listen

Day 9

I'm preparing to preach from the book of Ruth on Sunday. I have never preached directly from the book of Ruth and I have only mentioned Ruth in passing. Yet the story of Ruth is a profound story for so many reasons! Of all of the many themes in Ruth, I am moved by how God often uses the unlikeliest of ways to convey a message. It's striking that in Ruth, a Non Jew (Ruth) emerges as the hero of the story and she displays an integrity that hadn't been displayed by the average Israelite. She displays the message of God's goodness and faithfulness.

God is always speaking, are we always listening? Or are we not listening because its not coming from the right sources? During this season, I feel called to put up the extra antennas of my heart and try to pick up the signals from God and not to dismiss the message, when it transmits from an unlikely source. Or something like that!

Tonight's Menu: Kristy's Birthday Dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse

The Final Rose

Day 7

So I will confess, I watched "The Bachelor" last night and tonight! I didn't watch any episode this season, just the finale and tonight's follow up episode. It was great TV. The bachelor chose one girl over another and then six weeks later decided he was in love with the girl we rejected. It was kind of funny! I really don't like that show, but that was entertaining stuff! It was painful at times to watch this guy make such a gut wrenching decision. He cried and he struggled a great deal.

How gut wrenching of a decision did Jesus make for me! Death on a cross vs. relief from pain. Painful humiliation vs. painful payback to his accusers. It's this simple... Thank you Jesus for giving me a rose and choosing me!

Tonight's Menu: Fried Chicken, Fried Potatoes and Corn on the Cob

Randy, Paula or Simon

Day 6

I really wish I could go into why I missed posting yesterday. Safe to say, my plan to blog daily through Lent has been derailed. But I'm not guilty. To put it plainly, I've been involved in a dire attempt to minister to two of my friends and family in Christ!

The situation I find myself in got me to thinking about a weird question. Who would you rather your church be made up of - a bunch of Randy Jacksons, Paula Abduls or Simon Cowells? I hope you recognize these names as the judges of American Idol, one of my favorite shows. If you're a fan, you know that each judge has their own personality that has been the subject of ridicule and caricature in the media. Randy is the hefty likable rah rah guy! He often refers to the contestants as "dogs" and tries to use "hip" language as a way of expressing his comments! Paula is the sensitive, heart warming judge who rarely says anything negative! She is often hard to understand leaving viewers with the task of trying to make sense of her comments. And then there is Simon Cowell who is without question the most honest judge. he doesn't hold back. His comments are often the source of much laughter while simultaneously causing a collective cringe. His comments can sometimes come across as insensitive and outright rude!

So which Judge would you like your church to be full of? Would you like it to be full of hip guys who go to great lengths to sound cool and be a rah rah figure? Or would you like it to be full of people who shy away from being real honest because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings? Or do you want a church full of people who just tell it like it is, even if it it comes across rude and insensitive?

After going through what I have gone through in the past 3 days, I realize that it all depends on the day! There are days, I wish church was full of the rah rah hip dude! Then there are days that I wish I was surrounded by the super sensitive always positive Pollyanas! And there are days that I want brutal honesty and I want the harsh truth givers!

And when all is said and done, the truth is we need Randys, Paulas and Simons in our churches. (BTW - I'm watching the Bachelor 13 and this is jacked up!) What makes the American Idol judging component such a success is how the personality of the Judges work together in harmony despite the high contrast in personality and tact. Why would it be any different in church?

Tonight's Menu: Pizza

Wah Wah

Day 4

It's 11:49, and I have already missed a day. But I did that on purpose to see how many people would notice. Yeah, that's it! I wanted to see how many people were watching to see if I would mess up. Isn't that how life is? We wait for people to mess up so we can say ha ha look at you, you messed up! It's so unlike us as people to always hope for the best in people. We marvel and bask in the failures of others and we do this because it takes the focus off of our own failures!

It's human nature for us to focus on the missteps of others because we have so many missteps of our own and rather than deal with our own missteps, we would much rather focus on someone Else's! So that's why I intentionally skipped a day!

Just kidding, I screwed up! but I'll make up for it! Look for day 2 and day 5 tomorrow. I guess!

I'm ready to preach on Judges tomorrow! It will be an interesting sermon as Judges has proven to be a gory and disappointing account of the unfaithful Israelites! I can't believe how soon they forgot about God and how easily they turned to other gods! I am so glad we don't do that today! We are so much better than those Israelites. We witness so much of what God has done and we never turn away! We stay 100 % faithful! Not like those non-thankful Israelites.

Just kidding again! We screw up all the time and we can certainly identify with the plight of our spiritual ancestors. I can only hope and pray that God will be as patient with us as He was with the ancient Israelites!

Forgive us Lord when we are more prone to turn away than to run passionately toward you!

Tonight's Menu: Dinner at Max and Erma's

An Orange T-Shirt

Day 2

In eigth grade, circa 1988, I played on the school basketball team. While our school colors were gold and blue, our basketball uniforms were orange and white. I think we voted for those colors. many of us on the basketball team were Syracue Orangemen fans. Our basketball uniforms were SWEEET! WE had our regular basketball jerseys and shorts along with orange T-shirts that went underneath the jerseys.

Even though the season had ended in the spring of 1988, I continued to wear my orange T-shirt on occasion. On a Wednesday night at church, I remmeber sitting in the second row from the front, wearing my orange T-shirt. I remember the preacher extending an invitation to become a Christian by being baptized into Christ. I remember walking forward as we sung, "O why not tonight!" I professed my belief in Christ and m good friend Bennie baptized me. I will never forget that day!

It's funny how I remember that orange T-shirt. I even remember the hard underarms in the t-shirt from excess deoderant I used. Yet while that orange T-shirt is so vivid there were other things about that day that I remember but would much rather forget. Like the argument my mother and I had at home an hour before my baptism. Or like the constant bickering I experienced in my own mind regarding becomeing a Christian. I didn't know if I was really ready to live the life demanded of a follower of Jesus!

Oddly, what I don't remember was being overwhelmed with the reality of being buried with Jesus Christ. I was happy of course. I was excited of course, but the overwhelming reality of being in Christ would come much later. As a result, I just simply forget.

I've been reading through the Old Testament with our church and one of the prevailing narratives was the Israelites constant forgetting. They forgot what the Lord had done for them. They forgot how the ord saved them! They forgot what the Lord taught them! And before I get to critical of the Israelites, I would like to confess my own forgetfulness.

Dring this season of Lent, I am calling myself to a period of remembering! A period of remembering the overwhelming presence of Jesus in my life. My experience in the orange T-shirt constitutes but a small piece of this journey that I am on, but I will never forget it! My orange t-shirt moment is part of the narrative of God's saving power in my life! I will not forget.

Tonight's Menu: Smothered Meatballs, Amish Noodles and Corn

40 Days

Day 1

So it would be customary for me to explain why I haven't touched this blog in over a year. I could bore you with excuses like me forgetting my password or losing my hard drive to a crash! I could plead with you to pray for me to be more dedicated and structured. I could go on and on how my life is so busy and I just couldn't find time to write. You don't want to hear excuses and you don't want to hear promises that I will post daily or weekly, or even yearly!

What I intend to do for the next 4o days is a practice of discipline for myself. Hopefully, my friends and family who read this blog will help keep me accountable. If you could please refrain from the boisterous laughter as I explain what I want to do, I would appreciate it.

For many in the world of Christendom, today is Ash Wednesday. This day marks the first day of lent in which the church enters a 40 day period of reflection, repentance and refrain in preparation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. AS Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, Christians commit to "give up" something for 40 days. Many of us have mocked this practice, even by our "participation." Some of us went out yesterday and bought Paczki (pronounced poonch key) which are 1200-2000 calorie, jelly filled doughnuts that are normally only sold prior to Ash Wednesday. Well if you eat a Paczki the day before Lent begins, you can just give that up for lent. Sounds fair huh? (In rejection to this horrific mockery, I will eat my Paczki today! The apple ones are the best and... oops my bad!) If lent is not mocked in that way, I suppose we mock others who attempt to give up their chocolate, soda pop, or soap operas for 40 days. What a sacrifice, no Days of our lives or All my Children for over a month!

O.K. let me be clear, I'm not accusing any of you of mocking the practice, I'm admitting my own mocking of the practice. Here I go mocking someones attempt to reflect, remember, repent, reaffirm and refrain in the name of Jesus! What's wrong with that? What's wrong for me is that it takes dedication and resolve to enter into a period of constant reflection, repentance and refrain. Maybe the reason I have been the perpetrator of such mocking is because I just don't want to do that!

Rather than give up something "per se" for 40 days, i want to take up a challenge. For the next 40 days, I am going to write in this blog. While it may seem trite for many, this is a major task for me. For one, I am not a disciplined person. Secondly, I have a strong desire to express myself in writing. And lastly, I will enjoy watching you watch me miss a day!

There it is in a nutshell, my 40 Days of Lent Blogging Experiment! Would love for you to journey with me over the next 40 days and beyond! Wish me luck or just pray for a brutha!

Tonight's Menu: Sausage and Potato Soup with Kale Greens