True Repentance

In the New Testament John the Baptist and Jesus both inaugurate their place on the timeline of life and Kingdom purpose by including a word that is so often left out of our religious vernacular. Usually because we just don’t know or understand the real meaning of the word.

I’m no Greek scholar (that’s my brother-in-law Jac Perrin), but a simple understanding of the word in context can clarify our need for its use and application in many if not all areas of our lives.

Many people repent over the course of a lifetime. And most of the time it has little to do with God or their eternal destination.

Let me note the definition of repentance: to change one's mind, i.e. to repent; to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins.

"Repentance (metanoia, 'change of mind') involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness." (F. F. Bruce. The Acts of the Apostles [Greek Text Commentary], London: Tyndale, 1952, p. 97.)

Let me elaborate on this matter that seems all too often like a bitter pill for many to swallow.

People all over the planet and all through human history have lived out the practice of repentance. How many of us have “changed our minds” for the better? Maybe we’ve changed jobs, changed relationships, changed our worldview on matters of conscience, and even changed brands despite long term loyalties to one product over another. Why?

Because we’re all looking for an upgrade and that upgrade only comes when we change our thinking about our present condition. Some might argue that they are content in all areas of their life and they aspire to no change or improvements, but I would suggest that by our very embrace of technology and lifestyle improvements, we’re all hooked like a first time crack user.

Whether it’s any of the things I’ve mentioned above or a myriad of other things we face in life, change happens and especially in our minds. And most of the time we’re not conscious of the progression.

Because thinking affects behavior, biblical sin begins with thinking that does not reflect God’s heart or mind. Granted, none of us could match God’s thinking prowess nor the depths of His heart, but because we are created (Imago Dei sorry I just like those words) in His image we are designed to be like Him.

When we stray from our original design and purpose (relationship with the Designer) therein emerges the element of sin. Make sense?

Because none of us can fully know Truth (until we meet Truth face to face) all we have is a collage of facts, ergo the joy and frustration of science and religion. Neither the greatest scientist nor the greatest theologian can fully get their minds around ALL the facts. Therefore, no one has cornered the market. Real Truth is the ability to know the beginning and the end. That is simply impossible for the human heart or mind to comprehend. All we can do is string together bits and pieces of facts (and even those can be suspect) then throw the dice and hope we don’t discover something that would cause us to repent of our thinking on previously held sacred ground.

If and when that happens, I mean the reassessment and realignment of our thinking on any matter for the better, we have repented. For this I have no fear. And I would challenge each of you readers to embrace the same.

Let me end with this. Ever wonder about the proliferation of gambling? People are looking for the ultimate upgrade. Despite the facts that the house always wins, people still gamble.

Facts have not ultimately stopped stupid human behavior nor have they raised the incidence of wisdom. Yet historically mankind has always sought for an upgrade. May I suggest that we all repent? Change our thinking. Come into alignment with the facts as we know them and fill in the gaps with faith. We cannot prove God’s existence, but we can marvel at the facts as presented and wonder with awe at the mysteries unexplained. And we cannot disprove God’s existence either, because the beauty of science is the use of a hypothesis. Of which leads us to the next hypothesis, and the next and the next and the next.

See the pattern? Repentance IS the fabric of advance, and in my case, the ultimate goal of reconnecting with God and living by His original design. When I’m wrong, deep in my heart I want to change. But entropy of the soul keeps me unrepentant. That’s when my faith in Jesus and what He came to do, kicks in.

As it stands, I’ve spent most of my life experiencing change of thinking for the better. When gaps exist in the continuum of facts, we tend to throw in theories (faith). My theory (an old and historic one) God IS and I’m not and Jesus is the Christ (the designed answer to fill in the gaps between the facts) and I want to know and experience Him as much as I possibly can… because I still want an upgrade. Don’t you?

Metanoia to All

Living In a Sound Bite World

Looks like North Korea has continued with their plan for unilateral insanity and it smells like Iran is not far behind. People are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economy is on the wagon for a while but who knows when it will take off on another bender. Swine flu is still spreading but we all got side tracked by the American Idol winner. And another kid committed suicide allegedly because he was being bullied. Gas prices are up slightly and Jay Leno will soon be prime time.

I say all that because it seems like we’re on course to compress more and more gravity into more and more sound bites (or video bites) with less and less impact to really change us from within. I mean really, if the media can flood us with enough rapid fire info streaming at 10mbps plus, is it even possible to soak in the depth of meaning behind any of it? When you compress gravity so much, doesn't it turn into a black-hole?

For that matter, even as I type these words my son and a friend are in the family room playing xbox360 at thumb-eye-and-brain speeds that even Evelyn Wood could have never imagined possible. But are they better off for it?

With attention spans shrinking year after year and the gravity of global events getting greater and greater, will the next generation even have time to ponder things like the long term effects of battery powered cars or nuclear weapons small enough to make it into the class room some day?

If all we are is a culture that is texting and sound biting, is there any hope for real relationships and contemplation over the bigger things in life? I wonder?

The days of people getting one or two bits of information regarding a topic and then allowing that info to percolate and assimilate into minds that were taught to think and process with wisdom and foresight may all but be over.

The Value of Stopping

My final thought for the moment, before I fire up the grill is this. Since many parents have ceased using the word “no” or “stop” when they communicate with their little ones, and anything goes and very often does. My concern is a generation that has no understanding of the value of stopping. Go, go, go seems to be the mantra for all too many families today.

Will there be anyone left who simply stops and takes time to listen, to smell, to observe, to wait, to be quiet, to think, to rest? I could go on but I won’t.

Let me close with this. Stop. Rest. Think. Listen. And by all means try not to live on sound bites and Red Bull. Remember man does not live on bread alone, but on EVERY WORD that is vital to life. Not just the blur of ones and zeros that fly through the air as we carelessly go about life. Remember that every word matters. Every event matters. Every person matters. Every second matters.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Have you ever looked at old family photos or pictures of yourself from way back when? I know that when I do that I look at myself and wonder who is that person?

Maybe I’m kind of weird like that, but old pictures of me make me ask that question? We all tend to look back into our lives and use the power of hindsight. Yet hindsight can never explain the sense of mistaken identity we lived with at the time the photo was taken or the event occurred.

At any given point in our lives we think we know ourselves and we hope others know us accurately, but in all reality, time and hindsight are the only true identifiers of who we are.

Time allows for growth and change and ultimately lessons learned by mistakes or deliberate steps toward transformation. Hindsight gives us the choice of learning from our previous wanderings or winnings, so as to hopefully make us wiser in all our decisions.

Many years ago a local pastor made a judgment call about me. He based his opinions on my outward appearance and some rumors that he heard and believed to be true about me. The unfortunate fact was he did not know me. He didn’t have a clue about what made me tick or who I really was from the inside out. All he did was develop a bias and bigotry based upon externals.

It was a case of mistaken identity. I wonder how often I do the same thing. I wonder how often we drive people away from Life and Hope that only God can give, simply because we choose to identify them based upon what we see and hear.

Who among us, with the exception of a few prophets, can know the insides of someone? What motivates them? What causes them to have apathy? Why do they think and feel the way they do?

All too often it’s easier to judge someone wrongly, instead of loving them rightly. Loving them rightly means we get close enough to smell what their life has been rolled in. Most people get rolled in some pretty bad stuff and they usually don’t ask for it.

So the next time you make a mistake about someone’s identity, based upon your perception, ideology, dogma, religion, fear or the pain of your own life, remember people did the same with Jesus.

Following a wonderful and stimulating lunch with an old friend, my wife and I found ourselves savoring a fresh cup at Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure. I love places where business executives are there hashing out some new marketing plan, med students are cramming for there next exam, neo-hippies are lovingly hanging on each other and painters are welcome.

I thought about my visit to this coffee shop and some of the bars I used to frequent. The beauty of places like that is because everyone seems welcomed and no one is an outsider for very long. Regardless of their identity common ground is found. We all just wanted to be where someone else is and to have something refreshing to drink. That’s a pretty simple church growth formula.

May God help me to foster a community where common ground becomes uncommon experience? And may God help me to never again mistake someone’s identity simply because of how they look, act or what I’ve heard about them. May I earn the right to know them by spending time with them, before I make that judgment call, before it becomes a case of Mistaken Identity?

Let’s have coffee and get acquainted.

Killing Time versus Killing Self

Most of us have never really considered what the term Killing Time means. I know I’ve not thought much about it until right now. I’ve had a broken up day and didn’t make much money. We got home early to go to Anna’s track meet and found out that the meet was cancelled due to weather. Funny, I remember walking to and from school in 9 feet of snow and tornados howling. Life has changed.

Anyway, I sat down to consider the implications of an open evening to catch up on some mindless office work. Youth Convention gobbled up my weekend and I woke this Monday morning feeling like I had a hang over (3 Monster’s and enough coffee to keep me from having a stroke in this life time).

Looking at my desk piled high with mail, papers, scribbled notes from my Sunday sermon (I started a series on Wisdom – don’t laugh), receipts, the latest 2 books I’m reading, my new music CD’s (Third Day Revelation, RemedyDrive Daylight is Coming, and The Best of Bebo Norman – I still can’t believe I listen to a guy named Bebo), DVD’s me and Andrew make for our worship service, an old dictionary I’ve had for many years, my Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Luke, my Day Timer that’s bulging with stuff I need to file, USB cables, post-it-notes with all my internet usernames and passwords, and some coupons from Menards, makes me just pucker a bit in my gut.

My desk can wait until after dinner at Subway with my straight A kids (they get those free combo meal certificates – you’d think they could give ‘em cash for all the taxes I pay). And for now I’m gonna kill some time blogging. Its way too cathartic for me and way too irritating for some of my FB friends and Network buddies to quit, plus I plan to be the writer my dad never got to be (cut short by a stroke).

As for killing time, I think many people choose to kill time instead of themselves. I think that’s a good alternative to the latter. But really what is killing time all about, but wasting precious moments that are irretrievable. You know what I mean? Not that there’s anything wrong with margins in our lives. Margins and boundaries and Sabbath are all essential to spiritual, emotional and physical health, but time is irreplaceable.

I heard it once said that Bill Gates once said (if that’s not gossip I don’t know what is), when asked what he wanted, since he could have anything, he supposedly said, “more time”. It’s probably true. Think of it for a moment. Time represents life. When time stops, life stops (at least as we know it). So when we choose to kill time versus doing productive and progressive things needing attention or responsibility, we might just be choosing life versus the alternative. Yet many would frown on the thought of killing time (they’re probably the ones right now scraping the roof of their mouth with the muzzle of a gun).

It seems that when we get overwhelmed with stuff that we need to do, many of us find ourselves reaching for the knurled handle of a snubbed nosed .38 and a bottle of Jack. Except it all takes the form of idleness. That’s right, for the wise and the cowardice; killing time is a much better alternative than killing self.

Don’t flood my comment box, but I think we need to develop some leadership courses on the art of guilt free time killing. Because all the hours of leadership conferences I’ve logged have never really removed the guilt so often associated with my need to abduct some quality and random Sabbath.

Several months ago, in a conversation I was having with the Lord, I asked Him about this subject. I’ve always felt guilty for taking a nap when I’m tired. If someone would call the house, I would not ask my family to lie, but I would tell them to tell the caller I was busy and would call them back (busy napping). I could never bring myself to letting on that I was napping.

When I asked the Lord where that feeling of guilt came from, He showed me. Years ago, when I was a child, my dad would incessantly make us get up early on the weekends. He was always an early riser and would impose that compulsion on the rest of us. The Lord showed me one time when my dad came into my room and said “get up you’re sleepin’ your life away.” Mind you, it was probably 8:00 am or something, but to him that was lazy, good for nothing, white trash, apathetic, wasting your life away kinda stuff, and he wasn’t gonna tolerate that in our home.

As a result of that one incident, I’ve been terrified for all my life that people would think I was lazy. And I’m really not. I actually know how to make money and work hard and even smart sometimes. But I’m not lazy. Yet all those years I was bound by that memory, by that lie.

When I asked the Lord about all these things, He told me I wasn’t lazy. Ever since then, if I’m napping and someone calls I tell the family to tell the caller I’m napping. Actually I’m kinda proud of that fact now. So if you call and can’t reach me, I might be napping (get over it).

Or maybe I’m just killing time like right now, because I’m too wise and cowardice to choose the alternative. Let me encourage you to learn the art of killing time. You’ll be glad you did.

Now I’m off to Subway for an Italian BMT foot-long. Jealous?

Wisdom, Value and Feeling like Crap

As I sit here typing these words I wonder how much actual wisdom I possess. Some of you readers might argue very little, and for that I wouldn’t even know what to say. Because the assessment of our own wisdom is so stinking subjective and prideful that it’s really hard to get an accurate bearing on quantity let alone quality.

Yet Jesus said something so brief and poignant that I really have to use it as precedent for making a point. In Luke 7:35 we find the Lord’s words; “But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” (NIV)

Have you ever wondered what God’s purpose was in giving us the ability to accept wisdom or to reject it? The unfortunate fact is that most of us are so insecure (ever since we realized we were naked – about 8,000 years ago) that when our need for wisdom is suggested, we bristle and go hide in a bush somewhere. Or we stand up with our fists raised and determine that anyone else’s assessment of our need for more wisdom is grounds for a fight. Either way our reactions are usually pretty immature. And indeed reveal our bad feelings about being naked.

It seems that we’ve progressively gotten worse when it comes to the acknowledgment of our need for wisdom, because children are the payout. Look around, walk around, shop around, and talk around. Just rub up against anyone these days and you’ll find such a deficit of wisdom it’s scary.

Stupid seems to be really cool and hip these days. As a result, wisdom and knowledge are more and more the bastard children of some Department of Homeland Security’s latest extremist hit list.

And why might that be? Because in our own eyes each of us has lost value. Somewhere along the line we’ve believed the lie that we’ve got to compete with the folks next door. Before you know it we’re up to our eyeballs in nitrogenous waste, usually without a paddle. All because we rejected wisdom, then we rejected our own value, which led to the mad scramble of satiating our bad feelings, which always leads to throwing someone under the bus. All in the name of trying to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

If the wisdom of man is good and suitable for life, then his children should be in good shape. But they’re not. And if we believe in the Wisdom of God, then so too like Jesus said, our children would be in good shape also, but they’re not.

When the Barna Research Group comes out with statistics that show well over 1/3 of self professing Christians do NOT believe that the Holy Spirit nor the Devil are real, but simply metaphors for good and evil, we better check the parents of these children, because we’ve got some bastards on our hands that are rapidly headed in the wrong direction.

And the crazy part is this: if we ask God for Wisdom, He says He’ll give it, but first He’ll check our motives. If the end result is an increase of man centered wisdom, then it’s likely our collective cry for God’s Wisdom either a) went unheard by God or b) our motives were wrong.

So the next time you think you’ve got some slick wisdom going for you, check the children. If they’re doing great, then maybe its God… if not you might have gotten sucked in by the oldest trick in the Book.

The Empty Tomb

What’s so great about an empty tomb? I'll try to explain what it means to me.

I don’t claim to be a specialist on the Resurrection, but no matter how you slice it, Jesus’ empty tomb is unique in the fact that indeed historic documentation tells us, three days after His crucifixion, the tomb He was buried in came up empty.

Most world leaders of any consequence that have died are buried somewhere. Most religious leaders who have died are also buried someplace.

But with Jesus, that’s another story.

Most of us have experienced the loss of someone to the sting of death, a relative or a friend. And we can take you to their grave site and show you the headstone and often the sunken earth covering the vault. But I for one have never met anyone that has died, been buried, and three days later rose again, except Jesus.

Some of you might argue that my exception to the resurrection rule, namely Jesus, cannot be proven as fact that He is alive or has ever been alive since His crucifixion. And I would say; “Indeed you’re right”. I cannot prove it based upon empirical data, or beyond the historic musings of brain washed (or renewed) followers that the resurrection occurred, but I can rest upon something more than empirical data.

I rest upon an experience that for me is beyond dispute. I rest upon an encounter with Jesus Christ on a personal basis that is no less than esoteric and more often far greater.

Like most things in life that are challenging to the rational senses, i.e. high levels of pain, high levels of adrenaline, high levels of ecstasy, high levels of wonder and awe and even high levels of common joy and satisfaction, my experience with Jesus Christ is almost beyond description. It’s like something that surpasses all understanding, especially for the uninitiated.

And yet concrete proof seems to be what resurrection opponents are looking for. It’s like asking someone to prove or explain the experiential effects of lysergic acid diethylamide on individual human beings. One can observe outward behaviors and testimonials regarding the experience, but until someone has actually dropped acid, it’s nearly impossible to describe the experience.

I’m in no way advocating drug use, but for the uninitiated, they will never fully understand the experience nor understand why someone might use of that type of substance. The same is true when someone encounters the Living God. Until you experience Him in a personal way, you really cannot fully comprehend nor appreciate the powerful life changing effects.

So when it comes to an empty tomb, it does matter. The God that I know, based upon my personal relational experience with His Son, has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the empty tomb is valid, because that Son has touched my life.

And no matter how hard anyone would argue otherwise, my personal relational experience and the same with millions of others is indisputable. I only wish that the billions of individuals that have yet to fully experience the empty tomb and the Living Risen Savior Jesus Christ would take the plunge and begin to communicate with Him. He is alive. He will speak to your heart. He is able to forgive your sin. He is able to heal your pain and give you the capacity to live in peace. He has made a way for you to have a personal relational experience with His Father, the one and only true and Living God.

It’s all simply a matter of realizing the power and potential of this empty tomb. I know I can never fully convince the skeptics, but I know what I’ve experienced. And nothing will ever change that… absolutely nothing.

He is Alive.

My Struggle with Math

We’ve heard it said that American kids today are sliding further and further behind in their math and science aptitudes and if education doesn’t turn things around real soon, we’ll find ourselves at the bottom of the global totem pole of developing nations.

That’s pretty heavy to take in at 6 o’clock in the morning, but something struck me recently that goes way beyond any global education race or debate.

Early on in my life I gravitated toward the Life Sciences. I don’t know why, but I do remember my dad fed me a consistent diet of Jane Goodall, Jacques Cousteau, and a myriad of other science related shows on PBS as far back as I can remember.

My dad was a pioneer in the use of video media in the Des Moines School District. Way back in the late 60’s I would hop in my dad’s VW Beetle and we’d drive over to Amos Hiatt Junior High in the dark of some week night. We’d meet and cajole with a black janitor as we headed up to his class room. My dad would set up this huge black and white monitor with a big set of rabbit ears antenna to grab the latest PBS series right out of the air. Then he’d plug in the big VTR machine. It had a weird smell like melted plastic and the recording media, 2 inch reel to reel video tape, would whir and jerk as he cued up the tape for the next show. It was a great introduction to the sciences, long before the Discovery Channel. And fun to be with my dad too.

Sometime in my elementary school years, I got an entire chemistry lab. Not just the chemistry set, but an entire little room designated as my lab, fully equipped with all the glassware and equipment one might need to create some basement pathogen or on the minimum, burn the house down with my Bunsen burner. I never said my folks were always wise.

Needless to say, the systematic acquisition of knowledge (one definition of science) has always been in my DNA, even though I struggled with the more traditional studious academic disciplines (ergo my less than perfect GPA). So the drive to seek knowledge and understanding, especially in areas that are germane to my life, is not hard for me.

Jesus said… know the truth and you’ll be set free. So seeking to know Him and experience all He has for me has never been difficult or something I’m at odds with. Maybe the science thing is what makes me love being a disciple of His.

But here’s the real kicker. In most, if not all of the sciences, to include Life Science, math plays a pretty significant role. And my dad never (that I can remember) sat me down with a Times Table and helped me learn the finer art and discipline of multiplication. Unlike his pioneering spirit with video media, he seemed to lack the same drive when it came to math and making sure I knew that kind of stuff.

By the time I reached college, I was really hurting. Not so much emotionally (that’s for other blog), but boy I struggled with the math courses required for being a Biology major and a Chemistry and Computer Science minor.

Here’s the link: Without the ability to do math fluently, one’s ability to “do” science properly comes to a screeching halt. Somewhere just past the golgi bodies and the pistils and the stamens. Basic science, like basic Christianity and discipleship, is about as far as a person can go… without math.

Jesus tested Peter’s mathematic prowess and willingness. He asked Peter if he knew what 7 x 70 equaled. Unfortunately Peter was just a simple fisherman, and multiplication as we know it had yet to come into its own. So we can cut Peter some slack, but to God, that equation is paramount and eternally significant.

Jesus told Peter that he was to forgive at least 490 times. But He really meant indefinitely. For you see, God calls us to forgive from our heart or else He cannot forgive us. So when it comes to math, our ability and willingness to multiply forgiveness toward another person is absolutely critical.

How’s your math these days?