Friend of God

This past weekend, I had the privilege of officiating at my cousins wedding at Belknap Hot Springs in Oregon. The hot springs and the gardens that surrounded it’s landscape were absolutely breath-taking, but what impressed me even more was the friendship and camaraderie shared between my cousin and a group of guys he has grown up with.

These guys met each other playing rollerblade hockey when they were 8 and 9 years old, and they haven’t stopped hanging out since. They have drained pantries and fridges together, gone on dates together, journeyed through high school and college together, and laughed and cried together. Without even knowing this group of gentlemen, one could easily tell that they were close, more like brothers than friends. During the toast, the bride talked about how accepted she was by this band of brothers and how she knew that no matter what the need and no matter what time of day or night, she could call on them and they’d come running. What a picture of friendship!

I think it’s something we all long for; to belong to a group and to know that no matter what happens in life that someone has our back. Done right, it actually sounds like a healthy picture of church.

In John 15, Jesus tells His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus calls us friends. The God of the universe calls us friends. The alpha and omega, the almighty, all powerful one calls us friends. And He promises that no matter the need or the time of day, we can cry out to Him and He will be with us (Isaiah 14: 14). He will never leave us. In fact, He’s such a good friend that He even knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6: 8).

So we belong to the love of the Trinity, but we also belong to this community of faith. Students, teachers, administration, staff, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a part of His family, we make up His church, and together we bring Jesus to life for this community. If we have a need, day or night, we should be able to call on each other. If we need a shoulder to cry on or an ear that will listen, we should be able to call on each other. If we need to share a laugh, we should be able to call on each other. If we desire to go deeper in our walk with God, we should be able to call on each other.

My prayer is that this community would realize that in Christ we have not just a Savior, not just a Lord, not just a King, but a friend, and that in realizing the power of that friendship we would reach out to all of those around us with the same love and passion that Christ extends to us. When we do that, Jesus comes to life on the campus of WWU!

Belonging

The word, belong, is defined by Websters in the following ways: To be in the relation of a member. To have the proper qualifications, esp. social qualifications, to be a member of a group:

When I was seven years old, I played in little league. In fact, the picture in this email is of my actual jersey. I don’t know why I kept it, other than I loved being on that team. We were a good team of friends, and we had lots of fun. I can remember showing up in a sea of people, but I could pick out my team because we wore the same jesrsey. They were where I belonged. We played together, we enjoyed cream soda after the game together, and we had a great summer together. It feels so good to belong.

I thought about this last week when I woke up with a sense to look up Romans 14: 9. Here’s what it says, “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” You may ask the same question I did, “What reason?” Well, verse 8 says, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” So read that in the correct order and you get the idea that Jesus came so that we might belong.

The book of Romans is full of this type of theme. We are all born with the same jersey filled with the stains of sin. We are all sinners (Romans 3: 23) and we are all justified freely by His grace (Romans 3: 24). Romans 8: 16-17 says that we are all children of God and because of that we are all “heirs of God and co-hears with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 10: 12 says that “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is LORD OF ALL and richly blesses ALL who call on him…”

So it seems to me that sin gave us one jersey, but Jesus came and lived and died that we might have another (Isaiah 61: 10); that we might belong to Him. He left the perfection of heaven, that we might belong. He was born in a manger, that we might belong. He became familiar with hunger, suffering, pain, that we might belong. He wrestled with the powers of darkness that marred Him beyond human likeness (Isaiah 53) that we might belong. And He rose from the grave and conquered sin and death, that we might belong.

You and I belong to Him that died for that very reason. And because we belong, we can join our hands as brothers and sisters and Christ. We can encourage one another when we stumble and fall because we all know what that’s like. We can pray for one another in any hardship because we’ve all had hardships. We can rejoice with one another when the blessings flow because we all have had the blessings flow.

So let us join our hands together, and with our hands our hearts, and let us seek the one who made it possible for us to belong to the Kingdom of Light, of Love, of Mercy, and of Grace. Amen!

Turn Your Eyes

There we sat, at the beginning of our annual leadership retreat, but instead of giving out instructions and jumping into our schedule of planning activities, we started the way we really should have the previous two years…with prayer.

Around the circle were nearly 40 students that have answered the leadership call this year and will be serving in ASWWU, Campus Ministries, and Student Missions this year. We prayed for each other, for our roles, but then we had some time to simply reflect on the person of Jesus. It’s something refreshing and inspiring to do every day. To turn our eyes from the distractions of this world and onto the Savior. To see his hands-the wrinkles, the calluses, and the scars. To see His smile-the teeth showing through, the lines besides His eyes because He smiles a lot. To feel His touch-against a tear-stained cheek or on your shoulder as He assures you that He’s with you.

As I pictured Him, I saw three distinct images that will drive my ministry this year.
The first was of Him in the garden with His Father. He regularly took time to be with His Father in heaven. It’s what gave Him courage and strength for the day. I hope to spend time each day with my Father in the garden as well.

The second scene involved Jesus reclining at the table with His disciples. These were the few He developed a closer relationship with. The few that He taught. He lived with them, ate with them, taught them, and modeled to them a life on earth, as it is in heaven. My goal is to spend quality time with our Campus Ministries team to help nurture them, journey with them, and continually point them to Jesus.

The last scene had to do with Jesus traveling along the roads of life, meeting people along the way and taking the time to care for their needs. Jesus was a busy man, but He was never hurried. He always took time to care for the needs of those around Him. With the help of my leaders I will be taking time each week to walk the campus and be aware of the needs of those in my surroundings. Feel free to walk up to me and chat.
We can pray, hang out, you can talk and I can listen (I can do that you know ), whatever you need. I just want to be His hands and feet for our campus in hopes that you might go and do the same.

So when you close your eyes and picture the Savior, what do you see? What’s He calling you to do? I hope you’ll pray for me as I try to answer that call, and I hope you’ll know that I’ll be praying for you!

Living Jesus Pictures

Do you remember your first picture of Jesus? Mine was on a thick cardboard slab, about 18’’x24’’, that my parents had bought and put in my room. Jesus practically filled up the picture, but it had a light blue frame, tattered edges, and the universe behind Jesus. His hair was long but not neatly combed like so many other pictures. He wore the white robe and the red sash; he was particularly svelte and he had a slight smile on his face. When I was younger, I was nearly certain that His eyes followed me as I walked around the room. Through His face, you could see some of the stars shining through.

I still see that Jesus when I close my eyes to pray, and it comforts me, but I’ve had other pictures of Jesus. My high school algebra and geometry teacher gave me a picture of Jesus. This picture was full of passion for teaching, was willing to hang out with the bodies and the nobodies, and he was unashamed at the things he love; which included socks with sandals, animal ties, and crows (he did his master’s thesis on crows).

My Grandmother gave me another picture of Jesus. Hers was full of love and devotion for her family. Thirty years after the loss of her husband, she still talked of her love for him. She taught me about Jesus’ tender heart, and how He could love and show discipline at the same time

Then there’s the picture of Jesus my wife has given me. One of amazing beauty and unspeakable love for a fool like me.

Each of us has the opportunity to share a picture of Jesus with our family, our coworkers, and our students. We all need to see Jesus better, and my challenge to you is simply to consider what image you’re portraying and how that image will help others come to know their Savior even better?

It is my prayer that as we prepare for the start of the school year we could each spend time contemplating the image of Jesus through the pages of His word, “for as we do, we are transformed into His image (for the sake of others) with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3: 18) So go and be Jesus for someone today!

LOVE'S MOTIVE

The other week, I got bit by a bug. I’ll call it the love bug. I was so intent on showering my wife with love that I got this hare-brained idea (love will often cause those kinds of ideas).

You see, Tricia had been talking for a while about how she could get more countertop space in the kitchen. We entertain a lot and we are scrunched for room when it comes to spreading the foot out. Once upon a time she had an idea of getting a smaller microwave and building a shelf above the oven to slide the microwave onto. This would free up a good chunk of counter space which I knew in turn would make Tricia happy and feel loved.

So, on a Friday afternoon I told Tricia I had some errands to run, though I wouldn’t tell her what errands those were. I left the house, bought a microwave and cut a shelf to the measurements needed. I put the shelf up, leveled it out, drilled it in, sanded it, primed it, and painted it. I then quickly placed the microwave into its new resting place and went to get Tricia.

She was surprised. Shocked in fact that I went to all that trouble and even remembered what it was that she had requested. Her face, and her heart, were beaming with gratitude and my heart? Oh, I was oozing with love for the one who chose to spend her life with the likes of me. I didn’t do the shelf because I thought I should, but because I wanted to express my love to my wife, pure and simple.

It got me to thinking about all that God does for me and all that I do for Him. Is my motivation for all that I do for God love? Making God smile? Warming His heart? Or is it a false sense of religiosity that is motivated by a sense of obligation and duty? Is it a relationship based on love, or relationship of duty and obligation full of “shoulds” and “oughts” simply because “it’s the right thing to do.”

I wrote the following passage down from a book I’m reading, “If Christ is in you, then the Christian life is not about striving to be something you are not (the shoulds and oughts). It is about becoming what you already are.” And what is that? A child of God (I John 3: 1). The object of His affection (I John 4: 7-10). A new creation (2 Corinthians 5: 17). Saved (Ephesians 2: 4-8). Redeemed (I Peter 1: 17-19) His beloved (Deut. 33: 12), His betrothed bride (Hosea 2: 19-23).

Our relationship with God must be driven by the fact that He loves us and His greatest desire is that we would love Him. Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because when we realize how amazing and pure is His love towards us, loving Him is the only thing we can do.

May you, this week, be caught up in the beauty of the Creator and His amazing, reckless, passionate, never-ending, unfailing, all encompassing love for you! May His love be all you can see – healing you, building you up, dressing your wounds, transforming you into the person you truly already are.

Footsteps

Last week, I had the incredible privilege of spending a couple of days at the beach with my family.

I had some work to do to prepare for a convention I'm helping to plan for next year, but I took a break from that work to take a walk with the kids. We went off to the north side of the beach while the tide was down, and we went climbing and exploring. The algae on the rocks made them very slippery, and my daughter was scared she was going to fall. I was holding her hand, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted me to carry her. I told her something that seemed practical, but it’s implications were huge and didn’t hit me until she began following my direction.

So I told her, “Just step where I step, in my footprints, and you’ll be just fine.” She wasn’t sure at first, but the more she followed my footsteps the more confident she became.

The analogy is obvious. Jesus has gone ahead of us. Hebrews says,

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4: 14-16

Jesus IS the Way because He has been there and done that. He has walked the road ahead of us and if we keep a close enough eye on Him and study His footsteps, we can walk even more confidently because we have someone to go to who went through it first. Jesus can empathize, He can listen, and He understands. He also promises us that if we could just stay close to Him and walk in His footprints, we’ll be okay. It may not be easy, but we’ll be okay.

Here’s to hoping and praying that this summer you and I can keep in step with the Savior, and as we follow closely after Him that we will learn to walk even more confidently all the Way Home!

Undignified Passion

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been talking on campus a lot about passion. We talked about it at the Awakening on Sabbath and it was talked about last night at Fireside, so it seems to be a theme right now. Passion can be defined as a powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as in love or hate, or an outburst of strong emotion or feeling.

I was at my son's little league game this last week, and I got a front row seat to see passion lived out.

One of my son's teammates had gotten a hit. When he got on first base, he celebrated by throwing his arms up in the air and jumping up and down. The next batter got a big hit that would have gotten the first base runner home, but when this same kid got on second base, he stopped, stood on the base, and began throwing his arms up and jumping up and down, AGAIN! He was so excited and so into his celebration dance that he missed the opportunity to advance to another base. This kid was passion lived out; he was so into a moment that he was unaware of what else was happening around him.

I love when I have those kind of moments with God. Moments when I lose track of time and space and revel in His presence. They don't happen all the time, but when they do, it's all I can do to keep from throwing my hands up in the air and jumping up and down for joy. Kinda sounds like King David before the ark of the Lord, doesn't it. When you have time, check out that story in 2 Samuel 6, but here's a favorite quote from that passage: “I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this” (2 Samuel 6: 21-22). I have seen that kind of joy in God’s worshippers at a Kutless concert as well as at an organ recital, at a time of worship and meditation in Heubach Chapel on a Tuesday night, and listening to Tony Campolo speak on loving others as if my life depended on it (I Peter 4: 8, The Message). It doesn’t happen in the same way for every person, or at the same time or at the same event, but when it does happen it is awe-some!

It is my hope and prayer that this week you will experience that kind of passion for the God of Wonders, the God of all creation, the God in Heaven and the God on earth…the God who is now in the room with you. And as you do, may you not hide your passion for the Lord but may it bubble out of you and into the lives of those living beside you

Growing Pains

About six weeks ago, my wife and I dug up a section of our yard that was becoming bare of grass. We prepared the soil and replanted grass with a special mulch to help the grass grow faster and come in thicker. According to the instructions on the back of the bag, we planned on having thick green grass to walk on in two to four weeks.

Like an expectant child, I watched for that grass to come in. One week went by, no grass. Two weeks went by, no grass. Each day, Tricia and I watered the grass and did what we were supposed to do, but with no results. I went away for a conference and came back 1.5 weeks later, no grass. I started to think we bought a defective bag. But then after another week, I started to see just a shade of new grass starting to pop up. It was thicker on one side of the patch than the other, but it was coming. And now, ever so slowly, the grass is starting to fill in.

The analogy is obvious. Waiting for something to grow can be frustrating. We live in such a microwave society of 30 minute answers to all of life’s major problems that we hate to wait for anything let alone growth and change in our own lives. When will we stop getting so angry? When will that temptation no longer have a hold on me? When will I be more consistent in my walk with Christ? When will I stop taking my relationships for granted? We think we should have life figured out by now, or we see someone else growing and we think, “Why can’t we be more like them?”

Well, the truth to this dilemma comes from Mark 4: 26-29. Jesus is teaching and shares this parable:

"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

The good news is, when we accept Christ as our Shepherd we lack nothing (Psalm 23). We have everything we need to grow built right in to us, just like the seed has all the components it needs. Yes, it needs water and time, as do we (Acts 3: 1-9). We need to be nurtured, cared for by the Spirit, by our community, and in full view of the Son. But the rest, the growth part, comes in its own time. You can’t rush growth, it happens over time as it is already laid out in our DNA.

So the next time you’re impatiently waiting for growth in your own life or in the life of someone you’ve been praying for, remember to take a deep breath and try to be patient. In God’s time, not ours, He makes all things beautiful (Eccl. 3: 11). And hopefully, over time, we’ll come to see ourselves the way God does…as His precious and dearly loved children in whom He is well pleased.

PUDDLE-JUMPING FAITH

Imagine a silhouette of a man, fully robed, jumping off a boat with the water below him and the shoreline in front of him. On the shore, you can see a small fire and the image of a man standing to the left of it with his arms open, as if to receive a friend. The sky behind him is just beginning to light up with the golden beams of light from the sun as it peaks it’s head above the horizon behind you. The man who has jumped appears to be heading straight for the man on the shore, but not in typical fashion. No, this man has come to realize what it means to abandon everything to follow the man on the shore. He no longer cares if he gets wet or what may happen to him along the way, for the man who has jumped off the boat wants nothing more than to love and be loved by the man on the shore. For the man on the shore is Jesus, and the man who has jumped is Peter, but it can also be you and me if we are willing to leave the boat.

You see, Peter had been through the full spectrum of emotions. He had believed with all of his heart that he would follow Jesus straight into battle. He had believed he would be willing to lay down his life and die by the sword if he must. Ahh, but the battle was not a physical one, it was a spiritual one, and the laying down of his life had much more to do with trusting in Jesus no matter the circumstances, than it did with a physical death (though that would come later). Peter had to let go of what he thought life was all about, and cling to what Jesus told him it was all about…which turns out to be one in the same; life is all about Jesus (the WAY, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE).

Once Peter realized this, his life began to change dramatically. So many things started to make sense. That night of fishing was a night of soul searching for Peter. Was he going to cling to the life he had known before Jesus, or was he going to chase after the reckless, unsafe, unpredictable, passionate, amazing, rewarding and fulfilling life he came to know with Jesus?

When Jesus called out to the boat and told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat, Peter didn’t recognize his voice. Peter was still deep in thought, what was he to do? But when John recognize that it was Jesus and exclaimed, “It is the Lord!” (John 21: 7), Peter knew in that instant what he wanted. He wanted Jesus more than anything. As he leaped off that boat, he forever left the life he once knew, for the life he now had in Jesus Christ, and that leap made all the difference in the world and to the world, for Peter’s testimony still rings in our ears…

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” I Peter 1: 3, 4

Peter knew what it was to be given a new birth into a living hope. Once he claimed that truth in Jesus Christ, he never looked back.

It is my prayer that all of us would have the courage to leave the boat, our lives before Jesus, and cling desperately to the living hope we now have in Him. Because He was resurrected and is now alive, we may have a walk with Him that is rich, that is real, and yes at times is reckless, unsafe and unpredictable, but that is also amazingly passionate, rewarding, and full.

May God bless you and keep you, and may you be willing to take a leap of faith into the puddle of His mercy, love, and grace.

INNOCENCE LOST

As I sat next to my daughter, tears began to fill my eyes. Her innocence was slipping away, but it gave me a chance to explain to her God’s greatest desire.

Yesterday, our families Golden Retriever gave birth to puppies. We had been awaiting the moment for the last two months and we knew that she was getting closer. She was walking around less, starting to pant heavily, and she was trying to make a bit of a home for these new little guys. The kids were at school when the first puppy was born, and when Tricia picked them up from school they could hardly sit still on the ride home. They couldn’t wait to see the puppies (see attached picture).

My daughter is 5.5 years old, and she is such a tender heart. Whenever anyone gets hurt, she is very quick to comfort and console them, telling them that everything is going to be okay. How does she know these things? J

But then it happened. The fourth puppy that came out wasn’t moving. We tried to stimulate it to breath and come to life, but after several minutes we knew that wasn’t going to happen. The puppy was stillborn. It was the first girl to be born as well, and my daughter has an affinity for the girls. She held that puppy for so long, caressing it’s body as it lay in a towel. She even took her over to Anney so that, in her words, “Anney could say good-bye.” It was so sweet and yet so heart-breaking at the same time. She was losing her innocence; that sense that everything in the world is okay. She was realizing that everything in the world was not okay.

As hard as this was for me, her father, to watch (no Father wants their child to be said), it did give us a chance to talk about how sad death is to Jesus. We talked about how Jesus never wanted us to experience hurt and pain and loss. Ally seemed to grasp this idea well. She said, “I know Jesus doesn’t like it when we hurt. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God and then we had hurtness and sadness and painness in the world.” I smiled and nodded my head, but then I talked about how this world isn’t our home. We talked about the day when there is no more hurtness or sadness or painness in the world anymore (Revelation 21-22). We talked about the day when all things will be made right, when the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

When a horrible earthquake devastates a country, encourage one another with these words. When your best friends parent’s divorce, encourage one another with these words. When you fail a class, when you get dumped, when you lose a loved one, when you experience great hurtness, sadness, and painness, encourage one another with these words for the Lord is coming, He is on His way, and His reward is with Him. He longs to take us to the life He created for us, to the life where we are with Him forever.

My prayer is that you would know just how much Jesus desires to take you there. He desired it so much He gave up His life, He changed His essence by taking on Human skin, He walked this earth and experienced greater hurt, sadness, and pain than we may ever know. He did it all for us.

Please, come soon Lord Jesus, and thank you for giving us the hope that you are on your way and that this life, as great as it can be at times, is only temporary. The life to come, the one with you, that’s eternal. PRAISE GOD!