really?

God wants to do amazing things in the world, this is not one of them. My first reaction is a little bit of disbelief. I understand why many people believe that the King James is only version that's right, but to burn the other versions as well as books by Billy Graham & Mother Teresa is a little...um...crazy. 

I'm not trying to be self righteous, but aren't there some bigger issues to tackle? Poverty, famine, homelessness, etc. Yet, this tiny church in North Carolina is using it's 15 minutes to tell the world how evil Rick Warren is. This is mind boggling. The worst part for me is that this gives credence to the people who hate the church. Whether it's right or wrong, this Pastor is representing the global church to millions of people. This makes me sad for this church & for the people involved.

I decided to read some blogs about this & I couldn't believe when I saw one with the headline, "Church Burning Bibles. Yay!" The person that wrote the blog entry stated with glee that they wouldn't have to do anything to destroy churches, we would do it ourselves.


Too often I let pride, ignorance, or immaturity keep me from doing what God really wants. The great commission says to go & make disciples, but we are too busy with things that don't really matter.


What are you & I doing that get in the way of God doing amazing things?

Decimated

I am a history & science guy. I would watch History channel all day long, much to the chagrin of my wife. Recently, I saw a special about Mt. Saint Helens. 

The May 18, 1980 eruption was the deadliest & most destructive volcanic explosion in US History. It dramatically changed the landscape in the blast zone in seconds & took the lives of 57 people. Scientist predicted that it may take 100 years for flora & fauna to fully recover. The area surrounding the volcano was decimated.

This is one of the first news events that I remember as a kid. I remember seeing it on TV, my mom describing why the sun looked funny, & drawing pictures of the explosion on scrap paper. It was something that was fascinating to me as I watched on TV. The truth is that all of us deal with events that change the landscape of our lives. It might not be a volcano, but it may be a divorce, loss of job, or a bad report from your doctor.

When we are dealing with our problems, it's easy to think that it's the end of the world. Most of our daily problems are pretty trivial in the big picture. But sometimes our world is rocked by a catastrophe. When these situations occur, it's almost as if the rug has been pulled out from under our feet. Down is up, up is down, & our whole world seems to be in flux.

It's easy to get focused on how bad things are in our lives. Our pain becomes the center of everything. Our problems dominate our thoughts & feelings. We often feel as if we've been victimized by a God who doesn't really understand or care about us at all. Now we might not say that, but we've all probably felt it.

I was talking to someone this week about a problem in their church. They were thinking abourt leaving because of the problem. I let them know that they should try to work out their issues without leaving the church. This is the healthiest thing that we can do, but it also the most difficult. I think God uses pain as a catalyst for change. We often believe that God wants to change our circumstance, but in reality God wants to change us. I firmly believe that God didn't want my friends to leave their church, but wanted to work through that pain to bring growth. It's easy to see that in someone else, but pretty difficult to see ourselves that way.

James 1:2-5 says...

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it.

God  wants to use your junk to grow you. He wants to bring beauty from your disaster. When the world seems to be crumbling, that's when God is at His best. That's when God really wants to mush our lives into a shape that's pleasing to Him. The problem is that we are usually busy whining...me included.

When my life has been rocked by loss of job or prolonged sickness of a child, that's the moment when I really allowed God to just be God. I knew that I couldn't do anything myself & in that moment I was changed.

Just a few years after the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, scientists were shocked to discover life returning to the area. The thing that really surprised them was that there were things growing & developing that were not present before the eruption. This was a revelation to everyone involved.

When the smoke from the decimation of our lives clears, we will find that God has begun to restore our lives & create something new. He doesn't want to do it on the edge of our pain or the midst of our joy, but in the heart of the blast zone. The place that things seemed the most desolate. That is the place where He will bring new life & restoration.

Give God a chance to heal you & let's see what develops. 

Mel of Enid

Earlier this week I posted a question on my Facebook profile. What's your favorite movie? It's not a terribly deep question, but it's always fun to talk about. There were a number of different responses. Mine is probably Lawrence of Arabia. 

It's the mostly true life story of T.E. Lawrence(1888-1935). By virtually any standard, he lived an extraordinary life. He was an adviser to Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote of Lawrence, "I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time... We shall never see his like again. His name will live in history. It will live in the annals of war... It will live in the legends of Arabia." 

He was personal friends with George Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, Robert Graves & E.M. Forster. These were some of the most prolific writers of their time. He himself wrote several books including Seven Pillars of Wisdom, for which he never received a penny. All the proceeds went to a fund to help families of British soldiers killed in service.

I was reading an account of the last few years of Lawrence's life. He wrote an unpublished memoir of his time as an enlisted man in the British Royal Air Force. In it, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the way things were & the desire to a part of some thing larger. I could hardly believe what I was reading. This man, who had lived as full a life as anyone, was communicating a desire to be a part of something big. He wanted his life to matter.


The story of T.E. Lawrence is too common. Not that we all lead an Arab revolt against an Ottoman army, but we all long to leave our mark, to be remembered for something great. There is a desire deep inside each of us to be special.


It comes in a wide variety of forms. It may be the car you drive, the clothes you wear, or the shampoo you use. The commercials for each of these lead us to believe that our lives will be significantly improved, and by default more valuable if we use their products. The marketing agencies play on our insecurities & fear that our lives don't matter. They are trying to convince us that all we need to do is drive the right car for our lives to be important. The problem is that every year there's a newer model & new pressure to keep up.


Sometimes we will associate ourselves with someone famous. I worked for a "professional" baseball team while we lived in Fort Worth. It gave me the chance to interact with a number of former Major League baseball players. I will be the first to tell you that it was fun. I loved it. But I also loved to see people's reactions when I told them who I knew. For just a moment, it elevated my status. It made me matter.


We see this in the lives of parents who live through their kids athletic achievements, or the man who throws himself into 70 hour work weeks. We are all looking for a way to matter.


Psalm 139 talks specifically about the love of God for us. It says that we are "fearfully & wonderfully made" & that if we could count God's thoughts about us, "they would be more in number than the sand." The God of the universe can't get you off of His mind.


God looks at us like an artist looks at his finished canvas or a mother looks at her newborn. We are loved because we are His creation. He has been desperately in love with us since the beginning of time & desires for us to know that we were his idea. And just in case you didn't know, He doesn't have bad ideas.



I don't need my church, my job, my auto maker, a clothing designer or anyone else to tell me that my life matters. My creator already did.

Galations

I love the Bible app on my iPhone. It let's me bookmark my favorite scriptures. Last night I was up with my sick 4 year old most of the night, so I was reading some scripture...on my iPhone. Somehow that doesn't seem as spiritual as reading out of a 25 pound King James Bible.

Anyway, I came across a Galations 1:10. It says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia. These were churches that Paul may have started, but were later led away from Christ centered teachings. Paul was rebuking the churches for their willingness to follow whatever theory or teaching that came their way. It's crazy how little things change.

We are so quick to adopt popular ideas whether they are biblically based or not. Who are we trying to please? Why do we put on a show for anyone. God is calling us to a life that is extraordinary, but most of us can't get past what other people think. 

When I was younger I never wanted to worship in the adult service because of what people might think. Did I really expect my parents to hang their head in shame if they saw their son worshiping? The crazy part is that I think I didn't want to worship because of what would be expected of me if I did. I might be held more accountable in the future & people might think I should always worship. Pretty selfish.

OK. When I look at my life today, the temptation to be a people pleaser is still there, but it's different. There's a different set of expectations because I'm on staff at a church. Don't get me wrong. Pastors are held to a different standard of living & I'm OK with that. I'm not really talking about what I do, but why I do it. 

What is my motivation for the things I do. Do I live like I do to fulfill my obligations as a pastor or am I doing it because I am so in love with God that it causes me to live differently? Am I living to please people or God? It's easy to get the 2 mixed up & not even realize it. 

There's a story about a pianist who was performing at a concert hall in New York City. He had prepared for months & was ready to play before a sold out engagement. When he walked onto stage he noticed an old man with a sour look on his face, sitting on the front row. He had his arms crossed as he sat back in his seat. The pianist played the entire show & the old man hardly moved at all.

At the conclusion of the performance the crowd erupted. Everyone across the concert hall stood in applause...except the little old man. As the pianist exited the stage to cheers & applause, he began to cry. When his manager stopped him backstage he asked, "What is wrong with you? They loved you tonight."

The pianist replied, "No they didn't. The old man in the front row hated it." The manager said, "What difference does he make? He is only 1 man." Through his tears, the pianist said, "That man is composer of the music I played tonight. If he isn't satisfied with my performance, then it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks."

  
Who are you trying to please in your life?

Good Enough

Good enough is a phrase that's been in my thoughts lately. I recently caught myself thinking that about something I was doing & couldn't believe how it made me feel.

We live in a society that wants to figure out what the minimum standard is & then just barely attain it. We want to figure out how little we can do & still get by. I have said before, but it used to drive me crazy when some teenage boy would ask me, "how far is too far" in regards to his relationship with his girlfriend. I used to respond by telling the boy to ask the girl's father. Whatever he said would probably suffice for me too.

You might think how could someone do that? I would never do anything like that. Oh yeah?

When was the last time you were driving & you thought, I can drive 5 over the speed limit? Yeah. Me too.

We are constantly trying to figure out what we can get away with. That's why we want to know what the dress code is, what the office hours are, or what the minimum expectations are.

When I got out of college & had to start paying income taxes like a real adult, I had to get a tax guy. It made me feel more important to have "a guy". Anyway, I sat down with him & said that I want to pay as little taxes as I could without going to jail. If I could get away with paying nothing, that was cool as long as I didn't have to go to jail.

We try to make the same deal with God. "OK God, what can I get away with?" We want to do as little as possible without any negative consequences.

What if we started asking questions like, "How Holy can I live? How can I have more integrity? or How can I become a better man, husband, or father than I ever dreamed?"

How would the world be different if we started living our life without the phrase, good enough?

Hunting-The Mel Masengale Way

I've never been a hunter,  but I'm not morally opposed to it either. There are a ton of hunters here in Enid. I was recently invited to go bow hunting, although I'm not really sure what a bow tastes like or why they're fun to hunt.

Hunting never appealed to me. I don't know if it was the thought of sitting in a deer stand at 4:30am in the bitter cold or the fact that I had to remain totally silent for hours. It also didn't help that I was(am) a huge sissy.

Hunters are called sportsmen, but sometimes it doesn't seem very sporting. I don't see any deer in a human stand setting out hamburgers in a mall parking lot waiting for a human to walk by. They don't watch us electronically with their remote cameras & plot our demise, but it might be cooler if they did.

I came up with a few ideas to improve modern hunting.

1. No more guns. I am all for the 2nd amendment. I lived in Texas too long to be anti-gun. My plan is to issue a dirt bike & a baseball bat to every hunter at the start of hunting season. If you can ride along side the dear & club it, you have yourself a kill.

2. No more limits on what you can get. If you can get it on dirt bike, it deserves to be killed. If Bambi can't keep up, he's goin down.

3. Get as many as you can-we have to keep the population thinned.

4. Televise it. This would be must see TV. Can you imagine the human drama that would unfold as a man rides headlong through a barbed wire fence at 50 miles per hour? We would have paramedics on hand, safety first. 

Those are some of my ideas. What about you? Do you have any ways to improve hunting? If so, leave a comment & let us know. 

May the Force be with...me?

I'm sitting here watching Star Wars, Episode 1(The Phantom Menace). It's probably my least favorite of all the SW movies, mostly because of this guy. I really love the Star Wars of my youth. Like many people of my generation, we grew up watching the movies, playing with the action figures, & staring at my poster of Princess Leia. They didn't all stare at my Princess Leia poster, that was mostly me, but you get the point. 

It's amazing how this story has influenced a generation. It influenced creativity & dreaming. It pioneered computer generated images & took special effects to new heights. It also challenged modern spirituality.

I don't think George Lucas intended on turning religion upside down, but new outlooks & a few cults have been spawned by his films. Lucas incorporated mythology, philosophy, & a strong Buddhist influence into his story telling. 

When the movies were released, many churches were quick to condemn it as heresy. They denounced the theology of the films without a second thought. I don't think that they were threatened by a motion picture, but by something else entirely.

Galileo Galilei was one of the greatest thinkers in human history. When he said that the Earth had an orbit around the sun in 1610, the church was incensed. This was contrary to their teaching that the Earth was the center of  the universe & they felt that it was an affront to their theology. They had Galileo held under house arrest for the last 10 years of his life. The Catholic church didn't fully admit it's mistake until 1992. It only took 382 years, a brisk pace by most church standards.

I find that we are not all that different. We don't like the thought that we might be wrong. My pride says to fight vehemently & then figure it out later. We are quick to judge & slow to listen. Proverbs 1:5 says, "let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-."

We don't like for our theology to be challenged. We feel that if something we believe is proved wrong, then our whole belief system goes down the toilet. This isn't the case. The church marched on even after scientific advances revealed the truth about our solar system.

It is good for our faith to be challenged. When I was a freshman in college I had a professor named Dr. Dexter Marble at USAO. He challenged every belief I had about God & I am a better Christian for it. He forced me to examine my own beliefs & understand why I held them as truths. In the same way, when we admit that we don't have all the answers, we are allowing God to reveal things to us in unusual or unorthodox places.

When asked why he went back & fixed the original Star Wars films, George Lucas replied that a film is never finished, only abandoned. Technology changes & allows you to do more. You get more money or time to do what you might not have been able to do before. 

We have never really arrived as Christians. If we ever get to the point that we can't learn or grow, then we are dying. It's OK to not have all the answers. "I don't know," is one of the most liberating things we can say. Just like films I think that our relationship with Jesus is never finished, only abandoned.