List of Things I would Really Like to do But Won’t Beat Myself up if I Don’t Do Them All List

               Well, it’s here. Another New Year is upon us.

               I like New Years. I don’t really feel that much older, and I don’t really feel regrets about what I did or didn’t do this past year. What I do feel is excitement. I sense all these new possibilities. I think about all the new ways that God is going to be at work in our lives in this next year. And I think, what if this will be the year that our Lord returns?

               Pretty cool stuff to think about!

               So, yeah. I like New Years.

               I usually start each year with a list of things I would like to accomplish over the next twelve months. I don’t always complete them all, but that’s OK. I like having goals to look forward to. So as we are now in January 2016, I thought I would ask your indulgence to share my list with you. And, maybe you could even help keep me accountable for when I start to get lazy on my list (usually this happens around Jan 5).

               Keep in mind, these aren’t really New Year’s Resolutions. Most of the things on my list don’t qualify in the “resolutionary” category such as “join the gym”, “lose 10 lbs”, or “quit drinking Mountain Dew”…Resolutions like that last one are simply crazy non-sense.

               So, here goes….my 2016:

 List of Things I would Really Like to do But Won’t Beat Myself up if I Don’t Do Them All List

1.    Get closer to Jesus

This is a daily goal of mine every day every year. If you don’t talk to Jesus every day throughout the day, you should try this in 2016. Amazing how everything else shapes up when this relationship is the #1 priority.

2.      Love my wife and my children more fully and completely

These six people are the greatest blessings God has placed in my life. I want to be the best husband and father that I can be with God’s help.

3.      Read the Bible all the way through in the New Living Translation

Each year I try to a reading plan to read the Bible cover to cover. This year I want to read again the NLT, this is one of my favorite translations for my personal reading.

4.     Help someone every day

I honestly believe that God gives us the opportunities, and I honestly believe for every person I stop to help that I miss several others. I pray that I will see with God’s-Eyes in this New Year.

5.     Date night every week

If you know Heather and I, then you know this is a priority already. Friday night is date night. But in January there are five Fridays this year, and I am out of town four of them. So, we will need to be creative and have date night on other nights. If you’re married let me say that I believe that Date Night is imperative to a healthy marriage (thanks for the adjective help there Heather—that’s why we’re a great team!)

6.     Publish my first book

Getting pretty close on this one. I started a humor book about 10 years ago. I am a big Dave Berry and Lewis Grizzard fan so the writing style is as similar to those great writers as a simple guy like me can get. It should be in print by March at the latest. “The Great All-American Dad Misconceptions”—check it out (and by that I really mean please buy a copy or the Kindle version!)

7.    Write regularly for a publication

I love to write. I can say that this is one of the gifts that God has given me. I can use a bunch of words, both when I write and when I speak (just ask people that have sat through my sermons).

8.    Preach

Yep, I love this too. God is good, all the time. And I get the chances to share what God is doing in my life and teaching me with other people. I am blessed to be serving at an amazing church, Telford UMC, and look forward to another exciting year here sharing the Good News and impacting the community for our Lord.

9.    Mission trip

I hope to be going with one of my children to the Czech Republic this year on a mission trip. I have never been out of the country, so I am excited about this!

               So, that’s my list. Take a minute and think about a few things that you want to do this year, or better yet that you feel that God is calling you to do this year. It’s exciting, and a little scary sometimes. But what a great way to live!

               Happy New Year friends. Thanks for reading, and God bless!

Advent: The already and the not yet

Advent: The Already and Not Yet

Things are getting ready. In fact, they have been getting ready for a while now. The day after Halloween the wreaths went up on the street lights downtown. And now, every local shop is decked out in glitter, glitz, tinsel, and lights. And for good reason, Christmas is coming!

               But it’s not here yet.

               And if you have decorated your house with garland and lights, put up a tree, and hung ornaments, there is a good chance that some of the ornaments or keepsakes that you have sitting out for Christmas you have had for years. Maybe even decades. And those ornaments bring back memories of past holidays. Of course you aren’t reliving the past, but you are remembering the past. And for good reason.

               But the past has already happened.

               And that is Advent.  These four weeks leading up to Christmas are called Advent from an old Latin word (I guess all Latin words a kind of old though) which meant “arrival”. So during Advent we are remembering the “arrival”, or “advent” of the Messiah. We look back to when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and we read the prophecies from Isaiah and the Psalms.

               But this has already happened.

               And that is Advent. These four weeks leading up to Christmas are also a time to look forward to when Jesus comes (arrives) again. One day He will do that. Here’s what Jesus said about himself; “then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and glory. And he will then send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, and from one end of the heavens to the other…But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:30-31, 36)

               Advent is about the first “arrival” of Christ, as well as being about the second “arrival” of Christ. Advent is about the past, but also about the future. But Advent is also about the present. It’s in the present, in there right and right now, that we can look back and look forward. It’s today that we can both remember and anticipate.

               That’s a good Advent word too: Anticipate. It means to wait for something to happen expecting that it will happen, and to be ready.

               I know that part of Advent is waiting for Christmas Day to get here. But that’s not really what it has to be all about. Yes, Christmas Day is an exciting day that we have set aside in our calendars to remember the day that Perfect Love came down from heaven and donned flesh and bones to live as a man and die as a man for us, all of us. But Advent is about being ready. Advent is about anticipating something. Advent is about knowing that what you are waiting for will one day happen, even though you don’t know exactly when that will be.

               Advent is about the already and the not yet.

               So during this Advent, this in between time, what are you anticipating? What are you getting for? How are you getting ready?

               Take some time this week to read John 1:1-18 and Luke chapters 1 and 2. Both of these accounts are about Jesus’ First Advent. Then read Matthew 24-26. All three of these chapters are about Jesus’ Second Advent.

               And enjoy this Advent season. Don’t get so caught up in the rush to Dec 25 that you miss everything else going on. Go to church. Sing Christmas carols. Decorate a tree. Kiss someone under the mistletoe. Light a candle. Relax and think about the fact that Jesus came the first time was all because of His love for you. And when He comes a second time, it will be to bring us all home.

               Happy Advent!

Come to Worship

It’s official. Here in North America we are officially in the Holiday Season. Halloween is over and, if you’re like me, you have enough candy to last you to Easter of 2016 (except for the Reese’s Cups, I ate all those from my kids baskets already). Our sights are set on a Thanksgiving eat-a-thon with all the fixings. We will eat and eat and eat and then sleep a little until we can eat some more. And then we will shop and shop and shop and then eat a little until we can shop some more, because we Christmas is the next Big Thing.

               I don’t mean to sound sarcastic about the holidays. Truth be told I will eat as much as anybody else, take a tryptophan induced nap in my recliner, and then shop for Christmas with money we don’t have to spend on new toys and gadgets. So, I am right here with you.

               This has been a pretty good year for me, so the glee and glad tidings of Thanksgiving and Christmas will magnify that for me. The holidays tend to do that. They tend to magnify what is going on in our lives. At this time of the year the happy get happier and the sad get sadder. There are several reasons for this I think. One is that when you don’t have much and see the massive spending of others it can make you feel a little less secure about yourself. Another reason, and one that seems to be more frequent, is the holidays bring back memories. And if you have lost a loved one, the memories are in the past, but the present is missing something…someone.

               So the season seems to magnify what we don’t have.

               I don’t think this is how it should be, though. I believe this time of year, and all year long honestly, should be a magnification of what we do have.

               At the church where I serve as pastor we are taking the month of November focused on one verse in the New Testament. It is found in the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew. In this scene the magi (aka wise men) are coming to see the baby Jesus. They have their gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. They go to the king of the area at the time, King Herod, and they say “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and we have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2).

               We have come to worship him. Magnify on that for a minute! Better yet, let that magnify on you for a minute!

               Come to worship.

               I can’t imagine what all you have been through this year. I can’t imagine the pain you feel from the job loss, the break-up, the divorce, the diagnosis, the death, the addiction you can’t kick.

               But I do know one thing. I know that this season is going to magnify something in you. And I know that oftentimes it seems to be the worst, the most painful, the scariest, the lonliest, the most depressing things that loom larger under the magnifier.

               And I know that is not how it is supposed to be. I know that if Jesus can be magnified, the other areas of loss and pain are not. They don’t disappear this time of year, but they are put in perspective. When Jesus gets bigger in your life, I know that everything else has to get smaller.

               So, come to worship. Yes, you will cook before Thanksgiving, you will eat on Thanksgiving, you will shop before Christmas, you will open a present for Christmas. And sometime (or several times) throughout you will cry. You will miss someone that is not here with you. But don’t forget that the One who loves you more than any other person possibly could love you, is right beside you. And when you turn your attention to Him, when you wake up everyday with an attitude that, “Today I have come to worship”, then you will be magnifying Jesus in the season.

               So, come to worship.

You might not understand now...

Being a pastor I get asked about Scripture verses a lot. Sometimes I get asked my thoughts on a meaning of a particular verse, and sometimes I get asked for suggestions of verses that would speak to a circumstance that someone finds themselves in.

Last week the youth group at TUMC was selecting a Scripture verse to be their “youth verse”. There were suggestions of 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity”, from Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”, and of course from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life”. Wow, those are great verses! Those verses could and should represent every youth group everywhere!

But Sam, one of our youth, suggested John 13:7. You know that verse, right? Honestly, me neither by memory. So I looked it up, and here is the context:

The scene is Jesus gathered with his disciples in the Upper Room, where he would share a final meal with them (what we call the Last Supper) and he would give a sacrament to them using bread and wine (which of course we call now by many names such as Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper). Prior to eating, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet. Peter was shocked by this servant act of Jesus, and said “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” (italics mine).

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7).

In the context of the passage what Jesus is saying is that these men couldn’t understand why he was washing their feet right now. They had been following him as Lord, as the long awaited Messiah, and now here he is on his knees washing the road dust and dirt off their feet. This was a servant’s job! That’s what Jesus meant. His disciples there with him would never be able to understand this whole servant hood thing Jesus was introducing to them by words alone, they needed a visual. So Jesus gave them one to see and to remember: The Savior washing their feet.

If you have ever been to a Maundy Thursday Service, or experienced footwashing as an act of service to another and worship to Jesus, it is a powerful thing. We are to put the needs of others above ourselves, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who say mean and hateful things about us, we are show love in all situations, and we are called to serve, not to be served, just as Jesus showed and told us.

Interesting verse for a youth group to pick when you just read it. But when you really pray it, how powerful it is, right?

It makes me imagine all the things that Jesus has done in my life, and how at the time it all didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand at the time…but later I did. Later when I could look back with clear eyes on what happened, I could Jesus all over those situations. “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Maybe this should this should be our mantra today. Admitting that we don’t have all the answers, and trusting that God does indeed know best. Focusing a little less on ourselves so that we can focus on others. Serving others in the name of Jesus instead of waiting to be served like it’s somehow our American entitlement. Stressing a little less about the “rules” and just showing love to those who need to see and feel it from us.

Interesting verse for a youth group to pick as their guiding verse, but one that we should all go back and make sure we understand. So, thanks Sam, and the Telford UMC youth, for reminding me about John 13:7!

What do you need to remember today?

“Hey, do you remember when…?”

               Some of the greatest stories begin with this question. Remembering is how we identify who we are in this great big world, and it places our story in context with others who know and love. Maybe it was a memory of an afternoon of play spent with a child or grandchild. Or maybe it was a romantic evening spent with a spouse. Good memories are treasures that we keep locked away, treasures that can be opened up whenever we want, and handled carefully and at leisure, and then gently put back in their place until we want to recall them again later on.

               Remembering is a good thing. Remembering is important to us. And remembering is important to God also. Throughout the Old Testament when God would move in a mighty way on behalf of his people, he would instruct them to build an alter, or erect some stones, or do something so that they would remember what it was that he had done. Joshua Chapter 4 is a great illustration of this, where a stack of twelve stones was used to help generations remember a specific event.

               But we don’t always remember good things, do we?

               Sometimes the events that we remember brings back feelings of pain and hurt. These memories are not beautiful treasures, they are poison of the heart and soul. And every time we recall them from their dark place of dwelling they come all too quickly, and with ever increasing ease.  Maybe it was a memory of a past betrayal, perhaps one you thought you had forgiven, but the thought of it makes your stomach twinge in pain and your heart race faster. Maybe it was the death of a loved one, even with everyone telling you how she was in a better place now and not in pain anymore, but the memory of standing under the funeral home tent with the cold metal coffin in front of you wasn’t comforting. And that memory still hurts. Maybe it was the day you sat in the doctor’s office with a numbing sensation stretching over your body as you tried to focus in on his words…”terminal”…”inoperable”…

               Sometimes just a pleasant smell reminds me of a wonderful memory. But sometimes just the way the wind is blowing might remind me of something painful.

               Deuteronomy Chapter 7 is a great place to focus on for my memories. In this chapter of the Bible, the Israelite people are getting ready to take the “Promised Land” that God had promised to them. But there were a couple of problems for them. First, Moses, the man who had been leading them for the past 40 years, the man who had been in direct conversation with God for them, the man they trusted and revered, wasn’t going to live much longer. And second, the land God had brought them to wasn’t vacant, it was occupied by some really big and powerful armies.

               So, as the people started to stress out a little bit, Moses said “do not be afraid…remember well what the Lord your God did…you saw with your own eyes the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm (of the Lord)…the Lord your God, who is among you, I a great and awesome God.”  (Deuteronomy 7:17-21 excerpts)

               God wants us to remember. Remember what he has done in the past. Because remembering God’s mighty acts and faithfulness of yesterday will help us to rely and trust God today.

               Asaph, the possible writer of the 77^th Psalm, wrote during a time of great personal distress, wondering if God had forgotten all about him.

               “Will God never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed? Has God forgotten me?” (Psalm 77:7-9 excerpts)

               But then Asaph remembered.

               “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember the miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds. You are the God who performs miracles!” (Psalm 77:11-14 excerpts)

               God has been with you before, in the good times and in the bad. In the times where your heart was so overflowing with joy you felt like it would just burst from it all. And in the times where your heart felt so broken and shattered that seemingly nothing could offer solace or comfort. But God was there, he brought you through this before, and he is faithful to do it again.

               What is it that you need to remember today?

"Love Wins"- A Communion Meditation

Once again we find ourselves invited to the Lord’s Table.

This happens each month in most of our United Methodist churches, regardless of where we have been, what we have done, what we have left undone, whether we have won great battles or suffered a great defeat. 

There is an invitation to the Table.

Some Communion Sunday’s we can reflect back on a great month. A month of blessings and goodness. A month of joy. Promotions, financial success, food to eat and clothes to wear, peaceful relationships, well behaved children, a well behaved spouse, no arguments, just bliss.

 And we are invited to the Table.

Some Communion Sunday’s we can reflect back on a month we would rather forget. A month that has been plagued with death, loss of loved ones, financial struggles, holes in shoes and no money to buy new ones, fights and dissention among family members and friends, relationships perhaps broken beyond repair, sleepness nights and restless days. A month of more questions than answers, a month of change when we need stability. 

And we are invited to the Table.

Some today have felt the painful sting of death in their family through loss and separation this week. Some today have lost loved ones months, or year ago, and that lonliness is still as sharp today as it was on that first day.

Over the last two weeks we have seen a young man walk into a SC church and open fire taking the lives of 9 of our brothers and sisters. Churches have been burned, both here in the US and abroad. People have fought over flags and if the roof of the General Lee is a sign of bigotry and hate. Same sex marriages have been legalized in every state in the country. Some people are scared, some people are celebrating, some people are mad, and some people are indifferent.

And the courts “definition” of marriage seems to have stirred more people  than anything I have seen in my lifetime. People are fired up on both sides, the lines have been drawn by some, some say there is no middle ground. This one focus is the primary agenda. 

And this is a big deal, and a big concern for people of faith.

21,000 children die each day around the world, many from preventable diseases and unnecessary wars. That’s about 1 child every 4 seconds. 

This is a big deal for people of faith.

1.2 million abortions per year, about 120 per hour. 

This is a big deal for people of faith.

700,000 people from the United States will be taken and sold in the sex trafficking industry this year. 50% of them will be children, with the average age 11-14 years old. Internationally the total of victims will be somewhere about 3 million people. 

This is a big deal for people of faith.

Last year 41,000 took their own lives in suicide. That’s about 112 people per day. 

This is a big deal for people of faith.

45 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, with TN having the 4^th highest poverty rate in the nation. 

This is a big deal for people of faith.

And, yet, we are still invited to the Table.

An invitation that provides unity, if we will allow it. An invitation that provides peace, if we will allow it. An invitation that offers grace and forgiveness, if we will accept it.

This month we celebrated the freedom of our nation. And many people celebrated this freedom with fireworks, funnel cake, BBQ, and beer. It has been a national holiday to remember our freedom. In this country, it seems, we can do what we want to do, and be who we want to be. 

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

But we don’t really feel like one nation. We don’t really feel like we can’t be divided. In truth, we are a divided people. Divided by opinions, divided by beliefs, divided by status and economics, divided by right and wrong, divided by holy and sin.

Every single one of us is a mix of sinner and saint, of struggle and victory, of lost and found, of broken and redeemed.  

And so there is an invitation to the Table.

Micah 6:8 says "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

God has shown us what is good. 

In the grandor of a sunrise, and the artistic paintbrush effect of a sunset. In the touch of a loved one, in the tranquility of a sleeping child. In food on the table and clothes in the closet. When we have much, and we have little, God has shown us what is good. In his perfect goodness he walked this earth, taught us how to live and love, healed diseases, mended relationships, offered freedom, and gave us life. God showed us goodness through Jesus.

And so there is an invitation to the Table. 

An invitation to seek justice.

An invitation to love mercy. 

An invitation to walk humbly with our God.

I didn’t tell you global and national statistics to bring more fear into our lives. I didn’t tell you those statistics so that we are filled with doom and gloom. I didn’t tell you those statistics so that we have a Chicken Little attitude that the Sky is falling and the end is near. 

I told you those so that we have in perspective there is much work to do. I told you those statistics so that we understand the workers are few. I told you those statistics so that we can begin moving from hearing these statistics as just numbers and begin seeing these statistics as people, as people that Jesus came for, as people that Jesus died for, and as people that Jesus is calling. Just like he called me, and just like he called you.

I have seen some people proudly display “Love Wins” logos, and I have seen some people disgusted by the implication they think that portrays. But let me tell you something. Regardless of the sentiment behind the statement, there is no statement more true. 

Yes, love wins. 

Yes, love has won.

Love won when Jesus hung on the cross and said “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love won when we Jesus looked at a man on another cross, receiving the judgement and penalty for his actions that he deserved and Jesus said “today, you will be with me in paradise”.

Love won when, on the 3^rd day, Jesus rose from the dead as he had promised so that we would never experience death as separation, but so that we as his disciples, as his children, will experience everlasting life.

Love won when the gift of the Holy Spirit descended upon early believers on the Day of Pentecost, and that same Spirit is given to dwell in each of us.

Love won when we were baptized and the seal of God was placed on our lives.

And love had already won when Jesus spoke about bread as his body, and spoke about wine as his blood, that would be offered in the greatest single act of love in all history. 

So yes, love has won.

And so there is an invitation to the Table.

An invitation to each us to live a life worthy of the calling we have received, to be completely humble and gentle, to be patient, bearing with one another in love, to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, because there is 1 body and 1 Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism, 1 God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

And through this invitation we can receive the faith, hope, and love that is offered, and the greatest of these is Love. 

So, yes, Love has won. 

But not human love. Rather, the lavish and fierce and unrelenting pursuing holy and perfect love of God for each and every one of us, here and everywhere, now and forever. And that's possible because Love Won.

Spit and Mud

Spit. As we get older we may have lost some of our appreciation for spit. We don't usually think of spit in positive terms. Spit is kind of, well, gross. Nobody wants to be spit on, and parents are continually telling their children not to spit in public. Maybe that's why baseball players spit so much, there is something about being around all that dirt playing a game that makes you just want to spit. And of course your momma isn't going to tell you not to spit when you're playing ball, she just wants you to get a hit regardless of how much you spit.

Spit. Even when parents tell their children to not spit, it's funny how spit is the the parents go to for all in public child cleaning. There have been many times when there has been a mysterious food stain on one of my children's face and my spit has cleaned it up. Even as they have tried to shimmy away from me I have been able to wipe my spit soaked finger across their faces to rub away what shouldn't be there. We have told our children not to spit and then we use our own spit to wipe their face.

Mud. Some of the most fun I had as a child involved mud. From making mud pies and betting a friend a quarter he wouldn't eat them (which he always did, but seeing it was worth losing a quarter bet), to having mud slides in the battles for my little plastic green army men, to soccer and football games in the mud, and transforming my BOX from a dirt bike into a mud bike, mud was always fun. As a parent, mud isn't so much fun anymore. We parents spend more time cleaning up mud than we do enjoying the fun that can be had in the mud. We worry more about the possibility of mud stained carpets than seeing the numerous adventure possibilities that mud possesses.

Spit and mud. Neither glamorous. Both sometimes kind of gross. And both were used by Jesus at times when He healed a physical condition. Now, of course Jesus didn't need to use anything to heal, but for some reason He chose to on a few occasions.

Here they are:

Mark 8:23- Jesus spit in a blind man's eyes, touched him, and the man could see, though not clearly. Then Jesus touched him again and his sight was completely restored.

Mark 7:33- A man that was deaf and had difficulty speaking was brought to Jesus to be healed. Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, spit, and then touched his tongue and the man could see and speak plainly.

John 9:6- Jesus spit on the ground and then made mud with the dirt and saliva mixture and rubbed in on a blind man's eyes and then told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. When he did this he could see.

Spit and mud.

Why did Jesus do things? Why didn't he just heal these men by speaking the word for them to be healed? After all, that's all that it would have taken. It wasn't the spit that healed, it wasn't the mud that healed, it was the touch of Jesus that healed, and it’s that touch that still heals today.

Some biblical scholars think the Jesus used spit because the people of that day believed there were therapeutic healing properties in saliva. There is speculation that the mud was to remind the people watching that God had created man from the dirt if the ground. Maybe. But as I read those passages and the healing that came through the Incarnate Word made flesh in the person of Jesus the Christ, I see Jesus using some ordinary things.

Spit and mud. Not glamorous, not preferred, and not real clean. But when put in the healing hands if Jesus, they serve as an instrument to be used for His glory.

Maybe today we at being called to some spit and mud ministries. Maybe not glamorous, maybe not preferred, and maybe things where we have to get a little dirty. And maybe we are being called to put our simple ordinary efforts into the powerful hands of an almighty God as He uses our spit and mud to bring healing to the hurting, restoration to the broken, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and salvation to anyone who in faith calls on His name.

Spit and mud. Seems ordinary but there is nothing ordinary in hands of our Extraordinary God.

Will there be beaches in heaven?

Will there be beaches in heaven?
My wife asked me this question on the first day of our vacation this year. We sat in our Eagles beach chairs, watching our children jumping the waves, and admiring the treasures that God had blessed us with.
I suppose the question could have been taken with a whimsical air to it. I suppose the easiest, and perhaps the right answer to this question would have been "I don't know".
But my answer was simply "yes".
To be honest, I really don't know for sure. But I do know that my understanding and thoughts about heaven have changed as I have gotten older. And that's probably a good thing. I hope it is a reflection of some small aspect of growth, the fact that I do attempt to think of the things of God even though I readily admit that I can't fully comprehend the things of God. And heaven is surely one of these things.
Much has been written on the topic of heaven. There are numerous biblical accounts of heaven, written with as much detail and explanation as the inspired writers could muster given the limitations of our minds and vocabulary. There have been many accounts of heaven from people who claim that they have been there and have been granted an opportunity to come back to life to share their experiences. Jesus spoke of heaven over 70 times in the words that we have in Scripture today. (I bet He talked about it more than what we have recorded!)
I like to think about heaven. I don't completely understand it. I think about hell too. And I don't completely understand that either. I do believe there is more to heaven (and for that matter more to hell) than the simplistic answers attempt to convey. My thoughts here are not a theological attempt to define heaven and hell, nor are they a simplistic overture that diminishes the reality, finality, and sureness of the existence of either.
I believe that both heaven and hell are very real and very physical places. We should pray for understanding of each.
But are there beaches in heaven? That may not sound too theologically important in light of the grand implications of an eternal heaven and hell. But I think the question helps in a heavenly understanding somewhat.
So, yes, I believe there will be beaches in heaven. I say will be, in a future tense, because heaven as it will be is not yet here, and by here, I really do mean here, as on this planet, planet earth, the third planet from the sun in the Milky Way galaxy.
I know that for some the idea if heaven is somewhere "up there" and the idea of hell is somewhere "down there". But I don't think that God is limited by our navigational directional understandings. I do believe, however, that there is something to the "up there" idea though.
Jesus told his disciples in his last words to them that he would return. Then they saw him ascend up into the clouds. They were told apparently by angelic messengers that Jesus would return the same way they saw him go. So if Jesus "went up", then he would at some point "come back down". We refer to this as Jesus' 2nd coming. I don't know when that will be, and for the record, neither does anyone else. I am positive about that. But more on that topic at another time. Some details of this event have been recorded in the book of Revelation.
But what about the beaches?
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth ha  passed away. And the sea was also gone" (Revelation 21:1).
No more sea? So surely there can't be beaches if there isn't a sea! Right? I don't think so. As John wrote the words to Revelation he was prisoner on an island that he had been exiled to, the island of Patmos, part of an ancient Alcotraz.  John looked at the sea every day during his imprisonment. The sea wasn't a calm and joyful friend to John. The word "sea" that the writer uses here means more than just a big salty body of H2O. The "sea", for the biblical writer, was a place of fear, a place where ships were lost to unforeseen and unknown forces. The sea ravaged and destroyed villages that were close to it. The sea was a scary, dreadful place with many unknowns lying underneath, a cold, dark, watery tomb.
That "sea" will not be in heaven.
But there are 2 recorded times, also in Revelation, of a "sea of glass". There is a lot of imagery for sure in this "sea", lots of symbolism as this "sea" pictured to be in front of the heavenly throne of God, and lots of metaphorical content here also. But this "sea" is calm, reflecting the Spirit of God in its clear glassy state, and reflecting the purity of those cleansed by Jesus who will come before this throne one day.
From this "sea" the new heaven and earth will be watered. Watered with the very presence and the very Spirit of God. God with and among His people forever.
So will there be beaches in heaven? Yes, and mountains, and rivers, and even buildings in a city.
Because there will be a new earth. Not a different earth, but a new earth. A earth that is recreated in perfection. Re-creation involve  making all things New (as in set back to original state of being), not making all things new (as in making something completely different).
Beaches in heaven won't have on them washed up dead jellyfish or trash from careless boaters. They will be perfect beaches, as they were originally  so they will be once again. One day.
Until then enjoy the beaches we have. They are amazing, beautiful, and just a hint, a dim reflection of beaches that one day we will enjoy.

Last Words

               Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:4).

            This verse is found in what we call the “Ascension of the Lord”. A dramatic and amazing scenario where one minute Jesus is talking to His disciples, and the next moment he is headed up into the clouds, reunited with God the Father, leaving the disciples as awestruck jaw-dropped star gazers staring up into the sky.

            I think the words recorded in the first eight verses of Acts are very important. Granted, everything Jesus said was important, but there is a finality of these words. These are the last recorded words that we have that Jesus spoke here on earth.

            Last words are important.

            Nathan Hale’s last reported words were “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country”. Those are powerful last words that have rung throughout the annuls of history giving hope and courage to many.

            As John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, lay on his bed breathing his last breath, he said “the best of all, God is with us”. Words of encouragement to others from a man who was encouraged by the ever abiding presence of his Lord.

            Blues singer Bessie Smith said, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord”.

            I have been with some saints of the Lord when they took their last breath, with no more words to say here in this life.

            Jesus’ last words are found compiled together by the writer Luke in Acts 1:4-5; 7-8. Last words are important.

            Jesus told His disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem. This is also why he told them to stay in this city (verse 4). Jerusalem had been a difficult place for them over the last month. They had seen Jesus beaten and crucified, dead and buried. They had denied even knowing Jesus at times. They ran for safety when they could have been by His side. There were even those in the city that would kill them if they could. Jerusalem was dangerous for these disciples, and full of regrets of past mistakes and failures. Yet this is exactly the place Jesus told them to stay. Why?

            First, this is where they would receive “power”. This power came about a week later and is recorded in Acts 2. You should read this awesome story today too. But also I think this showed them that Jesus is bigger than their denials. Jesus is bigger than their mistakes. Jesus is bigger than their regrets. Jesus is bigger than their sins. And guess what? Jesus is bigger than all your denials, mistakes, regrets, and sins too! Maybe your Jerusalem is where you are today, and maybe all that you can think about is getting out of here. But maybe Jesus has you here for a reason. And if you trust Him and seek His direction, He will show you that reason, and allow you to be His witness here and now.

            Then Jesus told His disciples to be His witness in Judea. Judea is where most of them lived. It was home. Sometimes being a witness at home is the most difficult for me. These are the people that know the real me, my imperfections, my weaknesses, my hypocrisy. Yet to be an effective witness for Jesus elsewhere, it has to start at home. What are you doing this week to show the love of Christ in your own home and with your own family?

            Then Jesus said to be His witness in Samaria. This was tough for those that read Jesus’ words in the first century. Samaria was not a region that was thought very highly of. The people who lived there, the Samaritans, were often looked on as second-class people. They were thought to be the inbred uneducated offspring of a “pure” people. Obviously Jesus didn’t think so. And He told the disciples to go to them and love them. Do you have a Samaria? I suppose that if we are honest we all do. People that we don’t really like or agree with. So, Jesus says go to them, not to condemn, not to judge, but to witness in love.

            Last words are important. Of course, there is really no “last” words. Given that we are eternal beings in a temporary body, there are only words that will be our last here in this life. We will be speaking words for eternity, words of adoration, words of thankfulness, words of love, words of praise and honor.

            What will be your “last” words here on earth? I know we don’t like to think about that. But don’t allow your last words to be words of regret, or words of doubt, or words of denial.  May we all say “the best of all, God is with us!”

A Divided Room

I remember the day my girls divided their bedroom. The two had shared a room for years, but one day I suppose one (or both) of them had had enough of something or the other. Tape went down on the floor in as close to the middle as they could agree upon. One bed on each side, one dresser on each side, and each of their belongings on the appropriate side. They did agree, I guess, that the door was a neutral aspect since the door was on one side of the room. After all, a pre-teen girl can’t have a monopoly on a divided room door. So they both got to use the door. But other than that, the lines had been drawn.

I think it’s part of our nature to draw lines. Maybe we don’t make our lines on the carpet of our bedrooms with duct tape anymore, but I think we still draw them. Right and wrong, good and bad, clean and dirty (which in my house is still a matter of opinion), and even holy and secular. Maybe especially the holy and secular part. Now of course some lines have to be drawn. There are lines drawn in our legal and judiscial systems that we have to abide by. There are lines between sin and living a righteous life. We are called to be holy people. “Be holy because I am holy” is our command from God (1 Peter 1:16).

It’s just sometimes I think we draw lines in the sand that were never meant to be drawn. The root of being able to follow that verse in 1 Peter that I mentioned above is living in love. That’s really the root of our entire Christian life: to love God, to love others, and to forgive.  It’s hard to live that kind of life and have our lines drawn all the time.

When we draw lines we have an us vs. them mentality. We are saying that what is on one side of the line is ours, and what is on the other side of the line are things that we don’t want on our side. So what are we to do?

I think it’s time to erase some of the lines that we have drawn. If we are loving God completely and loving on others as we are told to do by the same God who died for us and them, then the separations and divisions are really just separating and dividing us.

Does this mean that anything goes and everything is permissible? Of course not. But it does, at least partially, recognize that “everything comes from God and exists by his power and is intended for his glory” (Romans 11:36).

Maybe that’s why in the first book of the New Testament that recounts the death of Jesus we are also told about something that had been used to divide. It was a curtain. This curtain was located in the temple in Jerusalem, and was used to separate the holy of holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. This place was filled with the presence (spirit) of God so mere mortals couldn’t just casually go in there. There was a curtain that physically divided. But when Jesus took on himself all the sins of the world (which was your sins and my sins), here is what happened: “at that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom”. The line that divided us from God had removed by God himself.

I have seen the presence of God in an ornate stain glass sanctuary. I have seen the presence of God in a vibrantly painted sunset. I have seen the presence of God in the tear streaked face of a widow. I have seen the presence of God in a newborn crying baby. I have seen the presence of God at a bar. I have seen the presence of God at a soccer game.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.” (Psalm 24:1). Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate some of our lines. Maybe we need to pull that duct tape off the carpet. Maybe if we look with eyes of love, we won’t even see anymore some of the lines that have been dividing us.

Bible Notes- Mark chapter 2

 

Read Mark chapter 2

·        Jesus heals a paralyzed man

o   The first chapter of Mark’s Gospel ended with several healings, as Mark moves us in a fast paced narrative of this part of Jesus life. Chapter 2 starts out with another healing miracle, but in this account the man needing the healing can not get to Jesus because he can’t walk. He is lying on a mat that his friends carry. But even once they get to where Jesus is staying they cant get to Jesus because of the crowds. But they don’t give up, they know their friend needs Jesus. The house where Jesus was staying at in Capernaum was probably made of stone, but would have had a flat roof made from mixing mud and straw. The friends would have carried the man up the outside stairs on the side of the house to the roof where they made a hole in the roof and lowered their friend right down to Jesus.

§  Are we ever so preoccupied with what we are doing that we hinder others from being able to get to Jesus? Are we ever this way in the church?

§  How can we be more attentive to those who need to “get to Jesus”?

§  The friends took a great risk by digging a hole in someone else’s roof to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus! What risks are we taking to get our “paralyzed” friends to Jesus? Are we more concerned with the owner of the house and what he/she might think or are we moving with reckless abandon to Jesus?

§  Jesus said “your sins are forgiven” (GR word also means healed and/or saved). What relationship do you see between physical healing and the forgiving of sins? Is this part of the “wholeness” of an abundant life in Christ? How you answer someone who asked you “why does God heal some people and not heal others?” Picture yourself lying on that mat in the middle of room with Jesus kneeling beside you and saying, “your sins are forgiven.” How do you feel?

·        Jesus eats at Matthew’s house

o   Mark states that after Levi (Matthew) accepted Jesus’ offer to “follow” Him, that Jesus went to Matthew’s house for dinner and “many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples” (Verse 15). What is important about this statement? What should this mean to us as “followers” of Christ? What should this mean to us as the church?

·        Fasting

o   We have been talking about fasting this past week in regards to Lent. Fasting is an outward sign of humility and repentance from sin, and is also an inward discipline to clear the mind and keep the spirit alert. Jesus here emphasizes not the practice of fasting itself, but the motive behind the fast. If people fast only to impress others (or only because it’s Lent and everybody else is doing it), then the fast is being twisted into a personal agenda, without the focus on repentance/forgiveness/relationship.

o   Jesus compares himself to a bridegroom (verse 19), and this image portrays us as the bride of Christ. If you are married think back to your wedding day (if you are not married think about a wedding that you have seen.) How did you feel? How does the bride look? Was the groom waiting as she arrived? What expression is on the groom’s face when he sees his bride walking toward him? How does all this relate to our relationship (bride) with Jesus (groom)?

·        Picking wheat on the Sabbath

o   As Jesus and his disciples are walking through a grain field on the Sabbath (Saturday in this time) some of them apparently pick heads of grain and eat them. The Pharisees (who at this point are watching everything that Jesus does so that they can find fault with it) accuse them of breaking a Sabbath law.

§  Read Exodus 34:21

§  They were not stealing when they ate this grain either per their custom (Read Deuteronomy 23:25). The edges of the fields were supposed to be left for travelers and the poor in the community.

§  Of course Jesus was not breaking a command to “not harvest on the Sabbath”, he and his friends were just getting something to eat.

o   Jesus uses an example from David’s life in his answer to the Pharisees.

§  Read 1 Samuel 21:1-6

§  For more info on the consecrated/show bread read Leviticus 24 and Exodus 25

o   God made the Sabbath (a day of rest and worship) for us as a gift.

§  For some people, the Sabbath rules had become more important that the Sabbath rest. Is it that way still today for some people? What do you picture when you hear the words “Sabbath Rest”? Is every Sabbath like this picture for you? Why or why not?

 

What one or two things have really impacted you from your reading of Mark 2 and listening to God’s voice today? And of course, the next question is “what are you going to do about it?”

 

Holy and Broken Hallelujah's

Today’s word of the day is hallelujah. Open a Bible to Revelation 19 and let’s check this out. Now we’re all probably pretty familiar with the word hallelujah, right? If you’ve ever been in a church you have probably heard it. Hallelujah it means “praise God” or “praise the Lord”.

Halle= Praise Jah= refers to Hebrew word for God which is Yahwey, but our Jewish brothers and sisters would not say this name so they used “the Lord” is used in place of it.

Now the word hallelujah isn’t in the Old Testament at all, but we do see “praise The Lord” in the Old Testament. In fact the last 5 Psalms all start out with the same words:

“Praise the Lord”, and this lyric of praise is used 23 times in the Old Testament, all found in Psalms 104-150

The word Hallelujah is found in only one place in the New Testament, in the very last book of the Bible…bet you figured out that’s why I asked you to turn to this chapter already.

Here is the Cliff’s Notes context of this chapter: this is a future time when God has said “enough”, and Jesus returns to usher in the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a perfect time. For us as believers there will be no more death, no more tears, no more pain. This is what I would call a “holy hallelujah”, because everything is being made perfect. Of course we that have accepted Jesus as savior and Lord in our lives will be singing Hallelujah, because Jesus will be right here with us as God is creating a new heaven and a new earth.

So, I think there is the difference and the reality for us today. It’s easy to praise God when things are good, we will all be singing hallelujah when Jesus returns and we see all evil, all hurt, all poverty, all lies completely destroyed, it’s easy to say Hallelujah and bring our hallelujah as a pure and holy offering of praise to God in a peaceful and perfect time.

But what about the rest of the time? What about the broken times?

I talked to a woman this week, married, mother of 2, who was told by her husband that he didn’t love her anymore and had met someone new. Now this mother of 2 beautiful children has some broken hallelujahs in her life.

I talked to a guy this week who over a year ago was in a motorcycle wreck and the doctors said he probably lose his right leg. I met with him and his wife at the hospital, we prayed and asked God to heal him, and God did. He is walking now, and there was holy hallelujahs in that family. But 13 months after the accident he tried to stop taking the oxycodone that the Dr. had prescribed to him, and he couldn’t. He was addicted, and now he is fighting an addiction that has him feeling once again broken, he has a broken hallelujah.

When we were at Resurrection youth event in Gatlinburg last month we learned about a 12 year old girl, Emily, from Sweetwater, TN that was there with her youth group. I am sure that Friday night she had some holy hallelujah’s, as she was praising God through music from The City Harmonic and hearing God’s Word preached by Reggie Dabbs. Then Saturday her mom died. She was taken back home by one of her youth leaders. Her holy hallelujah had been turned into a broken hallelujah.

Saturday night at Resurrection there was an invitation to all the youth and hundreds of young people responded to God’s call, so many that all the senior pastors were asked to come up front and all the youth leaders went to the back of the auditorium so that we could pray with each and every youth there that night. That whole time seemed like a holy, holy, holy hallelujah as young people were giving their lives to Jesus. I prayed with a few of these youth, and there was one girl, I think she said her name was Sarah (it was pretty crowded and crazy) that I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me with mascara running down her face from crying out to Jesus, and she said “I was going to kill myself on Feb 14^th”.

It took a minute for her words to sink in, I wasn’t expecting that. She said something about showing “him what love was when he would lose it”, but then she looked me right in the eyes and said “but now I don’t have to do that, Jesus is the man that really loves me”. Somehow Sarah went from a very broken hallelujah to a perfect holy hallelujah in that auditorium.

The church where I serve as pastor has felt the blow of several deaths over the last few weeks. And that separation from loved ones, that feeling of loss, can break our hallelujahs and fill them with tears and pain.

And that’s OK.

When we bring our broken hallelujahs to Jesus, He will never turn us away, he restores our hallelujahs and He heals us.

Today, whether your hallelujah is holy or broken, I ask you to bring it to the Lord Jesus. Bring your praises, your joy, your pain and your tears as a holy and living sacrifice as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for each one of us.

Hallelujah!

 

 

 

Lent

“What are you giving up for Lent?”

               You’ve probably been asked this question. Even people who do not attend church are familiar with this practice of Lent, the practice of “giving something up” for 40 days. According to Biblegateway.com, here are the Top 10 things that people have tweeted or posted that they will be giving up for Lent in 2015:

1. School (11,330 tweets)
2. Chocolate (8,916)
3. Smoking (8,171)
4. Swearing (6,733)
5. Alcohol (5,820)
6. Soda (5,087)
7. Social networking (4,087)
8. Sweets (3,860)
9. Fast food (3,830)
10. Meat (2,687)

While some of the items on the list, such as smoking and fast food, can have a definite positive long term health and financial benefit, other items on the list, such as giving up school, are probably not practical and probably not for the right reasons.

So let’s start here, why do we have a custom of giving up various foods, habits, or actions for this 40 day period? Lent began as a practice of the early Christian Church (Lent is not mentioned in the Bible) as a way to prepare people in their faith journey to join the church and live a life of Christian discipleship. This 40 day period of time began on Ash Wednesday, and ended on Easter Sunday, at which time the new church members were baptized. As part of Lent these new members would learn and study important doctrines of the faith and study Scriptures. During this time there were many social and recreational things that they gave up, but more importantly they were taking on something new, taking on learning and growing in the new life that they were coming into.

So, from this practice, began the concept of giving up items for Lent to use our resources and time on things that really matter for the Kingdom of Heaven. We also in a small way experience an aspect of fasting and self-denial, through which we can (should) spend more time in prayer and thanksgiving as we think about the life and teachings, death and resurrection, of Jesus.

But I’m not going to ask you to give up chocolate or Facebook for 40 days, but I am going to ask you if you will take a Lenten journey with me. Take a journey through Scriptures like so many have done before us, as a way to prepare ourselves for the amazing Easter story. Here is a Lenten devotion of Scriptures that we can use together to read during the 40 days (not including Sundays) of Lent this year.

Day 1: John 1:1-18       

Day 2:  Matthew 3:13-17         

Day 3:  Matthew 4:1-11

Day 4: John 1:29-50     

Day 5:  Mark 1:1-20                 

Day 6:  Luke 5:1-11

Day 7:  Mark 1:29-39   

Day 8:  Matthew 4:23-25

Day 9:  Mark 1:40-45

Day 10: Luke 5:17-26

Day 11: Matthew 9:9-13

Day 12: John 4:1-42

Day 13: Mark 3:1-6

Day 14: Luke 6:17-26

Day 15: Luke 6:27-43

Day 16: Matthew 6:1-34

Day 17: Matthew 7:1-28

Day 18: John 7:31-8:11

Day 19: Luke 7:1-28

Day 20: Mark 5:21-43

Day 21: Matthew 13:3-23

Day 22: Mark 6:31-46

Day 23: Matthew 14: 22-46

Day 24: Mark 9: 14-29

Day 25: Luke 9:46-50

Day 26: Matthew 18:15-20

Day 27: John 9:1-41

Day 28: John 10:1-21

Day 29: Luke 10:25-37

Day 30: Luke 10:38-11:13

Day 31: Luke 12:22-48

Day 32: Matthew 11:20-30

Day 33: Luke 7: 36-8:3

Day 34: Matthew 16:13-17:8

Day 35: Mark 10:17-31

Day 36: Luke 15:11-32

Day 37: Matthew 20:1-16

Day 38: Luke 19:1-10

Day 39: Mark 6:1-13

Day 40: John 11

Have a blessed Lenten season. If you choose to give something up, use the money you save to help a local non-profit this year. If you give up an activity take the time you save to meditate in prayer. And allow God to work in and through you this season, to live into a Holy Lent.