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.