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What I learned in Denver

“Don’t look back ‘cause you know what you might see.” – Oasis, D’you know what I mean?

Allow me a moment to be sentimental and reflective, I’m less than 72 hours from leaving a city that has challenged everything I thought I knew about myself. I’m not even sure how to put my time here into words, my soul has aged so much the last eight and a half months that sometimes it feels more like eight and a half years. Other times things have happened so fast that it feels like a dream, those moments that you savor. The ones you play back in your mind over and over just because you have to remind yourself they were real and you don’t ever want to forget that and the rush that came with them.

Things like:

Your first night in your own apartment on your own 1000 miles from everyone you know.

Helping a friend film a movie all over the city.

Staying up 38 hours just because you don’t want the night to end.

Drinking coffee, lots and lots of coffee. Not because you like it, but because you love the people on the other side of the table.

Watching Brad get out of a parking ticket.

Parallel parking on a hill.

Poker nights with the guys.

The drive to and from the Men’s Advance. (As well as the event it’s self.)

The crisp cutting chill of the morning air as you watch the sun rise over Garden of the Gods.

The joy of having Spanish class cancelled by snow.

Helping Katelin hunt for a phone.

Learning you’re capable of doing more than you thought.

Understanding that being mature doesn’t mean you’ll ever stop being a kid at heart.

Friday mornings with Owen at the office.

Going site seeing with the Denver 2011 church planting team.

Spending New Years with people you didn’t even know the year before and loving every minute of it.

Wearing a wig and dress for history class.

Going to bed exhausted but thrilled about the idea of getting up in the morning.

Moving furniture with Brad, multiple times.

The site of the Front Range covered in fresh snow.

Getting signatures to start a student group.

Standing at Red Rocks and looking out over the entire city.

Being on 17th Street facing the TIAA-CREF building, my favorite view in the entire city.

Riding through downtown on the back of Mau’s scooter.

Riding RTD.

First Friday’s in the Santa Fe art district.

Driving to and from Colorado Springs at least once a week.

Every Sunday I spent at High View.

All these things impacted who I am, and left a permanent mark on my soul. I can’t explain how or to what extent, mostly because even I don’t know the full answer to that question, but I know they did and I know I’m a better person for it.

World Peace and Sin

I had an interesting conversation about war and world peace with a friend of mine the other day that made me realize that how you view the human condition has a lot to do with what you think people are capable of both morally and socially.

My friend, who I’ll refer to as “Bob”, basically had two suggestions as to how war should be eradicated or at the very least, kept to a minimum. The first thing Bob brought up was that with so many countries possessing nuclear weapons that instead of fighting wars countries should go straight to the negotiating table since they know that there’s a possibility that their entire nation could be whipped out. His second idea was that if you made it so that war was no longer profitable it would be less likely to happen and if it did it would end quicker. To ensure that war isn’t profitable Bob suggested that everyone in the warring countries have their salaries reduced to the lowest pay grade in their countries military.

While I’m all for world peace I do have a theological problem with it, namely, sin. I know sin is not a popular idea in today’s culture but it is THE problem, it always has been and will continue to be until Jesus comes back. Pride and self-centeredness were the original sin (Gen. 3) and can still be found at the root of all other sin, in this case war. Because I believe in sin and the effect it has on the entire world I don’t believe you can ever find a formula that will usher in world peace no matter how badly I may want it. I’ll use Bob’s two suggestions to show how sin makes world peace unattainable.

The idea that you can somehow make war unprofitable is highly unlikely. War will always generate money, even if you do somehow manage to enforce a salary cap on an entire nation people will find a way around it. Because our own comfort and security is what we most value we will find ways to enhance it, in this case through some backwater way of gaining extra money. This is also the kind of environment that organized crime and the black market thrive in. Anytime you outlaw or limit the availability of an item, or in this case people’s ability to buy them, an illegal form of obtaining them will emerge it’s a simple matter of supply and demand. (Prohibition anyone?) This means that by implementing a law you thought would improve the human state you’ve actually made it worse and caused people to delve deeper into the baser desires of the human soul.

The reason people will never sit down at a table and negotiate is because both sides are only concerned about getting what they want, not about what the other side wants. Say, for example, one country wants to invade the other one so it can have access to the other countries natural resources free of charge. There is no way you can successfully negotiate that situation so that everyone comes away happy, one side thinks that they should be given something that isn’t theirs and the other side thinks they should keep what is rightfully theirs. This almost always leads to some form of armed conflict with one side trying to take what they want and the other side endeavoring to hold on to it.

More and more though wars are fought over ideology and less over physical territory, which leads to a real problem if you believe that people should believe whatever works for them because you can’t say that either side is wrong or right. Both sides are standing up for what they believe in, which is what their belief system teaches them to do which makes them both right if you believe you should do “whatever works for you”. Without an absolute right and wrong it becomes impossible to call war a bad thing, really the only people who have a right to call war evil are the ones with a moral code that has a clear standard of right and wrong.

As Christians we believe that the morale code laid out in the Bible is the only one capable of producing the right heart attitude to properly view our world. The world we live in is torn and shattered by the curse of sin (Rom. 8:20-24) and the only one who can restore it to sinless perfection is Jesus. For those of us who believe this we should be leading the way towards finding humane peaceful ways of resolving conflict, not because we think world peace is an achievable goal in this lifetime, but because we believe in the one who will one day come forever destroying sin and thus bring world peace.

Bigger than my body gives me credit for.

I think one of the most beautiful things about the Gospel is the fact that it allows us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Once we are brought into right standing with God through the person and work of Jesus Christ, we are taken from living an existence built entirely around ourselves busily trying to carve out a kingdom for our own fame, and swept into something bigger, more extravagant, and eternally lasting. The Gospel sweeps us away into something that has been in motion since before the dawn of time and is, in fact, the driving force behind all of history. Namely, the reconciliation of creation with its Creator and the glorification of God in all things.

I was reminded of this several times today in little ways that I am a part of something that has been in motion long before I took my first breath and will continue to be long after I cease to breath and I find a great deal of comfort in that.

The Idol of Love

“Cause maybe you’re gonna’ be the one that saves me.” – Oasis, Wonderwall


Love. We live in a culture that loves love, or at least its idea of it. We sing songs, read books, and watch movies that exult the idea that when you find that “special someone” the rest of your life will be perfect, that they’ll save you from everything about your life that you hate and the rest of your life will be some thrilling, romantic adventure filled with passion and excitement. The problem is that it’s not true. People of the opposite sex may make good friends and spouses, but they’re terrible saviors. No matter how much someone loves you, they will fail you; and you, in turn, will fail them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friend, a child, or a spouse they will be unable to fill the void in your soul that desires to be loved. They can’t, they weren’t created too. We were created to love, and be loved, by God Himself and anything short of that will never satisfy us.

That doesn’t mean that loving other people deeply is a bad thing. That feeling, that emotion, that desire was given to us by God. In one of the most astonishing passages in the Bible God actually says that Man being alone in his perfect, sinless form is a bad thing. (Gen. 2:18) So God created a helpmate, someone who could provide companionship, Woman. (Gen. 2:21-23)If that wasn’t mind boggling enough He says that when two people are joined together in marriage they become one entity in God’s eyes. (Gen. 2:24)

So if love, marriage, and romance are all good, enjoyable, life giving, God ordained things then why are they bad things to desire? They aren’t. There’s nothing wrong with desiring to “fall in love”, get married, and share your life with another person. The problem comes when you make the pursuit of love and romance the primary purpose of your life. Our relationships with others are intended to be the icing on the cake, not the cake its self. Anyone who’s ever eaten too much icing knows what happens. You get a stomach ache, your body doesn’t function properly, and you just feel lousy in general. Likewise, when we focus all our energy on finding happiness in relationships with others, instead of communing with God through the person and work of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we will grow dissatisfied, angry, and frustrated.

In short, love is something to be enjoyed, not worshiped.

Looking for answers

“It’s hard to argue when you won’t stop making sense.” – Snow Patrol, Hands Open

I don’t know if this is peculiar to me or not (I suspect it isn’t) but every once in a while the pile of things in my mind labeled “Complaints and questions for God” gets so full that I can’t take it anymore and I have to go somewhere and have it out with Him, regardless of the fact that I never win these yelling matches. I don’t really care about winning anyway, I’m looking for answers and a reminder that the fact that I can’t make any sense of these things doesn’t matter, God knows exactly what He’s doing. Honestly the scariest thing that could happen would be for me to actually win a yelling match.

So I went down to The Garden of the Gods today to watch the sunrise, vent, and get some answers about why God seems to have turned me into His own personal piñata for the last month. I got all my answers before I even had a chance to say a word. I seriously could have gone home after less than a minute with every question answered.

It was still pretty dark out when I got to the park so the entire would was painted various shades of grey and black, there was a little bit of low hanging fog, and a fresh layer of snow on the ground. It was like walking through a dream, there was a part of me that kept waiting to wake up. I walked up to the base of the “Kissing Camels” formation and immediately felt stupid. I looked straight up at the towering wall of sandstone and felt my own smallness and the silliness of my questions. The only question that wasn’t silenced by simply standing there was answered by the snow. I had prayed for a thin layer of snow to simply act as an accent, and I got it. I felt a little like Gideon with the fleece. (Judges 6:36-40)

The funny thing is the snow was the only clear answer I got. I didn’t get any reasons or explanations for any of the other questions other than the fact that God is bigger, stronger, and wiser than me and everything He’s doing to and through me is for my good and His glory; and I’m okay with that.

What is a Christian?

What is real Christianity? We can toss around a lot of heady theological ideas, pithy sayings, and lame jokes but the reality is that trying to tell someone what their walk with Christ is supposed to look like telling a parent how to raise their kids. You can give some good pointers, but in the end it comes down to the personalities of the people involved.

We often describe Christianity as a “personal relationship with Jesus” but then deny people to make it personal too who they are. Instead of allowing them the freedom to express the unique skill sets and gifts that God provided them with we try to turn them into a cookie cutter version of what we think a “good Christian” looks like. (When someone finds this so called “good Christian” let me know.) While living by a set of rules may seem to make things easier it actually robs us of the true beauty of what Jesus accomplished on The Cross. When I became a Christian God didn’t swap out my jeans and t-shirt for a suit and tie. He did, however, swap out my self-centered, sinful, degenerate heart for a heart that desires to please Him, and confesses and repents of sin. How this works its self out on a daily basis varies widely from person to person. My personality and context, for example, is very different from my mother’s thus “being a Christian” looks different for the two of us. I’m a 28 year old man at an urban college campus in Denver. My mom is a middle aged woman living in east central Indiana. Because of this trying to apply what is an effective way for my mom to live out The Gospel within her context would crash and burn if I tried to act, talk, and live the same way in my environment.

There are common traits that all Christians should share although the way they get fleshed out may look very different. The most basic beliefs of Christianity include believing that we’re all born sinners, that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the only payment for that sin, that the Bible is the Holy, inerrant, divinely inspired word of God, that cannot be added to or subtracted from, and that we are supposed to live our lives in light of these truths.

Trying to apply a formula to something that was meant to be crafted around a unique, personal relationship will only bring despair when we fail, or pride when we succeed, but never true repentance and joy.

There is no delete button

“This is one doodle that can’t be undid home skillet.” – The Store Clerk, Juno

The delete key, one of the joys of living in the digital age. If you end up with something you don’t like you don’t have to watch it pile up in your garbage can, you can just delete it and suddenly it’s like it never existed. No wonder people can’t deal with reality, the mistakes you make out there last forever. There’s no erase, no backspace, or delete in real life; everything out here is permanent. It’s one thing to imagine what failure would feel like, it’s another thing to feel it, to live through it, to endure the sleepless nights, and the gut wrenching agony that you’re sure no one else has ever felt as deeply as you do. Which is stupid, everyone has failed one way or another usually multiple times per day. It just shows how self centered we are, that we think we’re the only ones to have ever felt like this. There are people all over the world who are far worse off than we are and yet we think we have the right to gripe about our car problems, while there are people walking several miles just to go to school. We complain about the price of food, while millions go hungry. The worst part is we feel justified while we do it, we claim it as our right to whine about whatever perceived wrong happens to own the soap box that particular day. Our hair, our clothes, having to wade our way through mountains of homework, the seeming injustice of a teacher that we swear is trying to kill us so they can devour our soul.

I have a feeling that if life did have a delete button that we’d all use it so much that we’d end up back in the Garden of Eden, because that’s what we all want, that’s what we’re wired for. The imprint of Eden is still on our souls and it haunts us all.

Every.

Single.

Day.

We desire perfection because man was created perfect, the image of God himself. (Gen. 1:26-27) But being like God wasn’t good enough for us, we wanted to BE God. We wanted to set ourselves up as the ultimate authority. To base holiness off of what pleased and brought glory to us, not what brought joy to the heart of The Creator. So we ate the fruit and crowned ourselves as the rulers of our lives, the spiritual coupe was completed and our lives are scared forever by that childish, reckless decision. Mankind, the being that didn’t even possess the power to create itself, let alone the world it lived in, decided it knew more than a being that has simply always been. (John 1:1-3, John 8:58)As soon as we overthrew what we thought was an abusive, unloving, dictatorship we regretted it. (Gen. 3:7) Ever since our desire has been to find the delete button for life so that we can go back to living in a world without sin. But no such button exists, there’s no going back and undoing that one terrible moment. That doesn’t mean there’s no hope though.

There may not be a delete button, but there is whiteout. (Isaiah 1:18)

In spite of our great rebellion God still loves us and pursues us with an unquenchable fervor. So much so that He designed the only plan that could rescue us from ourselves, despite the fact that it meant sending the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, to die in our place. (Matt. 16:21) So the deep, ugly stain of sin was washed out and made pure, and while it’s not as good as having never rebelled it’s better than never being rescued.

My sin

Trying to work through writers block. I hate that word, that state of being. I’m sitting here trying to get my thoughts out on a piece of paper and my brain decides to stop feeding me anything worth typing and all I’m left with is deep, unpenetratable darkness and fog rolling around my mind. Clogging all avenues of thought and forcing me to find my way through the side streets and back alleys of thought. As I try to find my way to a clear thought I pass places I haven’t ventured in years and never dared to stay and visit for fear of what I’d remember and the things they would cause me to feel. The sorrow of loss, the deep despair of depression and hopelessness, the stabbing pain of betrayal, the fear of living a lie. They all come rushing back to me as I stop and stare into the storefronts in my mind. The stores have names like, “My Family”, “High school”, “The Air Force”, “Girls”, and “People I thought were friends”. I want to turn and walk away, to never look at these things again but I can’t. I’m held there in a state of morbid curiosity praying, hoping, pleading, that somehow as I watch the past unfold in front of me that this time things will turn out different. That maybe this time my cousin won’t get addicted to drugs. That I’ll do more with my teenage years, instead of waiting until I’m 17 to pay attention to God’s voice. That I’ll be a better leader in basic training this time. That if I replay it over in my mind for the millionth time I won’t have to break up with my girlfriend. And maybe, just maybe, this time people will care enough about me to keep me from spending the better part of a night hunched over a toilet puking my guts out.

Instead I see the same things I always see. The heartbreak, the selfishness, the stupidity, the poor choices, and the nights of crying myself to sleep. I want to tear myself away from the horror show playing out before me, but I can’t, I won’t, because as painful as it is to watch I remember what comes next. The restoration, the redemption, the growth, and finding a spiritual depth I never dreamed of. Not because I deserve it, but because Jesus died for me. He died to cover my sin, my pain, my stupidity, and my invisible spine and redeem them. He reaches into the farthest, most dirty areas of my life and transforms them into something amazing; something new, clean, and pure. And all I can do in return is give Him all the glory for it, there’s nothing about the process I can take credit for. The images in the store’s windows are painful reminders that on my own I’m useless and constantly making a mess out of things.

Jesus is the only thing I have that’s worth anything, the only one who can put me back together, the only one who’s ever lived a perfect life so I wouldn’t have to, and that makes Him the only thing worth clinging to. Not my scars, my pride, or my pain. So I watch the movies play themselves out again and again to remind myself of a love greater and stronger than all my sin. I don’t enjoy the suffering, but I love being rescued.

The trip home

I know I usually write things that somehow tie back in to a bigger reality in life but tonight I’m just writing because I want too. Or, as Oscar Wilde would say, “Art for the sake of art.”

We had our first snow fall of the season in the Metro area today, none of it stuck but it’s obvious that nature is serving notice that summer is on its way out and winter is fast approaching. In the mean time we’re stuck in that beautiful purgatory known as autumn where the world is momentarily suspended between the two stark contrasts of blazing heat, and freezing cold. Fall is probably my favorite time of year not because of the changing colors of the leaves but because of the unique feel in the air. There’s a certain chill in the breeze that only happens this time of year that makes me feel more alive and self aware. It seeps down deep into the marrow of my bones until I feel like I’ve ceased to exist and melted into the world around me, walking across campus with the granite mountains of the Rockies behind me and the concrete mountains of downtown before of me. The sounds of helicopters and airplanes flying overhead with only the flashing of their lights set against the night sky to alert you to their physical location. On the bus you can listen to the ebb and flow of conversation, the various accents from all over the world occasionally punctured by bursts of laughter reminding us of our common humanity regardless of where, or what, we call home. I get off at my stop and melt back into the chill of fall as I walk past Tommy’s Thai food, Enzo’s End pizzeria; with a bar strait out of Hopper’s “Nighthawks”, and the flower shop with gang signs carved into the grills of the air conditioner units hanging out of the windows. The white Christmas lights wrapped around Bastien’s wink at me from across the street welcoming me home after a long day of classes. I admire the tiny plants growing up between the cracks in the asphalt refusing to be choked out by the world around them not caring that the world considers them weeds that are simply a nuisance, bent on surviving in their adverse circumstances. As I turn the corner I look at the half burnt-out Monroe Liquor Store sign, with its chipped white paint and think that it looks like something from a grainy black and white photo that somehow got stuck in the wrong era. An artifact from the analog years comically cast in the digital age, a subtle reminder of where we came from. A time when typewriters, records, and Polaroid’s reigned supreme never dreaming that they’d be replaced by computers, MP3 players, and digital cameras. While all this is still tumbling through my mind I slowly climb the stairs to my apartment, turn the key in the lock, step into the warm air of my artificial environment, and hit the reset button on reality.

Evolution and The Gospel

“Give me something to believe, ‘cause I’m living just to breathe.” – The Bravery, Something to believe


I had my class on biological anthropology today and every time I sit in that class I’m always struck by how depressing evolution is. Why would anyone want to believe that we’re pure chance, that we’re some cosmic accident that took millions of years of trial and error? If we’re all some freak occurrence then why care about people in Darfur? I mean, it’s all just survival of the fittest isn’t it? If their climate dictates that they don’t survive why should anyone care? It’s less competition for the rest of us, so why do we have this innate desire to care for the abused, displaced, and helpless? Wouldn’t evolution encourage us to be as self-centered as we can?

Or, is it possible that we were put here ON purpose, FOR a purpose. Does it really take any more faith to believe that the reason we care about people is because we were designed to care by a God who cares? Maybe I’m naïve, simple, and just plain stupid but it seems to me that all these things that scientists can’t explain could be very easily understood if they simply acknowledged the existence of a Creator who made the entire world for His enjoyment and glory. That He put the human race here because He wanted to, because He wanted to share the beauty and grander of His creation with us that we, in turn, would marvel and delight in Him.

Sirens

My apartment is just a few blocks from a major intersection here in Denver, also I live within five miles of a police substation and six hospitals so sirens have become the background music to my life here. The first few weeks I was here every siren I heard grabbed my attention but after being here for a little over a month I’ve gotten so used to it I don’t really notice anymore. I used to wake up at night every time a first responder flew by with them blaring. Now I get up in the morning and wonder how many I slept through.

Being a Christian can be like that. When we first become Christians we’re very attentive to when the Holy Spirit is warning of us things in our life that need to change. Whether it’s a biting tongue, anger issues, or a drug addiction our heart tends to be very tender and responsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit early on in our walk. After awhile though the noise and demands of life start to drown out what was originally so easy to hear. Additionally, after a time it’s easy to ignore or become annoyed with the warnings of the Holy Spirit. We dangerously begin to think that we have a strong enough grasp on what it means to be a Christian that we stop listening to the very member of the Trinity that was sent to help us in our walk even to the point of telling us exactly what to tell the world about Jesus (Luke 12:11-12). When I word it like that it sounds stupid not to listen but we all do it. I can’t count the times I’ve ignored what the Holy Spirit was practically yelling at me in order to do what I wanted. I’m ashamed to think about how many times I’ve chosen my own comfort and desires over what the Holy Spirit was prompting me too.

The question then is how do we keep our hearts soft to voice of God in our lives? While I’m skittish about throwing out a one size fits all formula to our spiritual lives I will say that scripture makes it very clear that prayer is key in our ability to affectively hear God and respond to Him. In 2 Kings 6:17 we see prayer used to literally open the eyes of Elisha’s servant to a spiritual reality. In Acts 9:40 Peter prays for Tabatha and she’s brought back to life. The beautiful thing about prayer is it reminds us that we aren’t in control that we constantly have to humble ourselves before the Lord acknowledging that we don’t have it all figured out and are in desperate need of His guidance. Humbling ourselves to the point of praying from our brokenness in genuine, authentic, real ways will help us facilitate a mindset that’s responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jesus in the everyday

(Note: This is a slightly updated version of a blog post from over a year ago, still working on it.) :)



Today was one of those days that you never think about as a kid. You know, the days when being a grown up is "boring." I went grocery shopping, cleaned the dishes, and took out the trash. (Yes, kids it's one big party. WOO-HOO!) :) The highlight of the day was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watching Chuck on Hulu. I enjoyed it though mostly 'cause it makes me laugh to think about how naive I was as a kid. Somehow I envisioned myself going to parties every night of the week and just hanging out being "cool", whatever that meant. Now my idea of cool is getting wheat bread buy one get one free. I almost did the happy dance right there in the bakery isle. Until I remembered that, a.) I'm white b.) it's just bread and c.) I'm in the middle of Mejier. Thinking about doing "boring" stuff reminds me of Acts 16:11-12. Luke gives what seems to be really pointless information about their traveling. "So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days." I'm always struck by how mundane this all sounds. There are no miracles, no angry mobs trying to kill someone, nothing earth shaking happens anywhere in these verses. And I wonder, “why is this even in the Bible? Are Paul's traveling habit's that important?” But I stop and think about what the Bible is all about, Jesus, and His Gospel. Then it takes on a slightly different appearance. Jesus was there with them in the middle of all that, the boring, everyday, unexciting routine of life. Just like He was there with me while I was shopping for bread, washing dishes, and eating PB&J. Also the fact that they were able to do all that uneventfully shows God's protection. They didn't get caught in any major storms, pirates didn't attack their ship, and nobody got sea sick. Similarly today I didn't get in a wreck, cut or poke myself doing the dishes, and I'm very thankful that I'm not allergic to peanuts. So really far from being boring this is actually a fairly comforting passage. It shows that God is always there with us not just when there's some big miracle, but when we're able to get out of bed in the morning and make it through a whole day without anything seriously awful happening to us, that's cause for praise too.

Who is Jesus? Take 2

(Authors note: This is the new and improved version of "Who is Jesus?" Still looking for feedback, especially as the first round of comments was so helpful. Thanks. )



“The Jesus of suburbia is a lie” - Green Day, Are we the waiting?


“Who do you say that I am?”

Jesus asked his disciples this question over two thousand years ago and it still holds true for us today. Who do we say Jesus is? A great moral teacher? A loony whack job with delusions of grandeur? Some mystical sky fairy that does whatever we ask Him to, like a supernatural PEZ dispenser? Or God’s own son sent to earth to pay the price for sin? These are just some of the possible reactions to Jesus, but which one is the right one? Is there a correct answer, or is it simply left up to the individual to decide which version they prefer to believe in?

In a culture where the customer is always right we want to believe we should get whatever version of Jesus we want. Today’s evangelical Christian culture has practically become a giant Baskin Robins, helping us find the flavor of Jesus that best suites us. You don’t like hippie Jesus? Try 80’s rock star Jesus, complete with feathered hair! Still not what you’re looking for? Try health and wealth Jesus, or holier-than-thou Jesus, now with three new pious sayings!

The problem is Jesus is not consumer friendly, he never intended to be. He was homeless (Matt. 8:20), His teachings were often hard to understand (Luke 8:9-10), and the ones that could be understood were incredibly challenging (Matt 19:25). Jesus never did a four week series on how to have a better marriage, there was no twelve steps to financial security (honestly, who’s going to take financial advice from a homeless guy?) He never taught people how to improve their self esteem, or how to achieve “your best life now.” Jesus’ teaching was actually shockingly simple. At the heart of all the parables, the miracles, and the healings, was His claim to be God (John 10:25-30). There are only two reactions to this teaching; you can receive His free gift of salvation and live your life centered on the reality of who He is and what He’s done, or reject Him and set yourself up as your own god.

The Lordship of Jesus is not a popular concept in our society because it means we have to shape our idea of Jesus to what the bible teaches about him, instead of shaping Jesus to our ideas of what He should look like. Suddenly Jesus goes from being our golfing buddy who knows all the good jokes, to the holy, all-encompassing God of the universe. This isn’t a Jesus who sits and drinks herbal tea with us while stroking our ego and giving us the warm fuzzies. Instead He’s the terrifying, just, God who punishes those in opposition to Him in a fury of Holy wrath (Gen 19:23-30). Has God allowed us to have a personal relationship with Him through the person and work of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Does God love us more then we can fathom, desiring to bless us and give us joy? Yes. But I fear we’ve over emphasized His love and mercy and in doing so turned the awesome, powerful, fear-inducing Lion of Judah into a neutered house cat.

Of course there are people who go too far the other direction and turn God (Jesus) into some crotchety old man who does nothing but sit around all day taking joy in judging people on every last thing they do. Somehow they manage to forget that the act that our entire belief system is based on; the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf for the payment our sins, is the most loving, gracious, merciful, selfless act in all of human history. How could we forget that this is the same God that spared the entire human race through Noah and his sons (Gen. 6 and 7), that saved Lot from certain destruction in Sodom (Gen. 19). Most astonishing of all in Exodus 34:6 just two chapters after the Israelites had built the golden calf, essentially spitting in the eye of the God who had just rescued them from Egypt, God describes Himself to Moses and the entire nation this way:

"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,”

Which leads us back to the original question, who do we say Jesus is? The judgmental kill joy in the sky? Or the benevolent, passive, fairy from Heaven with Holy pixie dust that He sprinkles on everyone so that no one will go to Hell? Hopefully by now you can see that neither of these is a true depiction of the Jesus we see in the Bible, but it still doesn’t answer the question.

The best description came from Jesus Himself, a shepherd (John 10:7-18). A shepherd is violent when his flock is threatened. He takes whatever measures are necessary to defend his sheep, not allowing anything to get close to them that may harm or kill them. At the same time a shepherd is loving and gentle with his sheep, tending to their needs, not wanting any of them to suffer harm. In the same way Jesus defends His church with a mighty and terrible love. To those who would defile and corrupt His Holy bride, he is fierce and relentless. Habitual commandment breakers, false teachers, liars, and heretics are met with His demand for Holiness and sentenced to eternity in Hell. With those He’s called and redeemed He is merciful and long suffering, not willing to lose even one to Satan’s schemes. There are times when a believer needs to be reprimanded but it’s done out of Jesus’ love for them and His desire to draw them closer to Himself. Not out of some cruel, twisted joy in watching them suffer.

The Jesus of the Bible is not some junior high kid flying from one extreme to another on a whim, but rather a loving father taking whatever stance is necessary to protect and nurture His children.

Who is Jesus?

(Authors note: This is a rough draft of something I'm working on, feedback would be very helpful.)

“The Jesus of suburbia is a lie” - Green Day, Are we the waiting?


“Who do you say that I am?”

Jesus asked his disciples this question over two thousand years ago and it still holds true for us today. Who do we say Jesus is? A great moral teacher? A loony whack job with delusions of grandeur? Some mystical sky fairy that does whatever we ask Him to, like a supernatural PEZ dispenser? Or God’s own son sent to earth to pay the price for sin? These are just some of the possible reactions to Jesus, but which one is the right one? Is there a correct answer, or is it simply left up to the individual to decide which version they prefer to believe in?

In a culture where the customer is always right we want to believe we should get whatever version of Jesus we want. Today’s evangelical Christian culture has practically become a giant Baskin Robins, helping us find the flavor of Jesus that best suites us. You don’t like hippie Jesus? Try 80’s rock star Jesus, complete with feathered hair! Still not what you’re looking for? Try health and wealth Jesus, or holier-than-thou Jesus, now with three new pious sayings!

The problem is Jesus is not consumer friendly, he never intended to be. He was homeless (Matt. 8:20), His teachings were often hard to understand (Luke 8:9-10), and the ones that could be understood were incredibly challenging (Matt 19:25). Jesus never did a four week series on how to have a better marriage, there was no twelve steps to financial security (honestly, who’s going to take financial advice from a homeless guy?) He never taught people how to improve their self esteem, or how to achieve “your best life now.” Jesus’ teaching was actually shockingly simple. At the heart of all the parables, the miracles, and the healings, was His claim to be God (John 10:25-30). There are only two reactions to this teaching; you can receive His free gift of salvation and live your life centered on the reality of who He is and what He’s done, or reject Him and set yourself up as your own god.

The Lordship of Jesus is not a popular concept in our society because it means we have to shape our idea of Jesus to what the bible teaches about him, instead of shaping Jesus to our ideas of what He should look like. Suddenly Jesus goes from being our golfing buddy with the solid handicap, to the holy, all-encompassing God of the universe. This isn’t a Jesus who sits and drinks herbal tea with us while stroking our ego and giving us the warm fuzzys. Instead He’s the terrifying, just, God who punishes those in opposition to Him in a fury of Holy wrath (Gen 19:23-30). Has God allowed us to have a personal relationship with Him through the person and work of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Does God love us more then we can fathom, desiring to bless us and give us joy? Yes. But I fear we’ve over emphasized His love and mercy and in doing so turned the awesome, powerful, fear-inducing Lion of Judah into a neutered house cat.

The reminder of pain

Pain, we all live with it. Whether it’s emotional, physical, or spiritual, pain is probably the most common part of the human experience. Ever since The Fall pain has served as the constant reminder that something in our world is out of sorts, that things are not as they should be.

We can’t enjoy our playing our favorite sports because of arthritis; we hold back from giving ourselves completely to the ones we love because of some emotional wound, we distrust God because of some spiritual betrayal in the past. Pain is the silent messenger whispering to our soul that there is something about us that is corrupt and foul. We believe that we’re somehow of lesser value because of it. If it’s physical pain we’re ashamed that we can’t contribute more to society. Emotional pain leaves us feeling dirty and that we somehow deserved whatever it was that happened to us. Spiritual pain convinces us that God must not love us and that our darkest fears of being to sinful to be saved are true.

Pain points to the ugly reality of sin and death, while at the same time pointing us toward the glorious hope of Heaven and the restoration of our bodies to their original perfect, sinless form. That’s why we must learn to embrace it, not in a masochistic kind of way, but in a redeemed God glorifying way. We need to learn to use it to remind us that God has promised us perfect, sinless, bodies, hearts, and minds, and that pain now is a small price to pay for an eternity without it.

Oasis and The Gospel

“Some might say we don’t believe in Heaven, go and tell it to the man who lives in Hell.” – Oasis, “Some might say”

As some of you know I’m a big fan of the British rock band Oasis. Today Noel Gallagher, their lead guitarist, left the band after getting in yet another fight with his younger brother Liam who’s the lead singer. There’s a part of me that would love to pull out the Kleenex and play “Wonderwall” full blast. I’m going to resist that urge and instead use it as a springboard to write about something meaningful.

As I was talking (texting) with Jimmy about this I made the comment that they were gifted musicians but incredibly lost people, which he pointed out is the general story of rock n’ roll and that it makes him look forward to the day we’ll be in Heaven. As much as I love Oasis’ music, I love the prospect of spending eternity with Jesus an enumerable amount more than that.

In moments in my life where something shakes up my world to some degree, I find it’s often easier to see life in light of the reality of The Gospel and eternity. While I’m saddened by Oasis’ split, I’m reminded that it’s God who gave me my love for music because He loves me and wants me to enjoy His creation. Someday I’ll join a choir of millions singing creation’s most perfect love song, and the loss of one rock band will be a distant memory.

Markers along the way

I think it's important for people to have mementos from important moments in their life. Birth certificates, diplomas, wedding rings, these are all reminders of significant events in our lives. For Christians it's also important to have things that remind us of the times in our spiritual lives that God provided for us in unforeseen and amazing ways. We see this repeatedly throughout the Bible, especially the Old Testament. After their miraculous crossing of the Jordan river the Israelites set up a stone memorial to remind them of what God had done for them there. (Josh 4:20-24) In fact in the book of Joshua alone the Israelites set up seven memorials to remind them of important moments in their history. (Josh 4:20-24, 7:26, 8:28-29, 8:32, 10:27, 22:34, 24:26-27)

In my own life there are things that are markers of times God has worked, for, in, and through me. Anytime I see a Pizza Hut I'm reminded of my salvation and the joy and freedom I have in that. My charcoal and navy blue fleece is a reminder of my mission trip to Vietnam, what I saw God do there, and that I'm supposed to live as a missionary where I am. My newest marker (and the one that prompted this post) is the skyline of Denver and the Rockies. I was driving home last night from Buffalo Wild Wings and came over the crest of a hill and there below me was Denver. Between the street lights, the skyscrapers, and headlights, it looked like a giant living Christmas tree. I was reminded of everything God had done on my behalf for me to arrive here. An Air Guard recruiter so determined to fill slots that he looks through the IRR records to find people in those career fields, the only one in Colorado who does that. A new GI Bill that provides me with the income I need to live here. Putting me in touch with an Acts 29 church that's not even a year old yet, thus making it the perfect learning opportunity for me. Helping me find and sign for an apartment in less then a week that "just happens" to only be three and a half miles from where I go to school and church. Those are just some of the things I'm reminded of when I see the Qwest building, or The Flatirons. I smile, laugh, and thank God for providing for me far beyond what I deserve in spite of the fact that I never have, and never will, do anything to deserve it.

These are some of mine, I would encourage you to stop and take a few minutes to think about times God has moved mightily on your behalf and what some things are that remind you of that. Because there will be times that you'll feel forsaken and need those things to remind you that the God who was with you then is still with you now.

What is The Gospel?

I talk about The Gospel a lot in my blog but I haven't every really defined what I mean when I talk about The Gospel. Today I want to try to address the fact that I think most Christians aren't really sure what The Gospel is. This interferes with their ability to live lives centered around The Gospel, negatively affecting their children, and rendering them impotent as missionaries in their culture. Before I get to far into this post I want to make it clear that I'm a Calvinist and that my view of The Gospel and salvation stems directly my theology.

First we have to define what The Gospel is. I have to admit this is something I struggled with a great deal when I felt the Lord first calling me to church planting 2 years ago. Because of the people that I was reading and listening to, primarily Acts 29 guys, the common theme was The Gospel. I kept coming across things like; the local body of believers needs to be Gospel centered, preaching needs to be Gospel centered, mission needs to be Gospel centered, essentially everything that is done by Christians was to be centered around The Gospel. This sounded reasonable, the only problem was I didn't have a clear enough understanding of what The Gospel was to make any sense of what they were trying to say. I think it's important to point out that I've grown up in the church, sat under solid bible teaching for most of my life, and have a mother who is gifted at teaching children the concepts and doctrines of the bible. Yet, somehow, I was never taught The Gospel clearly and repetitively enough that I could clearly articulate it. I understood enough to know that it was more then simply doing certain things and refraining from participating in others, but I was unable to get much farther then that without getting confused. I continued to read and research what exactly The Gospel IS and how to explain it to myself and then to others. The quotes I came across that helped me the most are these three:

"The Gospel is: God has come to rescue and redeem creation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf." - Tim Keller

"For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point is that God saves sinners. " - J.I. Packer

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV


At it's core The Gospel is simply the fact that we're all sinners, living contrary to God's law, incapable of saving ourselves.(Romans 3:23) That our only hope of being seen as holy and perfect in God's eye's is through receiving His gift of salvation that was bought through Jesus' sinless life, His death on the cross in our place, and His resurrection from the dead three days later, forever defeating Satan, sin, and Death. (Mt. 27:32-50, Mt. 28:1-10, Rev. 19:11-21) Thus securing eternal life for all those He calls to Himself. (Romans 9:1-29)

So how does this affect us as we attempt to live lives based on this reality? Simply, one day Jesus will return and restore the world to it's original perfection. (Romans 8:19-23) In the mean time we are called to be agents of His kingdom here on earth proclaiming what He accomplished during His time here on earth, assisted and guided by the Holy Spirit in our actions. (Mt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:2-8) This means we should view our time, talents, and money not as ours but as tools given to us by our Heavenly Father for the advancement of His Kingdom. This means our lives aren't based on what's best for us, but what brings God the most glory.

I know one pastor who drills the idea that everywhere we go we're to be missionaries into his kids minds by having the following kinds of conversations with them on a regular basis:

"Why do we play in little league?"

"So that we can tell people about Jesus."

"And....?"

"To have fun and play baseball."

This is a brief overview of The Gospel and how it is to be intertwined with our lives. It's not a very good one (I think) so I would encourage you to order Tim Keller's study guide on The Gospel and have your entire family go through it together. Also, Ed Stetzer is a brilliant missiologist (The idea that we're to be missionaries right where we are) and has many excellent resources available that would be well worth your time to make use of.

I hope you've found reading this to be a profitable use of your time.

Gospel centered bus riding

Since I'm naturally interested in people and love to watch the way they interact with the world around them, riding the bus the last couple of days has been like Christmas on wheels. It's amazing what you can learn about people without them ever saying a word to you. Where they sit, how they sit, whether or not they strike up a conversation with the people around them, all these things can tell you a lot about someone. This morning for example you could tell that almost everyone on the bus was still trying to wake up. Almost all of them were wearing sunglasses so that it was easier to nap and several of them had mp3 players pumping background noise into their half awake brains. Shy people tend to sit as far from everyone else as possible, I actually saw one person sit on the edge of their seat just so they wouldn't have to sit to close to the person they were sharing the bench with.

Humans fascinate me. Since I'm a Christian and I filter all of life through The Gospel, I believe that all people reflect the glory of God and bare witness to some attribute of His nature, people watching isn't just socially informative it's also theologically informative. Obviously because we live in a fallen world these attributes and traits aren't seen in the same perfection and holiness as they exist in God but we can see a small glimpse of God in His creation. Joy, love, kindness, anger, community, compassion, and many other emotions and actions are all small flashes of His personality, like fireflies in a night sky. In the words of 1 Corinthians 13:12:

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

For Christians simply seeing creation through the filter of The Gospel isn't enough though, we must act to bring that creation into a correct relationship with it's maker. This is hard, thankless, unglamorous, frustrating, time consuming work that in the end may not bare any kind of visible fruit. Thankfully our charge isn't to see who can harvest the most fruit, but to simply work faithfully for the advance of The Gospel.