God's Heroes

This is a note written on Facebook by my good friend Jacob Lehmann. I thought I'd just share it with you guys:


"The batter steps up to the plate, warms up his muscles with a few practice swings, and prepares for the coming pitch. The pitcher winds up and sends the hurtling white blur toward the waiting catcher's mitt. The bat cracks, the ball soars out of the infield, over the outfield's fence, and into the stands. This batter is a splendid athlete, and many of those who sit in the stands have come in hopes of catching that home-run ball. The focus of this note, however, is not upon the athlete himself, but upon how the crowds of adoring fans are acting. Why are they acting this way? Why does this particular athlete deserve such adoration? He is special. He stands apart from the rest, because he has done great things and has devoted himself tirelessly to the sport that is his profession. People admire his achievements and his talent, both of which result from God's goodness. It is right that they admire him, and it is right that they make a big deal of him. It is part of who we are as human beings to admire beauty and excellence. We find the pinnacle of that in God; we shouldn't neglect honor of those who possess special talents or have achieved great things.
Tomorrow is Halloween. The term is derived from a contraction of the Catholic/Anglican/Lutheran holy day of All Hallows Evening. This is a special day which honors those who have gone before us in the faith, have sacrificed all for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom, and have proven themselves exceptionally selfless. God has made them holy and called them to serve Him; they answered the call and served him with a steadfast heart, though still imperfect. Upon attending one of these Masses, one might perceive the liturgy as idolatry. However, this is not the case. These people are no longer walking in the flesh, so we can't give them a pat on the back or tell them that they did well. They are currently in Heaven, worshiping the Lord day and night before His throne and, some believe, praying for those still struggling to serve God. Instead of patting them on the back, we celebrate a service and tell them through a certain type of prayer. This is not worship. It is much like cheering for an athlete. These "athletes", however, are not here bodily. This note could go on forever, so I will end here.

Just because the person dies, doesn't mean that his flame of influence has to die out..."

Friends Purge and Being Important

I realize I write long entries on this blog. Perhaps that's why no one leaves many comments. Or they just don't like me enough. Oh well!

I just got done with chapters 7 & 8 in Searching for God Know What. They were incredible chapters. To make it short, Miller says that the problem with humanity is that our focus is out of whack. We are looking to each other for our validity instead of to God. Before the Fall, God was our source of importance and validity. Now, we try to get it from each other. It goes right along with wanting to be our own god.

Basically, he likens the human state to the lifeboat analogy. Apart from God, we're all on a lifeboat deciding who should be thrown from our vessel. Our worth comes from a jury of our peers, and the sentence for not measuring up is drowning in the ocean of life. This is something I see on Facebook all the time (unlike Tye, my name is Facebook appropriate). Even in my own life, I try to validate my existence by accruing more friends on the social networking site. Recently, I had had enough. I went through my list of friends and got rid of about 300 people. They were people from my past with whom I have no communication. I was awakened to the fact that the only reason I have them as a friend was to say that I had 500+ friends, or in the hopes that they would see my profile and see what a remarkable individual I was.

The point of the matter is that we should be seeking to have our validity come from God. The two most important people in my life, God and Jessica, both validate me. I can stand being important to only two people. Can you?

Naked Is Normal

So, I had been putting off blogging about the 5th and 6th chapters in Searching For God Knows What because they were really hard chapters to read. They seemed to go nowhere, as some chapters do with Donald Miller. It was hard to pull anything from them except for two things.

In chapter 5, Miller talks about how being naked is the point of Genesis 2 &3. This is the focus on Adam and Eve in these chapters. Miller talks about how Moses makes it a point to highlight this because they were naked and felt no shame. He then goes on to talk about how he's very insecure when he's naked (and, no doubt, most everyone is insecure when nude. I sure am!). He talks about how Adam and Eve weren't insecure because their focus was on God. God was the source of all their security. They didn't know what being apart from God was like. Their lives were in unison with the Father's. However, once the relationship was broken because of their sin, they knew it immediately. They became insecure about their bodies, so God had to give them clothing. This explains why we're always "covering up" our insecurities. We don't want anyone to see us "naked," so to speak.

In chapter 6, he elaborates on this idea of a relationship being broken. He says that we are now deformed and warlike creatures that cause pain to one another because Satan first caused us pain. He said that the only peaceful and innocent kingdom to ever be attacked was God's kingdom long ago at Creation. Now, our souls are deformed like the bodies of the children born after the Chernobyl accident in the 80's. There's really no way to make the deformity go away except by God's grace. Even then, the influences of the world keep trying to get us to become deformed again.

He also goes into a discourse on spiritual warfare, which is something I found quite interesting. The only place I've ever really heard spiritual warfare discussed was in the super conservative, charismatic church of my childhood. But he says that we are at war, not with one another, but with spiritual forces that are trying to destroy us. However, we have a trump card. You see, Jesus himself is interceding at the right hand of the Father for us; the Trinity is on our side! We can draw confidence from the Lord's strength. The Word of God is our weapon. So many times, we look at the Bible as the cosmic self-help book, when in reality, it is our Sword! Every word is written to draw us closer to the God who loves us and protect us from the Devil who hates us.

TreeBeard and God

What does God look like to you? Is he some old man up in the sky? Is he ready to zap you with a lightning bolt if you screw up? Is he just some supremely benevolent being that wants nothing more than for you to be happy?

What if God was more like TreeBeard (the ent from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)? This is what Donald Miller describes God as in chapter 3. To Miller, God has oak trees for feet and a quiet voice that sounds like the whisper of the wind through a forest. What he's really trying to say is that God is so totally other that we cannot even begin to imagine what God is like. This otherness deserves our fear. Yes, terror would be the correct form of fear in this case.

If we look at Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, we see a lion who is described as terrible and untame, yet good. There is a sense of fear (but not dread) that one should have when thinking about God. Because of God's otherness, we have a certain amount of fear for the One who created the universe. However, because of His goodness, we do not dread Him. When we misrepresent God, we are doing Him a huge disservice. We show the world a bad picture of who God really is. He is more than a system of beliefs to make you feel better. He's a living and active Being. When we truly find God, we will find the value we have; the value for which we look to other people. Miller says it like this, "It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existence, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe." When you find God's love, you will find the value of yourself and truly love others enough to die for them.

In chapter 4, Miller makes some a huge assertion. Basically, he says that systematic theology is totally null outside the relationship context with God. You may present the ideas of God, but they make no sense outside of the emotional connection with God. He says that if figures like Paul, John, and Moses were to look at our systematic theology books, they would probably say, "Well, it's technically true; it just isn't meaningful." Truth is living and complex. You can't break it down into a simple format. It must be discovered instead of presented, sought out instead of handed on a silver platter. One might provide opportunity for truth to be found, but should never just give it up. It is too precious a commodity for that. Am I saying that we shouldn't tell people the Good News? To quote Paul, by no means! We should present the truth with no expectation of response. It is totally up to a person to seek it out. Only then will the truth become meaningful to the person. We should approach the Bible in a less narcissistic way, looking for Christ in every verse rather than ourselves as Kathleen Norris describes of the study habits of Benedictine Monks in The Cloister Walk.

The Florida Syndicate

Again, I'm terrible at this blogging thing.

I had a great opportunity to visit my fiance this weekend in sunny Miami, FL. It was a great time of relaxing and enjoying each other. We went to the beach, watched the sunrise, ate sushi, watched about 5 movies, ate Nicaraguan food, and cooked a whole lot of good stuff. It was a wonderful weekend.

I like Florida, but not Miami. It's too busy. There are too many people always on the go. I did enjoy going about 2 miles from His House and seeing cows in the city. That was funny. I liked Dania Beach. That's where we went on Friday and watched the sunrise on Monday. It was quiet and peaceful.

I'm so in love with Jessica. She's such an awesome woman with a huge heart and great faith. I'm so blessed to have her. Some days I'm so ready to get married, and some days I'm not sure. It's not that I have cold feet; I just wonder if I'm ready for this responsibility. Maybe I won't ever really be ready for it. Maybe it's just one of those things where I'll have to trust God to shape me. "Love her like Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her," Paul says. That's a lofty goal. I hope I can get there for real.

I read some more in Searching For God Knows What. I'll probably blog about that tomorrow then blog on Monday or Tuesday about chapters 5 & 6.

Terrible yet Beautiful

So, I'm absolutely terrible at updating my blog. Perhaps this is why people do not frequently leave comments. Erin said it best, "I don't post frequently enough. I don't post about enough current topics. I seem to be more of a drive-by blogger." Well, now I have a reason to post more.

I'm currently reading Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller with some of the senior guys in youth group. He's an author I respect a lot. He makes Christianity refreshing in a way. So many times, we get caught up in our own spirituality that we forget Christianity is a communal thing. We can grown by the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of other people. Miller brings his own experiences to the table, making you laugh and think at the same time.

His first chapter is great! He talks about how formulas don't work for Christianity. You can't put your relationship with God in a formulaic pattern anymore than your relationship with your best friend, wife, parents, siblings, etc. How many times do we do that, though? How often do we try to "self-help" our way into spirituality and Christianity? A relationship with God takes more time than just three, four, six, or twelve steps. It's takes all our time. I think that's why Brother Lawrence was so right in practicing the presence of God. When you're always aware of God's presence, then you get to know Him better. Duh!

The second chapter goes along very well with number one. When you have a formula god, you have a simple god. You have a simple god, he only exists to validate you,. In other words, your god moves according to your agenda instead of you moving according to God's. However, when questions come (like the questions in the WHY> series here at NCBC), your simple, self-justifying god falls apart. This god is an imposter of the real God just like (as Miller puts it) all the department store Santas were, to him, imposters of the "real" one when he was a child. No wonder so many people who say they believed in God but turned away. They were worshiping an idol, a sham, a simple god. Maybe this god is related to our God, but limited by the characteristics of the Living God that you like. We don't serve a Buffet God from whom you can pick and choose what characteristics you like or make you feel good. You simply create an imposter that is easily "debunked" when you start to really seek.

That's what makes the Living God so beautiful. He's kind of like a Hobbit. You can spend years with Him, but He'll always still surprise you.

"The god who cares so much about getting rich must not have treasures stored up in heaven, and the god so concerned with getting even must not have very much patience, and the god who cares so much about the West must really hate the rest of the world, and that doesn't sound like a very good god to me." Searching For God Knows What, pp. 28-29

The Tank is out...