Pain and Praise

I'm headed out this weekend to speak at a retreat for a church where a good friend of mine works as youth minister. I'm so grateful that the Lord continues to use me and the gifts he's given me to further His Kingdom and bless those who are trying to walk with Him.

The theme of this retreat is "Praise You In This Storm." This youth group lost a young woman to murder this past summer. The crime was heinous, brutal and--like all murders--completely unnecessary. Though the retreat was not envisioned with this event in view, the weekend will focus on how to love and worship God in a world that is so enormously fallen.

In preparation for the weekend, I've revisited some of the more painful events from my life and how I saw God and discovered Him anew in the midst of them. One of the best resources for me has been the pen of Philip Yancey. Yancey's work is among the very best of popular Christian literature. I love these words from his book, Disappointment with God:

"Some Christians long for a world well-stocked with miracles and spectacular signs of God's presence. I hear wistful sermons on the parting if the Red Sea and the ten plagues and the daily manna in the wilderness, as if the speakers yearn for God to unleash his power like that today. But the follow-the-dots journey of the Israelites should give us pause. Would a burst of miracles nourish faith? Not the kind of faith God seems interested in, evidently. The Israelites give ample proof that signs may only addict us to signs, not to God."

Good words, I think, for people like me who often want the benefits of God more than they actually want God.

iPods eVerywhere

Apple announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. These six airlines will begin offering their passengers iPod seat connections which power and charge their iPods during flight and allow the video content on their iPods to be viewed on the their seat back displays.

Dang it! I had been telling myself that I could continue to live with my blue iPod mini for many years to come, but now I might have to come off the money to pick up a new video iPod.

My problem is that Apple makes me covet! I was in the store yesterday for a podcasting workshop, and those new, shiny MacBook Pros and iPods just started calling out to me--it's like I'm an addict. The problem is that I don't have $2,700 for new 17-inch MacBook Pro or even the $249 for a new iPod. As a matter of fact, both my iBook G4 and iPod mini are just a little over a year old. But when I'm in the Apple store, I feel like I need new stuff.

That's the problem with covetousness; we will never be satisfied with anything outside of God. We will keep reaching and reaching never to find that ONE thing that we think will cause our straining to cease. And Satan knows it. He promises that the next new gadget, a thinner waist line, the love of that person you've been pining for, a better sex life, or whatever it is for you, will bring you the satisfaction that you desire. It won't! Just like Apple and their introduction of the newest MacBook Pro last month which was an upgrade from the first MacBook Pro that came out in January, the evil one keeps moving the finishing line. There will always be a newer model, and faster mode, but it will not satisfy. Only one thing can: enjoying God and worshiping Him forever.

When God says, "Thou shall not covet..." He's may be saying, "You'd enjoy life a lot more if you could not covet; you're only hurting yourself."

I think that's good advice.
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Wednesday marks my 7th anniversary of serving the Bering Drive Church. There have been ups and downs, joys and deep hurts, but in the end, it has been good for me. Some of the best people I know worship God here. I am honored to know them, to be able to speak to them with grace, and have them love me, my wife, our 2-year-old daughter, and the little girl that is on her way to joining us. Thanks!

So Proud

I'm incredibly excited about another "first" in my life. Though both my wife and I have made our livings using words--both written and spoken--there have been precious few times when we've been able to use words together. Even though when one of us speaks in public, the audience is probably hearing us both, we have never shared the same lectern, podium, or stage.

Well, all that's about to change.

This May, Rochelle and I will be speaking and teaching together at the Pepperdine University Bible Lectures. Though I've been blessed to teach at the lectures several times before, speaking alongside my beautiful wife will be something completely new. And yes, I have joked with Ro about riding on my coattails, but the truth is that she is and excellent presenter and an extraordinarily thoughtful person. In fact, if she had been raised in another faith tradition she likely would have been a preacher and a brilliant one too--just like her father.

At present, we're still kicking around topics for Pepperdine, but we will settle on something by Wednesday I'm sure. The reason I'm sure is because we have to. Dr. Jerry Rushford and his crew at Pepperdine need to print the program soon. So if you have any suggestions, we're more than welcome to hearing them. And if you think I should just sit quietly in the background and let Rochelle teach our classes, well, that's probably a good idea, too.

Scripture Love/Worship

I come from a religious tradition that truly loves Scripture. Well, love might be the wrong word; "worship" might be a more accurate term. This love/worship of Scripture for the church and for the individual has been both a blessing and a curse.

On the blessing side, I grew up learning, memorizing and reciting Scripture. It was important for us to know what the text said. Each Sunday my brother and I, along with all the other kids, would bound into the church building prepared to recite the week's text which had been given to us as a memory verse the previous week. For each properly regurgitated text we would get a star by our names on the bulletin board and the pride that comes along with knowing that we knew something that all the adults told us that we should know. Therefore, by the time I left home for college, I knew what the Bible said. That's the blessing side.

The curse side is that the love/worship of Scripture turns the Bible into a idol. In those same churches that taught me so much Scripture, I--along with scores of others--learned that the Bible was the important thing, and everything else was secondary at best. Everything. Jesus wasn't even the point, except in terms of what the Bible said about Jesus. And don't even get started talking about the Holy Spirit. We couldn't quantify it, so many people within our fellowship held the position that the Holy Spirit was only operative up until we got, you guessed it, the Bible.

Now, of course, I'm not against the Bible, I like the Bible, but I think it would be wise for us realize the text of the Bible isn't the point of the Bible. The Scriptures point to Jesus and the God who sent Him into the world not back to itself. After all, at this point in world events, there have been more Christians in history who worshiped God without the Bible as we know it than have had the Bible, and the church seemed to manage okay.

This week I was lead to think about this as I was reading Bill Willits book, "Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture." Willits writes succinctly, "Biblical literacy is important for people to become lifelong self-learners of the Scriptures and doers of the word. But in and of themselves, I would suggest they aren't the goal."