"Be Still" Tuesday

Three days ago, Black Friday. As I read my recent emails, today is Cyber Monday, the online retailers version of Black Friday. Nothing like a bit of instigated and unnecessary chaos to remove our focus from life's real priorities.

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." - Psalm 46:10

How about we make tomorrow "Be Still" Tuesday?

I Would Have Enjoyed Hanging With TR

With the few things I know about Theodore Roosevelt, he seemed to have been a fascinating man with a "larger than life" presence about him. Someone who realized that many facets of life are indeed part of a battle, which one has to take a stand and make a difference.

I certainly agree. I believe that we are all involved, whether or not we choose to be, in a grand battle of good versus evil. I am an ardent opponent of apathy and mediocrity.

When giving a speech in Paris in 1910, TR remarked:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory or defeat."


Bravo and well said, Mr. President.

Incarnation version 1.0

In the last few years or so, the end of October has now sadly inaugurated in the "Holiday Season", officially kicked off by Thanksgiving, it's centerpiece of Christmas, and the grand finale being the New Year celebration. The shopping ads pop up on TV while kids are still bloated from recent costumed candy acquisitions.

It's a nice time of year for most, even those not so concerned with things of a spiritual nature, because they get to engage in enjoyable giving. Indeed, for many, it may be the only significant giving event of their year. If not their only, then their most serious time to flex that giving muscle. Exercising one's giving muscle can be a very good thing - life changing even. Just as easily as a person can condition and utilize any muscle, one can do so in an ineffective or even damaging way.

People are making mass pilgrimages to overflowing parking lots and overstocked and overcrowded stores to add to overloaded credit card accounts to flex that muscle. Many will be on a journey to find the perfect gift for someone, racing to actually get a hand on an item before someone else in close pursuit, perhaps getting in an altercation of some sort, or maybe even butting into a checkout line with a death wish, in order to continue on to the next goal of acquiring the next perfect gift for another loved one.

Pheew! I get tired and a little sad just thinking about it.

The gift is presented and another's receiving muscle is exercised a bit (that other side of the previously mentioned process and a fun muscle to use) and sometimes soon after, that perfect gift gets used a little less often, or in some cases little at all, making it's way to a shelf or closet, later to be appearing at a thrift store near you.

This description certainly does not apply to many well intentioned, kind, and gracious Christmas gift givers, and I don't mean to offend them at all. But unfortunately, it does fit quite a number, and many folks just plain falling somewhere in the middle of Christmas giving muscle flexers. While pursuing the perfect gift, they've not succumbed to the pursuit by the Perfect Gift.

The Reason for CHRISTmas totally blows me away. What can I say about it - how can I or anyone else find adequate words to express the miracle and majesty of it? The truth is we can't; but we can try, and praise God in the process. I love the Christmas season and celebrate it in my heart all the year long because of what it truly means.



Let's back up in time quite a bit. God is in total delight creating stuff. Really cool stuff like pomegranates, dolphins, pelicans, and elephants (who doesn't dig elephants, especially baby ones with those cute little trunks and tails). He really loves what he's doing and is certainly in a groove, but he takes it to a whole different level. He makes man. Then he pulls out all the stops and makes woman. The man and woman are actually spiritual beings, made in God's very own image, unlike any of the previous and marvelous things he's brought into being. But the man and woman totally mess it all up, destroying the phenomenal relationship they enjoyed and shared with God.

Now go with me to Roman occupied and oppressed Palestine 2,000 years ago. Inside a cave the aroma of livestock fills the air as is typical of stables. A young woman and man are smiling at each other as a precious little newborn squirms in his mother's arms. They have been through so very much, but now the little one has arrived. The King of kings, Lord of all creation, lays there totally innocent and dependent on his parents for his care and comfort. Does that not just almost knock you down...take your breath away? The Father giving his Son. The Son willingly becoming a baby, to live among us, grow up to manhood among us, relate to us, teach us, heal us, cry over us. And then to be brutally tortured and killed for us.

This is what we refer to as Jesus' incarnation. He became man. The God-Man. 100% God. 100% man. He didn't give up any part of being God. But he willing allowed himself to experience the reality of humanity. He laughed, enjoyed friendships over good meals, made useful things with his hands. He felt thirst, was tempted, and experienced great anguish. He felt excruciating pain as whips and nails sliced through his very human flesh, muscles, nerves, and more. And then, like no other man, the God-Man, who from eternity past had enjoyed endless joy in perfect relationship with the Father, experienced separation from him as he was sacrificed for each and every sin of each and every individual, past, present, and future. That's you and that's me. But he conquered death and evil. He was restored to fellowship with the Father and is with him again. He has sent us the Spirit to help us.

That, my friends, is a gift. The Gift. No gift gets any more perfect than that. And that is CHRISTmas. May you and those you love and care about experience the greatest Christmas ever.

"Houston...we have a problem."

PARADIGM 153: Houston, this is P153.

Control: Yes P153, this is Control. We've got you loud and clear. Everything OK? Over.

P153: Houston...we have a problem...

Control: Roger that, P. What's the dealio?

P153: Uh. Houston...repeat. I say, repeat, over.

Control: Copy that, P. I said what's up, Buttercup? Over.

P153: Uh. Houston? Is that you?

Control: If you mean Blogoshere Control, yeppers. But we're not in Houston. You're thinking of those NASA dudes. We're in... well never mind that. What seems to be the prob, Bob?

PARADIGM 153: My name's not Bob. And what's with all the pseudo hip talk?

Control: We're tech types so we're not so good when we try to flingo the lingo. Capeesh? Now what's the problem, or we'll have to disconnect. Haven't you been blog cruisin' lately? There are countless blogs that are in deep self-inflicted trouble!

P153: Yeah, yeah. No kidding. OK, OK. Well, I had announced a little while ago after not blogging awhile that I was back and going to blog regularly. I love to write, and I'm committed to having a quality blog worth people's time and effort, but I've not been blogging like I said I would.

Control: Oh come on! I thought it was something really serious. Hmmm, let's see how we can fix this...Oh, how about this? GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BLOG!!!

P153: Uh, gee. Thanks. (Pure genius).

Control: Hey, lazy boy, I can hear your parentheses, thank you very much! Don't make me come out there from Monkey's Eyebrow and...!

P153: Where?

Control: Never mind! Just get blogging again and keep blogging! Control, over and out!

P153: Sheesh!

Intsy Wintsy, but Phenomenal

I was driving to an appointment yesterday, when I noticed up in the left-hand corner of my windshield, an extremely tiny spider. It was about the size of a small tick and a kind of light tan neutral color. This little guy was staying on my windshield with seemingly little effort at all. I thought that was rather cool.

Not intending to hurt my tiny ride hitcher, but to satisfy my curiosity, I juiced my car a bit, and then a bit more, and... This amazing little creature was able to stay on a glass surface going over 70! And when I slowed and came to a stop, he merely walked off onto the top of my car.

What a simple pleasure. To be entertained by this minuscule (in physical size, mind you) miracle. To be able to glorify his Creator for his phenomenal design and creativity manifested in the little and so overlooked examples, such as my 8 legged passenger. I hope he made it back home and is still enjoying my car. Thanks God.

Learning from Julia

I just recently went to see the new movie Julie & Julia, so get ready for a bit of passionate writing. Why? For one thing, it's hard for me not to most of the time. And in the case of this entry I've got a few reasons. One, I'm a food lover, used to work as a chef, and a big Julia Child fan, so that's a lot of fuel on the passion fire from the get-go. Two, I'm always fired up about leadership and people who contribute uniqueness to the world. Three, I'm just plain all-out passionate about passion, and this lady had it in spades.

Julia Child had so much to do with how we enjoy food today; she was an ambassador for not only leading many on their premiere culinary journeys from canned and bland processed food to fresh, but for those who got what she was about, which you can see in this film, she grabbed life by the tail and hug on for the ride, laughing and bringing others along with her.

She was a pioneer in communicating to those living outside the culinary Eden which is France, not only what to experience but how to make it happen in their own American kitchens. Pots that had only held grim and bland pot roasts were now giving birth to wonderful cassoulets (is it an accident that "soul" is in that word) with aroma and flavor that would peel the wallpaper right off of those abused and underutilized kitchens. And she did it with humble style, fun, effectiveness, and without taking herself too seriously. It wasn't about her, it was about fanning the flame of her passion as a genuine gift to others. She was infectious. Look beside the dictionary entry for "fun, vibrant, visionary, mold-breaking, disarming ambassador" and you'll find Julia Child's picture.

So why all the fuss? Are you kidding me? Not many achieve what this woman did nor in the way she did it. Isn't it so very easy to see the example this woman sets for us, or is it just me? All the things we attempt to achieve in ministry - effective leadership, vision casting, contagious passion, persevering against the accepted norm, humility, enjoying God's gifts...Julia seemed to get. Without any expert or consultant. She lead her way. And was loved dearly by millions.

When the film credits began to roll, the theater began to applaud. I happily joined them. Only God knows the heart, but to my knowledge Julia did not profess to know Christ. If that is true, and I won't know until I go to my heavenly home and look for her, the thought breaks my heart. What a life well lived. What fullness. She "got" so many things that so many "Christians" don't get. She made so many people happy to be around her. Just imagine what God might have done through her had she been a follower. I can just picture her slicing some fresh, aromatic mushrooms on her TV show and thanking Jesus in that unique smile invoking voice for his tasty gift from the ground, not a care at all of what her viewers might think. We can all learn more than a thing or two from Julia Child.

We all know Jesus loves food, and the dynamic of fellowship that surrounds a meal. We all know that he wants us to have a voracious appetite for the life he offers each of us and to others through us. There's really only one thing left to say at this point. Imagine it though with a certain unique pitch, tone, and a smile. Bon Appetit!

Thoughts On Turning 25x2

Yeah, yeah, OK. Of course I knew it was coming. Intellectually. I still don't think I've actually absorbed it. Me, 50? A half a full dang century? No way. Yes...way. And then within a few days, two pop-icons die. Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, the Oxy Clean guy. Their age? Guess. Of course that hasn't a thing to do with turning 50; people all over are dieing at 50, 40, 30, and 20. But two celebrity dude passings in the news while I'm trying to transition into the next half century...sheeesh.

In many ways I feel better about turning 50 than I did 40. The big exception is that at 40, I wasn't 10 years away from 60. Ouch! Math always did hurt a little. But those last 10 have been chock full of adventure, accomplishment, and great experiences. Even the difficult things and the mistakes, God used for good.

I Googled "50 is the new..." waiting expectantly to see how Mr. Google would finish the statement. He offered its both the new 40 and the new 30. Yes! Thank you, Mr.G! Very cool. That kind of reflects how I feel. Even though the mirror insists on telling me differently, in my soul, I'm still more the 25 year old Steve than not. I'm basically that guy plus 25 years. And so many of the things I've experienced in the last 25 have enriched my life. So, I'll just be 25 Times 2 or Double 25, instead of 50. Thank you very much!

And huge thanks to King Jesus, because if it wasn't for him, I certainly wouldn't even be here writing this blog entry at the wise age of 25x2.

“Mission Control…Steve is Reintering the Blogosphere.”

Wow. It's been so long since I've blogged that I'm kind of embarrassed. But hey, what good does any "shoulda, woulda, coulda" serve? Absolutely none. So, It's Nike time..."Just Do It." Besides, I love to blog. Hey; welcome back to me!

the freshness of renewal

Spring is great. Really great. I dig it bigtime. It’s visually stunning. The aroma is wonderful. She’s the beautiful woman of all the seasons. The pretty girl among the different times of the year. Perhaps that’s why there’s “Spring Fever” and not “Winter Zeal”.

Life is full of seasons. My cohort and partner in crime that I pastor with has excellently applied it to our church life, as we partner with the Holy Spirit of God to grow our baby church hour-by-hour, day-by-day, soul-by-soul. Sometimes you feel the warmth of the sunshine on your face; sometimes the sleet pelts that same face with what feels like a thousand freezing bee stings.

Spring reminds me that God is reminding me that I get “do-overs”. “Watch, precious child of mine, and don’t fret. Yes, you’ve messed up things once again. But, that which is dark and cold in your life can become bright, warm, and sweet smelling again. My dear Steve, that’s why I walked out of that tomb on that spring day 2,000 years ago.”

I don't deserve even a single "do-over" or a fifth or sixth chance in anything. Remarkable, that phenomenon we call God's grace. I don’t think it’s any accident that Jesus busted forth from the cold shackles of death on not a winter, but a spring day. The most important spring day or any other day in all of history.

a stab @ on the spot poetry

I belong to a Life Group in our church that discusses and seeks to learn and relate to art, our innate desire to create, and it's connection to our worship of God. Last week, we were asked to create something on the spot, having to do with that night's subject matter. Without anything in hand, I asked to borrow a pen and piece of paper. Although easier than asking to borrow paints, pallet, canvas, and easel, I am no more poet than I am painter. The following is what I wrote:

a prayer for this particular monday night

sometimes it's just so easy
to get drawn into the details
but in a sterile way
a rather dry fashion

and in the path of knowing you
and projecting you for others
become a mere technician

please don't let this happen, my King
let me love you
as you me
commune with you
as you me

not as a brash tactician
but instead
with ever so much soul

Stars

I’ve been going to the Outer Banks of North Carolina since I was a little boy, and this gem of the Atlantic coast is an integral part of my personal history and much cherished in my heart. I went down there in 1996 to work for the better part of that year and I remember one night out on the deck, staring up into the sky and seeing a clustered band of stars across the sky, so thick that it appeared to be a “star dust” trail. I guess I was looking at the Milky Way.

I had never seen this before and was captivated. My location was remote enough and far enough away from the ambient light of any urban area, that the darkness allowed me to see stars that had been previously unnoticeable to me. I have heard that out at sea, you can see the sky as never before.

When Paul was writing to the church at Philippi, he entreated these followers of Christ to live without grumbling and bickering so they would shine like stars, blazing bright among a generation of corrupt and immoral people. Of course, we recall Jesus imploring us to be salt and light to the world, but this analogy from Paul’s letter from a prison cell may be unknown to some or not as easily remembered by others. Perhaps this may no longer be the case for those of you reading now.

We who put our very lives into the scarred hands of Jesus today should also shine as stars. We can do so at a time in history that at periods seems very dark. As the world becomes darker under the smothering cloak of sin, we in contrast appear even brighter. As sin continues to take its toll on the world around us, we who follow the very One who called the universe into existence are luminous to those who hunger for the Way. Just like that band of stars that covered the coastal North Carolina sky, we can blaze out to the people in the darkness around us and beyond as we “hold out the word of life” for them to ponder and pursue.

So take heart when the world is dark, because out of the darkness, God’s Spirit blazes forth from us, offering hope to a broken world. Shine on, brothers and sisters.

Targets Part 2

Whether or not you share my yearning for hitting things with a round projectile, you have an aspect of target hitting in your own life as well. Everyone does. “What?!”, you say. “I’ve never even held a squirt gun.” Well maybe not. But the most important part of your life is directly connected to your aiming ability.

The Hebrew word hattat and the Greek word hamartia both mean “to miss the mark” and are translated in our English Bibles as the word sin. So in God’s eyes, to sin is to miss the mark in something we do or think; to be a sinner is to miss the standard he holds for righteousness. Scripture tells us that we have and will always miss the bulls eye, as we live out our lives before a perfect God who is the personification of absolutely scoring the bulls eye in all he is and does, from eternity past to eternity future.

The Bible also informs us that unless our target looks like God’s, we can’t actually be in right relationship with him now on earth, or be in his presence after we physically die. And we’re also told that there’s no way – it’s impossible – for us to ever hit the mark. To ever attain that perfect score. Our aim, by nature, is always off, falling short.

Here’s the fantastic news. When God looks at you, he doesn’t have to see your target. He can look at you and see Jesus’ perfect target instead. You can ‘trade’ targets with the only One who could make it possible for you to possess a perfect score. You see, along with the Perfect One, you’re dismal target was nailed to his cross so you could claim by faith his target for yours. You can be clothed in his perfection so that when God looks at you, he sees the sinlessness of Jesus. The total on-the-mark hitting of your Savior. Absolute bulls eye dieing in the place of pathetic fringe peripheral scoring.

And it’s not just a perception thing; not a pulling-the-wool-over God’s eyes. You can actually have Jesus’ sinlessness. That’s why he went through the agony of the cross. To die the death that’s required for the missing the mark of every single sin of every single person ever – including you. So that you can live victorious and free with his target instead of the one you were born with and make even worse as time goes by. That’s why they call it amazing grace. Completely undeserved. Partaken of by your faith – so totally free. Except for Jesus; it cost him his very life. But that tomb was empty and he was raised to life so that you can have life with him – now – and forever.

Targets Part 1

Hey, I’m just a kid at heart. If you know me, that comes as no surprise. If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife. Boys like to shoot things. Sorry, but we just do. I don’t think it’s genetic or hormonal. Perhaps cultural; maybe societal. But sheesh, I wasn’t intending on doing this major exploration into why. It just is. Some girls like to shoot things too and the guys that like to shoot things think the girls that do are cool. Just a note if you’re single and like to shoot things (hey, I’m just trying to help).

You can ask my brother. When we were little (I’m 7 years older than he is) I had the coolest BB gun around. Needing something challenging and entertaining to shoot, naturally I looked to him. I don’t think I really wanted to kill a bird, squirrel, or rabbit. They were so cool and fascinating. They never drove me crazy; my brother did. Only made sense.

We would be out in the yard (we lived in a very rural setting) and I would tell him to run and that I was going to shoot him. Being his usual pain-in-the-neck self, he’d protest, so to propel him along his way out into a fair target zone, I threatened to shoot him point blank if he didn’t get a move on. Me being the excellent brother that I was, I further requested that he not look back at me, so I wouldn’t shoot him in the face (very hard to hide from my parents and also having more repercussions than a leg shot). I might score a couple of good shots, maybe with the reward of a good scalp bump. Excuse me a sec while I stop laughing...

Ok. Ok. So now I want to shoot stuff again. I don’t want to hunt. And making people holler ouch is much more fun. Remember, I speak from experience. I’ve wanted to try paintball, but I don’t want to be a paintball geek. I want to make my friends scream OUCH !, not stain their clothes. I can do that with a bottle of catsup. So I’ve heard about this thing called airsoft. The guns shoot little plastic BBs and you can feel it, depending on the circumstances. So I want to get a group together to do this. I think it might be fun. Teams. Nothing really serious. No face paint or camo. Well maybe later. Just some welts, bruises, and some good laughs. Running through the woods to get to a flag first, that buddy on the other team that frustrated me last week getting a few rounds of BBs on his backside as I make him head for the hills. You get the picture. More in the next post.

Happy first day of the rest of your life!

Happy New Year to you! Today’s a fresh new day of a fresh new year. Cool huh? People reflecting on the last 365 days and looking forward with hopes and dreams for the next 365. Some regret the last 365 and scheme about the next 365. Others do a little of both.

The calendar. Many exist and their contexts determine their format. We currently use the Gregorian calendar (pretty cool because my last name is Gregory) which numerically centers on the incarnation of Jesus (fantastically cool because he’s my Lord). Our calendar is tied to the astronomical movement of our solar system and mathematical science (sorry, but once again cool because God created the universe, all the laws of physics, and enabled man to develop mathematical systems).

Although an infinite person, God created time. Yet he is outside of the demands and controls of time, he himself controlling it. What a seeming paradox. But God does not contradict himself. Allow yourself to think about how God thinks about time. He says in 2 Peter 3:8 “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

It’s interesting to read the context in which this particular verse is written. Peter has just discussed “scoffers” expounding their doubts of God in the last days. These scoffers don’t have the benefit of being able to understand God, his ways, and his Scriptures because they are blinded by the enemy of their souls and the Holy Spirit isn’t present in their lives to enable them to “be transformed by the renewing of their mind” by God’s truth (Romans 12:2).

In contrast to that blindness, Peter goes on to refer to God’s control of events, changing the atmosphere to one of eternal perspective, and reminds his readers, his “friends”, that our God does not view time in the same way of those ridiculers. Continuing on, he exhorts us to live lives of holiness and peace with God and to crave our future heavenly home.

In this amazing section of Scripture, we see the viewpoint of those in critical opposition to God in contrast to the works of God in the past, present, and future. Christ-followers are reminded that God’s patience allows more time for people to be reconciled to him through the cross. There’s a warning to beware of those that take God’s truth and twist and distort it and an urging to grow via the grace and knowledge of our King.

Remember that somewhat corny saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”? Perhaps it’s gotten a bad rap. After all, isn’t it true? We are eternal beings and will live forever. Some with God and some not.

2 Peter 3 is a cool passage to spotlight on this first day of 2009. I came to it via verse 3:18 and one thing lead to another. What great truths to turn in our heads and hearts as we begin a new unit of time in which to serve our timeless God, who gives us eternity with him through the blood of Jesus. Have a great day and have a great rest of your life by way of the Way.