Candy Cane Persecution

I was talking with a friend the other day about when she mentioned a frustrating situation at a local elementary school.  Apparently the children were asked not to bring candy canes to school because of the Christian themes that candy canes represent.  While my friend was frustrated with the schools for obvious reasons, I had a different reaction.  I was so frustrated with the Church!  We really had to make the world work for that one.  Candy Canes?  Really?  Is that all you got?  Well, apparently that’s all the Church has.  As Pastor Brandon was speaking this Sunday, the thought occurred to me:  If you don’t feel persecuted, maybe you aren’t doing anything worth persecuting.  Ouch!  That hit close to home.  If you look around America, the only “persecution” (if you can even call it that,) is the new trend of saying “Happy Holidays!”  instead of saying “Merry Christmas!”  Well if candy canes, and Merry Christmas is the only hand the Church is willing to deal, we might as well just fold now.

The bible encourages us to go boldly into the presence of God.  But all too often do we, as Christians, go boldly into the the Throne Room asking God to help us out of our current mess, but refuse to go boldly into the World, carrying His cross.  Hearing about this candy cane persecution saddened me greatly, because how sad is it that the world had to work so hard to come up with something to pick on.  If the world really is as dark as we all say it is, and if we are really doing our job of bringing His light into this world, shouldn’t it our light be easier to target?

Numbers: A Fervent Heart

⁴¹ But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” ⁴² As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, ⁴⁴ and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground. ⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify them and make them right with the Lord. The Lord’s anger is blazing against them—the plague has already begun.” ⁴⁷ Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and purified the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped.  -Numbers 16:41-48

I think sometimes, as Christ-followers, we forget why we are here.  Moses & Aaron remind us in this story.  Here, the people of Israel are rising up against Moses and Aaron, attacking their integrity and authority, and God decides that they deserve to die over this.   God is tired of the rebellion of His people to the authority that He placed over them.  Now, if I’m Moses and have been putting up with these whiny, ungrateful Israelites for 40 years, I’m thinking, “Just give me a minute to get out of the way, and they are all yours!”  But that’s not his reaction at all.  He quickly asks Aaron to take action.  I can just picture Aaron, desperately running, knocking people over in his haste to make amends for the people.  He stood his ground in between the dead and the living, pleading with his incense for the Israelites to be spared.

What an amazing picture of what the role of the Church should be!  The world around is sweeping with pain, bitterness, and loneliness.  It is quite literally dying around us and all too often our response is apathetic.  I think that it is time for the Church to rise up and desperately run to stand in the gap for the people around us.  We need not forsake the world because they have made fun of our morality, or because they attack our integrity due to those who have fallen.  We need to run with fervency to save every last person we can before the plagues of this world claim them.  We need to let the incense of our prayers reach our Father in heaven, as we cry out for Him to spare His people.

Lord, give me a fervent heart for the people around me.  Help me to see what a desperate state this world is in, that I might understand the urgency that is required to save those who are already dying.    I ask that you burn into me a heart for the lost.  Give me a love for the people that you love.  I know that You are Mighty to Save, and I ask that you show off your might in the people around me.

Leviticus: The Final Sacrifice

Well as humans we mess up A LOT.  One thing that was clear while reading Leviticus is that if we weren’t so stupid, mistake-prone, and selfish, there would have been a lot less work for Aaron, the priest, to do back in those days.  How did he keep up?  I can’t keep up with my everyday activities now, much less if I had to go through the rituals and sacrifices of yesteryear every time I screwed up.  I am wonderfully blessed to have been born in the “A.D.” time period rather than the “B.C.”  We are so fortunate that Jesus, has set us free from these rituals!  (Besides, I don’t think PETA would be very happy right now if we still performed them.)

Many people wonder, at some point in their Christian walk, “Why is it that Jesus had to die to save us?  Wasn’t there some other way?”  The bible says that Jesus is the fulfillment and completion of everything that God’s Word laid out.  Our Holy God makes it very clear, that the price for sin is death.  He provided a way for those in the Old Testament to “atone” or make up for, their sins by sacrificing animals in place of the people God loved.   While there are A LOT of sacrifices, offerings, and atonements explained in detail in the book of Leviticus, I noticed that there were two main themes to the sacrifices:  animal sacrifices, and grain offerings.  This is where Jesus comes in!  At the Last Supper, Jesus compares his body to bread, and his blood to wine, asking us to remember His sacrifice often.  His blood, and His body, where the Final Sacrifice to fulfill all of the blood and grain sacrifices for the entire world.  If Jesus had not died on that cross, we would still owe payment for our sins: which is death.  Leviticus is a healthy reminder of the world of sacrifices and religion that we would be drowning in if it weren’t for our loving Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord, I don’t know how to show enough gratitude for the most selfless act of love known to this planet.  Help me to be constantly reminded of how much you love me, so much that you died for me, to set me free from the death that I deserve.  You took my punishment so that I might find eternal life in You.  I love you.

Exodus: Sometimes the miracle is for us!

As I was reading in Exodus, (come on you remember from the song: “Pharoh, Pharoh, Oh Baby, Let my People Go!”)   I noticed a peculiar line:

Then the LORD said to Moses,  “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.  Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. – Exodus 14:1-4

So, let me get this straight: the Israelites are scott free, and the Lord tells them to turn back, camp out, and wait for Him to change Pharoh’s mind so that Pharoh can come after them, and also lets not forget catch up to them!  What was God thinking!  The Israelites had been set free;  he had already accomplished his purpose in this situation!  Or had he?

Let’s skip a little bit further ahead in the story:

But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides.  That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses. – Exodus 14:29-31

So we find out what is really going on here.  This entire mess, was not so that God could show off his mighty power to the rest of the world, but so that HIS people would know how great and how awesome He is!  Not that God didn’t care if the Egyptians feared him, but it was far more important to Him that His people understand who He really is, and what He is truly capable of.

Isn’t that so true to us today.  We, as christians, spend time praying that God’s mighty hand would move so that the people around us would see that He is the only God.  While there is nothing wrong with that, we forget that sometimes the miracle is for us.  What could God accomplish if His people, you and me, really got a grasp of who God is and what He is capable of?  If we truly walked in awe before God and put our faith in Him, people wouldn’t need the stars to rearrange to prove that God exists, they would not be able to deny that He lives in us.

Lord, help me to remember the miraculous ways that you have changed my life.  Help me to find the fear and wonder that I once placed in your name, and help it to find it’s way to the surface of my life.  Make every thought, movement and word I have be saturated in the faith that You are truly on my side.

Genesis: Why do bad things happen to good people?

One of the most common questions clergy is approached with today is “How could a loving God allow (fill in the blank here) to happen?”  Unfortunately there are a plethora of true but unhelpful answers:  God is sovereign, everything He does is good, etc.  Also unfortunately, there are several less than stellar answers some people are given:  God is our judge, God is punishing you.  I found Joseph’s story to be some help here.

Joseph is one of my favorite Bible characters because He is one of few characters in the bible that, while still not perfect by any means, didn’t seem to be the cause of his own misfortune.  If I were to compare my current frustrations with the tragedy that Joseph encountered I always come up short; at least my family didn’t decide to kill me, and then decide that they could at least make a buck off of me if they literally sold me up the river!  

But rather than wallow in the grievance that the world had clearly dealt him, he chose to continue to be a hardworking, and honorable man as a servant in Potiphar’s house.  Then, just when he thought he had taken enough blows from this cruel world, he is falsely accused of trying to rape his master’s wife, and thrown in jail!  Where he again decides to be a faithful worker until he eventually becomes second only to Pharoh. (Genesis 37-41)  But the amazing part of the story is still yet to come; a famine strikes the land so great that Joseph’s brothers wind up begging him for food to survive, and we get our answer to the age old question:

“…don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. … ⁷ God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.  ⁸ So it was God who sent me here, not you!” - Genesis 45:5-8

and later:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”  -Genesis 50:20

Joseph understood that life isn’t about who wronged who, or what he thought he deserved, or even how cruel God is that He would allow this to happen to him. He understood that God is the only one with true 20/20 vision.  He is the only one who knows the future.  He has a great purpose in store later for the tragedies and frustrations that you are dealing with today.  

One of my favorite, and often overused (especially by me,) bible verses is Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”  So, sometimes, like Joseph, we won’t understand what purposes our tragedies hold until 20 years down the road.  And I suspect other times we won’t get see in our lifetime how God worked for good one of our horrible things from the “all things” category.  So we just might have to go on a little faith. But are we really surprised that faith is what this all boils down to? Haha.

Lord, give us faith the size of a mustard seed so that we can move the mountain of blame and unforgiveness out of our lives.  Show us that you have a plan and a purpose for our lives, plans to prosper us, and not to harm us.  Give us eyes to see the good that you have produced out of what others have meant for evil.

To Explain The Next Several Posts…

The Church that I am on staff with has decided that as a leadership team we are going to jump on the B90X bandwagon along with many leading churches in this country.  For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is simply a Bible reading program in which you read through the entire Bible in 90 days.  I have decided, that throughout this process I am going to blog at least once for every book of the Bible.  Because of the pace, we have covered Genesis in 4 days and Exodus in 3, so this is mainly so that I can keep up with everything that God is showing me throughout this experience!  So read along if you’d like a “bookly” update on where we are as a staff!

Pastors’ Wives

Quiet, polite, smiling, hopeful, sweet, …..in short a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down.

I often think it is unfortunate the standard that we hold pastors’ wives too.  We require them to be perfect in every way or face the disappointed public.  It’s not that I think we shouldn’t hold them to a higher standard….I’m just not sure that we are holding them to the right one.  

Maybe we should look at pastor’s wives from the perspective of what the pastor needs in order to be able to lead his church, rather than what the church thinks they need from her.  For example, a Pastor needs his wife to not only be his biggest fan, but also his biggest protector.  Many people think that this means a pastor’s wife should follow quietly behind her husband ready to catch them if they fall, but I propose a different course of action.

I think it would be more effective for a pastor’s wife to secretly go before her husband and his ministry in order to take some of the bullets for him.  When the President comes to town his security detail does not follow quietly behind.  He is completely surrounded by them.  He never steps foot in a location where his team of protectors has not gone before him.  

How about a biblical example… the bible often compares a husband and wife to Christ and the Church.  When you think about Christ’s time of ministry, it would be a mistake to forget about John the Baptist.  His entire life was devoted to preparing the way for Christ.  He had his own calling and by following after it he created a great set-up for Christ to walk into when the time came. John the Baptist certainly didn’t impress the religious… but what would have been the consequences if he had not gone after the passion that God had placed in his heart. I truly believe that John the Baptist took some of the bullets for Christ that allowed Christ’s ministry to be what it was.

I think that a Pastor’s wife has just as high of a calling as her husband.  Often Christ places a burden for her church in the heart of a pastors wife, that we stifle by asking them to fit into the social circles.  I am ready for a new generation of pastor’s wives; those that are ready to follow after their own calling, which will in turn prepare the way for their husband to walk in.

So to the world I say, watch out!  The next generation of Pastor’s wives is rising up ready to have the tough conversations with the women of her church about what it means to submit to their husbands.  Who are not afraid to stand up to church members in gossiping situations.  Who are willing to get down on their knees in front of the church on beg for Christ’s presence.

Yes, they will certainly take some bullets, since these are not the social graces we are accustomed to, but maybe it will allow our pastors to walk in more victory.

Passionate, Conquering, Brave, Loving, Selfless, Wise, a heart after Christ.  

…These are the words I hope describe the next generation of Pastors wives.

When Satan Throws a Curve Ball, God Always knocks it out of the Park

Last night, Nightline broadcasted a simple yet controversial debate on the existence of Satan.  It was fascinating to see the droves of people lined up to witness the debate with their different perspectives on the issue.  On the way in, one girl even stated something to the effect of, “if Satan walks in and sits down on stage, then I will believe he exists.  But that’s about what it will take!”  Others argued Satan’s existence based on biblical terms.  To be clear, I believe that the Bible and EVERY word in it is true, and that includes what is written about Satan…. but that is not what this blog is about.

As I was watching the debate, I began to feel a sadness for the people who claim to be Christ followers and yet do not believe in the existence of Satan.  To not believe in Satan would completely rob my life’s testimony of the overwhelming victory I have in Christ.  Let me explain:  Think about running a mile. You can run every day, and hope to enjoy the exercise, even compete with yourself and set goals for your run times.  But if you never run in a race you will never FULLY experience the victory possible by coming in first!  To rob God of his great enemy, and to say that we are all just here to better ourselves and enjoy the ride, leaves a great empty feeling inside me.  When is the race?  Where is the victory? 

I know that God has called me to run a great race before crowds of people watching me (Hebrews 12:1.)  I know that he has a purpose for every little evil that I go through…I have lived through too much to refuse that.  The greatest testimony I have is PROOF that He ALONE is all-powerful.  I feel sorry for those that don’t get to see the work that Satan does in this world because then they also do not get to experience the awing work of God when he uses Satan’s plans to achieve God’s will in the end.  I have learned, over time, to rejoice in the troubles that this world, and Satan as it’s current Prince of the Air, bring my way because I have learned that more often than not these troubles are a set-up for God to move; more simply a curve ball for God to knock out of the park.