Sunday was a good day. It was a real good day. At our gathering, we celebrated Christ’s resurrection in a way that we never have done before. To quote Jesse Kellner, the resurrection - it changes everything. Christ’s resurrection changed the world. Granted, it’s a message we’ve heard before, but really bears repeating and repeating.
Afterwards, we gathered at the ranch for some family time with Jennie’s family. Again, it was a good time. It was more insane than our normal insanity, but great nonetheless. Then I received a text message that brought up so many emotions, smiling, happiness, crying (tears of joy – yes, I am a sap. I even cry during those extreme makeover shows…) It was a text message from Corinne with a picture with a seven word message. No, it was not ‘Pop-Pop is going to have another grandkid’. It was a picture of her church’s Easter service yesterday at the Seattle Seahawks football stadium with the caption ‘This is where I was baptized today’.
With tears in my eyes, I showed my phone to Jennie and she basically had the same reaction. I was so happy and filled with joy and pride that she felt ready to make that public statement of her personal faith in Christ; it was all I could do to keep it together. Disclaimer: While I believe that I had little effect on her statement of faith or her decision to follow Christ, but still as her dad and as a follower of Christ there was nothing better that could have happened on that day. Nothing. I understand the verse in Luke 15, where the angels rejoice when one returns to faith; however I think that I could have outdone some of those angels :)
I believe that as Christian parents, it is our responsibility and our privilege to introduce your kids to Christ and to show them what Christ has done in your own life. However, the act of receiving salvation is up to the individual. One cannot will salvation onto another. Sometimes that whole free will thing really bites. Today, I’m beaming as a dad whose daughter took that step to publically affirm her faith. I pray that I’m able to do that with all my kids. But I’m sure that what I’m feeling is far and away outdone by her heavenly father. Today, I'm sure that God is saying, Behold Corinne, my daughter, in whom I am well pleased.
----------
Corinne,
Out of all the great things that you have done in your life,
I can truly say that I’ve never been more proud of you than I am today.
May God continually reveal himself to you
and make your faith in him grow by leaps and bounds
Love, Dad
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Just a thought.....on Easter
This is one of my favorite times of the year. After the winter bleh has finally left, the trees start to bloom and you start to see the flowers blossom with all their different colors. Wednesday night, I took the little kids on a wagon ride through our community. Not that I was able to enjoy the blossoms then, I was too busy refereeing between them: stop, don’t hit your brother, don’t poke your sister; most of you know that routine. But when we got home, they wanted to hang out on the hammock for a while, so I was really cool with that.
So we’re laying on our hammock that it under a walnut tree in the backyard. I noticed that the leaves were starting to bloom out and you started to see the branches starting to fill out. The first thought that I had was, wow these are the leaves that I’ll be raking in a few months. Right after that thought, was the thought of the new life that this old tree was giving. That is what is great about this time of the year, new life. I did not do anything to make this tree sprout the new leaves, it just happens. Why, I have no clue. Horticulture is not one of my strong suits. But that really caused me to think about how God provided new life for all of us and we didn’t do anything to make it happen. God did it all.
We’re taught as kids that Jesus came into Jerusalem like a rock star on Palm Sunday just to be crucified just a few days later. At the time of Christ, the Romans ruled Palestine and the folks there absolutely hated it. The Romans could make them do anything they wanted. It wasn’t a good place to be. So here comes Jesus, who they’ve heard about over the past few years, healing folks, making water out of wine, teaching God’s kingdom to crowds upon crowds of people. Now, on his first trip to Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Roman rule in that area, the common folks truly believed that he was going to go in there and kick some Roman butt and take over the joint. Maybe they all stood a little bid prouder, maybe got a little cocky with the centurions who were making us do stuff, because JESUS was coming to kick them out.
If that is all that Jesus was supposed to do, the rest of us today would have been screwed. As much as Jesus hurt for his father’s people and the condition that they were in, God’s plan was for the redeeming of the world for all time, not just the redeeming of the people of that time. Maybe the disappointment of the people that time is what led them to scream crucify. You see Pilate gave the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, one of them he would release. It can be surmised that the folks there had figured out that Jesus was not going to take Jerusalem by force so they were thinking that once again they were looking for someone that would kick some Roman butt. Barabbas was jailed for an insurrection against Rome and maybe it was thought that if he were released, then he’d be the one to release the hold that the Romans had over them.
God had a different plan. He knew that as the Jewish folks in the past called out to him to save them in their mess, so too were the Jews of that day calling out to him to fix this mess too. Since the first sin was committed, God had a plan of redemption for mankind, his creation. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. In that time, folks brought animals to the priests to sacrifice for the atonement of sins. God decided that he was going to give the ultimate sacrifice for the atonement of the world. Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, spoke about the sheer torture that God’s son was going to go through for the redemption made available for all of us. The movie, Passion of the Christ is probably the most realistic representation of what Jesus went through that week and I would think that even that movie did not show everything that he went through.
And after all of that, the pain and torture, we have the hope of the resurrection. Jesus said it; the prophet foretold it and God did it. As the basis for our Christian faith, the resurrection is the key. Without the resurrection, our salvation really doesn’t amount to much. That, I would submit, is what separates faith in Christ away from every other faith on the planet. One can look to Buddha’s tomb and his remains are there. Likewise, to Confucius or Mohammed, however Christ’s tomb is empty. The resurrected lift that Christ has is available to all of us. That new life, that resurrected life is what we celebrate at Easter.
Just as the springtime brings out the flowers and leaves on the trees out of the ground and gives that ground new life, so does God, through the resurrection of his son, gives new life to us. We can do nothing to either the trees or to God to cause this new life to happen, but it is there for us to take hold of and enjoy. All we have to is to accept it, because God did it all.
Hope all of you have a wonderful Easter!
Peace.
So we’re laying on our hammock that it under a walnut tree in the backyard. I noticed that the leaves were starting to bloom out and you started to see the branches starting to fill out. The first thought that I had was, wow these are the leaves that I’ll be raking in a few months. Right after that thought, was the thought of the new life that this old tree was giving. That is what is great about this time of the year, new life. I did not do anything to make this tree sprout the new leaves, it just happens. Why, I have no clue. Horticulture is not one of my strong suits. But that really caused me to think about how God provided new life for all of us and we didn’t do anything to make it happen. God did it all.
We’re taught as kids that Jesus came into Jerusalem like a rock star on Palm Sunday just to be crucified just a few days later. At the time of Christ, the Romans ruled Palestine and the folks there absolutely hated it. The Romans could make them do anything they wanted. It wasn’t a good place to be. So here comes Jesus, who they’ve heard about over the past few years, healing folks, making water out of wine, teaching God’s kingdom to crowds upon crowds of people. Now, on his first trip to Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Roman rule in that area, the common folks truly believed that he was going to go in there and kick some Roman butt and take over the joint. Maybe they all stood a little bid prouder, maybe got a little cocky with the centurions who were making us do stuff, because JESUS was coming to kick them out.
If that is all that Jesus was supposed to do, the rest of us today would have been screwed. As much as Jesus hurt for his father’s people and the condition that they were in, God’s plan was for the redeeming of the world for all time, not just the redeeming of the people of that time. Maybe the disappointment of the people that time is what led them to scream crucify. You see Pilate gave the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, one of them he would release. It can be surmised that the folks there had figured out that Jesus was not going to take Jerusalem by force so they were thinking that once again they were looking for someone that would kick some Roman butt. Barabbas was jailed for an insurrection against Rome and maybe it was thought that if he were released, then he’d be the one to release the hold that the Romans had over them.
God had a different plan. He knew that as the Jewish folks in the past called out to him to save them in their mess, so too were the Jews of that day calling out to him to fix this mess too. Since the first sin was committed, God had a plan of redemption for mankind, his creation. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. In that time, folks brought animals to the priests to sacrifice for the atonement of sins. God decided that he was going to give the ultimate sacrifice for the atonement of the world. Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, spoke about the sheer torture that God’s son was going to go through for the redemption made available for all of us. The movie, Passion of the Christ is probably the most realistic representation of what Jesus went through that week and I would think that even that movie did not show everything that he went through.
And after all of that, the pain and torture, we have the hope of the resurrection. Jesus said it; the prophet foretold it and God did it. As the basis for our Christian faith, the resurrection is the key. Without the resurrection, our salvation really doesn’t amount to much. That, I would submit, is what separates faith in Christ away from every other faith on the planet. One can look to Buddha’s tomb and his remains are there. Likewise, to Confucius or Mohammed, however Christ’s tomb is empty. The resurrected lift that Christ has is available to all of us. That new life, that resurrected life is what we celebrate at Easter.
Just as the springtime brings out the flowers and leaves on the trees out of the ground and gives that ground new life, so does God, through the resurrection of his son, gives new life to us. We can do nothing to either the trees or to God to cause this new life to happen, but it is there for us to take hold of and enjoy. All we have to is to accept it, because God did it all.
Hope all of you have a wonderful Easter!
Peace.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Just a thought.....on 'Good' Friday
It’s always seemed strange to me that the day that Jesus was crucified is called 'Good'. What is so good about it anyway? The sheer fact that an innocent man, a blameless man, was put to death on this day doesn't sound 'Good' at all. As we read through the Gospel's account of the arrest, trial and eventual execution of Jesus we really have to ask what is so ‘Good’ about it?
The Old Testament prophets left it as no secret the absolutely gruesome way that Jesus would be put to death. Isaiah 53:5 (with some additions) 'He (Jesus) was pierced (not only stabbed by a soldier on the cross, but whipped, beaten, flogged, etc beforehand) for our transgressions, he was crushed (carrying a 150-200 lb wooden cross, again beaten with whips, had a crown of thorns shoved on his head so that the thistles dug into his skin....and we're not talking about some little rose thorns, but these huge 3-4 inch thorns) for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. So this is someone’s definition of Good?!?
The Bible teaches that without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption of sin. In 'old testament times', the folks would offer 'perfect and without blemish' livestock to be slaughtered for the forgiveness of sin. God knew that there is a better way. He knew that mankind would need a way so that they (aka we) can enjoy fellowship once again with God. He would send his only son to be the one and final sacrifice for all mankind. The last ‘perfect and without blemish’ sacrifice was needed. It was his plan all along.
2 Corinthians 5:21 states ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’. Thinking about this, God became Jesus (God in human form) who had no sin to be sin for us. When he did this, God could not look upon his only son because, in fact, he was now a sinful being. The communication was broken, the relationship was broken. Now that Jesus was now carrying our sin he had to die and to shed his blood for the atonement of sin, since Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Jesus, willingly, lovingly took our sin, our cross upon himself.
Chris Tomlin wrote a song called 'Jesus Messiah', the opening verse says:
He became sin who knew no sin;
That we might become His righteousness;
He humbled Himself and carried the cross;
Love so amazing.
Why on earth would one without sin, become sin. He willingly took our sin, yet even today, in fact, for all eternity, upon his back. He sacrificed his unbroken relationship with his Father God, to become the blood sacrifice needed for the redemption of mankind to be able to provide that sort of conduit for us to take our brokenness back to the Father to be made whole again.
Again why? There is such a complex answer to this that it’s so easy to understand. The first verse many kids learn…John 3:16 (paraphrase) For the God of the universe, the Great I AM, the creator of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, yes this GOD so loved you, me, that neighbor that you don’t like, that person that you have to deal that annoys you, that ex-spouse that hates your very existence, your best friend, your spouse and kids…everyone; that he lovingly gave the only thing possible to restore our relationship with God, his only son to be the blood sacrifice once and for all; so that all those who recognize the gift of Salvation available through Jesus’ death and resurrection will have eternal life and a real and renewed relationship with our creator.
Without Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection 3 days later, we have no salvation, we have no hope of eternity. The sacrifice, willingly given to all, was necessary. God’s boundless, unselfish love cannot be understood in a world of self-directed love. God does not need our love, but we need his. God wants us to have a relationship with him. That is why he sent his only son into the world. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, that is to accept the gift of salvation, they are a new creation. What is in the past is washed away by the sacrifice on Calvary’s tree. This is truly the highest of cost to save you and me.
So now I can understand why they call this day ‘Good’.
Peace.
The Old Testament prophets left it as no secret the absolutely gruesome way that Jesus would be put to death. Isaiah 53:5 (with some additions) 'He (Jesus) was pierced (not only stabbed by a soldier on the cross, but whipped, beaten, flogged, etc beforehand) for our transgressions, he was crushed (carrying a 150-200 lb wooden cross, again beaten with whips, had a crown of thorns shoved on his head so that the thistles dug into his skin....and we're not talking about some little rose thorns, but these huge 3-4 inch thorns) for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. So this is someone’s definition of Good?!?
The Bible teaches that without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption of sin. In 'old testament times', the folks would offer 'perfect and without blemish' livestock to be slaughtered for the forgiveness of sin. God knew that there is a better way. He knew that mankind would need a way so that they (aka we) can enjoy fellowship once again with God. He would send his only son to be the one and final sacrifice for all mankind. The last ‘perfect and without blemish’ sacrifice was needed. It was his plan all along.
2 Corinthians 5:21 states ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’. Thinking about this, God became Jesus (God in human form) who had no sin to be sin for us. When he did this, God could not look upon his only son because, in fact, he was now a sinful being. The communication was broken, the relationship was broken. Now that Jesus was now carrying our sin he had to die and to shed his blood for the atonement of sin, since Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Jesus, willingly, lovingly took our sin, our cross upon himself.
Chris Tomlin wrote a song called 'Jesus Messiah', the opening verse says:
He became sin who knew no sin;
That we might become His righteousness;
He humbled Himself and carried the cross;
Love so amazing.
Why on earth would one without sin, become sin. He willingly took our sin, yet even today, in fact, for all eternity, upon his back. He sacrificed his unbroken relationship with his Father God, to become the blood sacrifice needed for the redemption of mankind to be able to provide that sort of conduit for us to take our brokenness back to the Father to be made whole again.
Again why? There is such a complex answer to this that it’s so easy to understand. The first verse many kids learn…John 3:16 (paraphrase) For the God of the universe, the Great I AM, the creator of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, yes this GOD so loved you, me, that neighbor that you don’t like, that person that you have to deal that annoys you, that ex-spouse that hates your very existence, your best friend, your spouse and kids…everyone; that he lovingly gave the only thing possible to restore our relationship with God, his only son to be the blood sacrifice once and for all; so that all those who recognize the gift of Salvation available through Jesus’ death and resurrection will have eternal life and a real and renewed relationship with our creator.
Without Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection 3 days later, we have no salvation, we have no hope of eternity. The sacrifice, willingly given to all, was necessary. God’s boundless, unselfish love cannot be understood in a world of self-directed love. God does not need our love, but we need his. God wants us to have a relationship with him. That is why he sent his only son into the world. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, that is to accept the gift of salvation, they are a new creation. What is in the past is washed away by the sacrifice on Calvary’s tree. This is truly the highest of cost to save you and me.
So now I can understand why they call this day ‘Good’.
Peace.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Just a thought......on Westboro Baptist
For mere (or maybe morbid) curiosity, I went out today to the Westboro protests at Fort Meade. Everyone has been getting all worked up this past week. I wanted to see what all the ruckus was about. I got out of the house a bit late, so by the time I got out to Meade HS, sat through 20 minutes or so of a traffic jam, found a ‘legal’ place to park and walked 1/4 mile or so to the protest area, it was breaking up and folks were heading back to their cars. As I drove by, I noticed 5 or 6 WBC protesters and a few hundred other protesters on the other side of the road. Police were directing traffic all around, to include making lanes for a line of Harleys revving their engines between the two factions. (My wife would have loved seeing all those Harleys!)
So as the crowd is dispersing, I notice that there are plenty of social subgroups that were represented. There were the Christians, the gay/lesbian folks, the military and the curious. Man, all you have to do is say ‘God hates fags’ and you are going to tick off half, if not more, of the population of this country. For the most part, as a follower of Christ, it ticks me off to no end that someone will brutalize the name of Christ for any reason especially a reason that totally defies everything that I have read in the Bible that WBC quotes.
WBC’s main sign or slogan of ‘God hates fags’ is not what is written in the word of God. 2 Peter 3:9 states ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ Romans 3:23 says that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ALL is defined as ALL. It doesn’t matter if you are a homosexual, if you are a member of the military, if you are a student at a school on a military base, if you are a member or supporter of Westboro or if you are a follower of Christ. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That being said, the 1st amendment of the Constitution states that all Americans have the freedom of speech, free from censorship of any government. There are just some of those times that rights, although used correctly, really is troubling. Chief Justice John Roberts stated in the recent Snyder v. Westboro Baptist decision “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and – as it did here – inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course – to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” It doesn’t matter what the speech says, that speech is protected.
On one hand, it was amazing that some many people showed up this morning to protest such a small group of people. In a sense, it’s embarrassing that we allow people to hurt us with words. Like we said as kids ‘Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will never hurt us.’ Let’s be truthful, they do. The WBC folks must be so proud of themselves in inspiring so many people to take the time out of their day to come out to their protest, to spend money and time on making signs, etc, using gas in their cars, just to come out and meet them on their turf. This is the exact reason they lead these protests. It makes their cause relevant. If they are ignored for long enough they won’t be inspired to do these stupid protests.
Case in point, if you tell my daughter Julie that her hair is orange (take a crayon and compare…it really is close), she will be all in a huff and say that her hair is not orange, but red or copper (Copper is courtesy of some random lady in line at a ride at Kings Dominion). We know that this gets her railed up, and, in a slightly mean way, its funny to get that rise out of her. We know that does, so we have some fun with it. If it didn’t bother her, it wouldn’t be any fun to annoy her with it.
It is the right of all Americans to spout their opinions, hurtful as they are. However it is the responsibility of all followers of Christ to love, show love and pray for those who hurt you. (Luke 6:28). It’s a tough nut to do that, some are better than others in that regard, but if we truly claim to be followers of Christ than we must follow his direction to love. No ifs, ands, or buts. WBC has a point. America has problems. There is no one who can deny that our country that was founded on biblical principles has fallen away from that. No country on the face of the earth is perfect. There is good news though. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We need to pray. End of story
So as the crowd is dispersing, I notice that there are plenty of social subgroups that were represented. There were the Christians, the gay/lesbian folks, the military and the curious. Man, all you have to do is say ‘God hates fags’ and you are going to tick off half, if not more, of the population of this country. For the most part, as a follower of Christ, it ticks me off to no end that someone will brutalize the name of Christ for any reason especially a reason that totally defies everything that I have read in the Bible that WBC quotes.
WBC’s main sign or slogan of ‘God hates fags’ is not what is written in the word of God. 2 Peter 3:9 states ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ Romans 3:23 says that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ALL is defined as ALL. It doesn’t matter if you are a homosexual, if you are a member of the military, if you are a student at a school on a military base, if you are a member or supporter of Westboro or if you are a follower of Christ. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That being said, the 1st amendment of the Constitution states that all Americans have the freedom of speech, free from censorship of any government. There are just some of those times that rights, although used correctly, really is troubling. Chief Justice John Roberts stated in the recent Snyder v. Westboro Baptist decision “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and – as it did here – inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course – to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” It doesn’t matter what the speech says, that speech is protected.
On one hand, it was amazing that some many people showed up this morning to protest such a small group of people. In a sense, it’s embarrassing that we allow people to hurt us with words. Like we said as kids ‘Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will never hurt us.’ Let’s be truthful, they do. The WBC folks must be so proud of themselves in inspiring so many people to take the time out of their day to come out to their protest, to spend money and time on making signs, etc, using gas in their cars, just to come out and meet them on their turf. This is the exact reason they lead these protests. It makes their cause relevant. If they are ignored for long enough they won’t be inspired to do these stupid protests.
Case in point, if you tell my daughter Julie that her hair is orange (take a crayon and compare…it really is close), she will be all in a huff and say that her hair is not orange, but red or copper (Copper is courtesy of some random lady in line at a ride at Kings Dominion). We know that this gets her railed up, and, in a slightly mean way, its funny to get that rise out of her. We know that does, so we have some fun with it. If it didn’t bother her, it wouldn’t be any fun to annoy her with it.
It is the right of all Americans to spout their opinions, hurtful as they are. However it is the responsibility of all followers of Christ to love, show love and pray for those who hurt you. (Luke 6:28). It’s a tough nut to do that, some are better than others in that regard, but if we truly claim to be followers of Christ than we must follow his direction to love. No ifs, ands, or buts. WBC has a point. America has problems. There is no one who can deny that our country that was founded on biblical principles has fallen away from that. No country on the face of the earth is perfect. There is good news though. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We need to pray. End of story
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