Isn’t It Exciting?!

It is already April and summer is fast approaching and we could not be more excited! We have all but completed our hiring process and we met many of our impressive staff at the annual Staff and Crew Retreat a couple of weeks ago. I can safely say that my excitement for the summer is certainly matched if not surpassed by our staff. These are impressive young people who are excited to love and serve campers in the name of Christ this summer. I grew up at LLYC as a camper and spent numerous summers on staff through my college years. Now that I am back in the LLYC world on the full time staff as a Director at Echo Valley I have been asked a few times about what most excites me regarding this summer. I spoke about this at Round Up during staff retreat. The answer is simply that I am most excited to participate, along with my family, in the work God is doing in the canyon in redeeming life in His people. This sounds rather simple and cliché but it is actually really profound. To think that the God of the universe allows us, all of us who know Him, to participate with Him in His work of redemption. He certainly doesn’t need me, or any of our impressive staff, to accomplish His work. However, He offers us the awesome opportunity to be participants with Him in all that He is doing. The even greater thing is that this invitation from God is not limited to His work through us in the canyon. Instead, all of us who know Him are invited, even called, to participate with Him in His redemptive work in our world. Where ever we find ourselves, at home, at work, at school, on the athletic fields – we are called and given the privilege to participate in the redemptive work of our God.

That excites me! That excites my family! It’s good to be back and we look forward to a great summer of participating in the awesome work that God will do at LLYC this summer.   We look forward to sharing stories with you throughout the summer of what God is up to.

Mighty Works Cut Short?

Just the other day I was reading in Matthew 13 and I was struck by the last verse of the chapter. At the beginning of chapter 13 Jesus had just come off of what was probably an exhausting time of ministry and healing. In chapter 12 we see clearly that where ever Jesus went there were crowds that followed Him. Each time Jesus tried to withdraw from the crowd, the crowd would follow Him. Each time that Jesus was confronted with the needs of the crowd He took time to heal them. Even when the crowd “demanded” His healing in order to be a sign for them to believe. Jesus obliged.
Then, in chapter 13, we experience Jesus’ teachings through parables. Again, those who followed, listened to Jesus’ teaching, and probably even saw Jesus’ healings had a difficult time understanding who He was or why He was doing what He was doing. Yet again, Jesus withdrew and returned to His “hometown” and began to teach in the synagogue there. This synagogue in His “hometown” would have been a place very comfortable for Jesus. The synagogue, for the devout Jews of that day, was the center of their community. It was in the synagogue that they connected with their God and with one another through prayer and reading of scripture. It was in this familiar place where Jesus was once again misunderstood. Consequently we read in Matthew 13:58 that “he did not do many mighty works their because of their unbelief.”
It’s interesting to me that Jesus cut short his ministry of miracles of teachings because of a lack of faith. In reading and considering this I had the following thoughts –
– I want to have a faith in Jesus that propels Him to do miraculous things in my life and the lives of those whom I love (and even those I don’t). Too often my faith is lacking much like those in the synagogue of Jesus’ hometown.
– Scripture clearly says that Jesus did not do “many” mighty works. Meaning, He still did SOME meaningful works, even when faith was lacking. The fact that Jesus is faithful to do miraculous things even when were are not is a truth that is abundantly clear in my life.
– I wonder what awaits for me when my faith is vibrant.

Attentiveness

Today marks the beginning of Lent.  I have read much in the past few days regarding Lent and its meaning and the reason for countless Christians around the world observing its traditions.  There is a fine line in participating in the traditions of Lent as a mark of repentance and a renewed understanding of and dedication to Jesus’ life and calling and participating in the traditions of Lent simply as an outward sign of our own righteousness.  I do not claim to have this fine line between pure and impure motives erased within my own heart and conscious.  However, I do plan to reevaluate the placement of this line each day for the next 40.  In the meantime you will not see posted on Facebook or displayed in any way what I plan to “do” or “give up” for Lent.  This is between me and the Lord and the select few loved ones that I choose to embark on this journey with.

As I was reading this morning in Matthew’s account of the gospel I was struck again by the life and actions of Joseph. 

“When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.  And he called his name Jesus.” – Matthew 1: 24-25

In these sentences we see Joseph’s attentiveness to God’s call on his life.  In addition, in these sentences we see Joseph’s willingness to live out his response to God’s call on his life.  I can’t even imagine what must have been occupying Joseph’s heart and mind during those days.  He must have wondered, perhaps even worried, about who would think he is crazy.  He surely harbored a level of doubt as to the validity of the dream he had.  In spite of his potential worry and doubt Joseph was attentive and Joseph took action.

During this season of Lent I want to be attentive to God’s call on my life.  Wether it be in a dream, during the day as I work along side colleagues and friends, in the evening as I share food and fellowship with my wife and kids or in the early morning when I am alone with my God and my coffee, I want to be attentive to what God is calling me to.  The season of Lent allows me the focus to remove those things from my life that might make it more difficult to be attentive.  The season of Lent reminds me to be repentant of so much of my life that is spent in distraction, or inattentiveness, to what God calls me to.

It would be easy though to simply be attentive.  I want also to be a man of action.  As I take action to hear from God I want also to take action in putting what I hear from God into practice.  Just like Joseph did.  I do not fully understand the relationship between our actions and the results of God’s will.  I am not ready to claim that it is because of Joseph’s attentiveness that a child was born and given the name Jesus.  I am fairly certain that this result would have come to be regardless of Joseph’s obedience.  However, I am also fairly certain that Joseph was the kind of man that did not have the desire to test that theory.  I too do not want to test that theory.  I want to be a follower of Jesus that answers God’s call on my life with action.  In spite of the fact that I know that God does not “need” my action.  The history of the world was dramatically changed for the good when Joseph attentively responded to God’s call on his life.  I want to see what might change, or what good might come from, my attentiveness to God’s call on my life.

So, the season of Lent is here.  I look forward to the next 40 days of being attentive to God’s call on my life and living, in the best way that I can, in response to this call.  Who knows…. Maybe even after the celebration of Easter this will continue for me.  I certainly hope so.

Growth

I was 24 and serving on Young Life staff. I had been married for almost one year and my wife and I were given the opportunity to serve on “assignment” at Young Life’s Crooked Creek Ranch in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. Actually, I was on “assignment” and due to my wife’s schedule as a school teacher she was able to come along and simply “be”. The “assignment” lasted for one month during which I served as the Outdoor Crew boss. The job title meant that I was in charge of 15 high school aged boys who were volunteering their month to come and do the “grunt” work that is required in weekly hosting 400 high school students at Crooked Creek. The month was filled with great times of fellowship, hard work with chain saws and dump truck driving and of course my 1 year anniversary to my “up for anything”, crazily cute wife.
During our time at Crooked Creek I became friends with another YL staff member and we shared some great laughs and conversation about our lives and our attempts in following Jesus. One day this friend said something that has stuck with me for years. What he said is not mind blowing, at least not now. However, when I was 24, to some degree it was mind blowing. My friend said something like, “if you call yourself a follower of Jesus and you are wanting to grown in your intimacy with Him then two things should be happening: 1. You should be growing to resemble Him more each day and 2. You should be gaining an ever increasing knowledge and awareness of your sin.”. Like I said, my mind was not blown then by this statement. When I was 24, as I am sure is true for many young people, I was not very self aware of my shortcomings. Much less so in regards to my condition of sin. I thought I was pretty good at lots of things, really most things. Now, however, I can count on one hand, probably half of a hand, the things that I am good at. I have found that the years since being 24 have introduced me to my condition of sin on an ever increasing basis. This is a good thing. Except that those introductions are often painful.
We all have those people we have encountered in our lives that are older than us that we look up to. I have had relationships with a few men in my life who are older and seem to be “spiritual giants”. These are the kind of guys you want to get coffee with and just listen to. These are the kind of guys that you will gladly get up really early in the morning to meet with and feel really badly about if you stand them up. These are the guys who you respect a great deal and do not want to disappoint. As far as I can tell the one thing that has been a constant wit the 2-3 men like this in my life is their increased awareness of their own short comings, their own sin. There is something so attractive about being around guys like this.
I want to be more aware of my shortcomings, of my sin. I want to be more aware each day. In this way I hope to grow to know Jesus more each day and hopefully help others to do the same.
I suppose with Lent starting next week this offers me a great opportunity to practice this. During this season of Lent I will eagerly anticipate the growth that will come from gaining an ever increasing knowledge and awareness of my sin.

Motivation?

This morning I read this quote by C.S. Lewis,

“It is, of course, quite true that God will not love you any less, or have less for you, if you happen to have been born with a second-rate brain. He has room for people with very little sense, but He wants everyone to use what sense they have.”

This made me think of motivation. Its a bit convoluted as to how this quote made me think of motivation, but, stay with me.
I like to think I am a fairly disciplined person. I like to think that I have a respectable level of mental fortitude. I kind of like participating in things that require a great deal of mental toughness. I like to run long distances. I like to be physically uncomfortable at times just to see how my body and psyche will react. In the same vain there was a time when I worked hard to sharpen myself mentally. I was soaking up books. I was pushing myself late into the night to learn and to write. Recently, during the past year or so, my discipline has waned. I am not running as much as I used to. I am forgoing a good and challenging book for the mindless ease of watching HGTV or the Winter Olympics. I wrestle with these facts and tendencies because as I mentioned earlier I like to think of myself as a disciplined person. In the end, it comes down to motivation. What is my motivation in getting up early to run? What is my motivation in reading books and pushing myself to use the brain God has given me to its fullest potential? Unfortunately too often my discipline comes only as a result of a “worldly” motivation. I run simply because I am training for a “race” and not because I long to care for body as it is a gift from the Lord. I discipline myself to eat right simply because it sets me apart from the gluttony of our fast-food culture and not because it is my responsibility to steward the health I have been given. I read books and sharpen myself mentally because when I am honest with myself I want to be regarded by others as intelligent, a life-long learner full of intellectual acumen. What if I was motivated simply by the fact that the Lord has granted me health, intellectual ability and a disciplined bent and therefore I should engage these faculties for His glory?

It is a slippery slope to question your motivations deeply. However, it is a slope that needs to be traversed. I understand that my motives will NEVER be completely pure. I will probably always wrestle with being disciplined for disciplined sake or being disciplined for the sake of worship. I will probably never win this wrestling match. I do hope though that in the process of wrestling I get a glimpse of my true motivations and perhaps show some discipline in recalibrating them.

From The Inside Out

Have you ever heard the statement which says “we must not live an unexamined life”? I was reminded of that this morning. I find that if I go through, not even rush but just go through, my days without slowing down to listen and to examine then I miss so much. Without examination I don’t connect the dots. Or worse, even notice the dots in the first place. This morning I was reading “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis along with a daily devotional written by a friend and co-worker (www.thehighcalling.org). In both of the writings I read this morning the topic of sanctification was addressed. The idea that our journey of faith is a process is certainly a welcomed one for me. The fact that I have not arrived, nor will I ever arrive, at the conclusion or destination of my journey is a relief to me. The pressure is off. I must simply allow the Author of the journey to continue writing the plot throughout my life and I must be open to all of its turns and bends. Do I really make myself open to that? Or, do I posture in my life to make it appear that I have arrived? Do I come to work and try to appear to be a accomplished “leader”? Or, do I simply allow the Lord to bring out it me what He has authored? If the Lord truly is guiding me through the process of sanctification, transforming me from the inside out, does how I live and love and react to people reflect this? When I take time to examine my life, to listen to the various influences the Lord is using in my life, do I notice change in me? Not just change in how I feel or what I believe but change in how I actually live? I hope so. I do know though that if I don’t examine then I will never know….

Fearful yet Joyful

Matt. 28:8

I recently had the privilege of speaking at a family camp retreat with Laity Lodge Family Camp (www.llfamilycamp.org).  This particular weekend the group of participants was comprised of 19 families, all of which were represented by single mothers and their children.  We spent time together discussing the themes of Beauty, Pain, Hope and Redemption.  I confess I was a bit nervous, intimidated, and unsure about how I would be received by these dear families.  I was unsure of how I would received simply because I am clearly not like these new friends.  I am a man, a husband, a father and I come from and currently live engulfed in the world of upper, middle class, “whiteness”.  I was excited about the opportunity to spend a weekend with new friends who are different.  However, I was unsure about how my thoughts on life with Jesus, family and our world would be interpreted and received.  In short, we had a great weekend.  I was honored to be allowed into the lives of these families.  To be listened to and to have the opportunity to listen.

During one of our group discussions I was asking the group to consider God’s pursuit of us, both in the Garden (Genesis 3:8-9) and through the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26-35) and His resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10).  After reading these scripture passages I asked my new friends to share what stood out to them from what they had heard.  One dear woman highlighted Matt. 28:8 which reads, “so they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy,”.  The woman stated that this verse jumped out to her because it reminded her of the experience of child birth….. Think about that…. Let it settle in…..

Upon God’s most magnificent pursuit of man kind He appears first to three women.  God’s pursuit of man through the person of Jesus is realized because a humble and willing servant woman makes herself available.  God’s pursuit of man through the resurrection culminates in Jesus appearing to three women.  I think that is profound.  In the midst of all of this the angel of God appears to Shepards to first communicate  the birth of Christ.  Shepards and women.  Neither of these held much position in society during those days. 

Yet… Mary was filled with fear and great joy.  Perhaps Jesus appeared to her because she had been filled with fear and great joy before.  Perhaps it is no surprise that the birth of a child today still brings fear and great joy.

The more I know and pursue Jesus and the more He pursues me I realize that more and more all things really are held together by Him. 

The divine Tension – Grace and Deeds

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I have written.  I am not sure why I feel inspired to write today but here it goes.  I was meeting with some great young leaders this morning for coffee and we were talking about Jesus and life as followers of His.  I am sure many people who think about the claims of Jesus and His call on our lives often wrestle with the tension between faith and practice.  At least I hope they do.  I have watched as countless young people profess faith in Jesus for the first time and decide to dedicate their lives to following Him.  This is a great thing no doubt.  However, I can’t help but be skeptical.  So often we see in our christian saturated, churchianity culture the tendency to believe but not act.  Let me be very clear in putting myself in this camp as well.  Perhaps this is why I have noticed this tendency and felt the emptiness of it so acutely lately.  The words of James found in scripture ring in my ears – “faith without deeds is dead”.  I am not suggesting we work our way into heaven, I am not suggesting that salvation is granted through anything more than God’s grace.  I am suggesting though that we (I) evaluate the response to this grace.  What would it look like in our world if every person who understands the grace of salvation that has been granted them responded by actively living out their faith on a daily basis?  I recently read that 2 billion people on our planet profess to be christians.  Imagine if 2 billion people not only professed to be christians but also lived their lives in accordance with Jesus’ mandate to feed the  hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, help the poor, etc.  I would bet that our planet would look very different.  What gets me fired up is to think about how I can do that in my house, with my family, the people I share the most intimate relationships with.  What if I lived in accordance with Jesus’ mandate so naturally at home that it began to overflow into my life at work, how I spend my money and time, how I consider raising my children, etc.?  What would this mean for my life at my church?  What if I stopped “compartmentalizing” my life and instead allowed Jesus to be the Lord of all of it?  What if 2 billion of my christian friends decided to do the same?  Well,  I can’t worry about them but I can, and will, worry about myself.  So, here’s to living within the divine tension between “grace and deeds”….

God Is Moving…Spring Is Coming!

This winter I have been reading C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” with my kids before bed time (okay, we read the first two books and we are very slowly proding through the third).  It has been amazing to enter the world created by this unbelievably creative writer/philosopher/theologian.  I have been taken back to childhood and reminded of the mystery and power of God.  I love when the comment is made of Aslan (which is the lion character that represents God) that “he is not a tame lion, but he is good”.  How true this of God, He is not tame, but He is good!  My favorite though is when the winter in the land of Narnia begins to disipate.  The snow is melting, the trees are budding, the birds are singing and the creatures of Narnia describe the coming of spring simply as evidence that “Aslan in on the move”. 

 That phrase has stuck with me. 

 Aslan (the God of universe) is certainly on the move. 

I am becoming more and more aware of how my physical surroundings affect me.  The layout of a room, the paint colors on the walls, the lighting, the style of the furniture and deore, the music (or lack there of) playing softly in the background, the weather, the smell, etc. all affect me in profound ways.  Therefore, with the coming of spring my senses seem to come alive to the fact that God is indeed on the move.  However, I wonder what life would be like if I could be aware of and realize the movement of God in my life at all time, not just when the season changes from winter to spring.  Brother Lawerence wrote a classic of a book called “Practicing the Presence of God” in which he depicts his journey in learning how to discover the movement of God in his life all throughout his day.  I want a piece of Brother Lawerence has discovered.  I want to better learn how to shut up long enough, and slow down often enough to recognize God’s movement in my life.

Might this be an ever important aspect of leadership?  What if I could model this with my life?  What if in turn I could help other’s in experiencing the recognition of God’s movement in their life?  What if we both then could act on God’s movement in our lives.  I have to believe that if this happended, the world would be a different place.  But I also know that this must start with me.

Aslan is on the move indeed!

Stuff From My Brain

It has been a while since I have written.  I am not one of those that has something worthy of writing about everyday.  I would make a terrible author for that reason.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m just not smart enough to come up with noteworthy thoughts of my own on a regular basis or if it’s just because I don’t take the time to ponder, consider and write.  Who am I kidding anyway, most of the stuff people do write on a daily basis is hardly their original thoughts.  Ususally they are just regurgetated ideas that originated with someone else.  I’m reminded of that great scene in the movie “Good Will Hunting”. 

“You like apples?”  “Yea.”  “Well I got her number, how do you like them apples?”….

Anyway, here are some things in stream-of-conscious style that have been rattling around in my head lately….  Don’t know if they’re original or not….

– We really can make a difference in this world through relationships… we really can…

– The Cubs season is over and its time to move on to the Longhorns!

– Too often we make the Christian faith more complicated than it needs to be.

– The gospel story is really the most amazing story ever told or lived.  It is a story – not a sunday school lesson, not a four part tract to be handed out on the beach on a spring break “mission” trip, but an amazing, epic story.

– Age is a state of mind.

– Funny is a state of mind.

– God really has blessed kids with an amazing capacity for grace.  Thankfully kids dispense grace freely unto their parents.  If they didn’t, we parents would screw them up royally with our mishaps.

– Personal growth, in any area, takes a lot of work and often times it is quit painful.

What has been rattling around in your heads recently.  Do tell…. Comments anyone?