Does Anybody Care?

  Friday evening, Jason King & I were driving down Hwy 63 on a short business trip. Somewhere north of Columbia Mo., I got my phone out and stated that I should probably update my facebook status, since I hadn’t done so for a very long time. I began to mention different things that I could write as a status update, but as different ideas popped into my head and I started saying them out loud, I kept asking, “but does anybody care?” Like… “I’m in Missouri. … Does anybody care?” or “I’m really, really tired. … Does anybody care?

  We started talking about how so many of the status updates that get put on facebook are just mindless things that nobody cares about. After all: if someone is posting every event of their daily lives, thinking that their facebook friends care, shouldn’t someone point out that nobody really does care?

  It was kind of a silly conversation that was probably induced by a lack of sleep, boredom, and reaching the end of a couple of high stress weeks. We were getting a lot of laughs out of the idea, and then Jason said “I think I’ll post an update and put the question with it… Does anybody care?” The idea caught hold and we agreed to put a bunch of worthless information, that nobody cares about, on our facebook statuses over the next couple of days and end them all with, “does anybody care?”

  That night and the next day, we had a lot of fun thinking of stuff to use and then cracking up at the whole idea all over again. Jason commented that “it probably isn’t half as funny to anyone else as it is to us; but … who cares?” Some people actually commented on the stuff that we assumed that nobody cared about, but more commented about the question, “Does anybody care?”

  It got me to thinking about the facebook phenomenon. It’s probably safe to say that everything that gets posted on facebook is something that the person posting it cares about. But I would venture a guess that over half of it is stuff that nobody really does care about. Most of the time, we’re too busy to care about what article you’re reading, what song you’re listening to, what you’re eating, what game you’re playing, or getting a detailed log of your day or even your vacation. It’s not that we don’t care about you or your life; it’s just that you are overwhelming us with more than we need to know. The sheer volume of mindless drivel has almost drowned out anything substantive that people care about.

  I went back and found the first facebook post that I ever put up. It was on December 23 2008 and it is as follows, “At the risk of offending all facebookers.... I am officially here because of making derogatory comments about how silly facebook is and how there is no substance worth reading here. It (facebook) is a phase that will go away when the adults get involved. Being an adult I actually know how to use punctuation and capital letters even if I don't know how to spell or type.

 Whew! Now that I have that off my chest. Who knows what this could turn into (probably nothing at all)
Anyway my niece took it upon herself to set me up w/ facebook - Thanks Felisha (I think) “

Turns that I was wrong about it going away soon when the adults get involved, but I was right about there not being much substance worth reading.

  So 3 ½ years later, I’m actually still enjoying facebook and have no intentions of leaving. (although I might start hiding some people from my news feed page) and I feel better again with having vented my thoughts about facebook. Have we advanced from those “early days”? Should people use more discretion in how often and what all they post? Is facebook here to stay? Should I get out of the “never post a status update” ditch and start updating a little more often? And the real question….. DOES ANYBODY CARE?   

About Bill the Biblicist

  Bill is a Biblicist. But he looks like an ordinary guy. In fact, he might be going to church with you, or even be looking back at you from your mirror.

  Most of us would look at Bill and say that he’s really serious about his faith and that he’s a pretty good Christian. Bill reads his Bible every day, reads books about doctrine, teaches a Sunday School class, and has been memorizing scripture since he was a kid.

  Bill has a brother, William who is a Worshipper. William also reads his Bible, reads books about doctrine, teaches a Sunday School class, and has been memorizing scripture since he was a kid.

  Most of us can’t tell the difference between Bill and William at first glance, but let me tell you, the differences become huge when you look at them a little closer.

     

                                       

Bill spends long hours arguing with people over the meaning of a text.	William asks the Author what He meant then waits on an answer.
When Bill believes he has the answer, he passionately holds everybody around him to a strict obedience of the text.	When William gets his answer he holds himself to obedience and trusts God to reveal that truth to the others around him.
Bill makes statements like, “The Bible is our only reliable source of truth” or “The Bible changes people’s lives”	William believes that God is the source of all truth and his life has been transformed by a relationship with his Creator.
When Bill hears the term, “God’s Word” he thinks of a book that says “Holy Bible” on it and its probably King James Version.	When William hears the term, “God’s Word” he thinks of God communicating with man. Something deep within him longs for more of God speaking to his heart.
Bill believes that the work of the Holy Spirit is to help us obey the Bible.	William believes that the Holy Spirit is transforming him and communicating God’s heart to him. He trusts the Holy Spirit to guide him into truth in all areas of his life. (Including those areas that the Bible doesn't address.)
Bill doesn’t have much room for other’s faith expressions when they disagree with his. He ruins relationships around him then he haughtily justifies it by saying, “some people just won’t accept the truth”.	William places a high value on people and doesn’t take it personal when someone disagrees with God’s Word. While he may try to help them understand the truth, he understands that if they reject it, they’re rejecting God’s Word, not him.
Ironically, it’s Bill who is the most susceptible to deception because he reads the Bible in the flesh and misses the heart of The Author.	William is in love with God and rejects anything that isn’t in harmony with His nature. He’s almost impossible to deceive, because truth is what he loves.
Bill reads the Bible to prove that he’s right.	William reads the Bible because he knows that God is right.

  I told you that their differences were huge. This list could go on and on, but my question is, “who are you”? Are you a Biblicist or a Worshiper? Do you find yourself winning the argument and losing the relationship? Do you get angry with people who don’t agree with your “pet doctrines”?

  The Bible doesn’t stand alone in its authority. It receives its authority from its Author. It bugs me when I see people treating scripture like a club to beat others with, instead of truth that reveals God to man.

  I have found that the deeper my walk with God becomes, the more I appreciate the Bible. The reason I appreciate it though isn’t because it agrees with me. (actually; it often disagrees with me) The reason I love reading the Bible is because God reveals His heart & will to me as I read His words.

  I echo the words of Christ’s disciples when they said, “to whom shall we go? You have the Words of life”. Only a walk with Christ will bring life. When we have the presence of God living in our lives and directing our steps, we will be Worshipers.

  Biblicism is a disease that permeates our churches and the cure is found in relationship with Jesus.

   Be a Worshipper!

Speaking a Blessing

  “I just want people to speak life into me!”, I heard her say.

  What she really should have said was, “I don’t want anybody to say anything that makes me feel bad”, or “I only want to hear positive things about myself from others”.

  That conversation and several others, at about the same time, gave me a very cynical view of the teaching on “speaking life into others”, because I saw people using that concept to insulate themselves from healthy criticism. (Yes - there is such a thing as “healthy criticism”)

  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always believed that we are called to encourage people, and that our words are powerful to influence others. I have resisted the idea, however, that we are able to control others destiny (in some mystical fashion) by saying things positive or negative towards them. I believe that every one of us has to make choices about what we do with the words that others speak to us or about us. There are so many people who have chosen to believe the negative and reject the positive or vise-versa. When we see someone behaving negatively, we could accurately conclude that they’ve chosen to believe the negative words that others have spoken to them, and focus on that, or wonder why they haven’t believed the positive encouragement they’ve received. Almost everybody hears both positive and negative things in their lives and has to make choices about what to do with those words.

  That having been said; God has been breaking through some of my cynicism in the last couple of weeks.

  It started last Thursday evening in our church. We were having a week of revival meeting and Dave Miller was our speaker. He talked about the family unit and concluded the evening with a “non-optional invitation”. He asked each family to come to the front and speak blessings to each other. We were to start with the father blessing the mother, then parents blessing the children, and last, children blessing their siblings. What transpired over the next few minutes in our church was almost too holy to talk about. There was a spirit of brokenness and a heaviness of God’s presence that was too special to describe here.

  God has really been working on me since then about how quick I am to criticize and how slow I am to bless others. Sunday morning was another very special time as we blessed each other in our church. I was intent on talking to a guy (in our church) that I’ve been really critical of the last while. I went to him and said that I want to bless him and then did exactly that, as God gave me the words to say to him. I didn’t have a speech prepared for him except that I knew I wanted to bless him and that I had asked God to give me the words when I got the chance. What I heard myself saying to him was, “I know we’ve disagreed on some stuff, but I trust that your heart is to build our church up and not tear it down and I bless you for that”. He thanked me through tears and we hugged each other and moved on. Several minutes later I had the opportunity to wash his feet as an expression of servant-hood and honoring him.

  Since then, I’ve been much more intentional about speaking words of blessing to others and pointing out the things in their lives that I appreciate. I have a vision of this principle changing the atmosphere in our family in a positive way. I’ve seen several times that when we’re in one of “those moments” as a family; that the tone of our conversation can change completely as we begin to express appreciation for each other. 

  And so God continues to work on me and softens my heart towards my family and others. I understand that we are in a battle with evil forces that we can’t see. The enemy of our hearts is intent on speaking lies to us, and through us. I’ve seen how those lies will create doubt and confusion in our hearts. I’ve also discovered that these changes don’t happen easily and old habits die hard. I’ve been asking God to give me the words of life to say to others, because he knows exactly what’s going on in their hearts and what they need to hear.

  I still react a little bit to some of the terminology and some of the ways that people use this concept in a self-serving way, but I’ve come to a fresh understanding of how God has called us to honor one another and bless each other with words of life. I know this makes you want to come live with me in our house. J - Sorry! I love you, but you need to be blessing those around you. It could make a difference!

About Waiting for the Light to Turn Green

                                                               

  

  I don’t like traffic lights. I like living in a place that I have to drive 5 miles to see the first traffic light and that’s the town’s only traffic light. Every time I drive through a city and deal with multiple lights, I breathe a prayer of thanks that God allowed me to live somewhere that I don’t have to deal with those every day.

  Maybe I’m just too impatient. (I prefer to think of it though as being “productivity driven”.) It just seems like such a waste of time to sit there doing nothing for several minutes. Sometimes I wonder, if I would tally all the productive time that I’ve spent sitting and waiting for a light to turn green; how much has it cost me over my lifetime. Maybe I could send someone a bill for all of those lost hours. I’m not sure who to send the bill to though. Should I send it to the city? Hmmm. Not going to hold my breath waiting for any money there.

  Why is it that most people call them “stop lights”, but I’ve never heard anybody call them, “go lights”. When I was a teenager, I used to ride in the same car as my brother a lot. If I was driving and the light turned green, he would always say, “green” or “go” regardless of whether I had started moving or not. (That might have annoyed me a couple of times) Years later, when the light turns green, I get this little jolt of fear that if I don’t move right away, my brother will suddenly appear in the seat beside me and say, “GO”! (Could get crowded over there if my wife’s along)

  Sometimes I wish they would install a count-down timer, so that I can see how much longer I’m going to have to wait. I sit there with my left foot on the brake and my right foot resting on the gas pedal. (As though I’ll need that fraction of a second that it takes to move my foot 10 inches) Often times, it’s the people in front of me that cause me the most amount of frustration. I think we should all hit the gas at the instant that the light turns green and begin moving as an entire line. If I could just figure out how to get everyone else to think like I do, I would.

  Oh well, maybe I’ll just get over it and drive in an orderly fashion like the rest of civilized society.

  Sometimes travelling with God is a little like those traffic lights. I would really prefer to be able to see green lights as far as I can see. I want my future laid out before me with no hiccups in my travels to make me wait. I don’t like sitting and waiting for God to make the next move. I’ve wished I had a count-down timer that told me how much longer it’ll be. I fear that I’ll be sitting still when I’m supposed to be moving.

  I’ve come to believe in recent years, that we are too impatient when it comes to our futures. We put people on spiritual pedestals because of what they’ve accomplished for God, and then start feeling impatient that we aren’t doing more. (Maybe we just want to be on a pedestal) We get more focused on what God’s plan is for our lives than we are on following Him today.

  We’re so determined to organize our lives in a way that we so that we don’t need faith. We love the stories of those who step out in faith and experience the mighty hand of God in their lives, but we carefully avoid doing anything without knowing all the results and how it’s going to turn out. While there’s certainly no teaching in scripture that pushes us toward recklessness, there’s nothing holy or biblical about a life without faith. Faith is meaningless without an expression. (Read James)

  So I’ll wait on God. “Lord, I don’t ask for the future to be revealed to me. I simply ask that Your presence go with me where ever I go. I know that traveling with You is never predictable and rarely safe; but it’s always secure. When I fail to see Your hand, give me the faith to trust Your goodness and move ahead in faith.” 

About The Stranger

  Pick out one of your best friends in your mind. Got it? Now give me a dollar figure that you would accept to never have any contact with them again. In other words, “how much is that relationship worth to you?”

  It’s tough to even place a dollar figure on a relationship, isn’t it? But what about the person you only know on a casual basis? You know each other by first name but you don’t really have any measurable influence in each other’s lives. Would you accept a dollar figure to never see them again? What about the complete stranger? If I told you that I would pay you even $50.00 to avoid talking to the next stranger that you are sitting beside; I’ll bet you would take me up on it… Why?

  Does the friend have more value than the stranger? Does a person hold more or less value based on their relationship to me? Do their needs hold equal importance?  If a stranger needs a word of encouragement or direction from me; is it as important to give it to them as it is if a friend needs some encouragement or direction?

  I’m asking myself these questions and they make me squirm a little bit. I know that God has intentionally brought friendships into my life and I’m responsible to cultivate those relationships and keep them healthy, but I also know that He doesn’t place a higher value on one soul over another. He doesn’t have one chosen group of people that He wants a relationship with and another group that He doesn’t care about.

  I have this thing about talking to people on airplanes. I avoid it if I can. I would rather read a good book and ignore everyone around me, than to carry any conversation with someone beside me. My hearing keeps getting worse as I get older and it takes a lot of concentration to get what someone is saying when there’s a lot of background noise. To do that for a couple of hours, wears me out.

  This week I happened to be sitting beside a gentleman, on an airplane, for about 3 hours, and he wanted to talk. The problem was that I didn’t want to talk. He had a very “type A” personality but he had a really soft voice and I was only getting about every other word. I spent the first 2 hours trying to figure out how to get him to stop talking to me. (Neither headphones nor a book worked) He kept bringing up different topics and asking me what I thought about them. Suddenly he said something that made me stop and think.

  He had asked me what I thought about the war in Afghanistan. After I gave him my thoughts about that he said, “You make a lot of sense and you’ve said stuff in the last couple of hours that I’ve never thought of. I’m glad I got to sit next to you because I’ve learned some things today.” Now I had just finished reading Francis Chan’s book “The Forgotten God” a couple of hours earlier and I connected the two and realized that God had placed me beside a man who had some questions and then had given me answers to his questions. I was so self-absorbed that I almost missed it.

  Jesus never seemed to place a higher value on His friends than He did the stranger. It didn’t even matter if the stranger was a Samaritan Woman. He placed a high value on each person He came in contact with because He saw them from a Creator’s perspective. He ministered to their needs out of heart of love, not out of religious obligation.

  Lord, give me the heart of Jesus for the stranger. Guide me towards the people who need a touch from You, then give me the sensitivity to Your Spirit that allows me to minister to their need. You love each person and I don’t. Help me to simply be a channel of Your love.      

The Perfect Gift

A shot of our backyard this morning 

  Christmas is finally here. After a month of crazy schedules that were full of banquets, family, shopping, planning, and all the other things that come with every Christmas; its good to have made it to Christmas morning with our sanity still intact. It seems fitting that after all the hustle and bustle, Christmas morning comes to us this year as a quiet snowy morning with nothing on the agenda for the day accept enjoying the day.   

  We had our gift exchange with the kids last night. It occurs to me that there’s a certain level of anxiety that parents go through when they’re finding gifts for their children. We wonder if the gift is something that they’re going to enjoy. We hope that it will be built well enough to hold up at least until New Years. We wonder how the child will respond if they open their gift and experience more disappointment than excitement. Will they handle it with maturity and dignity or with selfishness and childishness?

  We had put a lot of thought and effort into this year’s gifts and we were anticipating it about as much as the kids were. We wanted each one to be "The Perfect Gift" It turned out to not be “The Perfect Gift” for any of them. Every child had something in their gifts that didn’t work like it was supposed to or it was different than what they were hoping for. One gift was defective right out of the box.

  The ironic thing, though, is that it bothered me more than it did my kids. I was proud of how they handled experiencing some disappointment in their Christmas gifts. They struggled with the line between honesty and complaining. Looking back, I think it was meant to be that way. I think it’s a part of healthy development to experience life’s disappointments. Disappointment is part of the human experience, and some handle it with more grace than others.

  I wonder if God ever wishes that we would handle life’s disappointment with more grace than we do. He gave the greatest gift of all time when He gave us salvation and redemption through His Son. We could focus on His heart of love towards us, or the promise of heaven and absolute perfection someday. Instead we focus on the things in our lives that are not as we wish they were.  We miss the perfect love of God, because of focusing on the imperfect experiences of life.

  Here’s a quote from my 13 year old son. “If the love of God was all you had for Christmas; would it be enough?”    

The God Question - Part I

  Recently I was having a conversation with a customer in my office. That alone isn’t that unusual, since I have a conversation with most of the people that come into my office.  As the conversation progressed though, he began boldly proclaiming that we don’t really know with certainty if there is a heaven or a hell or if God even exists at all. Ironically, it wasn’t the question of God’s existence that seemed to be bothering him as much the questions about what happens to us after we die. He was bothered by the obvious fact that after we die it’s too late to change our mind about God. He intuitively understood that the conclusions he reaches, while here on earth, about, “who God is” will have a large bearing on his eternal destiny.

  I think every person wrestles with the, “God Question”. The question takes numerous forms: Who is He? Is He aware of what is going on in my life? Is He all powerful? Did He really create everything? Does He have a standard of right and wrong? If He does, what is that standard? And how does He treat people who violate that standard?

  The answers to the God questions don’t lie in a set of rules, a system of religion, or a popular vote. Man is not equipped with the ability to find the answers by himself. You can go on “spiritual quests”, visit all the religious sites, even read the Bible and still not have the answers to the God questions. The answers are not found in us. They’re discovered in a relationship with Him.

  Unless you are a friend of God’s, you don’t really know what He’s like. Unless you regularly communicate with Him and hear His Word, you don’t know what He likes. You can’t accurately know anything about Him if you don’t know Him. The problem is that there is a huge separation between us and Him. It’s called sin. He is absolutely holy and will not have a relationship with sin. The whole point of Jesus coming as a baby in the flesh was to restore people to the God that created them and answer the God question for them. He paid the price for our sins by dying and experiencing the penalty for sins that he wasn’t guilty of.

  So the answer to the God question will only be found in a relationship with Him. In order to be in a relationship with Him we must place our faith in Jesus Christ. First we choose to believe that He is the only way to be restored to our Creator. Then we act on that belief and confess our sins and sinfulness. We allow Him to be Lord of our lives and have complete control. He responds by cleaning the inner-most part of us and filling it with His presence in the form of the Holy Spirit.

  If you’re reading this and you’ve never made that choice; you don’t have any answers and you’re not prepared to meet God after you die. If you’re reading this and you are already a believer, you may have found your thoughts drifting off because what I just said is so familiar that we don’t even stop and think about it anymore. But if you look around you, at a world without answers, what are you offering them? Do they need to stop sinning? Do they need to start coming to church? Should they start being more considerate of others? Should they change their minds about right and wrong?

  The world needs to know God and experience a relationship with Him. Jesus said that there will be people who will stand before Him on the Day of Judgment, and point to the good things that they did in His name. He won’t turn them away because the stuff they did wasn’t good enough. He will turn them away because He doesn’t know them. Don’t try to answer the God Question without a relationship.