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!