It’s been a … long … time since I’ve posted any new blogs.  To be quite honest with you, I have a hard enough time trying to reply to emails, write sermons, develop mid-week lessons, write articles, and actually respond to “snail mail,” let alone try to write blog entries.  I’m not a “facebooker” yet, nor do I twitter.  Eventually I’ll come into the 21st century, but for now, this blog is about as high tech as I’m going to get.

The reason I’m jumping in with another entry has nothing to do with where we are as a church, what’s going on in ministry, or the highlights of some new venture.  It’s far deeper than that.  It’s about a personal test.  Here’s the test.  Sometimes in my life, and I would imagine this is true for you as well, I like to stay on the mountain top with God.  Sweet fellowship, exciting worship, heartwarming moments, connecting with God.

Oswald Chambers, in his classic, My Utmost for His Highest, reminded me this morning that although those times are exulting, they are not where God wants us to remain.  He puts it this way: “The test of the spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong.  It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up.”

Which is exactly what Jesus did in Mark 2.  He had His “mountain-top experience” along with Peter, James and John, but they didn’t stay on the mountain.  They descended right into the midst of ministry demands, a large crowd, and people arguing (Mark 9:14).

Isn’t it like that in life and ministry?  You go on vacation or have a spiritual retreat only to come back to crowds and people arguing.  But herein lies the test.  Is my spiritual life all about me or becoming like Jesus?  Spiritual selfishness seeks satisfaction in the ongoing moments of being enraptured in the presence of God.  And those times of exaltation are exceptional!  They have their place in our spiritual journey, but they are not where God wants us to remain.  He wants us to go back to lift others up to the place where we have trod.  If we make our spirituality all about us, we’re doomed.  Number one, we won’t stay on the mountain top for long, because God won’t let us.  He’ll never let us keep the focus on ourselves.  And number two, He will discipline us all the more to shape us and mold us into the image of His Son.

The moments on the mountain are exceptional, and we give thanks for when God allows us to pull back the curtain of heaven and have a glimpse of His glory and what is to come in all of eternity.  But that vision should compel us to go back to the highways and hedges, back to the crowds, and, yes, even the arguing to bring others along with us.  They, too, need to see the glimpse of the divine to inspire them in ridding their lives of everything that holds them back from making that mountain climb and, in due time, passing their own test.

We all look at life differently.  We all have different perspectives about raising kids, what it means to be “successful,” and how to live a good life.  We even have different vantage points about what it means to be followers of God.  So did people in Jesus’ day.  In the most powerful sermon ever preached or recorded, Jesus gave His vantage point on what it means to live life to the full and be connected with God.  It’s His vantage point that we want to discover and make our own.  Join us in this study on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as we discover Jesus’ vantage point and learn how to make it our own.

Feb. 14/15:  I Want a Blessed Life…Really?  Matthew 5:1-12

Feb. 21/22:  I Can’t Influence Others…Really?  Matthew 5:13-16

Feb. 28/Mar. 1:  I Am a “Good Person”…Really? (pt. 1)  Matthew 5:17-48

Mar. 7/8:  I Am a “Good Person”…Really? (pt. 2)  Matthew 6:1-18

Mar. 14/15:  I Need More “Stuff”…Really?  Matthew 6:19-34

Mar. 21/22:  I Am Better Than Others…Really?  Matthew 7:1-12

Mar. 28/29:  I Have It All Figured Out…Really?  Matthew 7:13-29

MTV has a reality TV show called “Made” which is about how average, ordinary people can be “made” into the person they dream to be.  An ugly duckling transforms into a beautiful prom queen.  An overweight couch potato becomes a model.  A sci-fi nerd morphs into a hardcore rapper.  MTV summarizes the show by saying, “Why stand on the sidelines watching others live your dream?  Are you too shy or think you’re not `cool’ enough to get in on the action?  Or do you simply lack self-confidence and motivation?  Well, maybe it’s time to stand up and get MADE!  That’s right, MADE is about making dreams come true.  We’re here to prove that with dedication, hard work and a little help from MTV, kids just like you can accomplish anything they set their minds to.”

Well, it sure is a good thing that MTV came along!  I remember when MTV came out when I was in high school, and it was just videos of pop stars singing their songs.  Now they have morphed into the developmental role of helping kids become what MTV portrays as successful.  My only question is, When these kids are “made” into rappers or prom queens or models, will they truly find what they’re looking for?  It reminds me of a U2 song that says, “I have climbed the highest mountain, I have run through the fields…I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls…But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”  If we asked all the prom queens in the country and all the rap artists and all the models if they’re happy with their lives and what they’ve “made” of themselves, would they say they are?  Or, like many of us, would they simply wish they could be “made” into someone else?

This is the struggle of the American dream. We want to “make” something of our lives, and we all have a picture in our minds of what that looks like, and it’s usually whatever we’re not. And if we ever do “arrive” at our destination, we discover that the destination isn’t what we thought it was. We find out that, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”  

So let me just ask you–Why were you made?  What are you looking for?  And whatever “it” is, then why is it that once you have “it,” you find out that “it” isn’t what you thought it would be, and you begin to search for another “it”–whether it’s a different spouse, or more money, or new job?  We work hard to “make something of ourselves,” but sometimes we forget to think about what that “something” is.  Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants.  What are you industrious about?”

Same thing in our spiritual lives. Why go to church? Why do church? Why do we work hard to have weekend worship services? Why do we recruit and train small group leaders? Why should we work hard at spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, Bible study, and so forth? Now hear me in this–all of these things I just mentioned are MEANS to an end; they are not the END. We were not made to have worship services, small groups, and ministry teams. We were not made even to pray or study our Bibles.  We talk a lot about what we’re supposed to do, but we don’t often pause to think about WHY we do what we do. WHY WERE WE MADE? Well, as a leadership, we have wrestled with this, questioned this, asked the hard questions of why we do what we do. And what we came up with is our new mission statement that defines not only why we exist as a church, but, we believe, why we exist as individuals. We were made to…Love God, love others, serve the world.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  And the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  These two sum up the whole law.  Love God.  Love others.  Our love of God and others is then what motivates us to serve the world.  Everything else we do in life is subservient to these three areas.  If we make it our life ambition to make money, to be popular, to be successful–whatever that ambition may be–it will never satisfy the soul.  Why? Because we weren’t made for those things.  Why were we made?  To love God, and from His love we can love others and serve the world.  

About a month ago, USA Today ran a cover story in their “Life” section called “Christmas, wrapped in dysfunction.”  A tag line they used was “Family dysfunction is the gift that keeps on giving at the movies.”  Then they went on and ranked some of the classic Christmas movies by a family dysfunction level with 10 being the worst.  They rated “Miracle on 34th Street” as a 6 out of 10, because it portrays a humorless divorcee who tells her precocious daughter that there is no Santa Claus.  “A Christmas Story” (one of my personal favorites) is rated as a 7 out of 10 based on the story line that “the eldest son wants to play with guns.  The youngest barely speaks.  The mother thinks a mouth full of soap is the solution to all discipline problems.  And Dad is hopelessly unhandy, swears like a sailor and is way too fond of a lamp that looks like a…leg.”

What intrigued me as I read those descriptions of the dysfunction levels of these make-believe families is that they aren’t make believe!  That’s why so many people can identify with them!  In fact, if you were to describe your family and what you’ll be doing for Christmas, I imagine it could be even more interesting than a humorless divorcee and a father who likes a lamp leg!  

Have you ever wondered what Joseph and Mary’s families may have been like?

The Bible has little to say about their families, but it’s the silence that has always intrigued me.  Besides the genealogical descriptions of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 there’s no mention of Mary’s or Joseph’s parents.  There’s no explanation as to why there’s an apparent absence of family support at the birth of Jesus.  I mean, Mary gives birth in a stable.  No mother is around.  No other family members show up that we know of.  Only some  shepherds visit and sometime later some wise men pop in from the East.  The only time we see any family support is when Mary visits her relative Elizabeth in Luke 1.  But the word that’s used for their relationship is pretty vague and simply means “kinswoman.”  Jesus and John the Baptist (Elizabeth’s son) are considered cousins, but there’s nothing conclusive as far as whether they’re first, second or distant cousins.  And why does Mary visit her relative Elizabeth in the first place?  She finds out she’s pregnant and Luke 1:39 says she gets ready and hurries to a town in the hill country of Judea where she stays with Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah for three months (Lk. 1:56).

The lack of explanation and the silence are overwhelming.  When we start adding some things up, it appears–understandably so–that Mary’s and Joseph’s families probably didn’t buy into this whole “getting-pregnant-by-God-thing.”  

All of this sounds pretty dysfunctional, doesn’t it?  An unexplainable pregnancy, the pregnant girl running off to a relative’s house out in the country.  Nothing is mentioned about her wedding except that Joseph took her as his wife (Mt. 1:24).  Joseph and Mary are in an out-of-the-way stable where the baby is born, with no other family around (that we know of).  And who are the first guests to see the Baby?  Strangers.

Herein lies the beauty of the Gospel message: God chose to take on human flesh in the midst of dysfunction.  God understands the problems of our families, and He enters our lives to redeem them.  Jesus doesn’t wait until we get our act (or our family’s act) together and then come to us.  ”While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us” (Romans 5:8).  

What a beautiful truth to hold onto this Christmas season, especially when you’re visiting family.  You love them, but you’re also glad Christmas only comes once a year (and they probably are, too)! 

Whatever the dysfunction of your family this Christmas, don’t give up on them.  After all, God didn’t give up on you.  God can redeem any dysfunction including our own dysfunction of sin.  So you may experience some Christmas dysfunction this year.  Most things don’t work out the way we want them to.  But that’s o.k., because Jesus can enter our life, our family, and our dysfunction and redeem them.  ”The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  Merry Christmas, even if it is dysfunctional!

This Christmas will find many of us stressed, anxious and worried about our finances.  A journalist from Washington says we are “hurtling toward what could be the hardest hard times since the Great Depression.”  Over the past couple of weeks I kept a list of some headlines in the news concerning our economic condition.  One of them says, Another half-million jobs vanish; unemployment rate reaches 6.7%.  Another one says, Tribune Co. files for bankruptcy protection.  Another one–Sony to trim 8000 jobs and reduce inventory.  One story opens with this–“The crumbling housing market is at the heart of the financial crisis that tipped the United States into recession and dragged down the global economy.”

It seems like our whole world is on overload with financial stress, and this Christmas season doesn’t seem to be bringing any relief.  Shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of $431 for gifts this holiday season, down from $859 last year according to the American Research Group. The overall average planned spending is down almost 50% from 2007 which is the lowest level of planned spending since 1991.  

So…how about you?  Is your Christmas turning into “stressmas”?  Are you glued to the financial news?  Do you check the stock market and prices frequently?  Are you having difficulty sleeping?  Are you on edge, tense or nervous?  If so, according to “The MarketPsych Guide,” you need to learn to manage financial stress.  Here’s the wisdom they offer.  And let me preface this by saying that some of these may be helpful…but I for one believe there’s got to be more than this!  So here we go.  Technique #1: Practice relaxation breathing techniques, meditation, or yoga.  Technique #2: Use aromatherapy scents and herbal teas.  Technique #3: Take warm baths and play soft music.  Technique #4: Avoid drinking alcohol more than two drinks per day, and don’t consume illegal drugs.  Technique #5: Hire a coach so you can get started with and stick to a healthy, stress-free lifestyle.

Now, I’m all for warm baths, soft music, and trying to breathe a little calmer, but surely there’s more to it than that.  My question is: DOES FOLLOWING JESUS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HOW WE HANDLE STRESS?  Do we live compartmentalized lives, where we do our “church thing” in one compartment, and then we live “real life” (such as handling financial stress) in another compartment?

I’m intrigued by the “secret” the Apostle Paul shared in Philippians 4:10-13.  He says he has learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, “whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  Sounds pretty applicable to a lot of us this Christmas season.  So what is the “secret” he learned?  He tells us in verse 13–”I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”  God took on human flesh and became a Baby who is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and PRINCE OF PEACE.  All of life is to be centered around the very One who created us and who sustains us.  But we have a choice in the matter.  We can center our lives around Him and LEARN to be content, or we can go our own way and try other “techniques” to erase the stress in our lives.  I, for one, choose the way of Christ, the way of the cross, and the way of peace.  I hope you’ll join me.

We live in a very tense, uptight and fast paced world filled with hurry. A Tahoma, Washington newspaper carried the story of Tattoo the basset hound a while back. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took off for a drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice. Motorcycle officer Terry Filbert notice a passing vehicle with something dragging behind it. He commented that the poor basset hound was, “picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued. But not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25 miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.

Too many of us are living our lives like Tattoo, picking them up and putting them down as fast as we can – rolling around & feeling dragged through life. 

Time magazine noted that back in the 60’s, expert testimony was given to a Senate sub-committee on time management. They predicted that advances in technology would radically change how many hours a week people worked. They forecasted that the average American would be working 22 hours a week within 20 years. “The great challenge,” the experts said, “would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.” Over 40 years later, after major advances in technology – how many of us are wondering what to do with all the excess time on our hands? 

Our world has become the world of the Red Queen of Alice and Wonderland: “Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

How many of us feel like that? How do we cope with all of the stress–the stress of time (where we never seem to have enough), with finances (which are always tight), with families (that place a lot of demands on us), and with our consumeristic culture (which is always pressuring us to buy more and spend more)?

For those in the Owensboro area, I hope you’ll join us beginning this weekend as we take a look at how to keep Christmas from turning into Stressmas.  For service times, check out www.owensborochristian.org.  If you’re not in our area, you can listen online at www.owensborochristian.org (go to “Resources”).

I just started reading a book by Mark Batterson called Wild Goose Chase.  Mark opens his book by saying that the Celtic Christians used to have a name for the Holy Spirit called An Geadh-Glas or “the Wild Goose.”  The name hints at the mystery of the Holy Spirit who cannot be tracked or tamed.  

In my church work over the past twenty years I encounter seasons where I have the “mechanics” down–the procedures, processes, methods and applications.  In the process, however, I have clipped the wings of the Wild Goose and settled for something much less than what God originally intended.

Jesus said in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  There is a certain element of mystery and surprise as we chase after this Wild Goose.  To us there may be a sense of randomness where things don’t make sense, similar to our questioning the direction of the wind.  But we can rest assured that God is working His plan.  As Batterson says, “If you chase the Wild Goose, He will take you places you never could have imagined going by paths you never new existed.”

This is not about miraculous gifts or theological distinctives of Pentecostals.  This is about adventure.  This is about our passionate pursuit of God.  The Spanish have a saying, “Otro dia, otra aventura” that’s translated, “Another day, another adventure.”  That should become our mantra in following Jesus of Nazareth as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  

Another day, another adventure in our Wild Goose chase, or as the Apostle Paul encourages us, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

Next Thursday many of us will be sitting around a dining room table with family and perhaps some friends. You’ll be laughing and eating, telling stories and eating, sharing memories and eating, and eating some more. You’ll have turkey and dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, rolls, casserole dishes. And then come the desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, ice cream, whipped cream, and even some cake. Hungry yet?

Thanksgiving dinners are some of my favorite cherished memories as a child. I remember my cousins, aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and, of course, my mom, dad and sister all sitting around a table together–or most of the time we had the “grown-up table,” and we kids sat at the “kiddie table.” (You knew you were making it in life when you got to move up to the “grown-up table.”) One thing my grandad used to do at Thanksgiving was have us go around and share something we’re thankful for, and we would each take a turn. Then we would pray. And then we would eat. After the big meal, each of us would push away from the table, sometimes help with the clean up, and go into the living room to watch football (and take a nap). I always found it odd, though, that we called Thanksgiving a day. Oh, I was very thankful for all the food and desserts while I was sitting at the table. But after I was well fed, and then some, I would push away from the table, and I would move on to the next item on the agenda. We might be so gracious as to have a Thanksgiving spirit through the weekend, but then Monday rolls around, and that Thanksgiving spirit seems to have been left back at the table.

It’s easy to be thankful when you’ve got a nice Thanksgiving dinner or when things are going well, but how long does that thankful heart last when you push back from the table, and you get back to “real life”? Are you willing to choose gratitude regardless of the circumstances of life?

One of my favorite stories is about a man who visited the only leper hospital (or hospital for Hansen’s Disease) in the US located in Baton Rouge, LA (formerly Carville, LA). The visitor met with the chaplain, and the chaplain gave him a tour of their facilities. They came to an elderly woman who had already lost one leg and whose face was terribly marred. The chaplain said, “This woman is a faithful member of our hospital choir.” And the visitor asked the woman, “If you don’t mind, would you sing for me one of your favorite songs?” Out of that disfigured faced came a song with these beautiful words, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He’s watching me.”

That’s gratitude. She chose to be thankful. I pray that when we push away from the table–with whatever else we face in life–we will choose to live a life of gratitude as well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and may it be more than just a “day.” May it be a way of life.  

An elder in a church I served a number of years ago said, “If our relationship with God suffers, then our ritual of worship will suffer, too.”  In other words, if what we’re doing through the week has no bearing on our relationship with Jesus Christ, then our time in weekend worship simply becomes an empty ritual. I pray we don’t appear to be religious on the outside but are far from God on the inside!

 A college student was out of work and desperate for a job and finally applied at the local zoo.  The owner said, “My gorilla died and it will be a while before we get a new one.  I need someone to put on this gorilla suit and pretend to be like the gorilla.”  The man took the job.  At first, he jumped around and ate bananas, but soon he began to beat his chest and make noises and rush the bars, delighting the crowds.  He became knows as the “Fierce Gorilla.”  One day he was swinging on the monkey bars, and he accidentally flipped himself over the top of the bars and into the lion’s den next door.  The crowd rushed around the corner to see the “Fierce Gorilla” and the Hungry Lions.  They saw the gorilla pinned against a corner, and you could hear a small voice coming out of the gorilla, “Help, I’m just a guy in a gorilla suit.”  A voice coming out of the lion said, “Hey, be quiet!  You’re not the only college student who needs a job!”  Sometimes we pretend to be someone we’re not.  An ancient proverb says, “All are not saints who go to church.”

So who are you…on the inside?  Does that person on the inside match up with with the person on the outside?  If not, then it’s time to make a change–from the inside out.  How do we do that?

We confess that we can’t do it on our own.  We acknowledge that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us.

Second, we commit.  The road is tough, but we commit to go down that road through honest humility.  We commit to do whatever it takes.  We read the Word DAILY.  We pray DAILY.  We commit ourselves to other followers of Christ in Christian community who will love us AND be truthful with us.  

Third, we take it one day at a time.  Don’t get in a hurry.  Spiritual transformation doesn’t occur overnight.  Focus on serving others, showing kindness, and not allowing yourself to be put in compromising situations.  Stand firm in the faith!  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us, so let’s continue to call on the name of the Lord, receive His strength, and walk in His grace.

Last weekend we had a car up on stage that looked o.k. on the outside, but the engine was blown on the inside. I even tried to start the car in the service, popped the hood, and we took a look. It was a reminder that a lot of us try to “keep up our appearances” on the outside, but we’re shot on the inside.  

We don’t like to look under the hood or to get below the surface, because we’re afraid of what we’ll find there. If what we find in the interior of our lives is not where we want to be, then we’re faced with the tough decision of what to do about it. Do I continue to live my life in such a way that I appear to be o.k. on the outside but empty on the inside, or do I do an overhaul of my heart and get things right with God?

I’m amazed in my own life how I can go through long seasons where I don’t deal with issues of the heart. I don’t think it’s necessary to “look under the hood,” because I get busy or “focused” or I simply don’t want to go there. There’s a danger in this, especially for those of us who make our vocation our occupation. If we’re leading in a ministry or a church, we can get caught up on the externals (attendance, offerings, buildings, programs) and forget there are deeper issues of the heart.

The way I look at it is that we can either move from the outside in–the more attendance we have the more spiritual we are, or we can move from the inside out–our heart connect with God and devotion to Him leads to outward signs of fruit.

I’m always reminded when I think of these things that Jesus calls us to faithfulness not success. So, are you willing to look under the hood? What do you find when you go below the surface and consider your relationship with Jesus? I hope we can be a community of faith that is willing to be authentic in our quest to follow Christ and see Him change us from the inside out. How about if you stop right now after reading this and take a look under the hood?  And then pray that God will change you from the inside out.