The X-Games

The X-games is where Christians around the world and especially across the United States fall flat on their face. They crash and burn like a North Korean missile in an illicit test launch. The X-games  are where we play self serving mind games designed to make us feel better by excluding others.

This is where we judge everyone who doesn't make the cut in our book, not to be confused in any way with "The Book" (AKA ,The Bible). See the truth is the woman who chooses to get an abortion is a sinner, but so is the church going businessman who looks twice at the cute waitress, even though he has no intention of it being more that a fleeting thought. Sure the gay couple fighting for their right to marry are not living in a way pleasing to God, nor are those of us living debt ridden and materialistically who are not tithing the fist ten percent of our income. See the Bible tells us that no sin is any greater than another, and Jesus was the one who taught us not to judge each other. So when we start imposing our flawed values on others, we have only achieved two things, exclusion and alienation.

When the crowd wanted to stone the prostitute, Jesus, said, "Let he is without sin, throw the first stone." the crowd disbursed, as nobody could meet that standard. We are taught that we are supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner. How can it be so hard for us to get it through our heads. Christians have become know for being judgmental, and exclusive, rather than loving and inclusive.

My challenge today is that we all make that extra effort to include and love and not exclude and judge. After all, Jesus spent much of his time associating with prostitutes and tax collectors not just rabbis and holy men. If the Bible tells us to spread the good news of Gods love, reaching out to others might make more sense than shutting them out. Especially is our target audience is the one we are excluding. Let's try and change our ways and in doing so maybe we can change the way the secular world sees christians.

Yhea God!

Remembering Danny

It is April 20th, 2009, the 10th anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. The day the our dear friends Rich and Sue lost a son. The day that we lost a friend. The day that many in our community lost someone special to them. A day that our entire community lost its innocence.

Many a tear has been shed, much pain has been felt, and heartache has reigned supreme, but that is all for not, for it will not change a thing. These are all vestiges of our human frailty. But in truth, today should be a day of remembrance and celebration. A day that we should thank God for the gifts he gave us in those we lost. A day we should see their face and remember the impact they had on our lives. In fact, this is what we should do every day, not just today. Every day we should celebrate all those whom have touched our lives. If fact we should celebrate those who have touched our lives daily, even if they are still with us, for the fragile balance of life stares us down constantly. These are all things that we should do, if we were strong enough, if we were faithful enough, if we truly trust God in his word enough.

The truth is, that our time together here is but the blink of an eye when compared with eternity. If you believe in God , if you believe that God is true to his word, if you believe that God is real, if you believe this with all your heart, mind, souls and strength.  Then you know we will rejoin them in a better way in a better place. They are not lost, they are just lost to us. In fact, They are found.

Lord, my prayer today is that you will comfort us in our human frailness, that you will remind us in our souls of your love and your promises, that you never forsake us. Lord we thank you for the time we had with our loved ones and praise you for all the blessing you bestow on us daily. Lord I ask you today that you let the angles we are missing feel our love as they await the day that they can walk with us to your throne. In you name, Lord Jesus, Amen

So Danny, I say to you today you are missed, but we'll see you again. 

Yhea God!

When it matters most

As we are all facing an economy that is quickly approaching disaster status we need to keep in mind the bigger picture. Yes, many of us have lost jobs, or houses, or investments. As are we living in fear of where this ride down stops and just how bad it will get, we need to remember that we are not in this alone. We are all facing it together, every person on this planet, because as goes our economy, so goes the rest of the world. The good news is that what is really threatened is only our material society. I know that for some that may feel like everything, but it truly is not.

In the United States, even our poorest are among the wealthiest from a world prospective. A homeless man on the street of Denver can walk into an ER if he is having a heart attack and get immediate care from some of the finest doctors in the world, no questions asked. In a country like Sudan a man with 2,000 cow, (cows are a measure of wealth there) may not even be able to get to a hospital before dying, as the nearest one may be a couple days of travel away. Even if he were to make it there, who knows the quality of care he could get. Every child in our country has the ability to go to school and learn to read and write, and get a meal while there. This is not true across the globe.

Why the rant, because statistics tell us that 30,00 kids will starve to death today. They are not just statistics, but they have names and faces and parents. As our economy collapses we as Americans are giving less to charities, non-profits, and other NGO's (non-governmental organizations) that help the needy around the world. Now our government wants to cut some of the tax advantages to giving, I don't suppose that this will make us as a society more generous. Not only is the third world losing our support, but as we quit shopping, the sweat shops that make our fineries will slow proportionately. So more of the world poorest will have less opportunity to be self sufficient.

Pastor Rob Bell sites a statistic that the worlds poor can be fed clothed and housed for $20 billion, the amount we in the US spend on ice cream every year! Compassion Ministries can feed a child for $156 per year, how much do you spend at Starbucks a month? The bible says that we are to tithe 10 % of our FIRST FRUITS, 10 % right off the top. If you make less you certainly would therefor be tithing less, but how many of us do it every time? I wish I could say that I have. The torah call Jews to do the same, as do most major religions. So if we all just did as we were supposed to, I contend giving would go way up.

Set aside religion for a moment, if you had to sit face to face with a child dying of starvation, while you struggled with all of your bills and budget, could you find $13 to feed him or her for a month? I bet each of us could. When I started this today I did not realize that KLOVE, a christian radio network, was doing an all day telethon with Compassion to bring this same issue to light. If anything that compels me that it is even more important to get the message out.

Now is the time to share what you have. As a Christian, the bible says that what you do for the poor, you do for Christ. But I am speaking to everyone right now regardless of your faith, as a human, your fellow humans need you right now. If you truly have no money then give your time, it matters as well. Do what you can and do it in what ever way you feel led, but do it, because it matter most, RIGHT NOW!

Yhea God!

And the greatest of these...

Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. At the risk of being cliche, I feel compelled to write about love on Valentines day. The bible refers to love as the greatest of faith, hope and love. I find this interesting when most of us see the bible as a manual for faith, written to give us hope, that talks about love. But I contend that that assumption is wrong.

Is the bible not the greatest love story ever written? Is is not an epic novel full of trails, tribulations, sadness, and triumph? Is not it a great love story about our creator and his undying love for us. It is a manual for us to learn how to love. As you can not tell me human nature is to love our enemies as ourselves. I wish that came naturally to me, but it doesn't. The bible teaches us how to love. Why, because our God is a loving god and he wants us to know his greatest gift.

Our love for a child is like none other, we value them ahead of ourselves. But that is a love that comes naturally to us, one that takes no initial effort. But we were created with this innate desire to find our partner. From adolescence on we search high and low looking for that one special someone for whom we feel at home.

It is in this place that we find the desire to voluntarily surrender ourself and feel that divine comfort. It is not an easy place to get to, in fact some never do. It comes at a hugh risk, as to find it you must risk you innermost self. Once found, it is not easily maintained, it takes a concentrated effort of continual surrender. But in that place of love provided as nugget from God, we can truly find glimpses of heaven and the love God, our father, has for us.

The book of 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 says "In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God."

So as we ponder how much we love and as we feel loved, let us remember to be grateful for this gift and give more of ourselves,as we know that we will receive far more than we ever give.

Yhea God!

Hold Strong

As the economy weakens and we all feel the pinch. Hold strong to you christian values. It is easy to get side tracked by the fear of upheaval. But remember that the Lord has promised to be with us ALWAYS and to provide for our every need. He is faithful to this. Where we get caught is that our every desire and our materialistic tendencies are not always in convergence with our Heavenly Fathers definition of needs.

Does God care that we have to down-size, I believe so, in that he hates to see us unhappy. I figure this is much the same for him as it is for us to watch out kids learn some of life's tough lessons. It is not that he cares about our life style, but he does care about our life and all that encompasses it.

It is times such as these though, where we become vulnerable to the serious temptations. Divorce rates rise, domestic violence increases as do alcoholism and many other wanton practices as we try to self medicate our souls. The problem lies in that it is not our souls that are hurting, but our human egos and insecurities that are coming into full bloom. It is these time that we need to rely on faith and the scriptures to pull us through.

Hear oh Israel, trust in the Lord your God with all you mind, all your body, all your soul and all of your strength. That verse says it all. The shema, from early on in the old testament to right this second those words have been applicable. Never doubt, have faith.

So what I am asking is that we all bow down as ask the Lord to provide what we NEED in these times and then rely on Him to come through. During all that, live your life in peace and do not let worry and strife destroy who you are. Love your family more, learn to enjoy again the small things and release your need for material goods. He is in control and these times are just a blip on the radar screen of eternity.

Yhea God!