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Has My Arm Lost Its Power?

March 31, 2011 in Action, Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 2 Comments

Have you ever asked a really dumb question?* I’m not talking about totally random or off-topic inquiries. I’m talking about straight up Dumb & Dumber-type questions.** These are the kinds of questions that, if we would only take a moment to think – to remember – the answer would be painfully obvious to us.

I had one of these moments a couple nights ago as the very first purchase offer came in on the house that my wife and I are trying to sell. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that the offer was a lowball. We’re talking, like, a grounder. Like a “4-year-old-swinging-at-a-t-ball-but-hitting-the-tee-and-the-ball-plops-forward-barely-in-play-but-the-coaches-yell-’RUN!’-anyway-because-they-feel-bad-that-the-kid-can’t-hit-anything” kind of lowball offer. It was a stressful and emotional evening as my wife and I talked through the options and looked at all the financial implications. No matter how things panned out, we would be taking a hit. And at the heart of the matter was one simple question:

“Will God provide for us?”

Silly question.

I was reminded of exactly how silly this question is as I read in the book of Numbers the very next morning. After being miraculously delivered from slavery, the Israelites turned into a bunch of malcontents while being led through the desert wilderness, and the following scene ensued in chapter 11:

“18 You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. 19 And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. 20 You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

21 But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’ 22 Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”

At this point, I picture God half-laughing, half-rolling his eyes, half-ready to wipe them off the face of the earth.***

God’s response in verse 23 is perfect: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!’”

Needless to say, the Israelite camp was overrun with quail for the next month.

As of this moment, I don’t know if our counter-offer on the lowball has been accepted. I don’t know if/when our house will sell and for how much. When I start looking at all the have-nots and all the numbers in front of me, I have no idea how everything is going to work out.

But I do know that God’s arm has not lost its power. The same God that flooded the desert with quail; the same God that fed over 5000 people with just a few loaves of bread; the same God who has the power to conquer the grave; this same God is more than capable of providing for my needs. That is where my peace, confidence, and joy lies.

Are you trusting in his mighty arms today?

_______

* I was a high-school English teacher for 10 years, and yes, there ARE such things as dumb questions.

**

*** Yes, I know that makes three halves. That’s trinitarian theology, right?

It’s In The Embrace

March 24, 2011 in Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 1 Comment

A few nights ago I was in one of those moods. Tired, grumpy, impatient. I can assure you that I am not a pleasant guy to be around when I get like that. I don’t want to talk, I get angry at the most trivial things,* and I am hardly considerate of the feelings of those around me.

Of course, when I get like this I am well aware of the fact that my attitude stinks. Grumpiness, however, is a downward spiral; there is nothing I can do to make myself happy, to give myself more patience, to turn my frown upside down.

But my daughter can.

As I sat on the couch, wallowing in self-pity, Elysia somehow recognized my helpless estate. She gently walked up to me, crawled up into my lap, curled into a little ball, and just rested there. As I put my hand on her back, she looked up at me with a glow in her eye and a smile that exuded peace and contentment…and I melted. What I was helpless to do, despite my knowledge and best efforts, Elysia did for me. Her happiness made me happy. Her peace made me peaceful.

In the Old Testament, we are reminded continually of this truth on a much grander scale. God set up the Levite clan as His priests, and the book of Leviticus outlines the very detailed rules and regulations that must be followed with regard to priesthood and worship. Despite the lengthy requirements that these priests were given to follow, they were continually reminded that following the Law is not what set them apart. They were set apart because God set them apart. They follow the Law because they are set apart.

The word “holy” actually means “set apart.” When God set the Levites apart as priests; when he set the Israelites apart from all other nations, he made them holy. This holiness could not be attained by any right action, by any amount of will power, by any thing of themselves. They needed a holy God to make them holy. In chapters 21-22 alone, the phrase “I am the LORD, who makes [them] holy” is repeated six times. God reminds them consistently where their holiness comes from.

Like an embrace from a loved one can melt a hardened heart, so it is with our souls. Only by the Spirit of God living in us, working in us, and embracing us are we made holy. Let’s learn to live in that truth and fall deeper into the arms of the One who sets us apart for His glory.

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* i.e. My 5-year-old daughter asking for help getting her seatbelt buckled is obviously a deliberate attempt on her part to manipulate me, and a direct attack on my patience.

3 of Me

March 23, 2011 in Personal with 11 Comments

Let’s trade. Here are 3 random facts about me. Leave a comment and give me one about you.

  1. Most overused Halloween costume: I dressed up as one of these guys for two years in a row.
  2. Favorite Val Kilmer character: Doc Holliday in Tombstone. “I’m your Huckleberry.” Classic win.
  3. Best Girl Scout Cookie: I don’t care what you call them, but Caramel deLites / Samoas / “those sticky, striped, coco-nutty ones” win hands-down. I’m willing to fistfight over this.

So how about it? Care to fight me on the cookie thing or one-up my Val Kilmer play?

The Top 5: Best Moments of the Weekend

March 20, 2011 in Entertainment, Faith/Hope/Love, Personal, Top 5 with 4 Comments

1) “Mommy, yesterday was the best day ever. We had all those friends over and got to play Star Wars outside all night.”

My son, Evan, woke us up with this statement at 6:00am. Last night we had some friends over for dinner. 8 kids, light-sabers, Nerf guns, Ale 8,* and turkey burgers. Best day ever? Maybe, Evan. Maybe.

2) Sunday mornings at Clear Fork.

Our church recently launched a small “campus” about a 90 minutes southeast of where we are in Winchester, KY. That is 90 minutes up into the mountains, amidst some of the poorest, most isolated people in the entire nation. And this little church is amazing. The setting is beautiful, especially on a sunny spring day like today. The people are so down-to-earth and excited. They cook our faces off every weekend we’re up there.** Going with the family up there is a day trip, but it is one of the most refreshing experiences of the month.

3) UK Basketball

Ok, admission here. I’m a newbie to this UK thing. I’ve actually never been much into college hoops. My NCAA b-ball experience has been limited solely to March Madness office brackets. Living in Michigan meant I rooted for U of M and Michigan State, but I never really had a dog in that fight. But Wildcat country down here is nuts. Straight up B-A-N-A-N-A-S. I’ve eased myself in during the regular season, but those first two UK games of the tourney were thrilling. I could really start to enjoy this. Continue Reading…

The Heath Ledger Effect

March 15, 2011 in Action, Entertainment, Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 3 Comments

Ok, so hear me out on this one…

Americans are obsessed with “the next big story.” It’s only a matter of time until the next celebrity meltdown that will bring intrigue and condemnation and glad-it’s-not-me-isms to our water-cooler conversations.* (i.e. “Did you see that Charlie Sheen interview? Sweet Onion Teriyaki!!!** Is he nuts, or what!?!?”). The media tries to spin these stories all the time, whether they exist or not, and we gobble them up like a turkey.***

What often gets lost in our fascination with these sensational, too good/bad to be true, almost hyperbolic stories is that fact that similar events are happening every day. Yes, they might not be as dramatic or high profile, but they are no less significant. For example, for every Heath Ledger or Michael Jackson overdose, there are thousands of young people who are slowly ruining their lives, and the lives of countless others,  because of prescription drug addictions.

The former allows us to criticize comfortably from a distance, while the latter forces us to confront a pervasive present reality. The former allows us to watch events unfold from afar, the latter forces us to wrestle with hard truths and immediate needs.

And so it is when a major tragedy strikes. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan is a gigantic news story being covered non-stop by dozens of media outlets. It is impossible to escape the images and stories. We are flooded with pleas to donate to relief funds. The same was true for the earthquake in Haiti. For Hurricane Katrina. For 9/11.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with any of any that. It’s great. It’s necessary. Please be clear on that: I am not criticizing the response of the media or of the general public to this tragedy. I am thankful that we are able to respond in the way that we do. I have already blogged about some great moments in this response, and will probably do more in the future.

But I wonder in some ways if this is just “the next big story” for us. We talk with friends and family about the tsunami and the latest video footage. We stare in awe at the destruction, silently thankful that it is not happening to us.**** Some of us may go so far as to use a cell phone to text in a donation to the Red Cross. Others may not. Regardless, we are moved, if only momentarily.

So if that’s the big story that captivates us every once in a while, what is the more pervasive present reality?

  • How about the reality that 30 children in Africa die of AIDS every hour? (That is 720 children dead every day, 5,040 every week, or more than 250,000 every year).
  • How about the reality that, due to a lack of clean water, 3.5 million people die every year from a water-related disease?
  • How about the reality that 1 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year?

I am not trying to throw blame around on the media or on anyone else here. I’m just struggling with this right now. I am as much at fault for a lack of action as anyone else. I would like to change. I would like my life to count for some kind of difference-making action.

To be honest, I don’t even know how to end this post. There is no closure. There is only a pervasive present reality that this world is broken and in need, and that those of us who have the resources to help, by the sin of omission, too often do nothing.

I would really love to hear your thoughts/comments on this one. Agreement, criticism, whatever.

Thanks, Rob Murphy, for challenging me with this one.

________

*Question: do offices still have water coolers? And if so, do people really stand around them and shoot the breeze?

**Lost on my new “astonishment lingo”? See here. I’m still hoping it catches on.

***This is a superb analogy, because it works on so many levels. We gobble up turkey dinners…turkeys gobble…I could go on…..Well, actually, that might be about it, but the simile is still as solid as these guys ——–>

****See Paragraph 1, Line 2: “glad-it’s-not-me-isms.”

Make It Real

March 13, 2011 in Action, Entertainment, Personal with 1 Comment

At dinner a few nights ago, my 7-year-old son told us that he wanted to make his own laptop, complete with a mouse and printer and everything. We asked how he intended to do this, and he explained that he only needed paper and some glue.

“And a Make-Real-Inator!” added my daughter, Elysia (5).*

After dinner, Evan cut some paper, labeled the printer, drew the keys, and added a two-button mouse to the rig. For the rest of the night, he sat at the table pretending to draw and print pictures. He even “went” to starwars.lego.com to play some games.** This new laptop has provided him with hours of entertainment over the past few days. In fact, his sister was so intrigued that she made one, too. As did the the 3-year-old girl my wife was babysitting. And then they made my father-in-law a laptop and an iPod for his birthday.

An imagination and a little bit of hard work was all Evan needed to see his vision come to fruition. Sometimes, an imagination is the very best Make-Real-Inator of them all.

Parents, don’t ever let your kids stop imagining and dreaming. They will amaze us.

What about you? When was the last time you let yourself dream? Have you given up on making your dreams real?

Don’t wait for someone to invent a Make-Real-Inator. Just get a pen and some paper*** and let your imagination run wild. Have fun with it!

_____________

*For those of you who did not immediately chuckle at her Phineas & Ferb reference, you have some homework to do.

**This, actually, was the motivation behind the project: we don’t let them play video games on weeknights, and he wanted the freedom to so whenever he wanted.

***iPads are the new pen & paper.****

****Wives, getting an iPad for your husband could be the first beautiful step in allowing him to dream big. (You’re welcome, husbands!)*****

*****Husbands, if you learned anything from this blog, it’s that you don’t need an iPad to be your Make-Real-Inator. All you need is your imagination, a pen, and some paper. (You’re welcome, wives!)***

They Won’t Let Me In

February 28, 2011 in Entertainment, Personal with 3 Comments

Here is my short film/video blog, documenting my time at the Academy Award Red Carpet show….from afar: “They Won’t Let Me In.”

 

A Picture is Worth One Word

February 26, 2011 in Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 7 Comments

Earlier this evening, a friend of mine posted the following picture on Facebook with a one-word caption:

“Forgiveness.”

Any parent or sibling can look at this picture and immediately imagine one of any number of situations that took place in the two minutes leading up to this photo. ”But, she stole my Barbie!” “But, she put the pants in the dress drawer!” “But, she said that pink is ugly!” Not sharing and/or name-calling and/or hitting and/or screaming most likely ensued.

We know this all too well. The wee ones fight, the parents intervene, apologies are forced.

Forgiveness happens.

In childhood, this fact is simply understood. When someone apologizes to you, forgiveness happens. The apology often comes with attitude, and a do-over may be required.* The receipt of said apology may also be reluctant, and often carries a tone of concession. “That’s okaaaay.”

Yet, isn’t that how forgiveness works? It’s about concession, submission, and letting go. For a child, saying “that’s okay” means you are giving up your right to hit back, to whine, to tattle, to name call. Saying “that’s ok” means you move on. It means you are friends again.

Parents, we can learn a lot from our kids. We expect them to forgive grievous hurts*** on a moment’s notice, but we hang onto similar offenses for weeks. Months. Years.

Here’s what I love about the picture: one girl wears a huge smile, while the other is resting firmly, yet almost reluctantly, on her shoulder. I’m not sure who is forgiving whom. Asking forgiveness and the act of forgiving can both be difficult, humbling experiences. Receiving forgiveness and the act of forgiving can both be moments of joy and freedom. Weeping and smiling are both acceptable reactions. For all parties involved.

When was the last time you experienced that freedom? What are you holding onto right now that is preventing you from having a smiley embrace?

 

__________

*Up to 3 do-overs are usually allowed before additional penalties are enforced upon the unrepentant party.**

**House rules apply.

***To a four-year-old, saying “You’re not my friend!” qualifies as a grievous hurt.

 

Pull the Perfect Shot

February 24, 2011 in Coffee, Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 1 Comment

I am spending the week in San Diego at the Ivy League Barista Academy to learn all the in’s and out’s of starting up a coffee business. Today, we got our first real look at the art/science of “pulling a shot” of espresso. This is the heart and soul of any specialty coffee business. This is where you make it or break it. The quest for pulling the perfect shot is what every barista is after  - kind of like coffee heaven – though they will all acknowledge that it can never quite be attained. See, there are so many factors that can ruin the extraction, resulting in a poor shot of espresso. To name a few: dose, grind, amount of water, brew time, tamp pressure, water temperature, and water pressure, to say nothing of the roasting process and the coffee bean itself.

If any one of these factors is out of whack by even the slightest margin, the espresso will be tainted; in essence, the shot is ruined. Successful baristas have a specific set of actions that they follow to pull the perfect shot: they adjust the grind, level out 14 grams of espresso, tamp with 30-40 lbs. of pressure, (don’t let the tamper get wet), give a quarter-turn, retamp with 10-20 lbs. of pressure, (don’t let any grinds get in the portafilter gasket), and then pull the shot. It is a process of constant action and adjustment. Ultimately, though, “the perfect shot” is nothing more than a Grail Quest: it will never be attained.

Serving an espresso certainly has an element of art to it, but it clearly is a science. Do this. Don’t do this.

I think that, too often, Christians try to operate under the same principles. We treat heaven like the perfect shot, as if going to heaven was somehow the point of our lives. If we can simply follow a specific set of actions, making minor adjustments where necessary, we will get there. Read your Bible, go to church, (don’t cheat on your spouse), give a little money here or there when you can, (don’t swear publicly or smoke or drink too much), recite a prayer at mealtime. Golden.

The only problem with that is pretty much the whole Bible.

Chasing heaven by trying to put together a life full of the right actions is like chasing after the perfect shot. It just won’t happen.

Scripture makes it clear that we can never, ever, do anything to earn our way to heaven. Salvation is not a science. To think that we can ever possibly earn heaven by following a checklist totally negates the need for a savior. Have you ever read any of the Old Testament Law? Or Jesus’ sermon on the mount, for that matter? “Don’t even look at another woman lustfully.” “If you get angry at your brother, you have already committed murder in your heart.” Good luck keeping that checklist. The law exists so that we can realize how utterly helpless we are to keep it.

No, we need a savior.

And therein lies the beauty.

In life, the quest for that perfect shot – the longing for heaven – is not a matter of science. It’s not up to us to make all the right steps and adjustments. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. But He gives it. All we need to do is to follow Him. Yes, it’s a sacrifice to follow Jesus, no doubt. But it is a journey full of grace and peace and joy and hope. There is no science to this. Just follow Him. It will get messy, confusing, and scary, but it’s the only way. And in doing so, in following Christ, we find that the perfect shot was already pulled 2000 years ago, and that everyday we get to taste and see that it is good.

 

 

 

If You Brew It, They Will Come.

February 3, 2011 in Coffee, Faith/Hope/Love, Personal with 3 Comments

Last night our church had Wednesday small group meetings for all of our adults and teens. I went up there for kicks to serve some coffee and meet some people. A very kindly and reputable young woman* brought a pound of french vanilla decaf over to me asking if I would brew it up as a special request for her group of ladies. “Sure thing,” I said.

Anything for the ladies.

“You’ll want to brew two pots,” she demanded very, very nicely.** “Trust me. My ladies love this stuff.”

Now, I’m not a huge fan of flavored “specialty” coffees; I prefer to let the bean speak for itself. But let me tell you something: Ladies Love French Vanilla more than they love Cool J.***

The aroma of that French Vanilla blend quickly filled the lobby, and soon wafted into the sanctuary where a few hundred people sat watching a teaching video together. After 65 minutes, I had brewed through the entire pound of coffee. Women kept wandering up to the counter in a daze, asking what that amazing smell was, and if they could please have some. Even non-coffee drinkers found their way to me and, despite unsuccessful previous encounters with “the black stuff,” asked me to pour them a cup. They were captured by the aroma, and it was irresistible. The scent drew them in, and they wanted to taste and see what this was all about. Continue Reading…

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