A friend forwarded me the story of Julio Diaz, the other day. It was first reported on an NPR station. Julio Diaz had a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ended his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he could eat at his favorite diner. But one night a few years ago, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

“He wanted my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,'” Diaz said. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.” The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz said. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?'” Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me, hey, you’re more than welcome. You know, I just felt maybe he really needed help,”

He and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth. The manager came by, the dishwashers came by, the waiters came by to say hi. Diaz said, “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'” “No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz told the teen. The teen couldn’t understand. “But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.” Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?” “Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said. Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. The teen had almost a sad face and couldn’t answer — or didn’t want to answer.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ’cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. But if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.” The teen didn’t even think about it and returned the wallet. Diaz gave him $20 figuring maybe it would help him, but then he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — and it was given. Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.” Diaz replied, “I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”

Sometimes we read of good deeds and we deem them heroic deeds reserved only for a radical few. Uncommon, not normal. What if for followers of Jesus, heroic deeds are the new normal?

Imagine walking with Jesus, it’s only hours before the cross, he has begun to describe for you a series of events that will lead to his death on a cross, his departure from the dreams that have begun to develop in your heart.  You think it’s over.  You can’t see how it will ever be the same.  The dream is dead.  But then Jesus says these words…

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-13

It almost seems like Jesus is saying that it’s better, if he leaves.  The dream need not die because he’s gone, in fact you will see that it becomes an even greater dream.  That’s what Jesus is saying.  Does that stir up your heart?  I wonder how often we settle for something less than greater-than?  How often does less-than become our normal.  Perhaps Jesus wants us to seek a new normal…

This weekend we start a new series at Calvary — Greater-Than — what do those words mean?  Here is what they are not…  they are not words meant to encourage us to “just try harder.”  They are not words describing what is necessary to earn God’s love.  They are not words merely describing our “bigger is better” standards of success.

This “greater-than” call from Jesus is meant to stir our hearts.  They are words of hope spoken to people who felt like their dreams were dying.  They are words of promise to someone looking for a for-sure to build upon.  They are words of calling to those who want to leave a mark.

I invite you to come and spend some time with us the next few months, every weekend… seeking a new normal — greater-than…

Now let me be perfectly clear.  I like winter.  I grew up in South Dakota.  Winter is actually winter in South Dakota.  We canceled school because the snowplows couldn’t get through the drifts. We had two hour delays to allow the students being delivered by snowmobile a bit extra time.  2.8 inches would not have gotten us a 2-hour delay.  I like winter.

I love snow.  I love the way it hangs on a tree and creates this amazing winter-wonderland scene.  I love the coating of white that makes everything look so fresh.  But especially and specifically… I love the way it covers up my backyard.  My back yard is not pretty.  The good news is that it doesn’t look a whole lot different in the winter — minus snow — than it does in the summer.  The bad news is that it doesn’t look a whole lot different in the winter — minus snow — than it does in the summer.  Dirt looks about the same all year-round.

So I like the way that snow covers up my backyard.  The fresh whiteness looks so much better than what it hides underneath.  Here’s the problem with the snow.  I know what’s underneath the snow… and sooner or later the snow will dissolve and I will have to confront the realities of what lies under the snow.  If my hope for a better yard lies in the covering of snow — snow hope — my hope won’t last.  Because snow hope isn’t much better than no hope. Snow hope is a mask.

Most all of us wear masks — at least once in awhile.  The mask wears well for a season — like snow — but sooner or later we find out that snow-hope is no hope.  The mask dissolves and we are left with the realities underneath.  As much as I like winter, I don’t want winter year around.  Sometimes we need a break from working the yard but ultimately I want to play in my yard.  I want health in my soil, growth in my grass, and a few less weeds.  So ultimately I want to work — or at least I want somebody to work — my yard.  Can’t do that with snow on the ground, anymore than my heart can be worked on when I’m wrestling to hang on to my masks.

It can be a scary moment when we get unmasked with others or with God…but the cool thing is that when we unmask and find out that we are still loved, the transformation begins.  It’s not about working harder to please God, it’s about trusting God to work in me.  That’s hope.

Part of the heart of the community we want to develop at Calvary, is to be a community where we can safely unmask to partner with others in the amazing business of hopeful transformation.  Enjoy the snow, just don’t put your hope in it’s ability to transform.

Embracing failure?  Right.  I don’t know many people who like to fail.  I don’t.  I try to keep it at arms length, not embrace it.  We don’t even want to admit failure let alone embrace failure.  Time and again, the fear of failure ranks as one of those top phobias.  Yet an organization filled with people afraid to fail will rarely accomplish anything truly good.  So here are a few random thoughts about failure.

1) Failure is one of our greatest teachers in the school of experience.  Sometimes failure teaches us about our strengths — at least what they are not!  Sometimes failure gives us a new perspective on a strategy.  Sometimes failure teaches about perseverance.  What have you learned lately from a moment of failure?

2) Almost always failure teaches us about our need for community.  Mac Lake writes, You see failure without a mentor can be disastrous but failure with a mentor leads to development. For example look at the story of John Mark.  He failed in his missionary assignment with Paul.  He quit.  (Acts 13:13)  A few years later this failure caused Paul to reject Mark as a team member on a second missionary journey. But Barnabas (Mark’s mentor) would not give up on Mark.  He left Paul to mentor Mark and that mentoring ultimately paid off because years later Paul told Timothy, “Send Mark because he is valuable to me.”  Who do you have in your life to help you walk through times of failure?

3) Back to perseverance… I love the proverb (Proverbs 24:16) Though a righteous man fall seven times, he rises again. This seed of wisdom redefines failure.  Failure is not falling…it’s quitting.  If there is one thing that God has been planting deep in my heart over the last decade — it’s hope.  Because hope is the result of perseverance.  Where is God using failure in your life to plant hope in your heart?

4) Failure reminds me that I’m not God.  I can’t be perfect and I don’t need to be perfect, because God never fails and the amazing thing is that by grace, he can do more through my failures than I ever dreamed I might do through my successes.  Have you ever seen God do something amazing through your failure?

5) Failure inevitably brings critiques.  If you are not of my generation or older, you may not realize that Billy Graham faced an overwhelming amount of criticism as he followed God’s calling.  From religious fundamentalists to mainline liberals, he was often the target of demeaning and harsh criticism.  In the book “Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham” the authors suggest that one of Graham’s leadership secret was that he turned his critiques into coaches.  Ponder that for a moment and ask yourself, “How do I respond to my critiques?

Failure is not to be feared — though it’s best not to fail the same way multiple times!  Embracing our failures can lead to some of our greatest seasons of growth.

I’ve had a virus the last two weeks.  No I’m not talking about the reason why I keep clearing my throat. It’s a computer thing.  Have you ever had a virus?   I’ll be honest, I felt a bit violated.  A computer virus is not a simple freak of nature, unaware that it’s hurting someone, simply intent on living.  A computer virus is an intentional attempt by someone to do you harm, to steal value from you, to use you for it’s own purposes against your will, to gain at your expense.  Someone wrote it for you.  In the hopes that you would get it.

My particular virus was the nasty alureon.h virus.  It comes with all sorts of descriptors — rogue software, malacious malware, browser hijacking, trojan, back-door, and illegitimate advertising.  It took over my communications and blocked me from websites that held the solution to my problem.  It was impervious to my normal spyware, antivirus protection.  They could see it, just couldn’t fix it.  Worse of all — it was a rootkit, which means it gave it’s maker privileged access to my computer.

I googled and downloaded and tried various solutions, until finally I kaspersky-ed it.  I think I’m clean.

So what’s the point?  It reminds me of sin.

I think we tend to think of sin as something like a cold.  You catch it, can’t help it, not really you’re fault, have to wait it out.  You didn’t go looking for it and nobody tried to give it to you.  It just happens sometimes.

But I think sin is perhaps a bit more like a computer virus.  Someone created it.  They want you to get it.  They hope that when  you get it, they can benefit at your expense.  It can be hard to get rid of it, even though you know it’s there, but you better not leave it there because as long as you have it, the creator of it, has privileged access to your heart.  Sometimes it takes time.  Sometimes sin is more than just a surface annoyance redirecting your eyes to useless websites, sometimes it gets into your very registry affecting the way you start up.  You need someone who knows what’s in there to take out what doesn’t belong.

But the good news is — it can be done.  The tools are things like confession, prayer, communion, the Holy Spirit, the Word, the cross of Christ and people.

If you know you have a virus, dig it out and don’t stop till you know it’s gone.  It doesn’t take 50 viruses to wreak havoc on your computer.  It’s the same with sin.

So last weekend Calvary hosted it’s 10th Leadership Advance.  An amazing group of young men and women gathered for 40+ hours to listen for the voice of God speaking into their lives.  They did personal assessments, team-building (or some would say team-destroying) initiatives, a group project and listened to some messages on how God has shaped them for a great purpose.

I love Leadership Advance.  I love seeing the way God has shaped someone.  I get excited when the lights come on in someone’s heart in those aha-so-this-is-what-God-is-doing moments.  I love watching God take something good and aim it toward something great.  Sometimes all it takes is a touch, a word, a nudge to get someone moving in the right direction. In fact, I would say that the best things that happen at Leadership Advance are the slight redirections of a life. A 2 degree shift in direction — over the course of a lifetime — will take you to whole new worlds.

I guess that’s why I love this youtube video…

So I know what you are asking…what in the world does that have to do with Leadership Advance or discovering our calling? Well two years ago, HKBecky put a video on youtube of two cats playing around — the pattycake video. In two years it’s received over 1.3 million views — not bad for a video of cats. Then JustinCElliott took that video and he and has friend added a voice over — that’s all — nothing substantially different. In two months his video received over 7 million views!

Just a word or two added to what was already good, just a slight change of plans added to an okay plan, just a half-twisted new perspective on something that’s been around for awhile and all of a sudden your on a whole new trajectory. Do you know that if a rocket to the moon were to blast off from Cape Canaveral and be just 2 degrees off in it’s trajectory… it would miss the whole moon by 11,121 miles.

So what is it in your life that could use a 2 degree shift? What do you have that while good, with a bit more time, effort, a new look…might become great? Where is your life headed in the wrong direction? Maybe it seems like coming back is insurmountable, maybe all it takes is a 2 degree shift and some time.

A former Calvary attender who works for ESPN turned me to this feature produced by a colleague of his.  Suicide is sometimes the unspoken tragedy, but the reality is that it and the depression that at times leads to it need to be acknowledged in a way that leads to conversation, empathy and life.  I’ve dealt with far too many suicides over the course of my years of ministry, silence doesn’t help.

Click the link below — It’s a very compelling story about a college student that attempted to take his own life that is now speaking to students encouraging them to share concerns/issues they’re having.  It’s just a quick reference in the video, but it so clearly communicated to me the message that God — that God’s love is greater than our depression.

Click Jordan Burnham’s Story and listen to the story.

New Year’s Eve leads into New Year’s Day — reflection leads to resolution. In a way resolutions are a statement of hope. But for the most part we have lost the art of — or perhaps we’ve just lost the heart for — resolutions. Why? Perhaps because we have failed at our resolutions so many times, that we have lost hope.

You know what I’ve found? I’ve found that we can can be pretty persistant about stuff we value if we have hope that our persistance will pay off. Like the other day…you know, I’ve been on trying to get in shape (okay thinking about trying to get in shape) so the other day I was downtown, and I went past the Dunkin Donut shop. They aren’t Krispy Kreme but they aren’t bad and their coffee is good. So I’m driving downtown and thinking “A cup of coffee and a hot doughnut would really hit the spot.” But then I remembered my shape. So I said a prayer, “God, if you wnt me to stop for a doughnut,
let there be a parking place right in front.” Sure enough, the 7th time around the block…my hopes were realized.

Just kidding. I didn’t even go in and I don’t think God has promised me Dunkin Donuts. But I do believe that God has made promises. I believe he has made promises to me, and he’s made promises to you. I believe he’s made promises that involve our community, our region, our church.

In other words, God has made some resolutions. For many of us there’s not much difference between a wish and a New Year’s resolution. But when God makes a resolution, it’s not a wish, it’s a promise. God is the all-time great resolution maker and promise keeper. What God resolves to do. He will do. If God resolves it, it will happen. Here are some of God’s resolutions, they all involve you so just fill in the blanks with your name.

Be it resolved… Nothing will ever be able to separate _____________ from my love.   Romans 8:31-39

Be it resolved… I will never allow ____________ to be tested beyond what ____________ is able.  I Corinthians 10:13

Be it resolved… I will never leave or abandon ____________. Hebrews 13:5

Be it resolved… The good work I have begun in ___________, I will finish it.   Philippians 1:6

Be it resolved… If ____________ keeps on asking, I will answer.  Luke 11:5-10

Now those resolutions could be the start of pretty good year.

Sociological bean-counters report that now barely one in three of us continue to make the traditional New Year’s Resolution. And of course of those who still make them… our success rate is on the low side. Is it any wonder??? Midnight strikes and we vow to lose twenty pounds; midnight strikes and we vow to rise an hour earlier in order to exercise; midnight strikes and we vow our commitment to a new spiritual discipline. We make an every day promise, a never-always promise — then suddenly we realize a whole year of every day — always — never stretches out ahead of us. No wonder resolution-making is falling by the wayside.

Recently I read this question from another author, “…what if we looked at the New Year as a sea of possibilities, instead of an ocean of responsibilities?” Now nothing against responsibilities, we all have them and our success in life is shaped by how we respond to them… but that statement is leading me toward making a Bucket-List for 2011.

The Bucket-List was popularized recently by the movie of the same name with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  The idea is to create a list of things you want to do before you die, before you kick the bucket.  It’s more of a “possibilities” list than it is a “responsibilities” list.  So — not hoping to die by 2012 — but here is my first draft of a 2011 bucket list.. (not necessarily in order of priority).

1) Lay out by a campfire at Bald Eagle State Park and spend a few hours being amazed by the stars.

2) Spend three days alone with God — no tech stuff, just my Bible and a notebook.

3) Read through the whole Bible.

4) Surprise Lynn with a trip to somewhere she has never been.  I know I’ll really have to work at the surprise part, since she reads my blog.

5) Take a great family vacation with the WHOLE family.

6) Make a sacrificial gift.  One that makes me shake my head like Are you sure we should do that God?

7) Read a good biography.  I don’t read many of those, but I need the inspiration and the modeling that comes from looking at someone’s life in-depth.

8) Go Scuba Diving.

9) Plan (with Lynn) and start a new family tradition.

10) Share my faith, one on one with someone in State College.

11) Take at least 12 media Sabbaths.

Rough draft…might add or subtract…but it gets me somewhat excited about the new year.

New Year’s Resolutions. Most of us have quit making them, because we can’t keep them, right? I recently read a list of the Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions That You Can Accomplish. You might want to put one or more of these on your list…

10. Gain weight. 10 to 30 pounds—whatever you feel like you can do.
9. Avoid exercising. It’s fruitless; you die anyway.
8. Watch more TV. You haven’t been wasting enough time.
7. Do not believe politicians.
6. Break at least one traffic law this year.
5. Get further in debt.
4. Spend more time at work—surfing the internet.
3. Feel really bad about your faults, but don’t do anything about them.
2. Do not date any cast member of “Gray’s Anatomy.”
1. Procrastinate more. Start tomorrow.

The reason most of those would be easy for most of us…is that they would not involve change. A resolution is nothing more than a step on the journey of change. So what do you want to change?

A pastor was telling the story of his grandfather. Left motherless with an alcoholic father in the last decade of the nineteenth century, his grandfather grew to only five feet two inches, yet he earned the nickname “The Biggest Little Man in the Company.” He was elected Sunday school superintendent more years in a row than anyone else before or since. He went into business with his best friend, who ran up thousands of dollars of debt during the Great Depression, then disappeared. He didn’t sue. He worked off the debts, then sold the restaurant and barely broke even. When his friend returned to town, people asked him how he would treat the man. He said, “I’ll treat him like he never went away.” He buried two of his children. It broke his heart and cracked his spirit, but it didn’t shake his faith.

People asked him about his recipe for successful Christian life. He always responded with characteristic humility and very little detail. The details he did give faded with age, and I remember him only from age eighty on. So it was years before I discovered the secret. The box in the attic was dusty, the cardboard faded. I wiped the lid with a dust rag before I ever touched it. I lifted the lid and found a second box containing many brittle pages. The first was dated December 31, 1958, several years before my birth. I recognized his familiar penmanship, classically trained in the days before teachers distinguished between printing and cursive. It said: “Resolved, to be a better person on December 31, 1959, than I am today through prayer, Bible study, and service to my fellow man.”

I lifted the sheet and began to read the next one. It was dated December 31, 1957. It said “Resolved, to be a better person on December 31, 1958, than I am today though prayer, Bible study, and service to my fellow man.” I turned to the third page. It was dated December 31, 1956. It carried the identical message. I quickly thumbed through the rest of the stack. The bottom one was dated December 31, 1899.

Fifty-nine years of the same resolution. Fifty-nine years of single-minded resolve. Fifty-nine years of perseverance, an undying passion to become God’s man, step by step. The real resolution in that grandfather’s life was simply — don’t quit. Here is the resolution principle — Perseverance makes failure a learning experience.

If you had one resolution, what would it be?