The Hole In Our Gospel

About a month ago, I was sharing with a friend and fellow Christian something that was weighing heavily on my heart. He asked if I had read The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, because in it the author expresses a lot of the same things I was sharing. I told him I hadn't, and I decided that I wouldn't, since, after all, why read a book that basically expresses the same things I'm already thinking and feeling?

Well, a couple weeks later, it was still on my mind and heart, so I decided to get the book and read it. Wow! You know how every once in a while you read a book you passionately, vehemently wish everyone would read? (And, for those of you who are like me, you wish you had written it?) This is one of those books. (Well, at least, every Christian should read it.) I barely made it two pages into the prologue before I broke down crying!

What can I say about it? How can I do it justice? See, at the beginning of this year, I started reading through the entire Bible for my fourth or fifth time; and, for some reason <cough>, this time I have been noticing over and over how much God talks about serving the poor and needy.  (Like I shared in a previous post, this makes for a really powerful Bible study!) It was impacting me (as any time in God's Word should), and I was beginning to get even more involved than I already was in serving the poor, both locally and globally, and I was feeling pretty good about it. Then I read this book. And BAM!

Why did God destroy Sodom? (Are you sure?)

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
 - Ezekiel 16:49

God had His prophet relay their sin in relation to the poor and needy; He didn't even mention the other stuff! And what about what it truly means to know God? I mean, this is something of ultimate importance to those who want to love and follow Him, right? In speaking of King Josiah, God says,

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, 
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?"
    declares the Lord.
 - Jeremiah 22: 16

I simply can't do the book justice by sharing parts of it; but, I will share just this one quote: "If we in the Church are truly dedicated to the Great Commission, then we will first have to do something about the 'Great Omission.' " One thing I have learned is, in order to keep the fire burning, it must be repeatedly and frequently stoked. I am going to have to figure out what that means for me. You are up to you :).

So please, if you are a Christian, please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please...

Read this book. And let God do to you and with you as He sees fit!

UPDATED 2020:

Reflections on Race

The Church as an Example

Moment of Reckoning

Walk On By

Am I Weak?

Recently a minister in my church talked about how some anti-Christianity folks will say things like, "church is only for weak people," and then he proceeded to refute this line of thinking.  I disagree with him, though.  Church is for weak people.  But here's the thing: we're all weak!  Unfortunately, we are trained from a very young age to see weakness as a bad thing and something to be overcome, or at the very least, hidden.

We are bombarded with messages about how "powerful" and self-sufficient we are, how all we really need we already have within ourselves (man, what nonsense!), all because we are afraid to admit we really don't have all the answers and that we really do need all the help we can get.

In the past few weeks since my mom died, I have seen just how weak I can be.  It hasn't been pretty; and, I am definitely not proud.  (Good thing the only way to truly fail is to give up!)  This, though, is where I turn to God's view of weakness:


...but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
 - 2 Corinthians 12:5-10

Maybe church really is only for weak people (everyone) but the only people who become part of one are those who admit it (few).

Am I weak?  Oh heck yeah!  Sadly, I can't say I've gotten to the point where I delight in that fact yet; but hey...I'm learning.  :)

Watching Mom Die

I never thought I'd be in this situation, but here I am. We are ceasing all treatment and focusing solely on pain relief. In fact, we moved her to hospice earlier today. This means that they will be giving her meds that should finally ease the pain...and death is only a matter of time. It really is very surreal.

Watching her suffer like this has been truly unbearable; yet, so is the fact that I will soon be without both parents. A friend who has been through it told me that it is a deeply lonely feeling; I have already begun to feel it. I am going to miss her so much!!! I mean, SHE'S MY MOM! No one loves you, takes care of you, etc., like your MOM!

Man the memories. For the first several years of my life it was just she and I (my parents got married when I was ten, though I honestly don't remember when we moved in with my dad). I have very fond, cozy memories of those first years.

Now I sit here, watching her sleep. (At least she can sleep; last night was easily one of, if not the, worst nights of my life.) But I sit here, watching her sleep, watching her skin turn yellow, listening to her breathing become "gurgly;" and, well, it SUCKS!

My mom has not had an easy life, not the least of which was having to be mother to the likes of me.  But she's a fighter, and she has never given up, and she has done an amazing job.  Oh she has her faults, just like everyone else, lemme tell ya :); but, I have never once doubted her love for me and that my good was priority numero uno in our relationship. She has taught me much with her wisdom, even though, sadly, like most young folks, I didn't realize most of it until I got older and had kids myself. (Personally, I think that was the unspoken curse after the stupid fruit-eating disaster in Eden, but that's for another post.) Even when I was being stupid (her words, and now, mine as well), it was all with my good in mind. And that's good enough for me!

I will miss you, Mom, more than words can express; and, my life will simply and genuinely never be the same without you in it as my go-to-anytime, all-time greatest fan!

I love you, Mom!

Kony: The Bigger Picture

So, this whole viral Kony thing has been bringing something to light for me, and I do not like what I'm seeing. First, there was the wave of people (me included) spreading the Kony video and asking people to get involved. Then, there was the second wave, a wave of people pointing out the flaws with the first wave. Frankly, this second wave really ticked me off. At first, it was my pride, plain and simple, because I was part of the first wave. But then, I began to realize what I was feeling deeper down, and that is

So what??

So there are fewer than 30,000 kids in his army now. So he's not currently in Uganda (which the video actually made clear). So there are other problems. So this has been going on for a while already.  Do any of these "facts" negate the need or the horror??  What if there is only one small boy who has been taken from his family and is being forced to kill? What if there is only one little girl who was abducted and is being forced to do horrible things?

What if it were your child?!

Critical thinking, hey? While I am a passionate advocate of getting the facts, at some point, that either boils down to which total stranger you choose to believe (in this case, Jason Russell, Larry Magid, Rosebell Kagumire, etc.) or actually going and finding out for yourself.

Then, we can either get bogged down by showing to the world we're the ones who really know the "truth;" or, we can actually do something. I can't afford a trip to Africa; but, even if there's only one child involved, I can do something here. And I will.

I find myself genuinely fascinated (disturbed?) by how we as individuals choose whom we believe and on what we base this trust; what we accept as fact; whom we accept as experts. Should those who put such profound faith in other people be envied, or pitied?

This reminds me of Oprah's one-year-after-Katrina episode. Scenes of devastation and stories of despair, accompanied by tears from all, were followed by Oprah asking how this could be; how/why, one YEAR later, were things basically the way they were one day later?

Then she says, "We'll be right back." And there it was - a commercial with a chipper, skinny woman talking about weight loss. I jumped up, turned to my wife, and said, "That's why! Because when the heart-rending moment is over, we all go back to our own personal, surfacy, little worlds and NOTHING CHANGES!"  Or, like someone interviewed on NPR recently said, we are equally capable of getting indignant at injustice and then turning and listening to our "sweatshop" iPods.  [No, not the guy who was on This American Life who has been subsequently discredited; a guy commenting on the bigger picture.]

And this is the big picture problem this whole Kony thing has been illuminating for me. Why is there so much suffering in the world? Maybe one major reason is that those of us who could do something to stop it, just...don't.  Even worse, what if Alex Perry is right, and even fewer will now...?

Stop. Kony. Now.

I just watched a 27-minute video that hit me hard!  I have begun to get involved and do something about it.  I want to ask you to do the same.  In a way, this directly exemplifies what I wrote about in my last post: we really do have the power; we just need to exercise it!  Maybe you won't be out all night on April 20th, but their Web site makes it SO easy to do something!

And to my fellow Christians, I humbly suggest a challenge...a challenge that just may change your life:

1. Find a Bible you have an easy time reading all the way through (I prefer certain chronological arrangements).
2. Using a piece of paper, spreadsheet, or whatever works for you, make a tracker consisting of at least three columns, and title the columns Fellowship, Evangelism, and Poor & Needy.*
3. Read through your Bible all the way through, noting on your tracker every Scripture reference that falls under one of these categories.
4. When you're done, use your tracker to check your heart against God's toward the poor and needy, especially in comparison to the other areas we tend to focus on in our churches.

*You can add more columns, of course, depending on what your church tends to focus on.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost, right?  Of course He did (Luke 19:10).  But is that all He came to do (Matthew 20:28)?  And just how did He go about His mission?  Did He spend approximately 3.5 years preaching to the masses about church attendance, or evangelism, or "tithing," or whatever?  Or, did He spend his time meeting the physical needs around Him, taking advantage of the opportunities that came along to also meet the spiritual ones?  (This, by the way, also makes for a good -- and shorter :) -- Bible study.)

(For more on Christianity and serving the poor, please take the time to listen to this podcast.)

So please.  Watch the video.  Sign the pledge.  And, don't stop there....

Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do :D.

Thank you!!

We The People

Well, it's election season.  Though I try to avoid politics, and what usually passes for "news" in general, it is a bit hard to these days.  As time passes, I am noticing a trend, and I had a thought.

The trend is this: we the people seem to complain, rant, rave, maybe do a little something politically, vote, rinse, repeat.

My thought is simply this: maybe the politicians aren't really the problem.

I think we forget that we the people really are the ones with the power.  And, since we forget we have it, we don't really use it.  So, maybe we should ask ourselves, are we truly part of the solution, or are we really just part of the problem?  Here are some questions that might help:

• Am I someone who walks into a voting booth and simply pulls my party's lever (i.e., do I actually believe the candidate in my party is always and irrefutably the best choice)?
• Did I vote for/against Obama purely, or even primarily, because of his skin color?
• Do I vote without doing any research of my own, maybe even based on what ads or the media tell me?

(If you answered "yes" to any of these, maybe you just shouldn't vote....)

• Do I honestly believe that whoever is voted into office this year will solve everything?
• Do I complain about the way that money and politics co-mingle yet never change my lifestyle habits (where I shop, where I eat, where I buy gas, what I drive, where I live, etc.)?

Our brothers and sisters in the Middle East are finally doing something about their situations.  Do we really still believe that the solution lies in relying on the flawed human(s) we elect to make all the important decisions for us??

Now, I am not necessarily advocating a revolution; but, if all we want to do is whine and complain and not much else, maybe we should just hush (I can hear some of you now; and, yes, you are free to air your opinions.  My point, though, is, what good is that actually doing?).

On the other hand, maybe we should remember who really has the power...and start exercising it!

(Ok, complain, rant, rave done; time to go drop $4.29/gallon....)

What Is Salvation?

It's like this:

Every single human being is born with a disease.  Not only is this disease ultimately fatal, it is the true root cause of every human problem that exists in the world.

The only real cure for this disease is available from God, and God alone.  Fortunately, He offers this cure freely, through Jesus, to everyone.

Do you have to finally admit that your way isn't working and take the treatments exactly as the Great Doctor prescribes?  Well, no......unless you actually want to get well.  :)

(If you want a more "extended" summation, this is pretty much the best one I've found.)