Death Is Not Fatal

Few have been so positive and had such an impact on my life as Greg and Kevin Woods.  They are true friends and brothers to me in every aspect of my walk.  We live far apart in geography but walk together in One Kingdom, under One Lord.

Yesterday the ground of the Kingdom shook as Kevin's son Ryan passed from one state to another.  We will miss him.  We will be moved and taught by him for years to come.  We will eagerly long to see his legacy continue in his beautiful family.  If you did not know Ryan, you have missed the chance to really see someone live faith in ways that could be touched and felt.

Truly, thanks be to God for his faithfulness and the way it shined through Ryan in the midst of the ugliest face of pain, and shadow of impending loss. Pray for Jessica, his beautiful wife left behind too soon.  Pray for Jones and India, his amazing children who are witnesses to the truth of separation in ways none of us would want to experience. Pray for Kevin and Brenda, faithful parents who now stand in for their son with their Grandkids as they never hoped they would have to.

Grief and loss come on us like waves of the ocean. Sometimes it is as we stand with our backs to the sea and they sweep over us, taking us by surprise.  We are shocked and shaken and battle against it just to take a breath.  At other times we faithfully face the ocean, standing strong  knowing the waves are coming and brace ourselves for them.  There will be several of these moments and the give and take of joy and grief, of laughter and pain, of love and loss that will sweep in and out of all of the hearts of each of us that knew Ryan, but none will feel it so deeply or profoundly as those who were closest to him.  May we all be as ready as Ryan was when the time comes and may we all be there for those he loved in these hard days.

The video posted below is such a great tribute to Ryan and Jessica and their faith and love.  Please watch it, think of them and pray.

Even in pain, God is good.

Hunger Games Hurt!

I love working with teenagers!  I don't always do a good job of getting right down inside of their world or staying on top of all the latest fads, but once in a while I try to read the books or watch shows they are into. Last year one of the hot book series that my high school group was tearing into and talking about was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. My own daughter devoured the series and so I decided to pick it up as well.

I was fascinated with why teens loved this series so much.  I admit, I think it was well written.  Every chapter ended with some sort of cliff hanger which drove me to keep reading, but I was really disturbed by the premise and the story line.  If you've not read it, I don't want to be a spoiler, but I think it is safe to say that the premise for the book is horrific. What follows is the main idea for the series. It is set in the future where society is run by an overbearing Capital. After a war - which the Capital decisively won - the country presented is divided into 12 districts.  Every year, in order to remind the districts that the Capital is in control, and to provide entertainment for the Capital residents, each district must send two "tributes," randomly selected, to take place in "the Hunger Games."   These tributes - between the age of 12 and 20 - are then brought to the Capital where they take part in a battle to the death which is televised and "celebrated" throughout the entire country. The books follow the story of two kids from the poorest district.  How they cope with having to fight others to the death and deal with the drama surrounding their programmed lives make up the central story line of the series.  

As I read the series, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot but I didn't really like the content.  What fascinated me the most was that when I asked teens why they liked the series; they simply said "It's just sooooo good!"  When I pressed them about what they liked most they said that the whole idea just fascinated them.  It is not that they would ever want to be in that situation or wanted to kill anybody but that they somehow related to the main characters.  

The more I thought about this series and my kids, the more I was reminded of two books by Chap Clark: Hurt and Hurt 2.0.   In these works, Clark has done a great deal of research trying to understand the inside world of today's teenagers.  He describes today's teens as abandoned by the adult world.  I won't get into great detail here because there is not enough room.  Suffice it to say that Clark has done an excellent job of describing much of the pain and confusion of today's adolescents.  When I first read his work, I thought he had overstated his case to make a point.  The more time I have spent thinking through his words and research and talking to teens, the more I believe Chap is accurate in his ideas and conclusions.  

Put these two together, and I think some great connections can be made between what Clark defines as adolescent abandonment and why teens relate to The Hunger Games and seem to love it so much. My point here is simple.  Could it be that our society, including the school system, varsity and club sports, high demand choir and band programs and high academic expectations, make our teens feel like their entire lives are pushed to perform for adults?  Could it be that the high levels of achievement that we drive them toward feel a lot like unwanted expectations that adults force upon them like the tributes are forced to battle each other in the Hunger Games?  Could it be that the competition they feel for spots on the team or top of the class or college admission and scholarships feel slightly akin to the battle the tributes are thrown into against each other?

At the very least, this gives me pause to think about how I value and love the teens around me.  Do my actions as an adult cause them to compete for value or recognition?  Do I love and support them regardless of their performance or talents?  Do the teens I know realize that  - to the best of my ability -  my love and support for them are unconditional, or do they think I only care about what they do?  I don't want any of the kids I care about to be in any form of the Hunger Games, whether real or metaphorical.  I want to do my best to live my life and shape my relationships with them in such a way that they will know that.

Everything Is Better With Bacon

 Sometimes I wonder about what God is up to, I wonder why I can’t see everything or understand why He doesn’t just clue us into his plan right up front. Why do we have to seek Him in mystery and through trying times?  Then, once in a while, I get a shot of clarity – something that has been right there in front of me for years suddenly opens up with new meaning and simple truth.  I am amazed by these insights.  Why couldn’t I see them before?  Am I really that dense, or self-focused - blind to evidence and actions which should support my faith and trust in God?  The answer is, “Yes, I am.”  In a very real sense, I guess we all are.  We can only see what is in front of us or around us.  At  best we struggle to make some sense of the past – trying to carve out insight for the future. This week the source of my insight is simply this: BACON.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of bacon in the morning.  It gets people up and going.  It makes their mouths water.  Even if you don’t really eat it all that often, it just smells so good! 

Ancient Israel was given over 600 laws governing every part of life. Among them was the list of forbidden foods.  Right there at the top of the list was pork.  Pigs were “unclean animals” and should never be eaten by the people of God. 

I can look back now and see how God was actually protecting this early nomadic hoard as they moved across the landscape of the ancient Middle East.  Pork is a dangerous meat.  If it isn’t handled correctly, cooked completely or kept refrigerated, it can be deadly.  So, in his vast wisdom, God simply told them “Don’t eat it.  It is unclean!”

It’s kind of like a Dad with a three year old and a hot stove.  “Stay away from it.” We say to them. “That could really hurt you. Don’t turn the knobs or touch it when me or Mommy are working in the kitchen.  Don’t try to grab the handles of the pans on top. This can be really dangerous.” 

It’s not that the people of Ancient Israel were running around like ignorant little three year olds, totally irresponsible and needing heroic protection.  They weren’t stupid.  It’s just that the understanding of microbiology, and bacteria was a ways down the road for them.  So God did the easiest, best thing he could do to protect them.  “That is dangerous!  Leave it alone,”

I can just imagine the conversation between God and the angels  - or whoever he talks to..  “Yeah, I told them not to eat pork.  They don’t get it now, but one of these days when they have more knowledge about their environment, they will figure out about bacteria and refrigeration.  Then they can eat the pig.  Just wait till they get a load of bacon!  They won’t believe what they were missing!”

God, in his amazing creativity and love not only protected his early people from unknown dangers, but he made pigs in such a way that when we were finally ready, there was an amazing surprise waiting for us all.  Think about it.  Is there anything out there that tastes and smells like bacon? Nothing!  God knew what he was doing.  He waited until the right time in our history to reveal the treasure hidden inside one of his tastiest creations!

What else out there is like this? There have got to be other hidden treasures that God has revealed or is waiting to reveal to us when the time is right or we are ready.

As a husband and father, I can tell my own children and those in my youth ministry that the most intimate connection between a man and a woman is like this. Outside of God’s timing and plan for you, this can really mess you up.  Placed inside God’s timing and pattern - through marriage and life-long commitment - it is an amazing gift.  This alone is capable of bringing you the deepest richness of connection and love you will ever feel with another person.  Beyond that, it brings other young lives into being and perpetuates your legacy and love to future generations!

As I reflect on bacon and what other treasures God must be hiding and waiting for us to find, I have hope.  It’s like life is a giant Easter egg hunt and God has hidden the treasures. He will reveal them when we are ready.  I don’t really know what they are but I can hardly wait.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”*  Paul writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."*

I don’t know what’s next, but for now…

wake up and smell the bacon!

*John 14:2 and 1 Corinthians, 2:9

Happy Breath-day To You

Chances are, if you are reading this, when you woke up this morning you were breathing.  If you are anything like me, you breathe a lot! I am an excellent breather.  I breathe all the time. When I am walking, I am breathing. I can breath while I drive down the road, I can breathe while eating or reading or watching TV. I’ve been simultaneously breathing the entire time I wrote down these words.  In fact, I am so good at breathing that I breathe in my sleep. I have done it forever, and sometime - a long time ago - it just became natural for me.  I don’t even have to think about it, it just happens.  I move, I sit, I sleep, I swim – I breathe!

Okay, a little confession. I realize that we all do these things.  That’s the way God designed us.  In his wisdom, he knew that we would need to breathe and we shouldn’t have to think about it. It would be best for us if it was just automatic – and it is.  There are lots of things in our lives that are like that.  Our hearts keep beating without our thinking about it. We don’t have to tell our cells to extract nutrients from within our blood.

 And speaking of that, what about metabolizing food? Now there’s a crazy thing we never really think about.  Sure, some of us are perhaps too obsessed with counting calories or fretting over nutrition, but I don’t know of anyone who stops in the middle of a meal or afterward to concentrate on which proteins to send to where from their cheeseburger, or what to do with that canole you just sent down the gullet to be digested and made into parts of you! 

In a sense, our digestion can be a magical thing. Sure we have all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” but have you ever stopped to think how strange that is? You take a three foot long toasty brown baguette – the kind that is crunchy hard on the outside and soft in the middle – if you get hit in the head with that or if someone jabs you in the stomach with one, it’s gonna hurt.  However, you take that same French-baked baseball bat , cut in half and slather it with butter, or better yet, Nutella, and it is delightful.  You chew it up and swallow it and it becomes the building blocks of your manly (or womanly) physique!  That’s crazy!  But it’s all this way because that’s how God designed us!

Our bodies are not the only thing that is automatic.  The entire planet works on a schedule which we do not have to program or think about.  I don’t think I have ever gone to sleep praying, “Lord, please keep us in orbit.  While I sleep, please don’t forget to keep the world spinning so that we can have the illusion of the sun coming up in the morning.  Please don’t let us spin off into the cold of deep space or be sucked into the intense heat of the sun so that we spontaneously burst into flames!.”  I’ve never worried about whether or not gravity will remain constant.  The possibility of it increasing until I cannot walk or I get crushed under my own weight has never been a real concern. At the same time I have never worried that one day I might walk out of my house and suddenly just float off into space because gravity just let go.  In a very real, tangible sort of way, we owe a lot more to God than we ever know.

The psalmist put it simply: “This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it.” When I think about it this way, I am amazed at all the things which make life possible - things I enjoy every day and never really even think about .  All these things are in place because the Lord made them to be.  In that case this simple verse form Psalm 118 means more than I used to think it did.  The important thing is not that this day or that day is more important than any other..  It’s that every day I have here is a day that I wake up breathing, walking, eating and enjoying because God created me and everything I experience with every part of my being.  The profound truth is that most of what life depends on works so well; by His design, that I fully benefit from it without ever having to adjust or control it.  This is the day THAT THE LORD HAS MADE!   

Any day I am breathing is a good day!

Happy breath day to me – and to you.

Sit down Santa.

I walked into the hardware store the other day and got mad at Santa.  It was barely two days  after Halloween. There was still a disgusting, ghoulish figure standing at the front of the store with a discount price tag hanging around his neck.  The tag just hung there, its bright orange color clashing with his hideous, reddish eyes.  He stood there life-sized and lifeless - ugly and motionless because he was unplugged -  hoping for a closet he could call home until next Halloween.  At the same time, toward the back of the store, but still in ear-shot, was a 6 foot tall plastic Santa belching out "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!"  That stupid Santa made me mad.

It was then that I realized  that I have been having some very sentimantal feelings lately.  Nothing really special - nothing has specifically brought them on, except that I am acutely aware of the fact that two of the most important people in my life no longer live in my house.  With two of my three kids off to college, I am a bit more reflective than perhaps I had time to be before.  It's not just that I miss having my boys around - although I do, believe me some days I really do - for the first time in my married life, I am outnumbered by women in my household...but that is another story...!

Recently I have found myself being elated at unexpected times.  These fits of reflection sneak up and sweep over me during mundane moments of the day.  Here is an example; I got all excited a few days before Halloween at the thought of kids in costume coning to gather candy from their neighbors. Without warning this thought prompted me to dance a little jig in the hall when no one was looking  This is even more strange since we rarely have anyone come to our door on Halloween.  There are no street lights or sidewalks on our street, so the trick or treat traffic seems to barely exist..  This year we had exactly 7 trick-or-treaters and five of them were teens in no costume whatsoever. Still, just the thought of this frivolous little tradition sent me headlong into an involuntary moment of glee.

I have the same thing happening repeatedly as I look toward Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes I just jump in the car or sit down to lunch or walk across my office and catch the unmistakeable warmth of a genuine smile well up from within me. It is a attached to a kid-like excitement over what is coming through the holidays.  It's not the Turkey, or the Christmas presents or even the great days of football ahead.  I don't really know what it is - but I like it.

When I really put my mind to it, I believe it is the overflow of the depth of blessing I have felt from these holiday traditions and the family and memories that have made them so good my entire life.  It is an emotion that can only be best described as gratitude. I get unexpectedly giddy when the thought of the holidays sneaks up from deep within me. 

For the first eighteen years of my life, I think the best of these days centered around Thanksgiving. It was THE time when my extended family would come together. It meant days on end, filled with cooking and baking and family packing into small spaces.  It meant long nights of card games and laughter. It came with pie and cookies and football games and more general feelings of security, comfort and love than I remember finding at any other time of the year.  These are the things that first taught me to be thankful.  They were deep and more profound than I could ever have known.   They sustain me to this day, making me grateful and giddy at the thought of these holidays returning. 

I think that is why that plastic Santa made me angry.  It 's not that he is really evil.  It is more that his early arrival - the day after Halloween, flushed across me in a way that said, "Thanksgiving just doesn't matter." It's not even Turkey Day that I am thinking of. It is the deep, important sentiment of giving thanks.  When Santa shows up the day after Halloween to sell glitzy lights and electronic reindeer, I get the sense that there is nothing to pause and be grateful for except shallow, shiny stuff.

I'd like to pass a law that says Santa cannot show his face until November 30th,  but I know this kind of law would never work. Retailers are in the business of making money and Christmas is big business. I guess in some way that doesn't really hack me either - I just wish that Santa would sit down and be quiet until after Thanksgiving.  At least this way  we could have the chance to reflect on how grateful we should be before we are inundated with commercial messages, geared to tell us how much we don't have.  That would be nice. 

So, yeah, I think I am serious.  Really Santa, please just sit down and shut up.  
We'll see you in December. And who knows, maybe then we can even have a little talk about the real meaning of sentimental things like love, peace and gratefulness...if you ever stop ho-ho-ing long enough to listen..

The Power of Impact

I saw history last weekend. It was a rare moment of insight which comes, at least for me, only when it is completely unexpected.  Standing in a room of about 100 middle school kids and adults it hit me in a flash.  They had all come to an event I have helped lead for the past 18 years. I saw what kind of difference can be made over a long obedience in a simple event designed to help 6th - 8th graders think about God. 

As I kicked off the Impact Retreat, I looked around to see Cassie, a former youth group member - one of those kids I love like a daughter.  She came to Impact as a camper and then as a high school leader.  Now she is back as a member of Won By One from Pepperdine.  She is  as a rock star in the eyes of these kids and helped lead them into worship. 

I saw Jordan who came to Impact as a 6th grader.  Years later he was my youth intern.  Now he is a peer in ministry and close friend.  He has been a powerful positive influence on my youth group as well as his.  This past summer he became a mentor to my own son, as he became Jordan's intern. 

I then looked down to see the sweet faces of new sixth graders whom I had never met before mixed in with those of  my own group who I barely knew two years ago.  These kids just make me smile whenever I see them.  They are a joy and drive me to stay in ministry  for the sake of their friendship and spiritual potential. 

I could see in a flash how quickly the years of Impact have passed.  It is a story which flashes by in my mind in an instant.  Yet, in it's telling it seems that countless lives are touched and shaped by the pweor of faith and the spirit of God.  I got the clear sense that I could never give my life to a better effort than this.

It snowed at Impact this year.  It really snowed!  That is something which never happened before, save a minor skiff about eight years ago, but this was different.  This was real snow that stuck and made everything white.  The kids laughed and threw snowballs and made a snowman and ate snow until it made some of them sick.  It was a palliate on which God painted many lasting memories, in ways He had never done before.  At the same time, it was just another small chapter in the Impact story He has been writing for the past eighteen years.

As I said, I saw history last weekend...and it was good.

Super huge, amazing, immaculate love

Some of those old hymns should never be lost or forgotten.  Their marriage of music and lyrics tell the message of faith and hope in ways that simple words could never tell.  One such hymn is below:

The Love Of God
Music: Fred­er­ick Leh­man; ar­ranged by his daugh­ter,Claudia L. Mays

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

Songs such as these sustain me and keep me going.  They can put me back on track with God just as well as do the words of scripture at times.  God is so gracious and busy working in and with the lives of broken people  like me and the hymn writers that He is perfectly willing to use the words of an old hymn writer to encourage the likes of a guy like me to walk more faithfully through the day.  We should all be amazed at a God who loves like that!

To read a brief dedscription of how this hymn came to be written chek out:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/o/loveofgo.htm