through the eyes of our Lord rather than as man sees them.

All-in-all, it was a pretty incredible week!

John<><

The ball at the top of the picture is the same size as the ball at the bottom of the picture. Even though this is a two dimensional picture, our brain interprets it as three dimensional. Therefore our brain "sees" the second ball as larger.

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Breaking the Silence

It has been seven weeks since my last post.

I don't have any good reasons for not posting. It's not like I haven't had anything to say. There has been plenty of opportunity to spend the necessary time to write an occasional post. Mostly, I just haven't felt like taking the time.

All-in-all, pretty poor excuses for a guy that perceives himself as a writer (or writer wannabe).

For some of the past few weeks, time has been the issue. I've had a couple of camp gigs, a few Sunday sermons to prepare and a fund raising show for a mission trip. Next week I'll be serving as camp pastor for a youth camp and really don't know if I'll have plenty of time to write or no time at all. I'm trying to get back to some book reading. (side note: I'm contemplating a tablet computer or Kindle Fire.) For now, I'm still pretty content to read an actual book, but there are advantages to a reader, too.

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up on all of the events that have happened over the last two months, that would be too much work. I'll just make the decision to get started again. 

I will say that a part of my not writing has been due to intentionally deciding to keep some of my opinions to myself. While I don't expect for everybody to agree with me on every topic, I also realize that it is not in my best interest to anger half (or more) of my friends that link to my rants from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or those that subscribe to my blog in some other manner. I'm pretty certain that previous rants have cost me opportunities to minister in a number of churches (even though I have never preached anything other than the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus and Jesus alone). I still believe that preaching is preaching and politics is politics. However, not everybody feels the same and some tend to believe that if we can't agree on one thing, we probably can't agree on anything else. 

I'll stop now before I get into trouble again.

I've been blogging for almost six years. I've only posted 17 times in a month four times--never more than that. 

As a personal exercise in writing, I'm going to try to post 18 times in a month during July. I'll apologize in advance for the nonsense that may show up and will make the effort to keep things positive and encouraging.

You've been warned...

I'm back!

John <><

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What Blessings Have I Missed?

After reading a story like the one that follows, I have to wonder what blessings, what ministry opportunities I've missed because of impatience. What would I have done if I was behind the wheel of that cab? Would I have driven on? Would I have hurried to the destination? Would I have missed the simple blessing of giving a moment of joy to another human being?

And am I missing blessings today because I am in too much of a hurry? Am I too focused on John that I'm missing the simple needs of the people that are silently waiting for a kind word or a kind touch?

If you are touched (or shamed) by this story, please share it.

John <><

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Full, but Unsatisfied

Do you ever get that feeling when you've been grazing or snacking because you want to eat something but don't really know what you want? Before you know it, you're full but you haven't satisfied yourself with anything that is good or good for you. You've eaten a bunch of garbage, you feel full but you wish that you had eaten something else. Then if something good does come to mind, it's too late. You're already full.

Yeah, I've done that -- too often.

It's easy to recognize when we do it in regards to food and feeding our bodies. I think that it's more difficult to recognize those same characteristics when it comes to feeding our intellect or our spirit but I believe that the same principles apply. If we load up on junk news, junk philosophy, junk theology, junk attitudes -- we just end up full of junk. Full, but unsatisfied.

We look to places like the news media --Fox News, CNN, MSNBC (pick your poison)--for our truth throughout the week, and then wonder why we're in conflict with what we hear in church on the weekend. We are willing to spend hours watching anything from sporting events to Ellen to a wide range of reality shows that take us from obese people losing weight to a race around the world, but we are unwilling to spend a few minutes each day reading our Bibles or even receiving a little intellectual stimulation from reading something from history or classic literature.

We allow the news events and the news reporters (along with politicians and preachers...Did I really just put those two in the same category?) to color our view of the world and that just gives us conflicting images of how our world is perceived by different people. I don't think that people are really interested in truth any more. I think that we just want to hear a truth that works for us. We've become spiritually obese and intellectually obese to go along with the physical obesity that plagues our country. We are fat and full (of something) but under nourished and under exercised. We've been filling our hearts and our minds with soft, fluffy junk (think Twinkies) and missing out on the good stuff.

I hear organizations like Focus on the Family and preachers like Richard Land get on the radio talking about a Christian world view and it makes me sick. I wish they would just call it what it is -- their own opinion, their own world view. In the fall of 2009 I wrote this piece expressing my thoughts on a "Christian world view." The comments on this blog weren't bad but I did receive some pretty harsh condemnation for my heresy in calling a Christian world view and oxymoron.

Perhaps the reason that these things come to mind is because I've slipped back into some old eating habits after a couple of months of doing pretty well. I can tell that my body reacts very negatively to junk food and pretty positively to good food. Sticking to good foods and appropriate portions takes some effort. The same is true for the spirit, the mind and the attitude. 

I'm going to take small positive steps in each area. Running a mile today would probably kill me. So I'm not going to. Reading the entire Old Testament today would probably put me to sleep. So I'm not going to do that either. 

But today...

I will eat no junk food.

I will get some exercise.

I will read some of my Bible.

I will have a good, positive attitude.

I will help a friend.

Yeah, this will be a good day. At the end of it, I hope to say that it was full and I am satisfied.

John <><

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