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Life Happens.

May 2, 2008 in God with 3 Comments

Sometimes there are things in life that we

Do not
Participate in,Ã‚Â
They participate

In us.

We do not happen to them,
They happen to us.

There are events
That place you in another realm of existence,
An existence that you were not consciously
Aware of,
But knew it existed all along.

These events, these happenings,
Deposit something in you that
Fades over time,
Yet continues to haunt your soul long
After
It
Is
Over.

These events change you,
Mold you,
Destroy you,
Rebuild you,
Propel you.

I have seen the edge,
And it is harder and harder,
As the days go by,
To not want to keep going,
And see all,
That there is to
See.

Take it back.

April 11, 2008 in God,Life with 2 Comments

I remember thinking before I was a follower of Jesus, “this will never affect me in the future.”

Of course, the “this” in the previous sentence could be anything from drinking to drug use to empty relationships with women to a harsh word spoken about someone. I thought I was impervious to any sort of retribution; no consequences to my choices.

I came face to face with a consequence today.

I met with a man who I had not talked to for 10 years. Literally. When I had known him previously, I never spoke a harsh word directly to him, but I certainly did behind his back. I also joined in with others in making fun of his awkward appearance and social miscues. We all had a laugh at his expense and no one thought twice about it.

Until me. Until today.

You see, I had to meet with him to discuss plans for an event I’m helping plan. I arrived at our meeting and was greeted by a warm and friendly smile, a handshake, and a genuine interest in how I had been doing.

I never felt more awful.

If nothing else, it made me realize just how powerful our everyday actions can be. The choices we choose to make extend way beyond the temporary situation in which we make them and the consequences follow us – good or bad.

I left the meeting completely humbled and with a resolve, by the grace of God, to see the Image Bearer in all people – no matter who they are. I came home and told Kerry, “I’m a fraud.” I was half-joking, but it is certainly humbling when you see yourself in a light that is not-so-great… Even 10 years after the fact.

So, I guess what I’m saying is this: I’m sorry. What about you? Have you had any experiences like this? What have they taught you about yourself and others?

Peace.

JMW

Power & Desire.

April 7, 2008 in God with 1 Comment

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.”

There are few passages in the entirety of Scripture that I enjoy as much as this one.

Followers of Jesus serve a God who is so rich in mercy and in grace that he not only gives us the power (read: ability) to do what pleases him, he gives us the desire (read: traction) to accomplish those things as well. The word for this, in short, is grace.

Picture something in your life that you despise doing. Got it? Now, how hard is it to get the motivation to do that certain activity? For me, it’s working out. I despise working out, but because it’s good for my body and it keeps me healthy, I do it. it takes a lot of motivation for me to get out of my door and onto a treadmill at the gym at 6:30 in the morning. I have the physical power to do it, but there is very little, if any, desire to do it. (Aside from maybe not wanting to get a ponch-belly.)

Contrast that with something that you love to do. For me, it’s going to the movies with my wife. I need very little motivation to head to a movie theater, buy a box of candy and a bag of popcorn, sit down in the theater and anxiously await the opening credits. I would go to the movies every night if I could. I love it. I have the physical power to get there and I have a whole bunch of desire to do it.

The Bible tells us that God would want our life with Christ to look much more like the movies and a lot less like working out, figuratively speaking. A Christ-filled life is supposed to be vibrant, full, and filled with light – not painful, despondent, crusty, and dead. And God, in his grace, will fill us with the power or the desire (or both) to do what pleases him if we do not have it.

This is the reality of heaven that awaits you and me everyday – but is this what we see? Do you see Christ followers as people who are filled with grace and compassion and mercy, knowing that the power and desire in their lives comes not from them but from their benevolent Father in heaven? Or do you see judgmental, holier-than-though, robotic animitron Christians who you would really like to vote off the island?

Power and desire. Power and desire. Two powerful motivators in life. The question is, where do yours come from?

Peace to you on this Monday…

Justin

The 8.

April 4, 2008 in Culturally Relevant,Des Moines,God with Comments Off

For those of you who have ever stepped foot in “The 8″:

Go ahead Megs, go ahead.

Tradition.

March 10, 2008 in God with 1 Comment

Jesus once said, “You ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” He said this to a group of people who were known for being extremely “religious”.

They said the “right” things.
They did the “right” things.
They had the “right” doctrine.

Yet, for Jesus, these were some of the most misled and dangerous people around.

They were the ones who hassled him the most.
They were the ones who hated him the most.
They were the ones who had him pinned to a cross in a garbage dump.

In most cases, it seemed as though Jesus and the “religious people” were following a different God, so much so, that Jesus once called the religious leaders “children of hell” and that their “true father” was none other than Satan himself! As I’ve said before in other posts, Jesus reserved his harshest words not for the raunchiest sinner, but for the disillusioned religious elite!

The religious leaders (a.k.a. “children of hell”) were so dangerous because they were perceived as being God’s ambassadors – as reflecting the character and nature of who God was and what he was like. They were the ones who people looked to in order to tell them what God thought about them and how they were to think of him.

Jesus would get so angry with them (and still does, in my opinion) because they misrepresented God the Father and what he was like. Jesus is the true reflection of God because he is God. What we see in Jesus and what we see in the religious leaders could not be more diametrically opposite:

Religious leaders said “do” in order to be acceptable to God.
Jesus said “be” the child of God, the image bearer, that you already are.

Religious leaders heaped oppressive demands onto their followers.
Jesus said, “my yoke is easy, my burden (weight, load to carry) is light.”

Religious leaders kept mental records of their own sin as well as the sins of others.
Jesus said, through his Spirit, “I will remove your sin from you as far as the east is from the west and remember it no more.”

As you can see, when we choose to follow tradition – human religious tradition that has the appearance of godliness but denies the power of the Gospel – we’re in, as they say, “deep doo-doo”. Jesus desires nothing by wrote, but a deep and living interaction with him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Have you considered this for your own religious walk? Does your walk with God resemble an empty, lifeless, religious tradition or is it a vibrant and alive interaction between you and Jesus Christ? Consider the implications of each…

One(More)

November 9, 2007 in God with 2 Comments

Two things have me on the brink of bursting as of late:

Item 1: Pro-Life groups
Item 2: Pro-Environment groups

Now, before I get into too much hot water, let me assert that I am, in fact, both pro-life and pro-environment. God likes life, I like life. God likes his creation, I do too. That’s not what I’m talking about…

If I hear one more celebrity tell me how I should ride my bicycle to work, or how I should change the lightbulbs in my house, or how I should care because polar bears are drowning in thawing frozen ice caps, I’m going to lose it! As I said to my wife, “I… can’t…. HANDLE IT!“

Similarly, if I hear one more person tell me that because I follow Jesus, the most important thing in my life should be getting Roe v. Wade overturned, I’m going to shoot blood out of my eyeballs! I do not want to hear it! I don’t care what presidential candidate is against abortion – if he/she is a poor candidate, I will not vote for them. Do not use my faith as a recruiting tool to get people to sign up for your causes.

I came to understand that although these groups typically stand in opposite camps, their approach to their issues are exactly the same: “issue X is the most important issue and I’m going to take every chance I can to cram issue X down your resistant throat. What’s more, if you don’t agree with issue X you are a horrible person and should have your membership from the club of humanity revoked.”

Seriously.

Shield(Me)

August 24, 2007 in Culturally Relevant,God with 2 Comments

I really love this guy. I mean, I really do. I’ve been listening to a lot of Matisyahu lately. I don’t want to go into a long back story on the guy, suffice to say he’s the only Hassidic Jewish Reggae artist that I know. The man is centered on Yahweh – he’s a lover of God. Any guy who loves God like this is alright by me. Heck, half of his lyrics are from the pages of the Old Testament. Nice.

My wife and I had a chance to see Matisyahu with 311 a few weeks ago here in West Des Moines. Kerry bought me tickets to the show for our first anniversary (!!!), plus she graciously attended the show with me which, we found out, is not Kerry’s “cup of tea.” Of course, after sweating off 15 lbs. in water weight, breathing in a, shall we say, “smokey” environment for three hours, having copious amounts of stale beer spilled on her, and being elbowed in the eye by a well-intentioned, yet severely inebriated, “hippie chick,” I can’t say that I blame her I had fun though, and she had fun because I had fun. That works for me. Here’s some pics:

And I’ll leave you with a video I took of 311 and Matisyahu performing together on one of my favorite songs by 311, “Love Song”. (I love this song so much, it was the song my wife and I chose to walk down the aisle to after we got married!) Take a look (P.S. – the squealing you hear in the background is me):Ã‚Â