Last weekend, all of Calvary’s multi-site gatherings joined at Eisenhower Auditorium on Penn State’s campus.  We gathered to celebrate our unity in Christ.  We gathered to affirm our common mission to reach the next generation.  We gathered to lift up the awesome works of Jesus in our midst.

In Acts 2, as Luke is describing the spiritual atmosphere of the early church, he writes,

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The spiritual atmosphere of the early church had this continuing aroma of awe.  They were filled with awe at the might works of God in their midst.  So we celebrated Jesus’ work in our midst.  We had about 30 people come up and share the titles of God’s works in our midst.  Some of the titles were “Before-After” titles, some where “Problem-Resolution” titles.  Some were very specific.  Some were more general.  But each and every cardboard held a title that represented a work of God that fills us with awe.

The video below doesn’t have all of them…it doesn’t come from the house camera.  The full one will be on our website next week.  But here’s a bit more than a preview.

Thank you so much to all of you who shared, your life by God’s grace, is a trophy of awe.

How’s it going?  How many times have you been asked that question — not counting the times it functions as a greeting — about your life, your business, perhaps even your church.  Whenever I gather with a group of pastors, “How’s it going?” usually refers to church.  How is your church doing?

The question behind the question is simply, “Are you successful?”  Our answer gives shape to our metrics.  For those unfamiliar with the term, a metric is nothing more than a standard of measurement used to evaluate your success in a particular area. There are many common metrics.  Temperature is a common health metric.  Amount of debt is a common financial metric.  Miles per gallon is a common metric used to rate cars.  In a church two of the most common metrics are nickels and noses.  How many are coming and how much are they giving?

But followers of Christ are supposed to be uncommon, right?  If uncommon is our call, then wouldn’t it follow that our metrics would be uncommon?  For the next few blog posts, I want to look at some possibly uncommon metrics.  They could apply to the “church,” but I’m really pondering metrics on the personal, individual side.

My first metric comes from the book of Haggai.  Old book found in the Old Testament.  Haggai was part of our LifeJournal reading last week.  Lynn brought it to my attention.  You should read it, it’s only two chapters, but they contain an uncommon metric.

Have you ever felt like you were working your butt off but never really getting anywhere?  Here is how Haggai put it,  ”

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Wow.  I’ve felt that.  I’ve asked God on more than one occasion, “God we worked so hard, why did we gain so little?”  God continues the conversation with his people,

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.

There is a metric in there, did you see it?  My house remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.  Now please don’t hear what I’m not saying — come fulfill my dreams for Calvary and God will bless everything else that you are doing — that’s not the metric, not what I’m saying.  But…there is a measurable principle here.

It has to do with priorities and passion and it’s a metric for all those of us who feel like we are burning the candle at both ends with little gain in the middle.  There is a labor blessing that comes in those communities where God’s house is prioritized with passion.  So the metric would be how much of my resources, my heart am I investing in God’s house (or whatever is on God’s heart)?

 Sometimes the shortest prayers are the most powerful.  Sometimes our prayers don’t give God much margin to surprise us.

Think about it.  You are on your way to Walmart — it’s September, students are back in town — and you pray, “God please help me find a parking spot.”  Even if he does, honestly does that really blow you away?  Or how about “God if you want me to study, please help me find my book (in the next 45 seconds).”  If he answers that one, you might be more disappointed than surprised.  Lately, you might be praying, “God, please no more rain.”  But again, does the sunny day after that prayer, immediately create a sense of awe and wonder in your heart?  Okay, well maybe that one doesn’t work, sun does fill me with a bit of awe right now, but you get the idea.

I’m not saying that we can’t take the little prayers to God.  We can.  He hears them all.  But I’m just wondering if our faith couldn’t, shouldn’t occasionally have a bit more of an edge to it.  What would it look like if our faith were just a bit more raw?  What if we didn’t put parking space boundaries on our prayers? What if we just prayed, “God surprise me.”

Now… don’t miss the fact that when you pray “God surprise me.”  God might hear you saying, “God interrupt my life.”  God might hear you saying, “God you have permission to dig into areas of my heart that I’ve tried to keep hidden, even from myself.”  God might hear you saying, “Please invite me to dive into something that will overwhelm me, without you.”  God Surprise Me isn’t really a safe prayer.  He might take you at your word.

That’s what I’m praying for the Calvary movement; that’s what I’m praying for our communities, that’s what I’m praying for Calvary on Campus; that’s what I’m praying for myself and those I love.  God surprise me.

I sat outside Eisenhower Auditorium last night and prayed that prayer.  I’ll be there again tonight.  On Sunday all of Calvary’s gatherings will be meeting there, inviting our friends to join us.  I’m asking God to surprise us.  Not all that safe, but it’s what our hearts are longing to experience.

You should come.  Eisenhower Auditorium.  10:30am Sunday September 25.  Who knows.  Maybe God will surprise you.

I’m sitting here on the deck outside my office at Harvest Fields.  I’ve lived in State College for 17+  years and I would argue — with some passionate certainty — that the view from my office is as good as it gets in the Centre Region.  It’s early Saturday — early at least for me — and it’s the kind of morning I love.  On the brisk side, air has zero humidity, could use a bit more sun, but it appears to be present and peaking through a thin layer of clouds.  Mt. Nittany is cut in half by a low cloud, and small flock of geese just deposited themselves in one of our ponds.  (They’ll deposit other stuff later.)

And in the distance I see the city.

Bryce Jordan and Beaver Stadium are prominent, but there’s more.  I can see the water tower up the hill from Hilltop Mobil Home park, a place we have served through the years.  I can see Mt. Nittany Midde School where each of our kids attended and now our foster child does as well.  I can see the hospital where Josh was born and many visits to people in need have been made. Through the trees I can see the general area where my house is and up from that the downtown strip and of course, a multitude of homes… Lemont, Liberty Hill, Willowbrook, Toftrees.

I see the city.

I think sometimes in PA, we forget that the most amazingly beautiful part of creation — in God’s eyes — isn’t the mountains, or the trees, or the way a cloud forms, or geese in a pond.  It’s the people.  Of no other part of creation did God stop and say, “This I will make in my image.”  That’s why heaven begins with a city.  The city of God will be a thing of awesome beauty and majestic grandeur because it will be filled with the epitome of God’s creation.

When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden of Eden, it was viewed as a curse, but the curse had less to do with leaving a garden place, and more to do with leaving God’s presence.  God’s ultimate dream involves drawing us all together in one huge city, where He will live with us.  God’s movement has always been from the garden to the city.

That’s the view from my office every day, from the garden to the city.  It’s a great reminder of God’s dreams for us, for Calvary, for our whole region.  It helps me pray.

This coming week will wrap up 21 Days of Prayer for Calvary.  We have been prayer walking Penn State University and the downtown area.  Asking God to do a great work in the hearts of the next generation.  On Sunday September 25th, we’re inviting the campus to come and join us in worship at Eisenhower Auditorium.  It’s going to be a great day, because from the garden to the city, people are the epitome of God’s creation.

So Pat Robertson did it again.  He made a controversial comment.  Surprise.  Maybe he should write Proverbs 17:28 on his hands — Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

If you were watching the “700 Club” on Christian Broadcast Network recently, you might have heard his words.  They came in response to a caller who said that a friend had begun dating other women while his wife deteriorates from Alzheimer’s, and justifies it by saying that “his wife, as he knows her, is gone.”

Robertson’s response, “What he says basically is correct. I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”  Robertson’s co-host pressed him about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer’s “is a kind of death” and added, “I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you” for choosing divorce in such a scenario.

My grandfather lived his life apart from Christ, but when my grandmother was stricken by Alzheimer’s not only would he not divorce her, he would not even put her in a nursing home.  Words like commitment, loyalty, faithfulness and love shaped his actions far more than words like “guilt trip.”

But even more than the fact that my non-Christ-following grandfather had a better handle on the value of marriage vows than Robertson, I am grieved by Robertson’s calloused view of the church.  In Ephesians 5, Paul compares the love between a husband and wife with the love between Christ and the church.  His instruction, “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

I remember my grandmother pre-Alzheimer’s and post-Alzheimer’s.  When I look around at the church — Christ’s bride — in America, sometimes I think we might be a bit more like grandma post, than grandma pre.  In fact if Jesus addressed a letter to us today, it might start, “Dear Church of Alzheimer’s.” We are a forgetful church.  When you ponder our actions and our responses, don’t you wonder if we haven’t lost our minds?

I can’t tell you how glad I am that Christ loves the church and gives himself up for us.  His love doesn’t end.  He will not give up till we are healed and whole of love and mind.  The problem with Robertson’s comments is that they strike deep into the heart of the gospel.  Jesus died for the church, not because she was intelligent, beautiful, successful or powerful.  Jesus died for the church because he loves her, weak, helpless and forgetful.

Oh yeah, you may be wondering about the “two Robertson’s?”  The other Robertson that comes to my mind is Robertson McQuilken.  If you don’t know his story, read it HERE.  Robertson McQuilken reminds me of the hope of Christ for the church. Pat Robertson…reminds me of why we need it.

Everybody remembers where they were on 9-11-01.  Where were you on 9-16-01? The Sunday after 9-11, 2001 was probably one of the greatest attended Sunday’s in the history of America. The crisis came and people streamed back into church buildgings through the country.  They were looking for answers, looking for hope, looking for God.  Except for a few rare situations, within a matter of weeks, attendance had gone right back to where it had been before…

Apparently many people did not find what or who they were looking for.

This is so wrong…Jesus gave his life so that His church would turn heads, would turn the world upside down, would be the center of attention, drawing the eyes of all those around to see faith and hope and love in a world filled with cynicism, despair, and apathy. That’s what was taking place in the church described in Acts 2:41-47.

Later in Acts 5, the leaders of this little unstoppable force were brought before the Jewish religious/political leaders on charges of Jesus-passion.  “Look at what you have done,” they said, “you have filled Jerusalem with your faith. Then in Thessalonica, they were called “the ones who turned the world upside down.”

What made the difference? After Jesus rose from the dead…he commissioned his followers to be world-changers. In essence he had given them all the information, all the teaching they needed to begin.  But he said, “There’s one more thing you need.  Wait for the Promise. Wait until you are totally immersed in the Holy Spirit and when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power.”

And I’ll tell you as the church gets full of the Holy Spirit, she becomes so transformed that she becomes the centre of attention in a world hungry for faith, hope, love and God.  Think about that for a minute with me.

What is the center of attention in the Centre Region?  Who turns heads in the Centre Region?  What organization would the Centre Region say has the greatest potential to turn the world upside down?  To positively impact and influence the world?

But now bring it home.  What is your center of attention?  Who turns your head?  What organization has drawn your heart and your time because you believe that group has the greatest potential to turn the world upside down?

I believe with all my heart that the bride of Christ, the church of Jesus’ dreams is the hope for our future.
The church alive in the book of Acts is not a one-time novelty.  It is still God’s plan to transform cities and turn the world upside down.  No other organization in the world has the same potential as the church, to give birth to life-giving comments, to eradicate poverty by radically serving the poor, to be a healing bridge across racial divides, to stabilize the economy by permeating the culture with integrity, and a godly perspective on consumerism, to bring life by introducing people to Jesus.

Where were you on 9/16/01?

I remember that I was just driving into the church driveway a little after 9am, for a staff meeting.  I turned the radio on to hear that a plane had just crashed into the WTC. I sat in the car to listen, and within minutes heard that the second tower had been hit by a second plane. I came in and told the staff… before long the phone started ringing, the pentagon, bombs, terrorism.  Someone found a satellite news station and projected it on the screen in our worship room.  I walked into the worship room, the first tower began to slowly crumble.

I will never forget that picture, and many other pictures — snapshots of humanity etched on my mind — a couple holding hands as they jumped, the pentagon on fire, a crater in Somerset, PA, flags all over the place, — 88,000 sold nationally by Wal-Mart on that day — the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace punctuated by the playing of U.S. national anthem, 100’s of people on their knees in prayer at the State College Assembly of God church, a midnight prayer vigil on Old Main with well over a 1000 students.

But — I know this will sound odd — but, the one of the most powerful images I remember from 9-11 was the image of a cell phone.   Plain cell phone, not a smart phone, just a tool of long distance communication.  People on planes and in buildings, people who knew they were not going to see the end of the day, what did they do? What was their last act? They connected.

Barbara Olson called her husband.  Jeremy Glick and Thomas Burnett called their wives before an attempt to overcome the hijacker.  Chris Mills talked to his girlfriend Danielle moments before the tower crumbled.
Mark Bingham received a final message from his wife…left on his answering machine.

They reached out to connect with people they loved…spouses, kids, friends, someone who could hear their last words, and what were those last words? “I love you. Tell my wife how much I love her. Hug my kids for me. Don’t be sad. Take care of our daughter. I love you.”

What we were given on 9-11 — among other things — was an intense momentary image to lead us to the questions like; What is it that carries ultimate value?  Is it the twin towers of financial success and upward mobility? Or is it a relationship with someone you love?  Billions of dollars were lost.  Businesses were damaged beyond hope. Wall Street ground to a halt and yet those things meant nothing.  What really matters?

And for a period of time, some things seemed a little less important to us.  Who cares if the package didn’t get there on time? Who cares if the carpet has the kids’ Kool-Aid stain on it? Who cares if your portfolio has
headed south?  Who cares if your room mate wasn’t quite as cleanly as you?

For a period of time, we hugged our kids a little longer and a little harder.  We made some calls that we hadn’t made for a while…because we just needed to hear their voice.  We cried with strangers and we felt at times a desire to just connect with somebody.  That’s what I remember.

What do you remember?

As we approach the tenth anniversary of 9-11, and in light of the death of Osama Bin Ladin, I’ve been pondering the question, “What happens when a terrorist meets God?”  

Think about this man that so many hated.  He was born in a small middle-eastern country bordering Syria. Born to wealthy parents; educated in the finest university in the country; some suggest that he was next in line to take over the family housing construction business. Yet at some point in his life there was a significant embracing of his heritage, especially his religious heritage. There is good indication that this was passed down from his parents, but we are not entirely sure.

What we do know is that in time he became a zealous follower of his religious heritage, and he began to view the followers of Jesus as dire enemies to that same heritage. He gained the support of religious and national leaders; he began to gather people whom he could influence; and he began to terrorize those who did not have the proper fear of his God.

Christians especially were targeted, tortured, killed.  But not just in his own land, he extended his reach to foreign cities.  Less through his religious convictions and more through his terrorist strikes, he became a household name.  Now we know that he was directly involved in the killing of many innocent people.

But then one day…  as he traveled… to Damascus… intent on the development of a plan to instill fear in the hearts of those who didn’t follow his true way. He had an encounter with God, the one true God.  A terrorist met God.  In his writings he describes it this way,

At noon, along the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. Everyone fell to the ground and I heard a voice speaking to me in Hebrew, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecutng me?” “Who are you?” I asked.  And the Lord replied, “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. Now stand up!  For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant. Tell the world about this experience and about other times that I will appear to you. I am going to send you to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people…”

Perhaps you realize the stinger in the story.  His name was not Osama Bin Laden, his name was Saul. Later his life was so radically re-created that he took on a new name — Paul.  The person who wrote more of our New Testament was a terrorist who met God.  One of the greatest missionaries to ever walk the earth was a terrorist who met God.

I wonder…  shouldn’t followers of Jesus view 9-11 with different eyes?  At the very least, shouldn’t we remember 9-11 with the somber wonder that no one knows what might happen when a terrorist meets God?

A few quotes to begin:

• -Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. (unknown)
• – The more money an American accumulates, the less interesting he becomes.  (Gore Vidal)
• – It is more rewarding to watch money change the world, than it is to watch it accumulate.  (Gloria Steinem)

• – Of course there is a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don’t take much away; so knowledge sort of accumulates.  (Abbot Lowell)

What do you accumulate?  What do you value enough that you not only gather it in, but you hang on to it?  What do you count?  What do you go out of your way to collect?

The picture in this post has gone viral.  It’s even made it to Comedy Central (Tosh.O).  Somewhere along the line it got picked up from my blog or maybe facebook and since then it’s been shared all over the world.  I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve received or how many different captions — some of them are hilarious — it’s been given.  If you want to read a bit more of the story you can click LOST HOME, but for now let me simply say this, my parents were a great example to me of NOT accumulating stuff!

I have a library full of books — hundreds of books in my personal library — and a growing number on my kindle.  But I give a lot of books away.  Same with money, God has blessed us with financial provision but Lynn and I love to give it away as much as we love to spend it.  So what do I accumulate? Probably more than one thing, but one thing I love to accumulate is experiences.  Moments.   Even more specifically what I really love to accumulate is shared moments.

A few weeks ago, I got certified as an open water scuba diver.  I don’t really have a bucket list, but if I had one that would have been on it.  But it was never valuable enough to me, till I could share it with someone. As each of our kids have graduated I’ve taken them on a trip.  Jake decided he would like to go scuba-diving.  What an experience!  But even better — what an experience to share with my son. 

We dove into the deep — together.  We got a bit lost in the deep — together.  We ate at Wendy’s way too often — together.  We got a bit seasick — together.

I think the easiest thing to accumulate is stuff, but it’s also the least satisfying.  The cool thing about about accumulating experiences is that it is not money dependent.  Scuba certification was money dependent, but shared moments are not.  Some of the best experiences I’ve shared with family and friends required absolutely no money whatsoever.

But what it does require is time.  We invest time, to accumulate experiences.  Shared moments. What do you accumulate?

I’m sitting in my hotel room — actually it’s not really mine, I’m just renting it — writing a blog-post on temporary homes.  Makes sense right?  From July 24th to August 28th, I will have spent 8 nights at home, and 27 nights away from home.  First it was a family vacation; last year we only had Sarah and Katy for two days, this year, a whole week!  Then I spent a week away working on my doctoral program in organic leadership development.  Then finishing out our summer vacation with a few days at my folks, a high-school-graduation-celebration trip with Jake, and taking Jake to college.

At the moment I’m on day 9 of 11 straight away from home.  It started on Wednesday the 17th.  I took part in Paul’s memorial service and then drove through the night to get to South Dakota.  It will end on Saturday night the 27th when we drive through the night to get home.  During the last 30+ days my “home” has been a mini-van, various hotels, and my folk’s house.

From Paul’s funeral to sleeping in a mini-van, to hotel rooms, to sleeping on the farm where I grew up, to helping Jake set up his dorm room — his “home” for the next 9 months or so — I’ve been thinking a bit about “home.”  For example I spent zero time decorating my mini-van home and didn’t once consider buying furniture for my hotel “home.”  We did do a bit more decorating and buying of stuff for the dorm room, but I noticed that most of the pictures are pictures of the family home, and most of the furniture was bought to last about a year.

So here’s what I’m pondering, “Where is home?”

The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:13) indicated that one of the characteristics of the heroes of our faith is that they considered themselves foreigners and pilgrims just traveling through this world to their true home.  Peter challenges his friends (I Peter 1:17, 2:11) to live their lives as foreigners on the earth.  In other words, as the old hymn states, “this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through…”

So if I believed — in a way that affected my behavior — that this world is not my home, how would that affect the way I live my life?  How would it affect my spending habits?  How would it affect my priorities?  How would it affect my generosity?  How would it affect my sense of calling?  How would it affect my relationships?  You get the idea.

I do believe that heaven is my ultimate home.  I do believe that heaven is more real than this world, not less real.  I do believe that it’s not about puffy clouds, harps, and an eternal song-fest — the worship will be forever but not the singing!  I do believe that heaven will encompass the greatest life-adventure that any of us can even begin to imagine.

Meanwhile, our activities matter.  Our relationships matter even more.  And when we live with home in our hearts and the end in mind, this short preface to the true story will be even better than we imagined.

Oh yeah, for those who have no idea why I put the picture above in this post…next time.