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.