“Why do good things always seem to happen to her?”

You’ve heard this before. Maybe not out loud, but you’ve probably thought it a time or two.

You see someone, maybe a friend, colleague or family member, that always seems to end up on the right side of things.

The promotion happens sooner rather than later (if at all).
The parking spot at the front always seems to open up.
The marriage is full of respect and admiration, not discord and strife.
The ball goes in the basket instead of bouncing out.

(more…)

If you have a team where everyone agrees with one another, you’ve probably figured out a way to punish those who don’t. –Kris Vallotton

That hit me like a ton a’ bricks. Isn’t it true?

If you work within an organization, and no one dissents against the status quo ever, chances are there is an unspoken punishment system in place. Same holds true for families. The ones who express their opinion or challenge a popular thought are silently punished within a “status quo society.”

(more…)

This is a guest post from Dave Sandell. Dave is a good friend from college and he looks better in caps than anyone I know. Dave lives with his wife, Verity, in Chicago, IL. Follow him here.

Over the past few weeks I’ve talked to a number of people who are stressed out about missing the “meaning of the Christmas season.”

The stress of shopping will gut their time and joy.
Their families of origin are more Griswald than Bailey.

They will wake up on December 26th and Christmas will be over. Tidings of comfort and joy will be headed to the curb in a garbage bin. The wonders of his love will be on pause until next year.

But here’s the thing: you can’t miss it because it doesn’t happen just once a year.

The things we remember at Christmastime are true year-round. We could conceivably go our whole lives and miss them. But if this season slips away from you, you can simply pick up where you left off on the 26th.

So buy your gifts. Hang out with the family. Find a bit of pocket change from the deep recesses of your puffiest coat for the bell ringer’s red kettle. Go out of your way to worship and remember and as much as you can join in with what God is doing in the world.

Because Christmas is a time to remember and dream. Jesus isn’t being born on the 25th. We remember his birth, and all of the things that are true about our world because of God. We prepare for whatever God is doing in our lives and in our communities.

God has changed all of the rules and nothing will ever be the same.

We can’t miss it. It cannot be missed. It is the reality of the world we live in.

My friend Reid did a story recently on a man named Eric here in Des Moines who started having dreams. Eric kept having dreams that he died young; that he had to leave his family; that he was in heaven.

The dream was so real, so powerful, he woke up early in the morning and recorded his last words. He copied it to a disc, put in his family’s safe, and didn’t think about it again.

A short time after that, he and some of his co-workers died in a plane crash. No survivors. They were all gone.

After the crash, Eric’s wife went to the family safe to find his will. On top of all the papers, she found the disc Eric recorded with the words “Eric’s Last Words” scribbled on it. Those last words are in the videos below.

Take a few moments and sift through this story. Try and see where God is at work. Try and ask the question, “What was God doing here?”

(more…)

Let’s play a little game.

I’m going to share a passage from a book I’m reading and you tell me if a Christian or non-Christian author wrote it. It’ll be fun.

A few rules:

1. When I say “Christian author” I specifically mean someone who is classified as such by retailers. Max Lucado = Christian author. Steven King = non-Christian author. The non-Christian author could in fact be a Christian, they just don’t write Christian literature. You get the idea.
2. Try not to use Google. I know it will be tempting to throw one or two of these sentences into the ol’ Goog. Resist the urge. It will be more fun that way.
3. I will do my best to use quotes that in are in context. In other words, I won’t share “Take the kids out to the field and let them eat as much grass as they want,” without stating that the passage is about baby goats and no actual children.

Got it? Good. Here’s this week’s passage:

God is all there is. Everything that is, is God in one for or another. God, the divine ground, is that in which we live and move and have our being. Infinite planes of reality exist, all created by, sustained by and infused by the spirit of God.

Christian or non-Christian author?

This is my response to Mandy Steward’s (a.k.a. @MessyCanvas) post entitled “I’m Tired of Being a Christian“. If you haven’t read it, you should drop everything and go read it right now. It’s what this blog is all about.

I can’t remember the last time I read a post and thought, “This perfectly describes where I am at in my life right now.” Surprise! That just happened.

Mandy Steward put into words what I’ve been feeling for sometime in regards to the Christian subculture. She talks about the staleness, the dryness that comes with attempting to live the Christian life through the lens of what others think. She writes:

(more…)

This is short, but sweet. So listen up.

Finding God’s will is as easy as asking the question, “What can I not keep myself from doing?”

Before you start thinking too deeply, I’m not talking about when you start eating Oreos and can’t stop. Nor am I talking about an unhealthy addiction. This is deeper than mere habit.

I have a friend who literally cannot stop creating. He’s drawing, sketching, programming, creating, thinking–constantly creating new visual art. “I can barely go a weekend without creating something new,” he says.

That’s knowing God’s will for his life. It’s God’s call from his heart to my friend’s heart.

So the question today is, what can you not keep yourself from doing? What seems to flow out of you naturally, sometimes with little or no help?

Mark Rothko painted.
Jason Upton sings.
Shawn Johnson vaults.
For my part, I blog.

What do you do? Answer that question, and you’re on your way to finding God’s will.

Can we make our connections to Christ about something more than our emotions?

I’m trying to slant towards the positive on this one, but a disturbing trend seems to be emerging over the last 10-15 years in Evangelicalism: The more “hyped up” we get in our worship, the closer our perceived connection to Jesus is.

I think this is bogus.

Take a listen to most of the content on the popular Christian radio stations. A large portion of it has to do with our emotions towards God:

• God, I feel this way about you.
• God, you make me feel ____.
• God, I am so in love with you.

Before you write me off as a crotchety old miser, I do believe there is a time and a place for this type of worship. However, there’s a reason why Song of Solomon is one book of the Bible. I can write a love poem to my wife, but at some point in our relationship I need to do the dishes and mow the lawn and help her with our taxes.

Not only do I think this gushing emotionalism is annoying, I think it’s dis-forming the basic theological assumptions of an entire generation (e.g. God is here to make me feel good). Young ones think God is Dr. Feelgood.

My antidote to this trend? Asking God what he’s like. I want him to teach me how he thinks and moves and operates. Once I begin to understand that, I can begin to relate with him as he truly is–not how emotions dictate him to be.

And how does that make you feel?

One of my favorite people from Scripture has to be Zacchaeus. The wee little man. The tax collector. The one that nobody liked.

We find Zacchaeus’ story in Luke 12 19 and it breaks down like this:

• Man cheats his fellow citizens out of their hard-earned money.
• Community despises Zacchaeus for getting rich at their expense.
• Jesus comes to town. Townspeople flock to see him.
• Zacchaeus is among the throngs that want to get a glimpse of Jesus.
• Out of all the people to notice in the crowd, Jesus picks out Zacchaeus.
• “Finally!” everyone is probably thinking, “Zacchaeus will get his comeuppance! Jesus will show him who’s boss!”
• Jesus doesn’t punish Zacchaeus, Jesus has dinner with Zacchaeus. Scandalous (for real).
• Grace abounds and lives are transformed for the Kingdom!

I like Zacchaeus because, broadly speaking, he’s just a jerk. But Jesus reaches out to him and that one chance encounter changes the course of this person’s life. It also gives a story that we’re still telling to this day.

(more…)

Have you ever prayed the “sinner’s prayer”?

It’s the standard evangelistic method of conversion that sounds something like this:

Dear Jesus,

I know I’m a sinner. Please forgive me. Now come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior.

Amen.

The basic premise of the prayer isn’t bad per se, but it creates a very strange set of bi-products, not the least of which is transactional theology (i.e. “Scratch my back, God, and I’ll scratch yours”). It gets people into this weird, works-based relationship with God that inevitably leads to burnout and spiritual fatigue.

Another nasty bi-product is the tendency to treat people as projects. As math problems waiting to be solved. As a notch in the proverbial evangelism belt. “If I can just get them to pray this prayer….” the thinking goes.

Here’s a novel idea: What if we really loved people? More specifically, what if we didn’t treat them like transactions? What if we loved people even if they never showed any outward signs of changing? Even if they never prayed any sort of prayer acknolwedging their sin? What do you think would happen?

Simply put, what if you, Christian, never attempted to change another person’s behavior as long as you lived?

Most people know when they’re someone’s project. I know I certainly do. I don’t like being someone’s project. I like being treated like a human being.