Today I sit

 So lately life has been a whirlwind. I haven’t written in a while, life has just been moving too fast. Between two kids and ministry life it just never seems to stop. I got out of my habit of trying to have a quiet morning once a week and just put my head down to get through it. For the first time in a couple of months I am taking the time to sit and slow down, to take a breath of air, look at the mountains, and spend some quiet time with God. What follows is some of my reflections from that time. 

If you need help seek help. There are always people around you who are willing, but they can’t help if they don’t know the need. I constantly fight the “I don’t need help” mentality. I like to do it on my own. Some of it is because I feel a sense of pride in doing solo work, some of it is people are messy and I just don’t always feel like trying to work with other people. This has been a huge conviction for me these last few months as I have found myself in situations where I could do it on my own, but I just didn’t have the time. This has forced me to reach out to other men and not do it on my own. They don’t always do it the way I was thinking, but that ok. It still got done and it was still great. We are not called to do this life on our own, in fact the Bible says when we try to go it alone we will inevitably fail. We are called to community, we are called to togetherness. Yes people are messy, but life is so much better with others. 

On the messy people note, people are indeed messy. But their mess is not a reflection of you. We are called to love and help others, to help point them down the straight and narrow path. It is our responsibility to walk beside them and help guide them. If they fall off the path, it is our responsibility to reach out a hand to pull them back up. If they fall off the path it is not your fault. If you reach out your hand and they don’t take it that is not on you, it is your responsibility to keep offering that help. Their failure is not your failure. But you can be there for them, help lead them through, be a calm voice in the midst of the storm, and help lead them back to the light. We are called to help, not shoulder the weight of their sins, that is what Jesus died for, don’t let it kill you. 

Lastly, take a breath, take a moment, spend peaceful time with God. So often my time with God becomes agenda driven. I have worked in ministry for quite a while now. Time with god is expected of me, it’s part of my job description! It becomes a checkmark on my list of things to do that day, I get to put a little x by “time spent with God” after I take a quick minute to pray, read my Bible, and maybe read some from a book or something like that. Time with God can quickly become just a quick little part of my day that doesn’t feel like it has any sort of significance, it doesn’t impact the rest of my day, and that’s not the relationship that we are called to. God is supposed to infuse every part of our day. If we don’t take the time to rest in Him, to take time with Him, so soak in the bath of Him long enough to make our toes and fingers look like raisins then what are we doing? I’m not trying to say that every day needs to be a long drawn out bath in God, some days its just a shower, but we need to make sure we take time to be able to regularly bathe ourselves in Him, and in His presence. 

As stated in the beginning, these are all just reflections of the last couple of months thrown onto a note in my iPad. They are largely unedited, and just what I’m thinking. Some day I might say “hmmmmm that’s not quite right” or “well, problem should have said that differently”. But oh well. This is where I am right now. I will continue to grow, continue to learn, and continue to grow closer to God. These blogs serve for me as a time capsule, of things I have learned and things I am learning, things that God is actively working on in my life, and just maybe they might help encourage you to continue to walk on the straight and narrow path with me. 

Horse meat or beef?

 If you know me, you know my love of weird news, conspiracy theories, and just kind of out there things. So I love it when I find weird bits of news that are kinda weird, kinda gross, and work as a great metaphor. One of my favorites is from back in 2013. Around that time there was a company that was going around doing genetic testing on different ready-made meals. Some of the results were as you would suspect and some were… kinda disturbing. 

One of the craziest findings they had was at Aldies. The Tesco brand burgers and Findus lasagna advertised themselves to be 100% beef… but that wasn’t true. Really they were somewhere between 0% and 70% beef with the rest being horse meat. Now I will be the first to say that horse meat is not bad. In fact it tastes a lot like caribou, but I digress. When you are going to eat something that is advertised to be 100% beef that is what you expect! Many of the people eating those products, if they knew the truth, probably would have spat them out! 

Now at this point you may be sitting there reading this going “what is he doing talking about horse meat lasagna?” Well let me tell you. As a Christian I am called to be 100% for God. Serving God and God alone. Now, how are we supposed to do this? There are many many many instructions in the Bible, but it really can be summed up when Jesus talks about the greatest commandment. Love God with everything you have got, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40 paraphrased) When we start going against these things. When we start serving ourselves, serving our own gains, instead of loving God and serving those around us, we begin to transform into horse meat lasagna. It may look good, BUT ITS FULL OF LIES!!!!

Every day we wake up, and every moment throughout the day we have choices. Choices to love and serve ourselves, or chances to love God and serve others. What are you choosing today? Are you choosing to be 100% beef, or are you horse meat?

Hang the Code

The Code. It is the rules that all pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies live by. They continually use it to get out of situations or leave people behind because they have to “stick to the code”… Until they don’t. At one point they say “hang the code” and go back to rescue one of their fellow pirates.

I have found myself quoting this a lot lately, “hang the code”. It seems to be a theme in my life lately. If we realize it or not we all live our lives with a lot of unwritten rules. “The code” of society and social groups we find ourselves in. The way we do things, the things we say, the things we don’t say, things that “have always been”. They are “the code”. There is comfort in the code. There is predictability in the code. The code is safe. 

But what if God is calling us to break the code… What if God is calling us to be more than just a face in the crowd, going along with the group. What if God is calling us to break the code. It’s scary. There are a lot of unknowns. It’s unpredictable. 

As Christian’s we are called to hang the code that society has, and then follow after God. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you have got, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Both of these things go against the societal code of safety and security. It’s not serving yourself, it’s serving God. It’s not looking out for number 1, it’s looking out for others. 

For me these last few weeks it has been changing up rhythms of an established ministry. Following after the vision that God has given us for what it could be. It’s been being a part of a team that switched up how we did baptisms in service. It has created a lot of work, a lot of uncertainty, but also a peace. By hanging the code, the unwritten rules of society and tradition, and following God we truly have to put all of our trust and hope in Him. 

What can you do this week to hang the code and follow after what God has called you to do? Maybe it’s something small and simple like making a meal for a neighbor or a friend. Maybe it’s something bigger, like talking about your faith with a coworker. Maybe it is stepping out and volunteering somewhere. Maybe it is entirely leaving your old life behind and starting new. I don’t know what it is, that is between you and God, but I want to encourage you to follow after Him and what He has called you to do. 

Hang the Code, follow God. 

A random coffee shop on a Tuesday morning

 So I found myself in need of going to a government office in Anchorage this morning. Because of potentially nasty road conditions I set off on my journey well before I needed to be there, and low and behold, I found myself at this office 20 minutes before it opened. I stood there for a moment looking at the locked doors, contemplating the 5 minute walk back to my car to wait, but it was cold and windy and I really didn’t want to. Across the street was a local coffee shop called “Dark Horse Coffee”. Now I named this coffee shop so now you know one of two options is coming… this was either the worst experience or the best experience.

I walk in, it’s a random little building in downtown anchorage. It definitely used to be a very very tiny house, and could certainly use some renovations. When I got stepped in I was greeted warmly by the two ladies behind the counter, and there was one other employee that was in the dining area calmly talking to (we will call him Andrew in this story) Andrew, a homeless man that had set up in the corner to warm up and charge his phone. Andrew is very socially awkward and certainly seemed to be autistic as well, but the lady slowly walked him through where the best place would be to charge his phone so that he could still keep an eye on it and his stuff. 

I ordered my coffee and went and sat down at a table, and watched. I’m a people watcher by nature, its fun to see how people interact with the world around them. I watched as all the baristas came and checked on Andrew and made sure he had everything he needed, but also lovingly gave him a time where he needed to be out by.

While sitting, drinking coffee, and beginning to type out this post another man came into Dark Horse Coffee who must be a regular. As soon as Andrew saw him he said “Hi (we are gonna call him Steve because I can’t remember his name) Steve! I need to talk to you!”

“Ok Andrew, I have a couple of minutes I can talk, but then I have some things I need to do.”. With that statement Steve went and sat down at a table and talked with Andrew for a good 5 minutes… by talk I mean Andrew talked to Steve, and Steve sat there nodding and asking a clarifying question or two. Most of the conversation was nonsense, about how one of Andrew’s friends has a car, and other things like that. At the end of the conversation Andrew thanked Steve for talking and gave him a fist bump. 

As I was sitting there watching all of these interactions going on I got to thinking, as I do sometimes. This coffee shop was a beautiful picture of what the church could, and should be. In fact it was doing what the church is charged with doing! Caring for people, be they members or not! 

Anyways, I just kind of wanted to share that story from this morning. It was an awesome, faith in humanity restoring moment. Thanks Dark Horse Coffee for the amazing Mocha and for just being good people, keep it up!

In a world filled with tribulations, we serve a God of peace.

 To be frank, life has been a bit crazy lately. Everywhere I turn there seems to be some sort of new bump in the road of life, and none of them have felt small… in fact they all remind me of a pot hole my dad and I once hit on our way to dip net fishing one year where we hit our heads on the roof of the suburban… but I digress. 

In all of this it is amazing to me how the Bible, and what I have been reading and learning, continue to be relevant to every situation. The Bible truly is the living word of God, and sharper than any two edged sword. I couldn’t find more applicable sections to my life than what I have been reading lately if I tried. 

This last month I have been going through the book of John. So I was sitting down doing my reading the other day, if I am being honest that day I was just reading because I am supposed to to read the Bible. It’s expected of me as a Christian, and especially as someone who holds the title of “Pastor”. So there I found myself, in a depressive frustrated lump, reading my Bible when I came across John 16:33. Jesus has been speaking to the disciples and wraps up everything with 

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

Now to give this verse some context. Jesus has been sitting and talking to His disciples for quite a while. The things He has been talking about are… not great, and honestly pretty troubling. He talks about how He is going away, how the world will despise, reject, hate, and kill them. He has also given some comfort in the fact that the “Helper” is coming (Holy Spirit). But all in all everything before this was… well lets just say it was not a great pep-talk… no one was leaving that with warm fuzzies. But Jesus wraps up all of this in the end with three simple statements. 

The first statement Jesus made is this: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.” There is a lot to unpack in this statement. Jesus has been talking about Him going away, about how the world will reject them… but He has also given hope, saying that they will be able to communicate directly to The Father (God). We can try to find our peace in all sorts of places… and we do try to find our peace in all sorts of places! But the only true, continual source of peace is in Jesus. That is where we need to seek to find our peace. 

The second statement that Jesus made in John 16:33 is: “In the world you will have tribulation”. This is a simple statement of a fact. This world will be rough. There will be conflict. There will be strife. There will be pain. There will be sorrow. Life is going to suck. But…

The third statement that is made brings us back to peace and hope: “But take heart; I have overcome the world. ” Let me let you in on a well known secret… JESUS WINS!!! HE CONQUERED HELL DEATH AND THE GRAVE!!!! So take heart! Have courage. Yes we will experience tribulations because we live in the world. It’s a fact of life. But it is also a fact of life that JESUS HAS OVERCOME IT ALL! Ultimately we will have peace comfort and life in Him for all eternity!!! I dont know about you, but THAT fills me with the warm fuzzies. Through the struggles of like take heart, because Jesus has got you. HE has overcome the world. 

I wish I had some sort of profound quote to end this with to help it stick with you, but I dont. Whenever I write it is simply from where I am at at the time. It’s about what God is teaching me in the moment, because that is what is fresh and real and alive in my life at the time. Currently he is teaching me to find my peace in Him, to not focus on the tribulations of the world, but to focus on His peace, and to find my rest in Him.  

I dont know what to call this.

 This last month has been… a lot… and in that the vocal minority can be so very very loud (believe it or not I’m not actually talking about politics!). It’s easy to listen to them, it’s easy to be distracted and discouraged by them, because they are so very very loud. Both in and outside of the church. 

So what can we do about this? If you believe in the Bible, that it is the living word of God, then there is a very specific call in our lives about what we need to be doing. Sadly, as much as we want it to be, it’s not to engage in verbal altercations with these people, it’s not to slap them as much as we want to sometimes. The call is to love, and love loud. 

Psychologically on average it takes 10 compliments to undo the damage of 1 insult. That is a lot of love that needs to be dished out, and Jesus knew this! I’m currently reading through the book of John, and the word “love” is used 57 times throughout the book, while “hate” is only used 7. Now a lot of the use of the word “love” is about the love God has for us, but that is still only about half, so “love” far outweighs “hate”. In fact, there are multiple commandments specifically about love. 

In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus lists the greatest commandments, to love God with everything you have got, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These seem easy when you just read them, but when you really start to get into the thick of it in life… that second one can get to be really really hard to follow. In this last month there have been many people I have wanted to get in their face and just let them have a piece of my mind. I have wanted to blast them on the internet saying “THIS PERSON RIGHT HERE IS A TOOL BAG AND A TERRIBLE PERSON AND I REALLY DONT LIKE THEM (its taken quite a bit of work to not have “hate” in that statement.)”… But there is that still small voice of the Holy Spirit in the back of my head that says “nope, don’t do that” 

This call to love is a tall order. It’s not attainable if we are being honest, at least not by human abilities. In John 15 Jesus talks about how He is the vine, and we are the branches. To be able to bear fruit WE MUST ABIDE IN THE VINE! We must abide in God, and we must abide in His love. These statements flow directly into the next section where Jesus dives into loving one another. Constant consistent love for others is impossible without abiding in Jesus. There is a reason the first fruit of the spirit that is mentioned is Love. We are called to bear the fruit of love, and it needs to be big and loud.

1 Corinthians 13 is generally called the “love chapter” diving into love and what it looks like, and why it is important. Many of us are familiar with it and what love should look like… but what about what it is not supposed to look like, what about what love is not? What happens when we asses our relationship by what love is not? According to 1 Corinthians 13 love is not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. It doesn’t insist on its own way, irritable or resentful. It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing. When we look at these and realize that this is the relationship that we are called to have WITH EVERYONE it gets rough. 

It’s at this point that my brain starts saying “yeah… but did he really mean ‘everyone’? God could not possibly expect us to love everyone… does He really know what these people did to me?!?!?! What they did to my family?!?!?! What they did to my friends?!?!?!? Does God really know the hurt, pain, tears, and strife that these people have caused?!?!?! BECAUSE IF HE DID HE WOULD NOT EXPECT ME TO TRULY LOVE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE *insert deep insult here*!!!” (… dang that got a little more heated than I intended it to…) 

And the simple response that God always gives is “Yes, you are called to love”.

Jesus loved… He loved the world to the point that He died for it. To give everyone a fair shot to abide in Him. Even those that rejected Him, insulted Him, spit on Him, and ultimately killed Him. He died for them. He died because of the love He had for ALL. 

I dont really know where to go with this… honestly as most of my blog posts are this is a lot of word vomit about what God has been teaching me, and this is where I am at. Struggling to love those that have wrong me and people I care about. And in that struggle realizing my continual need to abide in God and to let His love flow through me, because I can’t love on my own. God called us to be LOUD about love, to the point that He said that is how people will know us. That’s where I want to be, but I am a long way from that… 

In > fear/friendship

 I feel that, as American Christians, we have done a disservice to those we are trying to reach, and we are now seeing a continual exodus from the church because of that. That disservice is how we talk about a relationship with Jesus to others. 

There are two ways I continually see a relationship with Jesus being talked about. The first is Jesus is like fire insurance. Don’t want to go to hell? Just accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you are good! Boom! No hell for you… oh yeah and follow all these rules about how you need to look and act to really make sure you don’t go to hell! In this relationship God is seen as a dictator. You MUST follow “His” rules (I say that tongue in cheek) or burn in hellfire for eternity. It makes it feel as though God is constantly watching, waiting for any little slip up so that he can punish us. All of this simply is not true.

The other way I constantly see a relationship with Jesus described as is as a friendship. Doesn’t that give you the warm fuzzies? Being a friend of God just sounds nice. It sounds easy. It’s someone I met on the street and text every so often. No real commitment needed on my part because I have a friend that will never leave me! It doesn’t matter what I do! It’s awesome! I dont need to change who I am or what I do! There is no real commitment! It is so easy! No rules, no consequences, just friendship! (dont get me started on how a vast majority of us have an abusive friendship with God… ill write about that another day) 

But neither of these things is what our relationship with God is called to look like. Worrying about slipping up and the ensuing hellfire is tiring. You are constantly on edge just trying as hard as you can not to mess up. Being a friend is just so casual, it is really easy to pick up and put down whenever it is convenient. There is no real commitment. Neither of these pictures is the relationship that we are called to in the Bible. 

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus paints a very simple picture of what it means to have a relationship with Him.

 

“Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”

Jesus didn’t call people to a life of fearing Him. He didn’t call people to a life of warm fuzzies and constant hugs. We are called to take up our cross and follow in His footsteps. This requires work. This requires sacrifice. This requires life change. Jesus is there ahead of us, blazing a trail for us to follow. Picking us up and dusting us off when we fall, but continually pushing us to pursue something greater than ourselves. 

When we talk about a relationship with God only in terms of it saving us from hell, we do a disservice by selling fear. God didn’t call us to have a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

When we talk about a relationship with God as just being friends, we fall so short of what it actually is. It makes it sound easy to pick up and put down whenever it’s convenient… and most of the time it’s not convenient to pick up that friendship!

A true relationship with God is a life long life changing experience. It’s a call to more. It’s a call to greater things. In some ways it is a call to an easier life, in others it’s a call to a harder life. It’s a call to wake up every morning and ask God to show us His way, and for Him to give us the strength to pursue it. It’s a call to more. 

Let me tell you my life would be SO MUCH EASIER if I decided to just have a friendship with God… But my life is so much more fulfilling because I chose daily (ok… lets be honest not every day… but I try) to pick up my cross and follow Him, striving be more like Him every day. To be His Disciple, to be His apprentice.