Missing My Father

Over the past two days I have really missed my father. Actually, I have missed him since he passed away, December 2, 2012. As time goes on I realize there are so many things I wish I could say to him or talk to him about. I am sad he will never have the chance to meet my children, give me advice on parenting, and help me persuade my kids to be Cornhusker fans. All I want to do now is ask him what heaven is like and what it's like to be with Jesus. To be honest with you, I wish I would have had more time to have a good relationship with him.

My dad's last few years of life were the best ones that I had ever seen from him. During the years I was growing up we didn't always get along, because, quite honestly, neither one of us put in to our relationship what we should have. He was tired and wanted to watch TV; I was a kid and didn't want to be around my parents. But if there is one thing I regret it is that I didn't take advantage of the final years of his life when he was beginning to correct these things. I was hurt and I hung on to that though he wanted to apologize and make things right. I did forgive him, after all, but I couldn't "flip the switch" and just make everything that happened between us go away. Oh how I wish I could have.

I guess if I had it to do over I would have made more time for my dad over the past few year, but I don't get that chance. I have to learn to trust that he knew that I loved him, because the last time I told him was when he was unconscious in the hospital. I have to trust that when he said he loved me, loved my family, that he meant it - I know he did. And I have to have the same hope that he had - that one day when I die (or when Jesus returns) my physical body will die, but my spirit will live on and I'll see my dad again.

I miss my dad now - 68 years old is too young to die - but I have hope that one day in the future I will see him again. Until then, I want to know Jesus. I don't want my sin to get in the way of my relationship with him. I think knowing that dad is with Jesus will help me draw near to Jesus until the day I see them both.

Walking With God

I've always been intrigued by Enoch from the book of Genesis. We don't know much about him, but he is curious, nonetheless. In Genesis 5 we see Enoch lived 365 years and walked with God for 300 of those years. What changed in Enoch when he was 65 that made him start his hot pursuit of the Lord? His great great great great grandfather, Adam, was still alive at this time, since he lived to be over 900 years old. Is it possible that Enoch spoke to his great (x4) grandfather Adam and asked Adam what it was like to walk in God's presence? Was he curious as to how Adam could possibly have done something to alienate himself and all creation from God, and is it possible to pursue God so closely and fervently that he simply has to take you? I don't know that I have anymore answers to these questions than anyone else, but this story intrigues me, nonetheless.

One possible idea of where Enoch went when God took him comes from Enoch's own book - actually he had three books named Enoch 1, 2, and 3. Two of these were from the Apocrypha and one was a Rabbinic text from somewhere around the fifth century AD. At any rate, these books seem to indicate that Enoch is taken to heaven to be the guardian of celestial treasures, the chief of the archangels, and God's personal attendant. So, if any of these ideas is correct, why does God grant a man these tasks with obviously great power?

One other solution is that Enoch was the only righteous man in the world during this time and God took him before he could be corrupted. This view comes from a the writings of one of Rabbi Hillel's students.

Here is my point. We don't know, obviously, why Enoch was taken, where he went (though we are pretty certain he is with God in heaven), and how he made that happen. But I am telling you, if the only words spoken by people about me after my death/rapture to heaven are that "he walked with God" then I could be satisfied with that. If that is all the world knows of me, that is just fine and really all I care about. I want to walk with God. I want to be entrusted with great things that only he can give. I want to walk in the power and authority that comes by calling his name.

My life is a broken string of attempts at following God. I don't get it right very often, but I am not going to keep trying. I know I am secure in him, but just being secure isn't what I want; I want to thrive in my relationship with him. I want to walk with him!  

Matthew 2-3

Matthew 2-3 are considered to be part of the prologue of the book of Matthew...part of the set up for the rest of the book. There are a few points in these two short chapters that I caught today, perhaps even for the first time - and two that I want to bring up for you to think about are found in chapter 2.

The first one, Matthew 2:3 says: "When Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." It doesn't take a genius to understand why Herod would be disturbed. He was on the "hot seat," as it were. He was thinking that this child was going to replace Herod and his lineage from ruling in Jerusalem. No ruler likes to hear about the one who will replace them, and it is easy to see why Herod was disturbed. However, why was the rest of Jerusalem disturbed? When Herod called together the chief priests and teachers of the law to ask where this child would be born (2:4-6), I have to think that they would have known that Herod was announced King of the Jews but he wasn't the king that Scripture had proclaimed. So, what possible reason would they have to: A) be disturbed, and B) give him the location of the child? The only thing I can think of is that they were scared of him. After all, Herod did kill his wife and two sons, and the Massacre of the Innocents was on his hands, so it would make sense that the Jewish people, who had long awaited the arrival of the true King of the Jews would only give him the information if they were scared for their own lives.

The second thing that I find interesting, which many people before have realize long before I caught this is that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod. Egypt was a source of bondage for the Jewish people, and then God delivered them using Moses. Now, another source of freedom for the Jewish people was going to come out of Egypt again. Egypt was bondage for the Jewish people, and it was also refuge for their Messiah.  It is truly amazing how God weaves the story of Israel in with the story of Jesus in such intricate ways. Love it!

Thanks for reading!

Matthew 1 - the Story of how Jesus came to be.

If you were a Jewish reader of Matthew - as many of the first people who read this book were - how would you respond to this long genealogy that leads up to the birth of this person that was later called Messiah? Remember, when this book came out, most of it's readers would have known already about Jesus' passion story - of his crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. They would also have know how his 12 apostles had gone on to start the Church, and many of them had been persecuted heavily. What would you think if you were a Jewish man or woman, boy or girl, who was waiting for a Rambo-style military commander who was powerful, had all the right moves, said the best lines and got all the girls? And then you encounter this story that starts with his genealogy that included well-known adulterers, murders, harlots, a low-lifes? It isn't what you would be hoping for.

But, nevertheless, that is how it started. It started with a righteous boy and girl (Joseph and Mary) who did what was right in God's sight - to the point that he picked them to have his son...the Savior and Lord.

If I were thinking of how this chapter of Matthew applied to my life, here's what I would say:
1. My job is to follow God, to know him, to grow to be more like Him every day.
2. My job is to be obedient to him.
3. My job is to know that I will screw up - AND - God will still use me as part of His redemptive purposes.

That's how I see this chapter applying to my life. This is his story and we all fit in it somewhere!

Scripture of the week and prayers.

My Scripture of the week this week is: "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Tim 3:1-5 (I stole the image from the Resurgence)


I have been wrestling with what the Christian life looks like. I evaluate and re-evaluate this in my own life frequently, because I feel I should be bearing the fruit the Bible says I should be bearing as a follower of Christ. And the bottom line for me is that, even as a pastor, sometimes I don't feel like I am doing as well as maybe I should be. I don't want to be one of these people who has this "form of godliness" but denies its power. I want the power of God at work in my life to produce good fruit always and often because I am close to him, because I am obedient to him, because I don't do the things listed in the Scripture above. 


My prayer today, for this week, is that I wouldn't be one of these people. That I would be a person who is the antithesis of the things on that list. And God, I pray that you will use any means necessary to convict me when I step out of line, or when I fall into one of these things. God, make me a person after your own heart; make me a better pastor, a better husband, a better son, a better brother, a better person - not for my glory but for yours. God you are everything good in the world and no (true) good comes apart from you. I draw close to you and ask you to draw near to me, too. I love you. Amen.

Religion vs. belief and some videos

There are some videos floating around the web that are stirring up Christians on the subject of religion vs. Jesus. I wanted to think this out on my blog...mostly to make sense of this for myself, in as much of an objective and balanced approach as possible. We'll see what happens.

Here is a link to video 1. Here is a link to video 2. I'll let you watch them for youself.

Here are a couple of my thoughts about these videos.

1. Scripture is interpreted differently for everyone who ever reads it (granted, some are in error) but, because each of us has a different life story we all have our own lens that we interpret through. It doesn't matter what it is we are interpreting, we all have a lens it goes through. So, each of these videos have some points that I would say are Biblically accurate. However, because of the lens each one of these men have to look through, they arrive at different conclusions. Anywhere you have two different people you will have two different opinions on these issues. We shouldn't be shocked by this.

2. There are many other people who will jump on one of the two of these bandwagons: The Catholics/mainline denominations on one and the evangelical/pentacostal/charimatic on the other. The problem with this is that it widens the gap between believers in the Church. Yes, the capital "C" Church. All we're doing with videos like these is creating dissension and division. This is not at all helpful, nor does the church need more battles to fight--especially from within.

3. There are admittedly problems in evangelical and mainline churches as far as retaining young people. Usually, statistics say, if a kid goes off to college and leaves the church, they probably aren't coming back. Evangelicals need to take a hard look at that stat and ask if we are really doing a better job than mainline churches. The problem for both groups is that when kids leave, then tend not to come back. That isn't what Jesus or religion has in mind. Before one group starts picking on the other for valuing traditions too highly or not valuing them enough, we should probably figure out why most of our kids leave home and leave church at the same time, never to return. I think the guy in the first video should have used the word tradition more than he used the word church. His video would have made more sense to me - because he doesn't hate church, he hates tradition.

So, there are the thoughts that are going through my mind. And, depending on your knowledge of church history, your background, your "lens", you may agree or disagree with me. But here is my main thought on this issue:
Christianity is a religion where we need two things: a strong personal conversion which leads to personal faith AND a community of faith that nurtures disciples (not believers - disciples follow and do, believers just believe) and trains them up to make more disciples. When one of those things is missing, we get results like what we have now.

Finally, the two, religion and (belief in) Jesus are not mutually exclusive; they are bound to each other. We were ever supposed to have Church without Jesus and we are definitely not meant to have Jesus without Church. Jesus will return for one (singular) bride. Only he can say who is inside our outside of that. We need to stop these petty arguments about who is right and wrong (they haven't been solved in 2000 years so I am pretty sure it isn't going to happen anytime soon) and learn how to have faith that includes loving Jesus and the Church - wherever you regularly attend. Major on the majors, minor on the minors. Leave the backbiting to politicians.

Thanks for reading!

First Post: The King Jesus Gospel

I have always been curious about the issue of once saved always saved vs. the possibility of losing your salvation and I have always had a hard time with the issue. On the one hand, how does God possibly lose someone who he has called to himself, who has made a decision to place him as their Lord and Savior? On the other hand, if you make the decision to accept Jesus's sacrifice and commit your life to him, doesn't that give you the right to deny it just the same as you accepted it?

There are many people who claim to have an answer to this question, this dilemma, but I just am not sure I can buy one answer or the other. But there has been a book released that is dealing with this issue...in a way. The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight is a book that I have recently begun to read. The bigger issue, behind once saved always saved, is the issue of the Gospel. What exactly is the Gospel, and is our method of conversion doing the Gospel justice?

The questions are what I want to look at over the next few weeks. I want to present my take on what Scot McKnight is writing about, and my thoughts definitely do not represent McKnight's thoughts or anyone elses; my thoughts are my own. This is basically an exercise for me to read and think "out loud" on theology. If you want to read, have at it.