Not My Baby

Cooper is about to be 8 months old and she has never been sick until today. Mary Kathryn is taking her to the doctor as I write this blog. I don't believe that you can really know a greater love than the love you have for your own child. The love I have for Cooper is deeper than anything I have ever felt. Just looking at her moves me at my core and it breaks my heart to see my baby girl this way; unable to breath and coughing. If I could take it away I would because I want her to be happy and healthy.

I share this because I am coming off a sermon series called "The Christmas Gift" and I have been engulfed in study and meditation of God's only Son; The Lord Jesus. Naturally I preached from Isaiah 53 one Sunday night for in this passage is a wonderful picture of what Christ went through on our behalf. However, in the middle of this passage is a verse that goes far beyond my comprehension. In verse 10 the Bible tells us that it pleased God to crush Jesus. Pastor or not this verse vexes me. How could it please a father to crush his child? It hurts me to see my little girl get shots, which are for her own good. If I, being her father, hate to see her get hurt for her own good then how much more would it hurt me to see her get hurt for the good of others? Yet that is exactly what God did. He crushed His Son for the good of a lost world.

Therefore, I can't help but praise the name of an Almighty God who loved me that much. For if anyone's well-being depended on me harming my baby girl then

Christmas Leftovers

Like most people at this time of year I have enough food leftover from Christmas to feed an army. We have turkey, ham, dressing, peas, pies, cakes, casseroles, and just in case you want fries with that I have a bag in the freezer. We will all be eating leftovers for a while.

But these are not the Christmas leftovers that I am thinking about today. In addition to all the food that comes along with the Christmas season there also seems to be an attitude that just comes out of us all. We are more generous, kind, giving and gracious. We still have road rage though; lets face it if you can go to Wal-Mart during the Christmas rush and not get upset then you are more than human. But for the most part we are in the "Christmas spirit". My question is why does this attitude only seem to come once a year? Should the Christian not always be generous and giving; year round not simply at Christmas? If Christ is Christmas and He lives within you then the answer to the question is yes. We should be generous, kind, giving, and gracious year round not simply during a particular time of year.

Therefore, my friends I think we should have enough of the Christmas attitude leftover to carry us on in to the New Year. Can you imagine what our communities would be like if Christians treated every day like it was Christmas?

R.I.P. Revisited

Someone left me a comment on the Too Little Too Late post from a few days ago. They said it is not wrong to want someone to rest in peace. I would agree with that statement; it is not wrong to want peace for anyone. However, my question is what good are our wants when a person is gone? Again I am not trying to sound mean or unsympathetic to any family that lost a loved one but if you really wanted a person to rest is peace then you should have talked with them about Jesus before they died. Furthermore, if the person knew Christ then we shouldn't say "rest is peace" for the person in Christ is in peace; absolute peace that we can't even comprehend on this side of heaven.

Too Little, Too Late

Recently a young man from my home town passed away. Needless to say the passing of a 19 year old rocked the small community at its core. However, in the middle of all of this one thing sticks out in my mind and I just can't let it go. On people's e-mails, myspace pages and even window decals people have things like "Rest in Peace". I am not trying to sound insensitive but saying rest in peace now is a little too late if you ask me.

This leads me to a deeper thought. If we really cared if people rested in peace when they die then shouldn't we talk to them about it while they are still alive? I think the answer to that question is yes.

Grace, Grace, God's Grace

I had a professor tell me one time that if you build your ministry on food and fun you will loose it to food and fun. As a new youth pastor I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but I certainly do now. The kids that came to my bible studies for the pizza and games left about as quickly as they came. Why you ask. The answer is because they could find more pizza and games out in the world than I could ever offer them at church. I believe this same principle applies to adults as well. There are some who come to church as long as the church has something tangible to offer them but as soon as they can get that same need met out in the world they are gone.

The million dollar question becomes; what can the church offer a person that they can not get in the world? The answer to that question is grace. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, vile and wretched people of this world so that they could be saved from their sins. Jesus is truely the embodiment of grace for He shows unmerrited favor to people who truely don't deserve it. The Church is the only place to find that. There is no grace in politics or education. There is no grace in the other religions for those systems are based on works and legalism. This explains why many of the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses are so unhappy. They are trying to earn their way into heaven.

I pray that I always preach grace, not as license for immoral behavior, but as the only hope a person has for forgiveness and eternal life. I also want to show grace, the same grace that God showed to this poor sinner. Only then will my ministry and my church be blessed for we will be offering the only thing that people can't get out in the world.

Revolutionary Love

The wife and I went Christmas shopping today. As you can imgaine I am tired and in need of my chair, the tv and a glass of tea. Today was loud, crowded and stressful. However, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle God revealed something to me. Mary Kathryn was in a store buying a gift while Cooper and I were sitting outside watching the traffic of the mall. I noticed a man who was very ill-mannered in the way he dealt with a store clerk. He was loud, rude and quite frankly a jerk to this woman because they didn't have something in his size. I watched intently to see how the woman would respond to the gentleman. It was quite amazing.

I put myself in her shoes, imagining this man was talking to me that way. In all honesty I would have probably told the man to leave or jump in the creek but this woman very calmly told the man she was sorry and she even directed him to another store that might have his size. She was so sweet. Then a verse came to my mind; Matthew 5:44. Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

We should do that because Christ did it first. He loved us while we were His enemies. We were sinners and friends of this world yet Christ died for us anyway. I don't know if this clerk was a Christian or not, but I do know she was calm, cool and collective with a man who was very unloveable. I want to be that way; I want to be like Christ. I hope you do too.

Forgiveness and Legalism

I had a conversation with a fellow the other day and he told me something that haunted me in my sleep, followed me to the coffee pot and now it is coming out in this blog. He desired a place of leadership in his church and was denied that privilege by his pastor at the request of some of the membership. The reason given was his past; he had used drugs before he repented and turned his life over to Christ. I am not sure what my face looked like but on the inside I was kicking and screaming and probably throwing things. If there was an award for legalism the pharasees who would not allow this man to serve would win it.

What ever happened to forgiveness? It seems that some have lost the meaning of this word in churches today. We say we forgive a person but many times we continue to hold the offense over their heads. We are called, as followers of Christ to forgive as we have been forgiven. What if Jesus held every sin over your head or mine? We would be doomed!