dancing cripples

So just a few thoughts on my 2010 Suberpowl experience:

1) Still a little bitter that the Vikings didn’t make it all the way, but glad that they got beat by the eventual champs — in  a good game.

2) Can’t believe all the anti-hype about the Tebow ad.  Some editorials were labeling it the end of the suberpowl as we know it.  Really?  I think Drew Brees got more religious in his post-game remarks than the Tebow ad.  Yeah I know the ad led to a Focus on the Family website, but I think if Suberpowl watchers can handle wardrobe malfunctions and godaddy commercials — they can handle the decision as to whether or not they will go to that website.

3) It’s normal for our minds to get preoccupied by the “big plays” but you really can’t boil the game down to one or two plays.  I know it’s easy to do, but as much as we want to believe that life comes down to one or two defining moments, it’s much more beautifully complex than that — a football game is the same.

4) I didn’t think the commercials were quite as good as other years, but — it was cool to see a commercial produced by a church (doritos casket Mosaic church); the snicker commercial made me laugh;  once again the godaddy commercial made me ask “why?”; the Letterman commercial made me go, “hmm that’s interesting,”; and finally I thought the google search add was pretty creative.

5)  I like the “gutsy” play-calling by New Orleans — not so much the plays themselves, those kinds of calls are labeled genius when they work and stupid when they don’t.  What I really liked was the way the team pulled together to go from one “gutsy” call to another.

6) Drew Brees is a class act.  You had to love the picture of him and his child at the end of the game, and his soft-spoken pointers to God in the post-game interviews were great.  I don’t know too much about him, but he seems to be the real deal, not just in words, but in actions.  If you want to hear a bit more about him.  Take a look at this interview with FCA.

Oh yeah — suberpowl is not a misspelling, apparently the NFL is concerned about churches infringing upon their rights when we advertise “Superbowl Parties.”  In fact in 2007 and 2008, they were threatening to sue churches that had superbowl parties.  This year they relented a bit and churches could have a superbowl party, but they couldn’t call it a Superbowl party — so I’m suggesting that next year we all have Suberpowl parties.  :)

I’ve run into this concept a few times lately — the lizard brain — most recently in Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin.  What is the Lizard Brain?  In a simple sense it is that part of us that is always focused on survival, safety, and comfort, and pleasure.  It likes the status quo as long as the status quo is safe.  It runs from pain, almost always has a knee-jerk response to fear and gives this constant push away from risk.

When  you fail, it is the Lizard Brain that says quit.  When  you embarrass yourself, it is the Lizard Brain that pushes you to avoid that situation or those people, next time around.  When a creative idea for a new strategy bubbles up in a meeting, the Lizard Brain makes sure that all the reasons why it will fail, get top billing.

One of the ideas on Linchpin is that we need to gain an ability to quiet the Lizard Brain in the times when it wants to yell.  So how do we quiet the Lizard Brain?  I’m not sure what Godin’s answer is — haven’t read it yet — but here are two ideas that come to mind.

1) Seek Courageous Compassion.  Those two words go together.  Courage is not the absence fear.  The absence of fear is closer to stupidity than it is to courage.  Courage is what happens when I love someone or something more than I love myself.  The Bible says that love casts out fear.  If we want to quiet the Lizard Brain we need to love someone/something more than we love ourselves.

2) Redefine Failure:  One of my favorite words of wisdom is found in Proverbs 24:16, “For thought a righteous man falls seven times, he rises…”  In other words failure is not defined as falling, it is defined as quitting.  If you don’t quit, a fall is just an opportunity to learn.  Redefining failure will help quiet the Lizard Brain.

3) Develop Faith in God:  Today at Calvary we talked about becoming an “if-you-say-so-Jesus” kind of person.  It’s from the story of Jesus calling Peter to come and be a follower.  (Click here to listen to the talk: Follow Me.) A faith relationship with Jesus is the kind of relationship that will cause your Lizard Brain to lose it’s voice!  As you see what God does when you take those scary steps of faith, what God does when you step out of your comfort zone, then soon what once was fearful, becomes the new normal.

I’m not sure if your Lizard Brain is whispering in the recesses of your brain — if so, you’ll have to decide if you will live by the statement, “if you say so lizard brain” or “if you say so Jesus.  (Sorry you might have to listen to the sermon to figure that one out. :)

Mark records this story of how to follow Jesus call in 1:14-20:

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”   As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake,  for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Be honest, this seems kind of strange right?  This guy Jesus just comes up and says follow me and they drop what they’re doing and go?  Just like that? Immediately?  Seems kind of rash.  If some guy walked up to me and asked me to follow him, I’d have some questions.  Like: Where are we going? What are we going to do?  How long am I going to be gone?  When are we going to leave? Can I keep my stuff?  How is this going to work out?  Where will I end up?  Can I talk to my family about it?

When Jesus comes calling we have all sorts of questions don’t we?  And to be honest, I think the only answer available to us, is the same answer that was available to them, “The time has come,” he said. “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! …Come follow me.”

Now as we read the gospels, we discover that although the disciples didn’t really understand this Kingdom story, they did understand that it was about coming alive.  They believed that the Kingdom of God was the story they had been waiting for all their lives and so when Jesus called, they followed.

Just like that…now.  I wonder what I would’ve done?

My cousin Kevin died last week.  When we were kids, we were pretty close, same age.  I remember all kinds of adventures he and I embarked upon.  From snowmobile rides to selling flowers in his neighborhood, from the ocean at Huntington Beach to riding the pigs on our farm in South Dakota.  Kevin introduced me to ketchup and bologna sandwiches and I introduced him to church camp.

I think he may have gotten the short end of that deal.

See Kevin had a rough past.  His mom and dad divorced when he was young.  His three closest friends died fairly young in tragic ways.  He struggled with alcohol throughout his life.  When his mom died, he and his siblings (a brother and sister) ended up at odds over the inheritance and as a result were not close over the last years.

One year, when we were both still kids — probably 6th or 7th grade or so — Kevin came back to South Dakota (from California) to spend the summer with us on the farm.  In the midst of that summer he came with me to church camp.  I’ll be honest I was pretty excited about him coming — both because we were friends, and because I wanted him to know more about Jesus.  Already at my age I had found that my relationship with Jesus was an important part of my life and I wanted my cousin, my friend to find the same relationship.

Unfortunately when we got to the camp — a fairly conservative, somewhat legalistic camp — the leaders were perhaps more concerned about the length of his hair than they were the needs of his heart.  I think that experience marked his view of Christians throughout his life, in a negative way.

Actually I loved that camp, I liked my church.  My church at that time was of the same personality, fundamental, somewhat legalistic, very conservative.  But my years at that church were — for me, an insider — a positive experience.  But not so much for outsiders, which most of my friends happened to be.

It was just a couple of years ago that I ran across the term “holy discontent.”  In his book, “Holy Discontent” Bill Hybels writes,

I believe the motivating reason why millions of people choose to do good in the world around them is because there is something wrong in that world.  In fact there is something so wrong that they can’t stand it.

As I thought about this term — holy discontent — I realized that my greatest holy discontent was the kind of churches that care more about the people inside than they do the people outside.  My holy discontent is churches that think the most important part of church is what happens inside the four walls on a Sunday morning, rather than what happens Monday through Saturday in neighborhoods, schools and workplaces as we serve our city and love our neighbors.

My holy discontent has led me to have a deep desire to be part of a church that Kevin would love. I think we (Calvary) are becoming that church.  But Kevin will never know.  I guess in a way, if you like Calvary because you have found the people at Calvary to be a people of grace and laughter, a people of generosity and passion, a people who love God but embrace humility — then at least in part, you have Kevin to thank.

His memorial service is next Tuesday.  I’m not sure if I will be there or not… but he will be on my mind.

I could call this post — “The Sweet Waters of Vindication” but it’s also wilderness experience #2 in my series.

There is a story in the book of Numbers about Moses.  I am fascinated by the life of Moses, his was one of those “great potential” followed by “tragic decisions” followed by “wilderness experience” followed by “redeemed potential” followed by “tragic decisions” kind of lives.   Yet in the midst of those cycles he was also one of the greatest leaders the people of Israel ever followed.

So the story — It takes place in the wilderness.  Moses is leading the people from slavery in Egypt to their promised land but the people miss their door of opportunity because they don’t have enough faith to confront the giants in the land.  (Which by the way brings up another wilderness principle: Sometimes the quickest way to a wilderness experience is to run from your giants.) So God decides that the people are going to spend a generation in the wilderness.

Now think about this, put yourself in Moses’ sandals.  You had enough faith to go into the land.  You wanted to go after those giants.  But the people wouldn’t follow you and now you get the same wilderness experience that God is giving to everyone else.

To make matters worse, in the wilderness, the people start complaining about Moses’ leadership!  Like their lack of faith was his fault.  They are murmuring, grumbling and complaining.  You know what I think?  I think sometimes Moses prayed, “Lord the wilderness wouldn’t be so bad without these people!”

So the story — It’s recorded in Numbers 20.  The people are grumbling and complaining about the lack of water.  So Moses goes to God and God gives Moses a plan.   “Moses, I want you and Aaron to go over to that big rock.  I want you to call the people of Israel to gather around the rock.  Then I want you to speak to the rock and water will gush out for the people.

So Moses and Aaron went over to the big rock.  They called all the people to gather around.  Then Moses raised his staff high up in the air and he struck the rock and water gushed out and the people drank.

Mission accomplished, right?  Wrong.  The Lord spoke to Moses, “Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in front of the people, you will not lead the people into the promised land.”  Whoa.  Speak to the rock.  Strike the rock.  Patatoe Pototoe.  What’s the difference?

I remember thinking through this story and asking the same question, “God what is so bad about Moses striking the rock instead of speaking to the rock.”  God brought to my mind the words “the desire for vindication leads to failure.”

Imagine you are Moses.  You don’t want to be in the wilderness.  You are here because of other people’s mess.  Meanwhile you are giving and serving and all you ever get from them is whine, murmur, grumble, whine, complain. Why did you do this Moses?  Why didn’t you do that Moses?  We would be better off if you had left us in Egypt Moses.  What makes you think you are our leader Moses?

Imagine God gives you this opportunity.  All the people of Israel are gathered around you, thousands upon thousands.  The crowd goes way back.  If all you do is speak to the rock, nobody will know the part you played in bringing the people water.  But if you raise your staff up high above your head and then strike the rock…?  What only a few hundred might have heard, tens of thousands might see.  And you will be vindicated.

Everyone will know that you were right.  No one will complain about your leadership, your decisions, your wisdom, your direction.  Your.

God spoke into my heart that day — the sweet waters of vindication will keep you in the wilderness.  The desire for vindication looks like justice, but really it’s a lack of trust in God.  The desire for vindication comes off as good leadership, but really it’s self-centeredness.  The first sip of the sweet waters of vindication taste so good, but ultimately they will leave you empty and alone, missing out on the promise.

So next time God says speak to the rock — obey me behind the scenes, serve me where few will notice — speak. Remember Moses, the waters of trust and obedience are far sweeter than the waters of vindication.