778 points!  At Calvary we have this thing we call God-stories.  Almost every staff meeting I’ve ever led, or Leadership Team meeting I’ve ever participated in, I will ask the question, “Who has a God-story?”  A God-story is simply a story of God@work.  It might be something you have seen God do for you, or through you…or it might be something you have see God do for or through someone else.  It might be something that God is teaching you, a scripture, idea or conviction that God spoke into your heart.  Because the reality is that when God speaks, He is at work — even today.

I think for some people (maybe even for me) some times, it is viewed as a superficial, or perhaps even tedious, exercise — like I’m asking people to just come up with something, when they haven’t seen God doing any big deal, or haven’t heard him speak.  But what I’m really trying to do is train our eyes and our ears to look for the evidence of God’s presence rather than the evidence of God’s absence.

I believe that God is at work around us all the time but the world has trained us to see ___________ (fill in the blank) our problems, our circumstances, our economic downturns, our diseases, our unmet expectations, as the evidence of God’s absence.  In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus said, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”

I think he meant that there is a way to see the world — and God’s involvement in the world — in such a way that will fill your life with light, and there is a way to see the world — and God’s involvement in the world — in such a way that it will fill your life with darkness.  There is a way to see a 778 point drop in the market which will fill our lives with light, and a way which will fill our lives with darkness.  For example the Dow lost 1.2 trillion dollars in market value today, but did you know that God did not lose a dime?  In fact with full confidence I can say that today’s events are God-stories in the making.

I want to encourage you to look around and ask questions like, Where is God at work?  What is God doing?  What blessing does He want to give to me and give through me?  God what story are you writing in my heart?  What do you want me to do?

Today is one of those days when I’m just loving being a dad…and I’m not even home!  Some of you might be thinking — well of course — it’s easy loving being a dad when you’re in Hawaii — with your wife — without your kids — and feasting your eyes on God’s creation of beauty (that includes Lynn!).  Well okay…that might be the case.  But let me tell you why I’m really loving being a dad today.  I’ll go in order, oldest first.

Sarah: Sarah loves her sister Katy.  So this weekend she sacrificed a little of her money (and a little of mine) and a lot of her time (none of mine) to drive to Minnesota to surprise Katy with her presence (and Lauren’s presence too).  Katy cried.  Today they are at the Mall of America.  I cried.  (Sarah has my credit card.)  Every father loves seeing his kids love each other.

Katy: Katy is the first one of our family to take the big leap and leave home.  Some of you know that’s not exactly an easy thing to do.  She moved to Minnesota to go to college at Bethel University.  Last week she got her first A on a test…psychology.  She’s learning psychology, but she’s also learning about life.  She’s experienced a little bit of homesickness but she’s doing great.  Every father loves seeing his kids gain wisdom.

Jake:  Jake went kayaking this week…on the Youghigany (I know I probably didn’t spell that right, but I’m in a hurry and it’ got a lot of vowels) in the rapids.  You gotta face your fears and be willing to take a risk to do something like that.  He rolled the kayak a few times, banged his head on the rocks a few times, but he made it.  He took the risk, pushed his capacities and came out on the other side with a deeper sense of courage.  Every  father loves seeing his kids grow in courage.

Josh: I was on the phone with Josh this morning at 1:30am (Hawaii time) wishing him well for his football game in the Assemblies of God league.  I hate missing games and this week they played the vaunted silver team.  Two weeks ago silver beat us by 28 points.  Josh called me at half-time (4am Hawaii time).  They were ahead.  Then I talked to him again at 5:30am (Hawaii time) and we had beaten silver.  Josh even threw a couple of touchdown passes.  It made my morning!  And you know what every father loves to see his kids persevere.  Get back up when you fail and go for it again.

Every father — think about this, God is our father — loves to see his kids grow in love, wisdom, courage and perseverance.  And right now, at this moment, I’m loving being a dad.  And it makes me want to give God the same kind of moment.

So all week long — with these pastors from Estonia — we’ve been talking about how to see our lives, and our world transformed by Christ.  Why is that transformation so difficult?  Why is the beautiful journey of becoming like Jesus, such a fight?

In my last blog I talked about the way that our consumer-culture has us looking for the quick fix and transformation is not necessarily a quick fix.  Here’s another potential reason:

2) In a text-message culture, we can loose the art of meaningful conversation. Now the reality is that I don’t have to pick on texting.  I could just talk about the way that we are always connected, our souls are always online, and it simply leaves us with less time to be online with God.  (Maybe I’ll talk about that one tomorrow.)  But texting is a different kind of online — it’s communicating, without communion.  It’s words without conversation.  And it really is changing some of the ways we relate.

Did you know that 10 billion text messages will be sent in 2008 — oops that’s just by the Australians.  I didn’t even know they had cell phones.  (jk)  In fact, it’s estimated that world-wide 2.3 trillion text messages will be sent in 2008, up almost 20% from 2007.  Now the .3 (trillion) comes from four people in my family (Sarah, Katy, Jake and Josh) so I know something about texting.

Now honestly, I enjoy texting, iming, facebook chat…and various other sms opportunities.  Sometimes it’s the only contact I have with my kids.  :)  There are positives.  Texting helps me feel connected.  I don’t have to be alone when I’m alone, if I have my phone.  And those little check-up messages between friends can bring a positive lift to my day.  And when I’m out in public if I want people to think that I have friends I can hold my phone and just hit buttons really fast, pretending to be a world-class text-messager.

But I just want you to consider for a moment, if there are any ways that our text-messaging culture shapes our relationships.  Maybe not, but maybe…  Here’s the point and if you don’t think text-messaging affects you, still hear the point.  Discipleship, transformation, involves a conversation with Jesus.  One time Jesus said, My sheep (meaning my followers, my disciples, those who want to be like me) know me and they hear my voice. Transformation involves a conversation with the one of whom the disciples said, You have words that bring life. Becoming like Jesus involves a conversation that takes time, is deep, requires listening, and meaningful response.

If we want to change, we have to take the time to join Jesus’ conversation.  Do we have the time?

More tomorrow…unless I sleep all day because of jet lag.  :)

I’ve been thinking this morning… Why is it so hard to become like Jesus?  Actually it’s a thot that has come to me in many different ways during the course of this sabbatasizing process.  It’s a thot that could also come under similar headings like… Why is it so hard to change?  or… Crud, why did I do that again?  or… Shoot where did that attitude come from?

This question came to my mind again as I sat for two hours around the dinner table talking to a group of Estonian pastors about the process of transformation in our lives and the lives of people in our congregations.  Our discussion ranged from homosexuality to greed to marriage and family issues to conflict.  But shaping the whole conversation — at least for me — was this question… Why is it so hard to become like Jesus?

Maybe that isn’t your experience…maybe the day you became a Christ-follower…the transformation of your soul was handed to you with a nice bow.  But I gather that for most of us, this was not the case.  On the other hand, my deep, deep heart conviction is that the Jesus-transformation of my soul is possible.  So what makes it difficult?

The next few days I’ll share a few possible reasons…here is the first one.

1)  In a consumer-culture our minds have been conditioned for quick and easy.  We buy products fashioned for quick and easy consumption. Nobody milks cows and  then churns butter, we just to to the store and buy butter.  Go to Barnes and Noble and you realize that authors know that change sells…rows upon rows of self-help/change/personal growth books.  But how many books have titles like “5 Almost Impossible Steps to Becoming a Better Person” or “The Painfully Hard Journey to a Happiness.” or how about “Better Relationships:  If it was Simple Everyone Would Do It.” Then count the books that use words like quick or easy.

But following Jesus — becoming like Jesus — is a hard journey, Gary Thomas calls it The Beautiful Fight. It is not a consumer oriented experience.  It may be a spiritual battle.  It may be like training for the marathon.  It may even be like art — in my case more like sculpting granite, than painting watercolors — but it is not a consumer oriented experience.

If we want to become more like Jesus, we have to want it bad enough to battle for it, train for it, and chisel away for years on end, because of what we see inside.  When it comes to becoming like Jesus, I just wonder if we/I want it bad enough?

Is there any other kind you ask?  Well apparently in Estonia, they think that the only kind of football is soccer.  I told the Estonian pastors that Mike Ditka — former coach of the Chicago Bears — once said that if God had intended for people to play soccer he would not have created arms!  They laughed — a little.

Last week Josh’s team — the Green Eagles — won their first football game.  It was great fun cheering them on and great fun watching my son hit like a crazy man!  They beat the Golden Bears…but here I am in Estonia and Josh is playing at this moment and I can’t be there.  Don’t really like that.  But I keep calling Lynn’s cell phone — thank goodness for Skype’s 2 cents a minute plan from anywhere in the world — for updates.  It’s raining the proverbial cats and dogs there and my team isn’t doing so good.

I don’t usually pray for the weather, so it’s okay if it rains, we probably need it.  But I do find myself praying for sports teams…especially when one of my kids are playing…and they’re behind like they are right now.  I know there are probably dads from the other team who are praying for their sons as well.  I’ll let God sort it out, all I know is that James said, You have not because you ask not. Actually I’m okay if they lose, I just want Josh to play his best and have fun.

There is actually a great deal that we can learn about being a Jesus-follower from sports.  I think when I come back in October I’m going to spend a couple of weeks preaching about the verse that is on our walls… finish the race with joy. I’m pretty sure that if (American) football would’ve been invented in Paul’s day, he would’ve said something like.. play the fourth quarter with great joy!

Anyway… during my sabbatical I’ve been thinking a fair amount about that verse… finish the race with joy. What race does God have for you?  What will it take to not only finish the race…but finish the race with joy?

Wish I could be there Josh…but for now…my prayer is simply finish the fourth quarter with joy!

38.4 million, 37 million, 38.9 million, those are the numbers of people who tuned into Barak Obama’s, Sarah Palin’s, and John McCain’s nomination acceptance speeches.  Obviously a bit of interest in the political arena this year.  For some it’s politics; for others it’s just entertainment.  For some it’s a life and death, good vs. evil, battle; for others it’s a rhetorical farce, that always promises more than it can deliver.

I go back and forth, one day the political process seems really important.  The next it seems more like a sit-com.  Now hear me on this, in my heart of hearts, I believe that Jesus-followers should be involved in every area of life, including politics.  I love what Abraham Kuyper (the theologian/politician — yes that is a potential combination!) once said, “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign,does not declare,’That is mine!’”  Through the years God has used people like Kuyper and Wilberforce to do great good through the political process.

Buuuut… as Jon Ortberg suggests… for a moment, imagine with me a scenario where in one election we elected all the “correct” people (not right because sometimes people on the right are not the correct people) to every office in the land.  President, Congress, governors, all the way down to city council and Penn State trustee board.  Let’s imagine that all those people put into place all the best possible policies, from tax codes to zoning and immigration laws, from crime bills to economic policies.  In one term, we got 100% good government.

Would that usher in the good life?

Would the hearts of the parents be turned toward their children?
Would all marriages be models of faithful love and the divorce rates plummet?
Would greed be legislated out of existence?
Would all athletes become models of character?
Would internet porn go broke?
Would you finally become the woman or man you know you ought to be?

In case you don’t know the correct answer…it’s no. It will take a different administration to see that happen.  That’s what Jesus meant when he said — again and again — Good News!  The Kingdom of God is at hand. Ultimately it’s neither “Country First” nor the hope that “We Can Do It” that will change a life.  It’s the good news of a nearby administration called the Kingdom of God.

So get involved in the political process, from the left or the right. At the very least pray.  But here’s my take-away — in the process don’t take yourself, or your party, or your candidate so seriously.  But take God very seriously.

On Thursday while we were moving Katy into Bethel, I kept running into people from my past.  I played college football with Randy Pate; he has a son who is a freshman at Bethel.  I coached Ron Glazner; he has a daughter who is a freshman at Bethel, same floor as Katy.  Then on Saturday I got befriended on facebook by a high school classmate — that’s one of the great things about facebook, making some social reconnections.  Then Lynn and I spent Sunday night with Jay, Jimmy, BJ, Collin and Mike and some of their wives.  We all played football at Bethel over 20 years ago — not the wives! — and sitting down around the table was like picking up where we all left off.

What a great group…very cool to see how God has used and shaped each one of them over the course of the years.  It was a great night.

So this weekend has me thinking about people from my past, friends, teachers, coaches, people that I laughed with, played with, pulled pranks with, sought God with… I have so many people, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for giving me some of those moments, and for letting God use them to shape me.

So I’m gonna send some letters, or maybe e-mails, or maybe a facebook message or two…just saying thanks.  Who do you need to thank?

Being on sabbatical, I’ve had the opportunity to watch more election coverage than probably any year since college and seminary! It’s been a fascinating few months. The drama between the Clintons and Obama. An acceptance speech in a stadium from the first African-American to ever be nominated as a presidential candidate, and then a day later, the first woman to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate by the republican party. One way or another — come November — history will be made.

Setting aside the issues and looking at the people: As a preacher/communicator, I love to listen to Barack Obama. He is a great communicator and he has hit upon a message that people are hungry to hear — there is hope. When it comes to John McCain, his service for his country and his “maverick” status shape a compelling story. Joe Biden is known as a blunt, straightforward politician but he has dealt with and overcome great grief in the loss of his family. Grief shapes us. And then there is Sarah Palin, fresh on the scene, surprise choice for vp. An athlete, leader of her chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes in high school, loves hunting and fishing, a mother of five — including a son with Down Syndrome, there seem to be some very courageous, elements to her story.

It’s going to be a fascinating 60+ days. But here are some of my political thoughts.

1) Jesus was neither democrat nor republican — Read more…

Wow, for anyone who had started thinking that you would get a daily posting from me… apologies. It’s been a whole week since I last posted. But that doesn’t mean nothing happened! I traveled home from Orlando — a day and a half ahead of tropical storm Fay — where we had a great family vacation. Four month sabbatical and we were only able to find ONE WEEK where we could get everyone together. Can you relate? Anyway…it was a great vacation, I’ll probably post more on that later.

So back to the short version of this last week… I traveled home from Orlando. Celebrated my birthday, by getting a tooth extracted and then going to Waffleshop with my family. Then I spent a day getting school loans and paying school bills. Then Jake & Josh & I built a fire-pit in our backyard for Katy’s going away party. And now I’m sitting in the car with my girls, headed to New York City for three days in the Big Apple (don’t worry Sarah’s driving as I type this).

Three days in New York City with Sarah and Katy, Broadway play, carriage ride in Central Park, Madame Tousade’s Wax Musuem in Times Square, a NYC tour, and lots of shopping. Pray for me. Shopping takes more out of me than mountain climbing and rollercoasters. :)

R.O.I. That’s return-on-investment. You remember a few months ago, a terrible cyclone battered the country where we support some orphanages. (I would rather not use the name — as even leaders in that country can google and I would rather they not read my blog! But if you are from Calvary, you know.) So anyway at Calvary we collected over $20,000 for relief help…in addition our national network of churches collected another $5000 and gave to us to distribute. I just want to give you a small report of how those funds are being put to use.

The funds are being sent to the orphanage and school leaders with whom we work. They in turn are using the funds to buy food, building supplies, seed for new rice crops, and farming machinery. They have been working (and continue to work — months later there is still so much to do and so much suffering to relieve) primarily in two different areas…one area contains seven villages, the second area contains three villages. In area one — extensive work has been done to help the villages plant new rice crops, 4 plowing machines were bought and a very important bridge was built. Without this bridge the people would have been unable to get the plowing machines to the rice fields. This fields required plowing machines to replant the rice because the land has been so contaminated by salt water and dead bodies. The building of this bridge brought out all the people, young and old from the seven villages. The village ruler said, “I’ve never seen all my villagers come together like that in such a great crowd filled with great joy and happiness.” The bridge was dedicated last weekend and one of the orphanage leaders had the chance to tell all the villagers that there is a bridge (Christ) that no storm will ever break.

Teams continue to go into the hard hit areas bringing food, burying bodies, and telling people about Jesus. That offering that we took — the largest single offering we have ever given — is being used in incredible ways…and I know that God is pleased. This is what it means to be a church without walls.
One of the leaders said this in recent e-mails…

I do not know how to thank you all. I could not express my thanks by this letter. However, let me say,” THANKS AND THANKS TO YOU ALL”. Please pass our thanks to those who participate for this projects. Your prayers, Love, Heart and especially the offer you make, you have helped us make the people’s life change from hopeless to great hope and lots of people come to believe Jesus. I praise God that the Lord Himself puts you in the best place for our ministry. I am very proud of you for He uses you to help our people in their most needy time. You save lots of live not only spiritually but also in physical. Please extend my thanks to everyone who support our ministry through you for this special time.

So I know gas costs too much…and oil is going higher as the stock market goes lower…and we wonder if the economy is going in recession, but the bottom line is that we have so much for which to be thankful — not least of which is the opportunities that God gives us to give away, what he has already given us.