Hastening NPL2025 a review

              For many Christians the need to share the gospel seems to be something that is best left to others; The pastor, the professional missionary, and people who have the money to spend their vacations in some far off place. These same people would probably agree with the sentiment of Mathew 24: 14--the whole world has to be reached, and then the end will come. Of course that means that a lot of people need to "A thriller based on present and future events". The Book is called Hastening: Book One of NO PLACE LEFT a Saga of Destiny Fulfilled. (2414 Ventures, 2016).

                The basic premise of the book is that Jesus won't return until the work of sharing the gospel throughout the world is completed, and the missionaries currently serving can't reach all of them. Three men, church planters, come up with the idea of mobilizing Christians to reach the over 3000 unreached people groups throughout the world by the year 2025 - a very ambitious ten year plan.

                Throughout the book references are made to Perspectives class, an actual class, a 15 week study in missions. Prominent missiologists are mentioned by name, and the acronyms used are familiar to those who study trends in church planting and missions.

                But this is fiction, a thriller based on present and future events, and so there has to be a protagonist. In this case, a group of men simply known as The Ten, a group that has power and resources that most of us couldn't even dream about.  The two story lines intertwine very nicely, and the adversary adds an element of excitement and intrigue for those who may not be overly interested in dry facts about current trends in the field of missions.

                I enjoyed this book, and actually read it in one sitting. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which will hopefully be released soon.

                Although I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of the book in exchange for agreeing to review the book, I would willingly pay the asking price since it is such an enjoyable read.  Please, though, although it is easy to get caught up in some of the facts about the mission field, this book is representative of a world-wide picture of serving.

               For more information on the current challenges facing missionaries today, and about reaching Unreached People Groups click here

Same-sex marriage by McDowell and Stonestreet a review

      I love the comment on the cover: "unthinkable to legal at a dizzying pace", Now What"      

      Sometimes it’s difficult to speak the truth in love. And when the truth involves incredibly controversial subjects, it’s even more difficult. As a culture we seem to demand tolerance, and we’ve come to expect from those who most champion tolerance for their causes 'and if you don’t see things my way, then you’re nothing but a hater.' So how does the church deal with a subject that makes the news every day, is debated in state supreme courts, and as far as the legal system goes, is undoubtedly ultimately going to be decided by the Supreme Court. And all of this which insists that its citizens enjoy the freedom to worship according to their own religious traditions

            Over the past few years in this country, there has been increasing push to legalize same sex marriage. And the church has to take sides. Part of Christianity suggests that Christ’s love is available to everyone, and that Same-Sex marriage should really be a non-issue. Another part insists that the traditional marriage, one man and one woman, is the only model allowed by scripture. So where do we turn for guidance, how do we decide what approach to take when the church has one standard, and the state another.

            In their book “Same-Sex marriage: A Thoughtful Approach to God's Design for Marriage”, Sean McDowell and John Stonestreet address these issues and others.   

            The approach really is 'thoughtful'. Part One (chapters 1-6) look at what marriage is and why it exists. The authors turn to the Bible, starting with Genesis, touching on the 10 commandments, looking at the words of Jesus, and considering the epistles of Paul in order to formulate their arguments. One of the starting points is that God commanded that human beings should be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth. Sex (between a male and a female) is the primary means for that to happen. And marriage provides, or should provide the nurturing environment in which to raise children.

            At some point society has become more accepting of many things that used to be considered anathema.  Over time, attitudes have shifted, and the authors take a look at this phenomenon. What is the process. Can the church use something similar to slow the tide.

            But the book is more than a scathing denunciation of same-sex marriage. In Part Two (7-12) The authors bring up questions, the answers to which, "questioning minds want to know." Most of them deal with how Christians can respond to situations, questions, and debates. The focus is that we should speak the truth in love. There are frequent reminders that the church should be as upset about same-sex marriage as she is about other sexual sins: fornication, cohabitation, adultery, etc; or rather that she should be as upset about the other sexual sins as she is about same-sex marriage.

            We are forced to look at our convictions and see how strongly we support them. What are we willing to do to uphold our convictions? Where do we draw the line? How do we support our family and friends, without supporting their lifestyle choices.

            A very well thought out book. Highly recommended to all who want to know more about how to speak the truth in love, and how to love God's children when we have such a difficult time with the choices they have made.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for the review. I was not required to write a positive review. 

Growing up in between Van rides

A week ago yesterday I left Clearfield in a 15 passenger van; to be fair there were some other people in the van too, 12 of them to be exact: one other adult and 11 tweens and teens. It was a weighty responsibility to say the least. But at least I can now  imagine what it might be like to travel with the Duggar family, at least part of the family.

Friday afternoon, after several hours in that same van, the group returned to Clearfield, tired and in need of showers, but safe. Mission accomplished. Yesterday morning, 5 of the youth joined me on the proscenium at Ogden First Baptist and talked about their experience, and amazingly enough the main topic of conversation was not the van ride: crowded together with duffle bags, suitcases, and sleeping bags under, over and in between.

Yeah, some other things happened in between Sunday morning, and Friday afternoon – some things that might have caused our young friends to grow a little in their faith and some things that definitely had some impact on other people.

This wasn't a road trip. We went to serve like Jesus served and to love like Jesus loved, and along the way we found some very appreciative people, and a few more that were not quite as willing to show their appreciation. We had to deal with hunger, hurt, pain, and all the things that go with that negativity. We met kids who by the age of 8 were basically caring for themselves; some children who missed a lot of meals and other who had suffered greatly and were afraid to trust.

And through it all there was our own angst and teenage drama.

There was excitement, and there was fun. There were moments when we wondered why, and moments when we knew exactly why.

And if you ask if we would do it again, well, the answer changes by the minute. Yes! No. Maybe?

But it’s over for this year, or is it?  It certainly doesn't have to be. There are hungry and hurting people in this city too, and just like the Jews in the time of Jeremiah, we should be looking at how we can

“…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you                               into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

 (Jer 29:7, NIV)

And maybe a few years from now instead of having to travel in a van to love like Jesus loved and serve like Jesus served, one of our servant-hearted youth will have figured out a way for us to love and serve right here at home. 

But I do have to admit that the van ride was fun, and who would want to pass up on a week of cold showers and sleeping on the floor?

Thanks YouthWorks for putting Meg, Joy, Trevor and Ben in place at Cortez, CO to guide us on our journey.

Find your own "Heroic Path

Where did we lose our way? Manhood has been dummied down over the years until we no longer know what it looks like.  John Sowers wants to help us find the way back to the life we were called to live, to be the men that God created us to be. The path back looks different for everyone, but there are some similarities. Sowers paints a picture of his own heroic path and gives the rest of us plenty of ideas. The book is "The Heroic Path: In Search of the Masculine Heart"  And you want to read it; you really do want to read it.

You want to read it if your Dad is dead, or in prison, or you never knew him. You want to read it if your Dad is nearby and you know and love him. You want to read it if you are or might someday be a Dad. You want to read it, because it's up to you to help teach the next generation how to be the men that God has called them to be instead of the imitation men we see in the movies or the gang members, bank robbers, rapists and murderers, and dirtbags that we see on the evening news and read about in the newspaper.

Because as men, many of us have lost our way, and we need a map to help us get back on our own heroic path. We need a mentor, a guide, and we need direction. Many of us don't even know where to look for the map.  Lots of boys grow up to be men without having had a man in their life to follow and learn from.  There are lots of reasons, and lots of arguments for and against each of them, but the result is the same: adult males who never learned to be men, and so they still act like little boys and teach the next generation to do the same thing.

It doesn't affect just the individual - the lack of knowledge spills over and affects every area of a man's life: family, school, job, even his relationship with God. As Sowers puts it, the question we have to ask ourselves as men is simple: "How do we step out of the tea party and onto the treacherous path?"  It's time to put a stop to the idea that the way we build ourselves up is to beat others down.

Sowers hasn't just written a 'how to' or self-help book; he is telling his story, what happened, what the result was, and how he learned to make the necessary changes that will impact his family for generations.

I found myself coasting along, enjoying the read, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, bold truisms jump off the page and remind me that I don't have all the answers.  My story is different, but truth is truth and what's true for one of us, is true for all of us. (We don't always respond the same way, but it's still true).  You're reaching for your cup of coffee, and bam! "We disengage from life because we are afraid to fail."  "When Death smiles at you and you smile back, something changes." "We grow when we face ourselves."  "In our culture, there is a serious lack of elders."  "The men who live through confrontations exude quiet strength." "We must forgive our fathers." "We store pain for years in a buried rusty toolbox. We push through and pretend it doesn't matter."

"Heroic Path"  is more than just a cathartic writing, it's much more than a poignant memoir, it's more than a story of what life was like and what happened. This is a call to action for all the aging boys who are ready to grow up and learn what it is to be a man. Not just the macho he-man, but a man who accepts his responsibilities, and does the right thing, even when that right thing comes at a cost.

It's time to answer that call to action and become a part of the solution.

☼☼☼☼☼

Talking About Sin --Or Not

The people in Utah are divided over any number of things; we don’t gamble here, but... head to Wendover, NV, and count the Utah License plates on cars in the Casino parking lots. We don’t have a lottery, but... head to Malad, ID and do the same count. And I’m pretty sure that in no time at all the marijuana laws in Utah will result in a lot of cars from Utah filling parking lots in Colorado.

            Until just a few weeks ago same sex couples couldn't get married in Utah, then they could, now they can’t. Polygamous relationships were once allowed, perhaps even encouraged, then outlawed, and now they’re not quite as frowned upon, at least by the legal system.

            The clean air act prohibits tobacco products in many places, but e-cigs aren't tobacco, so you can smoke where you can’t smoke. Caffeine in the form of coffee is frowned on, but Mountain Dew? That’s quite a different story.

And my perspective, like yours, depends on how it affects us personally.  One of the things that I've come to realize lately is that our take on social issues, like our take on sin, typically depends on whether or not we “indulge” (directly or indirectly, personally involved, or someone close to us is).  And when it comes to sin, just ask 50 people what sin God hates the most, and you’re likely to get close to 50 different answers. Most of the answers, though, will have one thing in common – something that can be explained in one sentence that goes something like this:  The sin that God hates the most is one that I’m not involved in.

But God says that sin is sin, and as painful as that might be to admit, we don’t do anyone any eschatological favors when we convince ourselves and them that their sin is not really sin. Yes we all want to be politically correct, we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, and of course we don’t want to get in trouble with any of the activist groups that will target us and try to make us look bad. But in trying to stay on everybody’s good side, we forget about God's Word, and we forget about staying on God's good side. Pastor Rick Warren recently put it like this: “I fear God's disapproval more than man’s.”  (In this interview with Piers Morgan, he also stated, “...while I may disagree with you on your views on sexuality, that does not give me the right to demean you, to demoralize you, to defame you, to turn you into a demon.”)

Pastor Warren was talking about homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and tolerance. And of course those are hot topics today in Utah. But if we’re talking about sin, then it goes much farther than that. I don’t even want to get involved in this debate because it takes away from the larger issue of sin in general.  There are a lot of people screaming about the sin of homosexuality, but what about the sins of fornication, and adultery. There is a lot of that going on among good church-going people. Couples live together and head to church weekly, and not much is said about it. Lots of women come to church with their children and dad isn't with them, because he’s not a part of the ‘legal’ family, and often even Mom doesn't know who he is – or care.

And of course we all know people who cheat on their taxes, and think the speed limit and stop signs are for the other guy.  There are plenty of people in this country illegally who are demanding their rights (‘rights’ which in this country are granted to American citizens, and to those who are here legally). What part of ‘respect those in position of authority’ are we missing out on? 

Parents are told to not exasperate their children, and children are to honor their parents. We all know how that’s working out. And how much covetousness, lust, and theft are we willing to accept from our circle of friends? God says that idolatry is sin, but look at how we turn our cars, houses, jobs, families, and bank accounts into idols. Well maybe not idols, but many times it seems that we value them more than we value God. Strike that, we have turned them into idols: we turn to them to give us something that only God can give us. That’s an idol. No other Gods before you?  Yeah, I’m talking to you, Mr. God-won’t-care-if –I-miss-church -–He-knows-my-team-is playing-today.

Yes we want to love the sinner even as we hate the sin, but I don’t see how that we do anybody any favors when we try to minimize any sin. The loving response is to walk beside the sinner, and teach what Jesus taught. If I can convince you that your sin is not a sin, why would you ever confess it? Why would you ever repent? Why would you ever care about what the Bible says?  As you can read in 1 John 1:9-10 (the Message)  “On the other hand, if we admit our sins — make a clean breast of them — he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God — make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.”

I wish I were perfect so that I could judge those who see things differently than I do. I’m not, and I don’t have that right. God established the guidelines. God has told us what he sees as sin. It’s against that standard that people will be judged.  People, don’t set the standards any more than governments do. That’s left to God. 

Any government entity can pass laws, enact statutes, or put something up for vote. But nowhere does God say that he’s just doing the best He can, and hopefully someday a human judge, elected or appointed by another human being, will make all the necessary corrections. Whether we want to acknowledge something as sin or not, at some point we’re going to stand before the supreme Judge and give an accounting for what we've done with what we had.

So when we want to talk about sin, it seems that the best place to start would be with our own, the things we’re doing that God says he doesn't like.  I don’t mean that we shouldn't be offended by the sins of other people, but when we shift our focus from ‘ours’ to ‘theirs’ it’s way too easy to get distracted and not be able to hear God's voice.  If I’m busy talking about your sin, I’m not even thinking about my own. It might make me a little more comfortable today, but someday I’m going to have to answer for that sin. 

Be a blessing

I’ve been thinking a lot about blessings lately. Oh sure, we all like to be blessed, have someone unexpectedly show up to mow the lawn, take us out to dinner, or bring us a present. And we really like the blessings that come in the form of cash or checks- especially in large amounts. But somehow I don’t think that’s what God had in mind when He talked about blessing people.

I have to be careful when speaking of blessings because of the culture in which I live. The LDS church is big on blessings. Some of their members receive Patriarchal Blessings, they bless babies, they offer blessings in cases of illness. Blessings are a good thing, but I don’t know enough about the LDS church to know what exactly is meant by the term. Maybe they mean the same thing I mean, and maybe it’s something different. I don’t know, so please don’t read something that I didn’t write. Don’t hear something that I’m not saying. It’s a word. Some people use it one way, and some people use it to mean something else. Don’t get confused, don’t get upset. Just read and draw your own conclusions.

In their book The Gift of the Blessing, (Thomas Nelson, 1993) Gary Smalley and John Trent talk about the components of the Old Testament blessing. They write that the 5 elements include 1) meaningful touch, 2) spoken words which 3) express high value 4) picture a special future, and 5) entail an active commitment on the part of the person offering the blessing.  Pretty powerful stuff.

And all this because, like many other parents, I want to be able to bless my child. Don’t get me wrong, he has everything he needs, and probably most of what he wants; we do things and go places, but I want to bless him in the sense that God blessed Abraham, that Isaac blessed Jacob (instead of Esau) and like Jacob eventually blessed Ephraim, the son of Joseph.

I want him to know that he is extremely valuable in my eyes and in the eyes of the Lord. I want him to know it because I’ve put my hand on him and told him so. Teenagers often have an inflated sense of their own importance, so he may or may not need affirmation and confirmation – today. But at some point reality hits and he will realize that there’s more to life than what he thinks of himself. I want him to know that apart from what he thinks he is important.

Hopefully he’ll be able to envision the future that lies in front of him, a special future, that means he will accomplish great things, not just to make his life financially secure, but things that will have an eternal impact for someone else, things that will impact a much larger circle than just his family and friends.

It’s easy to assume that he knows I’ll be there for him; that I’ll support his decisions and his endeavors, but he knows, and you probably know,  a lot of people whose parents aren’t necessarily there for them. He’s only going to know that I am committed to him if I let him know it, if I do what it takes to tell him and show him that I’m committed to helping him grow into the person that God intends him to be: a very special person with a great future.

Special and great because God created him that way. As the Psalmist said (Ps 139:14) "fearfully and wonderfully made." 

God created a lot of other people that way too. Who do you need to bless today? Who do you need to touch and affirm? What commitment are you willing to make?

Bless someone today. Future generations will be glad you did. 

learning to trust in God

Years ago I saw a tee shirt with the saying, “When Jesus is all you have, you suddenly realize that Jesus is all you need.” It made me think. A lot.


Did you ever wonder what it might feel like to know that there is absolutely nothing more that you can do except trust in God? That’s a big part of what faith is all about. Christians profess to have faith, we claim that we trust God, we tack on “if it’s your will” to our prayers, and then we rush off blindly trying to make sure that things get done in such a way as to achieve our desired outcome.

Joe Kissack faces that type of dilemma in The Fourth Fisherman (Waterbrook Press, 2012). This book is three stories in one, and even though some parts of the stories seem to be the kind of things that writers make up to sell books or movies, the three stories are actually true. It started out as a story of the faith of three Mexican fishermen whose boat took them farther than they had planned on going. It’s a story of their faith and how they survived being adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 9 months before being rescued. It’s a story of how they learned to trust God, and how their lives were impacted, changed and transformed.

Interwoven between the pages of their story is the story of Joe Kissack, a shining star in his chosen profession. It’s the story of how his way didn’t work, and how he finally had to turn to God if he wanted to reclaim his life and his marriage. It’s a story of how he set out to record the faith journey of those three Mexican fishermen and how on the way his own faith walk changed and he learned to trust God. It’s the story of how on this journey his life was impacted, changed and transformed.

And it’s God's story. It’s a reminder that God can use the most interesting events to call his people closer to him. It’s a reminder that each of us is a part of that grand story that is full of burning bush experiences, and that God wants us to turn to Him, much more frequently than we do. It’s a reminder of the power of prayer, of the need to trust God, and how faith grows as we see God at work.

I rated this book 5 stars. The engaging writing style coupled with a captivating story of survival against the odds make it difficult to put the book down. But on a much deeper level, the implications of a life lived with faith make this a must-read book for anyone who is struggling with life on life’s terms.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher (many thanks!) in exchange for writing this review. I was not required to write a favorable review.

FEARLESS : God at work in the life of Navy Seal Adam Brown

If you’ve spent much time reading the Old Testament, you’ll remember that it’s a story of a people who are chosen by God, who promise to be faithful to God, who forget their promises, and eventually return to the God who never gave up on them. You might also remember that there are a lot of things in the Old Testament that just couldn’t have happened. That is, they couldn’t have happened without help – a lot of help. Maybe a better way of putting it would be that God orchestrated some of these situations so that it would be obvious that He was in charge, that this wasn't something that human beings could do on their own.


Reading “FEARLESS” ( Eric Blehm, WaterBrook Press, 2012) reminded me a lot of the flow of the Old Testament, along with some similarities to the parable of the Prodigal Son. Promises made, promises broken, things that couldn’t have happened without God's help, but God was there, helping, and waiting patiently for the prodigal to come home. And Adam Brown did return.

This is the story of Adam Brown’s journey to become a member of an elite team: SEAL Team SIX. Along the way there were lots of obstacles; as his faith and family, along with a lot of prayer, helped him to overcome those obstacles, God was at work doing the humanly impossible.

A history of drugs and arrests didn’t keep him from his goal, even though the military has a very low tolerance for that sort of thing -God at work. (The publisher assured me that the accounts of drug abuse and arrests had been verified.)A couple of physical injuries should have kept him from meeting his goal; they didn’t – God at work, again.

Although most of us will never be called upon to be the type of hero that Adam Brown was, if more people could learn to face challenges like he did, the world would be a far better place.

This is not just a story about the rigors of becoming and serving as a SEAL, it’s a story of how one man was strengthened by his faith and the love of and for his family. It’s a story of overcoming obstacles, pursuing a vision and becoming the person that God wants you become.

And it’s a reminder that sometimes things happen in ways that make it clear that this could have only happened with God's help.

Adam Brown made the ultimate sacrifice for his country when he lost his life on a mission in Afghanistan. This book could have been told from the perspective of honoring a hero, but Adam himself wanted the story to include his life before Christ, so that in perspective the reader would have to see that this is a story about honoring God.

Wondering about how to live a Christian lifestyle and move along in your Christian walk? Is drug abuse a part of your history? Are you in the military and scared about this deployment or the next one? (Yeah, scared, deep down even though you don’t want to admit it to your friends) FEARLESS may be the book that helps you face those issues head on!

Here are some links provided by the publisher that you can check out

NBC coverage: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2012/05/11/videonews-adam-brown-fearless-navy-seal-nbc/

Book trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_L8ca7AKEA

WaterBrook News:  http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2012/03/26/video-fearless-the-undaunted-courage-and-ultimate-sacrifice-of-navy-seal-team-six-operator-adam-brown/
Read the first chapter: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2012/04/03/sneak-peek-fearless-by-eric-blehm/

And My Favorite (big smile):  http://vimeo.com/41939208

Thanks to the publisher for providing me an advance review copy of this book.(I was not required to write a positive review). Thanks also to the publisher, author and family, for several copies of the book which were donated to the Chapel at the Air Force base in my community.

Just a minute - or so

My 14 year old son often gets on my case for saying ‘just a minute’. He doesn’t have anything against the specific words; it’s just that his idea of a minute, and mine, are different. When I say ‘in a minute’ I’m not actually saying that I will be there, do that, in precisely 60 seconds. I usually mean that I’m doing something, and when I come to a convenient stopping point, probably within the next 5-10 minutes, I’ll be ready to listen, watch, play or whatever it is that he wants.


He understands ‘just a minute’ to mean within a few seconds will be fine if ‘immediately’ doesn’t happen to be an option.

Of course when I ask him to clean his room or do his homework, his ‘just a minute’ doesn’t always translate to within seconds either, but can mean that he might think about it sometime within the next week or so.

So time, like many other things, is relative. We want an answer right now, but expect the decision makers to carefully deliberate. We want our tax refunds by the first of February; but if we owe, we wait until April 15th to send the check. The last hour before the weekend starts seems to last forever, but the weekend itself seems to pass by in a matter of hours. And usually when someone asks if you have a minute, you know you’re going to be tied up for a while.

And we do the same thing with God. We expect Him to operate on our time schedule, without realizing that He views things through a different lens than we do. God sees things through the perspective of eternity, rather than in relation to a human lifetime of 80 or so years.

Early in the biblical book of Genesis, we read that God was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. The Genesis events took place several thousand years ago, but scholars generally agree that the account was written in about 1500 B.C. About 1000 years later (450 B.C.), when the book of Chronicles was written, the question was ‘When are we going to see God walking with us again?” It was phrased more like this: I’ve built this temple for Him, but is God really going to dwell on earth with men? Even the heavens, the highest heavens can’t contain Him, so why would I think this temple would be an appropriate dwelling place for Him”. And the accompanying prayer is that God would look favorably on the temple and forgive sinful man.

Fast forward about 600 years (90A.D.) John is writing the Revelation: the account of the vision he has had concerning things to come. He sees the Holy City descending from heaven, and hears a voice proclaiming that the dwelling place of God is once again with man, and He will dwell with them.

Another 1900 or so years have passed since John wrote about his vision, and we’re still waiting. It seems like a long time to us, but when compared to all eternity, that period of 3500 years represents just a tiny dot on the timeline.

As the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ reminds us, “When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God's praise than when we’d first begun!” Those 10,000 years are like a minute.

So the next time someone tells you just a minute, you may want to settle back with a good book.

In fact, why not try THE Good Book?

Oops there’s the phone, I’ll be back in just a minute! Happy reading!

If the Government Shuts Down: Pray don't Criticize

I’ve just been reading some of the headlines and they don’t make much sense. If the government shuts down, military members are not subject to furlough, they have to work, but they won’t get paid. Congress, on the other hand, is exempt from the shutdown, so they have to work, but they do get paid - but there would be inconveniences: the people who work the elevators in the Senate or staff the free gym for the House of Representatives, not to mention the people who work in the cafeterias and clean at the Capitol would all be furloughed, so our leaders, who got us into this mess in the first place by not doing their job as well as they might have, might have to brown bag it, clean up after themselves, and stand in lines.


On the count of three AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Poor Babies.

Hard to feel sorry for them.

But the proper response from a biblical standpoint isn’t to criticize: check out Matthew 7 and read what it says about ignoring the plank in your eye while you deal with a speck of sawdust in the eye of your neighbor. Or how about how we’ll be judged in the same way that we judge others?

According to the Apostle Paul, we should be praying for those in positions of authority so that “we may live peaceful quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Tim 2:2).

The bible doesn’t tell me that if I hire someone to do a job and he doesn’t do it, that I’m obligated to keep him on the payroll, and so come the next election day, some of the people who aren’t doing such a great job, may find themselves out of work, but in the meantime, it’s time to get on our knees. It’s time to pray for our leaders, our country, our troops, and time to pray that solutions will be found to the problems that face us.

It would be a lot easier to criticize, but I think I’ll start praying. Won’t you join me?

When God gives you more than you can handle.

I know, since you were a little kid in Sunday school class, you’ve heard that God won’t give you more than you can handle – and wouldn’t it be nice if that were true. You may have heard it in church on Sunday morning, and wouldn’t it be nice if it were true. You’ve probably had well-intentioned friends tell you that you can do it, because obviously God would never give you something that you couldn’t handle. And wouldn’t it be nice if that were true?

If you take the time to read through the New Testament, you’ll see that God gave the disciples a lot more than they could handle. Check out Moses, Hosea, Jeremiah and a slew of others in the Old Testament and you’ll see that they had more than they could handle.

But somehow they got through it.

12 steppers (groups such as AA, NA, EA, OA) in their “12 steps” say that their lives have become unmanageable, but that a power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity, and in the ‘promises’ are reminded that they will suddenly ‘realize that God is doing for [them] what [they] couldn’t do for [themselves]”. AA Groups are also reminded on a regular basis that ‘no human power could relieve their alcoholism, but that God could and would IF He were sought”.

Many years ago as a substance abuse counselor, I remember telling clients that just stopping drinking wasn’t going to solve all their problems. That would be a good start, but they needed something more than white knuckling through a desire to drink: and that God would be a good place to start.

A lot of the familiar Bible heroes were in some pretty dire circumstances, and there was no way that they could handle things. God obviously gave them more than THEY could handle. But they got through it. How?

The same way 12 steppers get through things, and the same way that we should be able to get through things: not by any human power (ours, or that of someone else) but through the power of God.

Those seemingly impossible situations suddenly seem a lot more possible when God is involved.

Bottom line: there are things in our lives that fit into the category of ‘more than I can handle’. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be handled. Just that we’re going to need some help.

Next time it seems like you’re out of your league, maybe you are. Instead of thinking that God won’t give you more than you can handle, maybe it’s time to think “I can’t handle this by myself, maybe I should turn to God and seek his guidance, maybe I should ask God for help, maybe I can’t handle it alone, but with God's help I can.

When there’s more than you can handle, God's probably asking you to come closer to Him.

Raising the Bar on Radical

Raising the Bar on Radical



Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God is the follow up to David Platt’s recent book Radical: Taking back Your Faith from the American Dream. I received this pre release review copy which doesn’t include the study guide that will be included when the book releases next month (April 2011).

Platt sets out to challenge the Church, and especially the local church, to become all that Jesus had in mind for His church. It’s not about mega churches, multi-sites and the best worship team; it’s about reaching the world for Christ: being the hands, feet and heart of Christ throughout the world.

He challenges assumptions, and gives practical examples and in doing so asks the members of the local church to consider whether the good that is being done is really what Jesus would do. As I read I kept thinking of examples of the good being the enemy of the best, and wondering what the world would look like if every Christian church now in existence would dare to be as radical as ‘The Church At Brook Hills’. They’ve eliminated much of the 'good' to have resources to do the best. Adoptions, short term and long term missions, church plants and discipling all seem to be skyrocketing, and not because of programs but because the church looked at where it was heading and dared to ask if those plans were really going to help them fulfill the great commission.

As ‘The Church At Brook Hills’ re-evaluated what they had done and what they were planning on doing, they decided to get Radical, and do as Jesus had commanded: start here in Jerusalem and go to the ends of the earth, baptizing, teaching and making disciples. They started in Birmingham and are reaching out to their Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

‘The Church At Brook Hills’ is not my church and it’s not your church. The specifics things that worked for Dr Platt and the congregation that he serves may not work for me or for you. But the principles are the same, and maybe it’s time to evaluate what we’re doing and how we’re serving Christ in our local churches. Is it the best we can do, or are we just settling for 'really good'?

My prayer is that every local church in the world would dare to get ‘Radical Together’ so that every existing people group would come to know the gospel message that Jesus left for us to spread.

The book releases in April and can be pre-ordered now at many on-line booksellers

I received a copy of this book free from Waterbrook/Multnomah in exchange for reviewing this book.

Stock Market Crazies

I need to get a degree in glocal economics.

The other day the various indices of the Stock Market, those confusing jumbles of letters that everyone quotes so knowingly (usually without having a clue what they mean) all dropped because the fighting in Libya was responsible for raising the price of crude oil. I was so comforted when the experts pointed out that we don't even get oil from Libya, but that at some point this type of activity may occur in those places from which we do get oil, so it makes sense to raise the prices and for the market to react.

The next day, the markets were up, because they had overreacted.

The following day the markets were down again because the price of crude oil had dropped.

Recently the markets reacted when the unemployment numbers, jobless rates and other indicators were worse than expected. The next week they dropped again when those same indicators were better than expected.

Today the markets are set to drop again after a tsunami in Japan, which ranked high on a scale of 1 to 10, but so far hasn't been responsible for as much damage or anywhere where near the number of deaths that other tsunamis and earthquakes have caused.

So in our new glocal (global/local)economy it doesn't seem to matter what happens or where it happens, it impacts us all. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes for the worse. But we can't escape the fallout.

When it comes to the economy, regardless of what continent we're on, what socio-economic status we hold, race or nationality, we're pretty much all in this together.

The glocal economy has an impact on a lot of people, but there's something that should be having a bigger impact on the world's population than the economy, a more noticeable impact than it is having: that something is the gospel.

Funny how the markets don't respons when something truly momentous occurs. The Dow doesn't fall when Christian liberties are attacked, the NASDAQ doesn't spike when someone decides to accept  Christ as Lord and Savior. 

Maybe that's becasue God is in charge, and He's just not all that interested in the stock market. He's more interested in the hearts of people around the world, than he is the size of our savings accounts.

Since the market is going to respond as it will to what ever is happening, maybe we should be making things that matter happen, forget about the treasures on earth that are subject to moths and thieves, and start storing up treasures in heaven.

Who Can God Use

We read from the gospel of Matthew (1:1-16) yesterday morning. There’s a similar story in Luke (3:23-38) and we could have just as well read that, but for some reason I chose to go with Matthew. And probably for the same reason (the one that starts with ‘I don’t have a clue’) I chose to read from the New International Version. Could have read the “begats’ from the King James, or read how Abraham had Isaac who had Jacob in the Message, but I went with the NIV.

Matthew starts with Abraham and works his way down to “Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”. Luke starts with Jesus, “the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,” and works his way backward to “Adam, the Son of God’. Basically the same thing in each account: Jesus is assumed to be the son of Joseph; and these long lists comprise Joseph’s family tree. Two long lists, one longer than the other, but they both tell the same basic story: the lineage of Jesus, which along the way shows the connection to David required by the Messianic Prophecies.

Now included in each of these lists are some pretty strange people; strange in the sense of how in the world did they get to be included in Jesus’ family tree. There are liars, cheats, thieves and all sorts of unsavory people in that lineage, and we spent some time talking about how God can use the most unlikely people for His purposes. And I admit that when it comes to strange and unlikely, I have to raise my hand. Actually I should raise both of them, but God still uses me…

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve come across this idea in several places: a magazine article, a blog or two, a couple of tweets, and tonight in a book I was skimming through to see if I want to buy it. (Still haven’t decided but probably yes). And one of the main sub-points is that Satan tells us that because of our past, God could never use us. God on the other hand, says that He uses us despite our past.

So if God can use us regardless of the past that we have managed to create for ourselves, why are we so insistent on letting that past define us? What we did is not who we are; and who we are and what we are doing as a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) is much more important in the eternal scheme of things.

If God insisted on using only perfect people to do his work, then He would be doing everything Himself.

My challenge for the upcoming year is to really let go of my past and quit using it as an excuse for staying away from God, for not doing what He asks me to do, and for not following where the Resurrected Jesus leads me.
Should be an interesting ride!

(BTW, the correct answer is: He can use anybody He wants to use – me and you included)