I Hope Ants Don't Become Giants

Have you ever kicked over and ant pile? What is the cruelest thing you have ever done to an ant? When I was a kid we used to stick these awesome firecrackers called “M80s” into the ant hill and blow them up.

The M80s would litterally leave craters in the ground. Then ants would find themselves in the trees trying to figure out what in the world just happened. Then they would hurry down to get back to work. It always seemed so sad that they would get right back to working on rebuilding their home.

Doesn’t that seem ridiculous? Look at the life of an ant… they just do the same routine thing every day. A kid blows up their hill… and they rebuild it.

But think about our lives… what if someone was on the outside looking in? We live in boxes, then we get into moving boxes and go to bigger boxes, then we get back in our moving boxes and return to our smaller boxes… it seems so routine and sad doesn’t it?

I’ve always been told by older and more wise people that life will just keep getting busier and busier, and that I should cherish today, but I have the hardest time trying to wrap my head around a busier schedule until I reach another season of life… then I find myself envying the simple days that I should have cherished.

The other day I got into the best argument of my life. It was intense, back and forth, and consisted of numerous “one-ups.” Then when all was said and done, I stinkin lost!

I was walking by the playground and a bunch of kids saw me. They yelled my name from afar, and then came sprinting to the fence line. It really made me feel good inside that these kids were pumped to see me.

I took a couple of their noses, a girl took my nose and ate it, then they tried to get me involved in a game of tag… but everything took a turn when one of the kids made a derogatory comment… “Your nose is pork!” I didn’t even know what that meant, but judging by the other kids’ reaction I could tell it was an insult! I quickly responded by saying that his ear was pork, still not knowing what that meant.

This went back and forth as we named different body parts and said they were pork. By this time all the kids had left their areas of play and joined the crowd of bystanders. What started out as a group of kids excited to see me turned into a group of kids pulling against me in hopes that their peer would trump me in this intense game of pork insults.

I had to venture back to kindergarten to get in a proper mindset for this galactic battle. I remembered one time a kid told another kid that his head was so big that it would explode and it trumped all other insults. So I thought I would put an end to this argument once and for all… “Well, your head is pork!”

BOOM! It was done! All the kids hung their heads in shame knowing that they had been defeated as a whole.

Every kid hung their head in shame except for one… the kid dealing the insults. His head remained high and proud, gleaming with confidence. As the other kids began to slowly walk back to the play ground, he boldly proclaimed, “YOUR WHOLE BODY IS PORK!!!”

Ohhhs and Ahhhs resounded throughout the playground. Smiles stretched across the kids’ faces. Shouts of joy rang from the top of the swing set. I think some kids even leaped and through their fists in the air.

I knew it was over… the warm feeling of victory quickly escaped me as I was certain that the argument was over, and I was not victorious… defeated by a kid. And the worst part is that I still have no clue what the meaning of pork is, and why calling someone that carries so much weight.

Here’s the thing… I miss those days. I often look out my office window and wish I could step back into childhood when things were so simple. They don't worry about making a truck payment, or having a check come in before bills are due. They’re not thinking about retirement or having a good healthcare plan. Life is simple… play wall ball, chase this girl or that guy, or spin around until I feel sick... all equally good choices.

Come to think of it, we’re kind of like ants rebuilding their mounds… we’re so busy, and the things we busy ourselves with seem so important at the time, but from the outside looking in those things are ultimately meaningless.

I really think we need to simplify our lives and start investing in the eternal.

One day all of our earthly treasures will pass away. Designer jeans will wear out, cars will break down, things will go out of style… fill in the blank… whatever it might be, if it is of the earth it will pass away.

This is tough for us because we are so caught up in the now; but the more we separate ourselves from perishable things, then the more we will experience true freedom and true happiness in this life. And I’m not talking about this superficial happiness that is preached in the health wealth gospel… I’m talking about true happiness that can only come from walking in line with God’s intended order.

I hope we start taking more time to weigh our investments and focus on the life to come. Maybe it means selling your stuff and giving to the poor. Maybe it means giving a burger and talking to a homeless man about his situation. Maybe it means giving your life to ministry. Maybe it means getting more plugged into your church. Who knows where God will lead you... I only ask that you listen and be obedient.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus... and the things of earth will grow strangely dim..."

One Bite at a Time

“You couldn’t stop the earth quake, you can’t fix Los Angeles, and you’re not going to be able to heal him.”

I went and saw the movie “The Soloist” the other night, which turned out to be quite delightful. I don’t think I’ll ever purchase it for my own library, but I would recommend going and seeing it.

Jamie Fox plays the role of a music prodigy that becomes mentally ill while at college in Ohio. Eventually he finds himself homeless in the streets of Los Angeles where the character played by Robert Downy Jr. (a columnist) discovers him and finds inspiration to write a story about his situation.

At the climax of the movie everything completely falls apart with the soloist and Robert Downy Jr. finds himself sitting next to his ex-wife pouring out his heart. It is at this moment she replies, “You couldn’t stop the earth quake, you can’t fix Los Angeles, and you’re not going to be able to heal him.”

I think this is what overwhelms so many of us as a society. We see all the sickness, poverty, and injustices around us, and then we realize that the surface has just been scratched as we take notice of these problems being magnified in third world countries... we get to the point where we feel like we just can’t do anything about it.

King Solomon had a similar reflection in Ecclesiastes chapter 4. He presents a very similiar observation to the world and then provides two ways in which we can respond to the evil that surrounds us: One is to fold our arms and give up; and the other is to keep ourselves so busy that we lose sight of reality.

How true is this of us today? We either completely give up because our efforts cannot even make a dent, or we busy ourselves with our own lives to the point that anything outside of our world is either opaque, or worse case, merely a fictional tail.

Wednesday morning at Chick-Fil-A we took prayer request, and a few of the high school girls commented on how they had a lot going on. At this point Pete Carter stepped in and offered some fatherly wisdom. He gave some simple advice that I have heard before, but it is often necessary to be reminded of such things.

He asked Laura if she knew how to eat an elephant. “No!” She replied, with a puzzled look on her face. Then he paused, and just looked at her for a second, and I butted in, “One bite at a time.” Then Pete chimed in, almost to echo me, “One bite at a time!”

So how does this tie into pushing back the evil that surrounds us?

First it is important to understand what the gospel is. I think some people mistake the gospel for taking care of social issues. But here’s the problem with that, the gospel is in no way tied to anything that we do… it is by grace, through faith alone. Then as a result of the gospel in our lives we should long to see justice brought to these social issues.

My fear is that we can become so overwhelmed with all the evil in the world that we never do anything about it. What if the Church started to take care of social issues instead of letting the government play the churches role? What if we had a positive influence on the society around us? What if non-Christians stopped thinking of us as self-centered bickering intolerant jerks, and saw us as an accurate representation of Christ?

Let’s face it, people are going to hate us because they hated Christ first; but people didn’t hate Christ because he went around healing the sick and caring for the oppressed. They hated him because he claimed to be God.

If we’re going to start impacting the world in a positive way, we can’t look at the big picture and become overwhelmed. We are going to have to take one bite at a time. I like the way John Randles puts it... "One day you'll be sitting on your front porch and your grandkids will ask you "What's that out in the yard?" Then you can say, "It used to be an elephant." And when they ask what happened to it, you can say, “I ate that sucker!”

As you observe all the evil in the world do not become overwhelmed and ignore it or give up... take one bite at a time and encourage those around you. Remember these three things: You cannot eat an elephant in one sitting. Many hands makes small work. And, if we all did a little, we could all do a lot.

A Reminding of the AWE in Awesome

I can remember hearing numerous times growing up that nothing good happens after midnight.

But what about just being outside?

I’ve always loved the night. There is just something about it that is awesome.

I’ve never been an insomniac or a huge night owl like some of my friends, but I do prefer to stay up a little later than I should.

I had a buddy in college that stayed up way too late all the time, and then the summer after our freshmen year he decided to work a night job at Krispy Kreme. He would stay up all night making hot donuts and throwing away old donuts by the trash bag full. Then when daylight rolled around he would have to wear one of those stupid looking beauty rest masks so he could actually sleep.

That summer was one of the best summers of my life. I worked outside washing cars, so I had a tan and cash in my pocket. Then when I wasn’t working I was either at the lake skiing or riding my mountain bike. It was a hard life, I know.

Well one night I couldn’t sleep and I had a ton of stuff on my mind. So at about 3am I through on my Camel Back Hydration System, put a light on the front of my bike, put on some head phones… I actually was using a walkman so I could listen to the radio… and then I hit the road. I really didn’t have a goal in mind, I just needed to clear my head. Then after a few miles I came up on the big bright Krispy Kreme “Hot Now” sign.

I wasn’t sure if Jay would be working or not, but I road through the drive through anyway to find out. I’m sure they had seen a lot of weird things at night, but I’m pretty sure I was the first shirtless mountain biker at 3 in the morning.

I tell that story to let you know that there was something about being on my bike (doing something I love) and being outside at night that helped me clear my mind. But was it something more?

I have recently been taking a ton of late night walks with Bearick (my beast of a dog). The other night I was taking my normal rout, hoping Bearick wouldn’t take a second dump because I already used his handy dandy poop sack picker-upper… and then I caught myself staring up at the sky. It was beautiful. The moon was full and the stars were still bright.

I got back to my house and just went and laid down in my backyard staring at the sky and pondering how amazing God is. What is man that God is mindful of him?

The daylight sky is pretty amazing too, but you are limited in what you can see. I’ll be honest… if I ever go to the beach I will still look at the shapes of the clouds and try to figure out what they look like, but the day time sky falls short. It falls short in painting the full picture of how small we are in this universe. It isn’t until you see all the stars and reflect on how many light years away they are, or catch a glimpse of splendor in watching a shooting star sparkle across the sky that you can really REALLY just feel small.

Who are we that God could place the galaxies in their place with the tips of his fingers, but when it came to humanity he slowed down and shaped us with his hands, creating and forming us in His image? How incredible is that?!

I think late night stares into the sky are good for our souls because they help us clear our minds. I think they help us clear our minds because we can be reminded that an unfathomably HUGE God is watching over us and is working all things together for our good so that we might better reflect the glory of His Son Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to have a mountain bike and friends that work third shift, and you don’t have to have a huge dog to walk… you just have to have a piece of sky to stare at. I think it would be good for your soul to go outside some night this week and just spend 30 minutes gazing towards the heavens and thinking about how incredible the God we serve is. Then think about how awesome it is that this same God loves you with a love that transcends anything our minds can even begin to comprehend.

Happy star gazing you guys!

Mancation

Shortly after I first arrived in Georgia I had to take off for Texas to go to a wedding. At the same time I left for Texas, Jason (my boss and friend) left for a “mancation.” It was a great concept. He went out to California, worked at The Ranch guiding white water rafts, and then he came back to civilization about a week later.

Ever since Jason took a mancation I had wanted to take one of my own. Well, for some reason the last month had been kind of a funk for me, and I can’t really explain it, but I really needed to take a vacation… or better yet, a mancation!

One of my good friends from Texas Tech lives in Colorado Springs and we had been talking about me coming to hang out for over a year now, so what better time to hit the mountains than ski season?

I really didn’t know how all of it would pull together, especially since I was broke and even had to ask my mom to wait a week before cashing a check that I had written her; but through some great people everything came together. Paul Robbins approved my vacation time, Anna Agee helped me get a flight through using some of her buddy passes with AirTran, Mrs. Ann unexpectedly gave me some spending cash, then Megan McLane provided an awesome couch to sleep on and used two of her buddy passes to reduce the cost of the ski lift tickets.

If it were not for all of these people then I would not have been able to pull off my first mancation. I am so thankful for each of them, and they probably have no idea how much it all meant to me.

Back to the funk... I was in desperate need for some spiritual refreshing, and the Colorado Rockies, in part, provided just what I needed. God has always had a way with my soul through the mountains, whether it is the Appalachians or the Rockies, there is something about the mountains that always seems to help me walk a little bit more in step with God. However, as awesome as the mountains were, they were not the main source of the spiritual refreshing God gave me.

What was it that brought me back? What revived my heart? What was it that brought joy to my spirit and soul? I believe God brought this to me through a genuine friendship.

God never intended us to walk through this life alone. I know there has often been the desire in my heart to retreat from this world and go live in the wilderness away from all the junk that life has to offer, but weekends like this bring me back to a greater knowledge of why God desires us to live in community with one another... why God doesn't want us to live out in the woods by ourselves.

Granted, money did provide the means to my mancation, but money did not provide the happiness.

The few days I spent in Colorado were filled with great community. Looking through pictures and using a thousand words to explain each one; covering miles of mountain roads while listening to great music; exchanging stories of lives lived thousands of miles apart; reminiscing on stories of old that brought back great memories; constantly fighting tiredness to squeeze the most out of every waking minute; taking picture after picture for future enjoyment; carving through the fresh powder of a recent snow and bombing mountains at intensely unsafe speeds; and all the while enjoying the company of a great friend while beginning a friendship with someone totally new. It was through these precious moments that God restored happiness to my soul.

Christ came that we might live life to the full, and one aspect he modeled this for us was through living life in true community. When we walk in step with how Christ modeled for us how to live then we walk closer to our maker. And when we are walking close to our maker there is a great refreshing to our soul… a refreshing that gives us a taste of the community we will have in heaven.

It is my prayer that I never take for granted the friends I have, and that I remain ever thankful to God for the moments where he gives us a taste of his glory. This week I tasted God’s glory through friendship, and I am thankful beyond words. The best words I can say is that my soul smiles because of the great friends God has placed in my life.

To all who have walked a season of life with me, or who are currently walking with me, I thank God for you. Thank you for being my friend.

Slippers on My Feet

At what age do moms stop dressing their children?

The last time I can remember my mom picking out a full outfit was in second grade. It was a yellow shirt (probably from JC Penny) and some stonewashed jean shorts.

I hated jean shorts because they weren’t comfortable. That is one trend I hope never comes back! The corduroys can come and go; heck, even bellbottoms can make a comeback, but I want jean shorts to stay away!

In 1992 I moved from Omaha, Nebraska to San Antonio, Texas. I went from the north were coke was “pop” and entered the republic of…

My elementary school had a bicycle rodeo! How stereotypical. But it was awesome! I loved riding bikes as a kid, and this was an opportunity to show off my skills.

In 4th grade the bicycle rodeo came around. It was my second rodeo and I had full intentions of winning this bad boy. But there was one thing that might hold me back… jean shorts! I hated those things, but my mom would still lay them out for me to wear. I think she had faith that I wouldn’t mess up picking out a shirt, but she wanted to have control over what pants I wore… I guess she knew too well that if she let me pick them out I would do just as I did.

She left for work about an hour before I took off to school on my bike. Once she was clear out of site I took the jean shorts, threw them in my closet and pulled out my Umbros. I don’t even know if that brand is still around, but they were comfortable light weight shorts for playing soccer or something.

Flannel was also in at the time. I liked the flannel shirt. So I was rocking some black athletic shorts with neon writing that read “umbro” with a red and black flannel shirt. I had no style. I dressed only for comfort.

I didn’t win the rodeo, but I did place! And it was probably due to my complete comfort while riding my bike.

I miss the days when comfort had the ability to override style.

Here’s the thing though, we still love to be comfortable. It may only be in the comfort of our own home with the blinds pulled shut… but there is nothing like a good pair of sweat pants with a ratted out old holey shirt that is considered inappropriate for public, and don’t forget to throw in the house slippers!

However, we must not let our faith become something that is out of style… something that we only show in the comfort of our own home when no one can see.

I have recently been reflecting on how uncomfortable our faith can be. Just the other day I was at a coffee shop and I felt the urge to go witness to a table of high school guys. I was busy studying, but every time I looked up to gather a thought I would see them and think I should go strike up a conversation.

But honestly that would have been uncomfortable. I kept thinking, “Well they look like good guys, I bet they go to a church down the street…” or “I would, but I don’t want to interrupt their conversation… it looks like it’s going pretty well.” The fact is that it would have been uncomfortable. How horrible is that?! I am a youth minister and I found myself making excuses not to witness.

Witnessing is uncomfortable almost ALL the time… but I think this is almost by design. Then we have to recognize that it is only by God’s power that we can fully proclaim His good news.

Then last Sunday during worship I noticed someone lift their hands, only to quickly put them down after every head and eye turned to see if they had a question or something. People are uncomfortable worshiping as the Spirit might lead them because it might seem out of the norm.

We become disgusted with the demoralization of society but then we are scared to influence it for the sake of comfort.

If we don’t break these walls and break out of the norm then we will continue to lose ground with our Christian influence and we will continue to have dull worship.

What are some areas of comfort you believe are holding back Christians?

It is my prayer and hope that these walls of comfort would continue to break down in my life and in the lives of others. Please join me in this destruction, and let’s see what lies on the other side. I’m willing to bet it is very beautiful and worthwhile!

We Will Give You 3 Months Pay as You Look for a New Job

Today I went to the gym to get a lift in before I started the rest of my Saturday festivities. I did all the lifting I planned on doing, but my last set made me a little light headed. I had planned on jogging home, but instead I decided to take my time and walk. I still had my headphones in and caught myself in this moment where I felt like I could be in the video of the song playing if it had a video.

I was listening to Sigur Ros who I have just recently been turned on to (great music). I was walking by a chain link fence that surrounded what used to be a tennis court. There were some weeds that had grown up in the grass area that separated the sidewalk from the fence, and the wind had caught them just right as they swayed to the rhythm of the song. I couldn’t help but wonder if a camera could capture what my eyes were taking in as this song softly played in my ears.

Music is simply inspirational. I love music, and I realize its power to tug on heart strings. I’m sure that with the right construction of worship songs in a service you could appeal to anyone’s emotions and create for them an amazing worship experience; but we must be extremely cautious with these types of inspirations.

Please don’t hear me wrong, I believe God delights in well composed and well played music; I believe God works through people’s speaking talents and their abilities to paint amazing pictures in our imaginations; but we can’t get caught up in trying to create a worship experience.

I recently reread a book called “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” where the author walks through the negative affects Sesame Street had on education. Learning became fun and kids began to like school… as long as school was like Sesame Street.

I think the same goes for church. We can make church fun and set out not to bore students, but we must be extremely careful with the environments we create. Sure students might begin to love church if they have drama, games, buildup worship songs, great public speakers, and buildings designed to cater directly to them… but what happens when they leave the youth group? What happens when they love church as long as church is like youth group?

I feel like we're constantly battling people who want us to try this model of ministry or that model of ministry. We are constantly dealing with people in the church who want us to do more gimmicks to get students in the doors. We are constantly dealing with these people getting inside our heads as we evaluate “success” on their terms.

What would happen if a student ministry running 50 students scrapped all of its activities and dropped down to 12 students? What would happen if the youth minister was only able to deeply invest in three of these students? What would happen if all they did was go throughout their town and teach the gospel and minister to people’s needs?

To the consumer driven society, which influences the church, that sees a business not turning a profit and recognize it as a dying business they would probably see this ministry as a dying ministry. To those who run a pumped up Wednesday night program for the sake of “getting them in the door,” they would probably see this ministry as unsuccessful. To the church that is more concerned with Sunday school attendance than the actual material being taught this ministry would be seen as digressing.

Would this youth minister keep his job very long?

What is more important, doing ministry to please the eyes and ears of the masses or doing ministry to glorify Christ? That answer is easy, to glorify Christ; but what does a ministry set out to glorify Christ look like? Does it look like its dying in the eyes of the consumers, or does it look like its exploding? Does it dwindle down to nothing before shaking up everything?

We can inspire students through all sorts of things, and any cult can pack out a room; but what should youth ministry look like? Should we be creating an atmosphere that makes church fun and set students up to leave the church when church no longer appeals to their emotional needs? Or do we set out to build disciples through Christ-centered teaching that historically won’t appeal to the masses?

If Jesus were a youth minister how would the consumer driven society that has its hands in the inner workings of the church evaluate his ministry? Successful or unsuccessful? If Jesus were a youth minister in your town which church would have the greatest numbers?

Would Jesus keep his job at the average church?

If you’re still reading I might need to apologize… I really don’t even know where I am going with this… I just needed to get some things off my chest; but if this has spurred any thoughts in your mind please leave a comment and let me know.

Perfect Messiness

I recently came up to Kentucky to take two j-term classes at Southern. I forgot how much I loved this place. Louisville, Kentucky is by far one of the coolest places I have lived, and I’ve lived quite a few places. It has a real unique flavor to it.

For lunch today I hit up one of my favorite Louisville Originals, El Mundo. It’s this awesome Mexican place that could hold its own even in the streets of San Antonio, Texas. I ordered the lunch combo, took a seat, and admired the unique atmosphere as I awaited my tasty meal. They called out my name, and as I picked up my plate the cook made sure to mention, “Be careful, the plate’s very hot.” Which of course, drew my attention even more so the food that would soon be in my belly.

Taking the plate in one hand, I swung by the counter that held the silverware and I grabbed a fork, knife, and napkin, and made my way back to my table. I sat down, took a deep breath, and I caught myself in this paused moment… realizing and admiring the perfect messiness of my plate.

There was a carne asada filled burrito nestled right next to a cheese enchilada, both covered in enchilada sauce with melted cheese. This was complemented by a mound of black beans and Spanish rice, with a little scoop of diced tomatoes mixed with cilantro. The whole plate seemed unified by a layer of sprinkled cheese scattered across the plate with a light line of sour cream curving from side to side to complete the aesthetic appeal. Is your mouth watering?! Because it should be!

This plate was completely messy, but completely perfect, all at the same time.

I can’t help but reflect on the messiness of the church. As a minister it is so easy to get caught up in the programmatic nature of the church. We have a stinkin program for EVERYTHING… and this inevitably leads pastors to evaluating their success, or their effectiveness, by the smoothness of these programs playing themselves out.

We fall into this pit of thinking church has to be pretty, as if God could only move in a church that has clear cut lines. In this model church becomes an event that has to be well planned. While I am definitely a proponent of a church service being well planned and having a natural flow to the service, I am adamantly against a church service that might as well invite you to sit back and grab a popcorn and coke as you prepare to be entertained on the level of a downscaled U2 concert.

We cannot be so caught up with having all of our ducks in a row that we miss doing effective ministry.

Christ does not beautify the church by making it neat and pretty. He does not beautify the church by only inviting those from cookie cutter homes to join the festivities. He makes the church beautiful by showing his amazing grace and mercy to a completely undeserving people.
He unites Jews and Gentiles, Blacks and Whites, Hispanics and Asians… he unites intact homes with broken homes… he unites preppy people with biker people, tatted up people with white collar people, hip hoppers with punk rockers, and the list could go on and on. He takes the messiest, most undeserving people, and makes them complete. This is what makes the church beautiful.

Will you join me in celebrating the perfect messiness of the church?

Maybe if we celebrate this then we will be more effective in reaching the poor and broken hearted, the orphans and the widows, the absentee fathers and the drug addicted mothers, the homosexuals and the hookers… maybe if we celebrate this, then we can start making progress in doing our part in bringing God’s kingdom, for His glory.

Let’s stop getting so caught up in the wrong things, and let’s join together in worshiping Christ as a unified group of jacked up messy people. Maybe the worship won’t have an amazing entertainment factor to it… But, hey, I would rather worship with people who are spiritually poor, broken hearted, understanding of mercy, and hungering to know God more over a well polished group of modern day Pharisees any day of the week!

Thank God for his perfect messiness.