"The gold standard of academic integrity"

Concerning the whole Jesus family tomb issue that has been much discussed recently, I am left with one overarching thought. It seems that the great mistake that Cameron and Jacobovici made was not the controversial claim, nor was it the slip shod methods , nor was it the lack of conclusive evidence, for claims as ridiculous and controversial as this are made every day. No. The great mistake they made was going public into a multinational media forum without having offered it up to peer review, which Jonathan Reed from the Society of Biblical Literature calls "the gold standard of academic integrity." That step that was skipped is happening now, as you can see many archaeologists and scientists discrediting this "discovery" (which, by the way, was discovered in 1980, and is nothing new). Had they done a peer review, it never would have gotten far enough to be made into a prime time documentary, but they they would not have made their money, either.

If you have not yet, I encourage you to read up on this topic. It seems that the evidence is flimsy at absolute best. Here are a few articles:

This is the article quoted above.

This is a great article exposing a few of the major flaws by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina.

This is a blog by Dr. Ben Witherington pointing out many of the flaws as well.

Lastly, you can check out The Society of Biblical Literature Site that has scholarly articles on many current subjects. I have added it to my links on the right. And, may we always continually quest for good information.

"A Parody of Jesus"

On Sunday, my pastor made in interesting statement in response to a comment we hear often in today's world, that being the phrase, "I like Jesus, I just don't like the Church/Christians." His response was that people who say that don't really like Jesus. Rather, they like the parody of Jesus that is often portrayed; the soft, cuddly Jesus who just wants to bless everyone and would never ask you to do anything to risk your comfort. How backwards is the general conception of Jesus?

In reality, Jesus asked, correction, demanded that all who would come after him to die. As Bonhoeffer would say, we have created a death-less (or a cross-less) Christianity, which, he would argue, is not Christianity at all. Jesus is offensive. If the people who say they like Jesus, but not Christians knew that Jesus called them to lose everything, family, friends, comfort, wealth etc., to follow him, I doubt they would like him so much. If there is one thing that Jesus threatens, it is selfishness, which automatically offends the selfish.

Now, to be clear, was Jesus loving? Yes, more than any other person ever. Is the church perfect? Absolutely not. Are we as the church responsible for being better witnesses to the world? Absolutely, yes. But can we please stop pretending that Jesus was a human sized kitten?

Blog Update

I thought I would take a minute and officially go through and give some dap to the blogs that I link to. I am not a "Free linker", so when I link, it is for a reason. If you are interested in broadening your blog horizons, allow me to recommend some and give a word about each.

Emerging Minister is maintained by Greg Atkins, a media pastor and songwriter. He has interesting thoughts on church media and some great videos as well.

Eric Peters is a friend of mine who is an independent singer/songwriter. I absolutely love his music. In addition, he is a fantastic writer. He has recently become a father. Congrats buddy.

Ravelings is the blog of one of my friends here at church, Chip Burkitt. Chip is a great thinker, and there are few people with whom I like to talk and have deep discussions more than Chip. His wit and grasp of subjects come through in his writing.

Ben Witherington is a blog I just added today, but I can tell that he has some great thoughts. Apparently a PhD who teaches at Asbury Theological Seminary, he blogs a lot on current events from a scholarly Christian perspective, which is great.

Malcolm Gladwell had my full attention after I read his book Blink, which is a great read (that you can purchase on the left). He is a writer for The New Yorker and writes great blog articles as well. He seems to have taken a hiatus from blogging for a few months, but I expect him to come back.

Joel's Thoughts is run by Joel Maners, who I met through another blog. He is a good thinker and has an active blog. Check him out.

Vanguard Church is a blog I added recently because the author and myself seemed to be on the same page on a lot of things. The author is a pastor and has a history of working with the younger generation.

Think Christian has become one of my favorite blogs to read. A handful of contributors do a great job of posting on relevant issues in a well researched manner. Two thumbs way up.

Church Relevance is another of my favorite reads. It offers up many studies and stats that are interesting and helpful, as well as many links to great stuff.

The Tune of Tim is another recent addition. Tim placed some good comments on my blog, which led me to check him out, and I found out that he has a pretty cool blog. He writes about similar things as me (so it has to be good, right? :) )

No Kool Aid Zone is a sight dedicated to thinking and not accepting anything blindly. A great premise. A great blog.

Liquidoxology is a blog I linked to because of the great pictures that are posted. It is worth stopping by occasionally because there are always interesting images there.

Randy Dean is a friend of mine who I get to hear preach regularly. He is a fireball and a thinker (imagine that combo!).

Simply Kurt is the blog of Kurt Johnston, the Jr High Pastor of Saddleback Community Church. He is very funny and has a lot of good ministry insights.

Tim Ellsworth is the site that got me started blogging, and still the one I check most often. The site is very active and there is (almost) always some heated discussion. Those who frequent the site tend to be much more conservative than me from a ministry standpoint. I'm pretty sure they think I'm a heretic (not really).

Sand Art

So I wanted to share something amazing with you. There is an emerging form of art that involves the manipulation of sand on a lighted surface. You may have seen it in action in the new Quest commercials that are out. I first saw it last August at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and then I just saw it again this week at Willow's Student Ministries Conference (which was great, by the way), both times done by Willow's resident sand artist Mark Demel. This is one of the most amazing art forms I have ever seen. This link will take you to where you can watch the video. You won't be disappointed. You can also find this sort of thing on youtube, but without the Christian message in the art, it loses something. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Facing the Giants

*Warning: Spoilers Inside*

My wife and I just finished watching Facing the Giants. In case you are not aware, it is a movie made by Christians (a church I think) with Christian themes and a Christian message. This church (as I have heard) shot this movie, got it in theaters, and it is now out on DVD. It has taken off among Christians (at least in my circles), mainly because it is a movie put out by Christians (it is similar to that whole Christian business network philosophy).

There is stuff I like and stuff I didn't like about the movie, but I will start by giving you a quick synopsis. It is the story of the football coach at a small Christian school who is down on his luck. In 6 seasons as head coach, he has never had a winning season, and there are rumors that he needs to be fired. In addition, he and his wife have tried for 4 years and cannot get pregnant. He comes to a breaking point about a third of the way through and he turns to God. From there, things turn around. He takes a new approach to coaching the team and they start winning, making it all the way to the state championship and winning in amazing fashion. At the end, he finds out that his wife is pregnant. While all of this is going on, there is a revival of sorts that happens at the school.

Time to evaluate. I will start with the bad. I must say I was going into this ready to blow holes in it. Here is what I came up with.

1. The Acting is 2nd rate.

This is understandable since it was such a low budget movie, but we are used to such great art that the bad sticks out in a major way. The accents are annoying. Many of the lines are cheesy. At certain serious times I feel like the actors blow the scene. It is not the entire movie, but it happens enough. Recasting some of the major roles with established actors could have made this movie a lot better.


2. It included a lot of what I call "Pop Christianity."

There are several times in the movie where the writers seem to lose creativity when they want to make a point, so they resort to a type of sermonizing. There are some pretty cheesy sermon illustrations worked into what are supposed to be everyday conversations. I felt myself thinking "Nobody talks like that!" They also could have toned down the Christian jargon talk. It seems at a point about two thirds of the way through where they seem to be forcing a Christian reference into every scene.

3. It has a bit of the "Follow God and get everything you want" message.

It is not a lot, because you do see the characters experience failure, and when they do they stay content in what God has done. However, things go from an extreme low at the beginning to as good as they could possibly be at the end. I understand that there is certainly a place for good endings and inspirational stories, but it is possible that a person watching could have gotten the message that if you turn to God your life will be great.

Okay, I'm done ripping on it. I really did like the movie, and would like to see it again. So, I will now mention the things I liked about the movie.

1. There are some great themes that run throughout the movie.

The themes that I jotted down were God as Lord, Turning to God in hard times, Praise God in all circumstances, Giving God all the glory, Nothing is impossible with God, Facing fears, and Leadership. I know that seems like a lot of themes, but each of these are mentioned several times. You would be hard pressed to find many of these themes in a Hollywood movie, and that is one thing that makes Facing the Giants good.

2. They portray God's way as the best way.

I believe that following God's ways are best. Not only because it fulfills your destiny and all that, but also because they actually are better ways. It is better to forgive than to hold a grudge. It is better to be honest than to lie etc. This message is communicated in the movie. At one point there is a student who constantly fights with his dad. He ends up accepting Christ and feels convicted of the lack of respect he was showing his father, so he apologized to him and started respecting him. The change carries over to the father and things improve. It was pretty well done in my opinion.

3. There are some great quotes in the movie.

The coach gives some pretty good speeches in the flick. In these speeches are some great quotes. Here are a few:

"Winning football games is too small a thing to live for, and I love football as much as anybody."

"The more I read this book (the Bible) the more I realize that life's not about us. We're not here to get glory, make money, and die."

"I've resolved to give God everything I've got and leave the results up to him."

4. When the coach hits bottom, he is a great example of what to do.

I was honestly expecting him to sulk and pout until things started to look up. Instead, he stays up all night praying and reading the Bible, until he emerges the next day having done some serious business with God and having a new outlook. What a great example of how to respond to hard times. How many of us are willing to do such a thing?

5. They refer to God speaking to people.

Even among Christians, the idea of God speaking directly to one of his people is a bit controversial. Most Christians believe that God spoke through the Bible and is done speaking. I belong to the stream of Christianity that believes that God still speaks to believers today, and I think it is crucial that he does. There is a time in the movie where an older guys who prayer walks the school every day walks into the coaches office and says he feels God told him to share a certain scripture with him. The coach follows him and makes a point to confirm, "God told you to tell me that?" It turned out to be a confirmation to what God was telling the coach. It is good to see this controversial idea in the movie, because I believe that it is very important to the body of Christ today.

In the end, the artistic parts of the movie were a bit rough, but it was a good movie. I encourage you all to see it. I give it a B, or 4 stars, whichever you prefer. I welcome other comments on this flick. I had heard mixed reviews before, so I'd be interested to hear what the rest of you thought.

My Thoughts on Global Warming

The Global Warming debate has hit the fan. Now we are at what appears to be the apex of the issue, pre-election and all, when dialogue seems to have never been higher. I know that I run the risk of adding to an already saturated topic, but it seems that despite all of the talk, few people know much about it. I'll admit that I am one of them. I have not done all of the reading and studying that I need to do to rightly weigh in on this matter.

That being said, Kim over at Think Christian has written a great article about the effects of global warming from a Christian perspective. This is refreshing, because it seems that Christians only punch holes in the theory and don't really listen. Still, and I don't want to be a hole puncher, I have a few questions about this issue that I would appreciate commentary on. They are things I think we should keep in mind as we encounter the info on global warming.

1. It seems to me that the plan to stop Global Warming is to basically take better care of the planet, right? I would argue, though, that as Christians we need to be doing that anyway, and we need to be better stewards of the resources God gave us. How is the plan different than this?

2. With over a billion people still so poor and deprived that they daily sit on death's doorstep, and another billion or so that do not have access to clean water, and about half the deaths in the world occurring of diseases we already have cures for, but the medicine has not made it to that part of the world, is spending billions to clean up the planet the best use of resources? Would we not be better served to focus our funds on ending "stupid poverty" and worry about global warming once each person has the food and water he or she needs?

3. Can we really make that big of a difference? I mean can we get enough people and funds on board to change environmental factors that are this large? Even of we get every single American behind it, that is only 270 million of the 6 billion people in the world. Is that enough to get a movement going and make a change?

Thoughts? Impressions? Concerns? Remember, I am no expert, just a question asker who wants to learn more and understand how to best serve God in all aspects of life.

Preaching Tips From...Well, Me

Not than anybody really cares what I think, but I thought I would put down some "preaching tips" from my experience. As I try to become a better communicator myself, I try to learn as much as I can and continue to learn. By the way, I must admit that I completely stole this idea from Tim Ellsworth. It is interesting to see how our lists are different.

Two things to keep in mind: First, that I am young. I gave my first sermon when I was probably 14 to our youth group and have been speaking regularly for the last 4 or 5 years, but I am still pretty young. Second, I work with youth, so that effects my perspective a bit. Here we go.

1. Preach From the Bible

I had a professor that once told my class to always read, quote, and paraphrase the Bible in sermons as much as possible. "That way, when you are done, you know you said something inspired." Well said, Dr. Nunnally. I don't believe every sermon (or even most sermons) needs to be verse by verse expository preaching, but scripture should always be used. How can we get by with not using it?

2. Keep it Practical

My currect senior pastor holds to the idea that sermons should all be very practical. I agree. In a service like ours where we expect to have at least a handfull of newcomers present every week, we should keep it to something they can understand. They don't want hear about why we should boil goats in their mother's milk, but things like parenting, conflict, influencing culture, God's plan for marriage etc. they tend to care about because it speaks to their lives. There is a place for the esoteric studies of fairly insignificant bits of scripture, but that is not a Sunday morning. Another word for this would be relevance. People need something that is going to pertain to their lives.

3. Use Humor/Entertainment

Erwin McManus was once challenged by someone who accused his church of trying too hard to entertain people. His response, in my own words, was basically that to entertain someone was simply keeping their attention. Some people are entertained by hymns, or organ music, or expository preaching, or drama, or humor etc. I think he makes a great point. We are all trying to communicate a timeless message in new, creative ways. Whatever form that communication takes should depend on the audience. In LiveWire Student Ministries we use lots of humor, video, movement etc., because young people (actually, all people) learn in multi-sensory ways. This is not diluting the message, but rather, becoming better at communicating it. Jesus used stories, object lessons, humor etc. in his teaching, so why are we afraid to?

I must say though, that this, like all things, can easily go too far. Making jokes at a time that needs to be serious can lose a crownd quickly. Also, when the goal becomes entertainment, rather than communicating the message, it has gone too far.

4. Be Semi-Normal

Weirdness is not a spiritual gift; neither is it admirable. Some preachers seem to get off on using "insider language" or "preacher voices." Is there anything more annoying? This is the whole problem with the Christian Subculture that has been created. By pulling back and secluding, we have lost the right and the opportunity to speak into the culture. I am going to a conference in 2 weeks where Donald Miller will be giving a talk called "How to Share the Gospel Without Weirding People Out." I think that is a great point.

Now, I say semi-normal, because it is not entirely normal to lay down one's life for a dead criminal, or to simulate eating his body and drinking his blood or lots of other things for that matter. There is a level of percieved weirdness that all outsiders might have for Christians that involve core doctrines that just come with the territorry. But people need a real person. They are very good at spotting the phony.

5. Talk about Jesus

I tend to think that no matter what topic a person is preaching on, they should involve Jesus in the process. It shouldn't be hard, for he is all over the Bible, even in the Old Testament. It seems that the "model" from the book of Acts is just to tell about Jesus and what he did. That seemed to work pretty well. Therefore, we would do well to involve Jesus in our message every time, and to tell the story of the cross regularly.

There it is. It is certainly not perfect nor is it comprehensive, but I have my thoughts down. Feel free to critique, disagree, and call me a heretic if you must, but may we never give up the journey of becoming better communicators of the most important message in the world.

Divine Encounters

Let me share a cool story with you.

I was driving home last night from a conference in Eden Prairie (the HNI regional conference, not that you care). I was driving on 494 near the Mall of America when my car inexplicably began to coast. The engine had died. I was in a middle lane, but was luckily able to maneuver to the right side of the road. I checked some things and tried unsuccessfully to get it started. I was discouraged. I think the enemy tries to attack my vehicles. I have only been driving like 8 years and I have totaled 2 cars and had mechanical problems with 3. It's not just me being an idiot or bad diver, either. Something is up.

Anyway, I was waiting ten minutes to try it one more time to ensure it hadn't flooded or anything and I was in prayer, asking God to fix this. Long story short, it didn't start. So, I called for a tow.

The guy was there quickly (less than 10 minutes). In a short time he hooked the car up and we were gone. We began chatting and he turned out to be a very nice guy. His name was Ed. At one point he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a Youth Pastor. "Wow! Do you mind if I ask you how you decided to do that?" He asked. So, I shared my testimony with him. He told me that he had gone to church a few times when he was a kid, but his family wasn't really into it and church wasn't a part of his life now. But, he said he hoped that some day he would go back. I told him a bit about the Harbor. I told him about our Alpha course, that it was a practical introduction to the Christian faith where questions could be answered in a non-threatening environment. "That sounds perfect!", he said. He asked a few questions about catholics and other stuff, which I was happy to answer. By this time we were to our destination. I gave him my card and said if he had any more questions or wanted to check out the Harbor or Alpha to give me a call. He said, "You may not believe this, but I do actually plan to check you guys out." I think he meant it, and I hope he does.

It would have been really easy for me to get discouraged about my car crapping out and miss an opportunity to connect with Ed. With about 3 million people in the Twin Cities metro, there would have been almost no other way to get Ed and I to connect without something like this happening. I think that God arranged that meeting. Feel free to think me an over spiritual psycho, but I do. Ed was seeking. He was the right age for me to be able to connect with him. We seem to have the right program to fit with what he needs. I believe God set this up. How many opportunities have I missed in the past because I have been selfish and was not open to what God wanted to do? May we be ambassadors of God's love 24-7. May we, when times get tough, trust that God may have us in the situation because there is something he wants to do, someone he wants to touch. May we make the most of our opportunities to connect with the Eds of this world.

More Shane...

This is Shane Claiborne talking about who he is and giving you some of what he believes. It is a good insight to the man and the ministry. I will be writing more about nuggets I drew from Shane's talk soo, but I thought this would be another good intro. He is all over YouTube by the way, so if this interests you, check him out. I also added the Another World Is Possible web site on the right. Enjoy!

Meeting Shane Claiborne

Tonight Angela and I went to see Shane Claiborne speak and chatted with him for a few minutes afterwards. If you don't know who Shane Claiborne is, he is the author of The Irrisistable Revolution and founder of the Simple Way, a ministry to the poor in North Philadelphia. His book is a must read. Really, it is.

Shane's talk was primarily what he talks about in his book. He is a little crazy, which you know if you have read his book. He started out by leading us in a blue grass song that the people in his community wrote. Here are the words:

Come now and join the feast,
From the greatest to the very least,
All are welcome at the feast,
here now in the belly of the beast.

To be honest, that pretty much sums up what he is all about. The words of the song are a snapshot of what his ministry is. There is a feast going on that he is inviting everyone to be a part of, and it is now. We are not holding out for heaven, but expect justice and victory now, on this earth, the enemy's territory.

He, of course went on to tell about his upbringing, how he was saved, how he befriended some homeless people in college who captured his heart, how he went to Calcutta India to work with Mother Theresa, how he traveled to Iraq in the wake of 9/11 to minister to the Iraqi people, and lots of other riveting stuff. I will write about that in the weeks to come. But ultimately, Shane is a normal guy who is living out the message of Jesus. It is amazing how he is the quintessential combination of a normal guy and the completely polar opposite of normal. It is what he calls an "ordinary radical."

Oh, how we need more people like him, being the hands and feet of Jesus in our world. May we reach out to the Calcuttas that are all around us, and may we be great lovers of people, "from the greatest to the very least." It is what God is calling us to do.

A Little Less...

More from Donald Miller's Searching For God Knows What.

If you ask me, the way to tell if a person knows God for real, I mean knows the real God, is that they will fear Him. They wouldn't go around making absurd political assertions and drop God's name like an ace card, and they wouldn't be making absurd statements about how God wants you to be rich and how if you send in some money to the ministry God will bless you. And for that matter, they wouldn't be standing on a beach shouting about how they are God, twirling around in the waves.* It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existance, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe."

* Donald refers to Shirley Maclaine doing exactly this as she describes in one of her books.

The primary thing I like about Donald Miller is that he is a thinker and he makes his reader think (I guess that is two things). I love how unconventional he is at arriving at his point. It is refreshing. It is logical.

I want to focus on two ideas that are related. The first is the fear of God; the second is his last sentance above. My frind Chip (who has a blog here) has done a better job of explaining the idea of the fear of God than anyone else. I must say that it has always been a bit of an elusive idea. Fear, in our context, is not a good thing. And God is our friend; he has called me a friend and even a lover, so why should I fear him. Chip explains it like this: It is similar to the way you feel as a little kid when you break something, and you realize that they will be home any minute. You fear the punishment and the soon inevitable facing of whatever you did. You never worry that your parents will not love you or kick you out of the family. That is how Chip describes the fear of God, as a fear that can never be separated from love. That makes sense to me, I guess, but how is that different than conviction? I am getting off track. I think you can tell a person who really fears God from one who is just using Him. I have spoken on here before about how perfect I think C. S. Lewis' portrayal of God as a lion is. How appropriate to select the king of beasts to be the archetype for God. I think we make God into a teddy bear too much. The danger is when we make him the lion but without any love.

The second point is the last line; what a great statement: It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existance, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe. That is the second thing I think you can tell about a person who knows and loves God, that they are a little bit less the center of the universe than others. I like how he says "a little less," because we all know how selfish we are if we are honest. As I was pondering this, I thought that may be the element that one could use to identify Christians...that they are a little less all about themselves. Then I remembered that the Bible says something different, that Christians are known in that they love one another. But how different is that, really? When you love your neighbor, you focus on them more, you serve them, you care for them, you are kind, not because you want something, but just because. I think that is pricisely what Donald is talking about. But, man, is that a lifelong journey or what?

May we learn to fear God more and more everyday. May we never use God as our ace card, to further our own agendas. May we, every single day that we are on this earth, operate a little less like we are the center of the universe.

Misrepresenting God

Here is some more from Donald Miller in Searching for God Knows What. Here he talks about media heads who claim to represent God, but in actuality, are misrepresenting him. He tells the sad story of the conman Robert Tilton (you may recognize as the "farting preacher") who was outed for collecting money from sweet (yet stupid) little old ladies to fund his greed. He goes on to say this:

The real thing that made me sad that day was that God, who I think is quite good, was being misrepresented so terribly in the media. I realize it isn't popular to say such things, that as a Christian writer I should keep my mouth shut and kiss everybody's butt, but it is difficult to do so when there are so many media-savvy idiots pretending to represent Jesus. just this morning I watched a fellow on his Christian talk show talk about what we should be doing in Iraq, how we should be starving out clerics and sending more troops to shoot more bullets and drop more bombs. He's a preacher, for crying out loud. Why doesn't he just tell people about Jesus?

If I weren't a Christian, and I kept seeing Christian leaders on television more concerned with money, fame, and power than with grace, love, and social justice, I woulodn't want to believe in God at all.

This could not come at a better time, with 'ol Pat Robertson again making all Christians look like idiots and predicting a major terrorist attack this year. Thanks for the kind words, Pat. Way to stay positive.

Seriously, though, why isn't the Christian message in the media balanced? We seemed to have somewhat balanced political banter, why can't we have balanced Christian banter? Why are the Christians you see on TV all the time the weirdos?

I have a theory, of course. The Christians you see on TV tend to be in the prosperity class of ministers (i.e. those who believe that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy). That message preaches much better to Americans, sadly, than the true Gospel, where Jesus basically says, "Come, follow me. Everyone will hate you, and you will have to give up everything, even your own life, but you will get fulfillment through me, and your life will not be boring." As Donald shares when he speaks, take Peter for an example. He owns a successful fishing business. Jesus calls him out of that to follow him around confused for a few of years. Then Peter denies him and generations read about it. Finally, he and his wife get crucified upside down (according to church tradition). come on and sign up, y'all. That won't sell as many prayer shawls on TBN.

I understand that my thoughts on this are all over the place. I am basically just ranting. In the end, the point I want to make is that Christians in the media have been misrepresenting God for years, and I, for one, am sick of it. May we never give into pop Christianity. May we never comprimise the message to what is easy and comfortable. I choose to follow Jesus, for He is my reward.

Simply Simplicity, Part 2

Simplicity "is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle." Both are equally important, because the outward lifestyle without the inner reality is legalism, but the inner reality without the outward lifestyle is not simplicity either, but hypocrisy. Yesterday we discussed the attitudes of the inner reality. Today I will share Foster's "ten controlling principles for the outward expression of simplicity." He notes that these should never be taken as laws, for that borders on legalism, but simply as an attempt to flesh out what simplicity means in our culture.


1. "First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status."

Our culture is plagued by status seeking. My question is how much should we as Christians be involved in that? As Foster says, "Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life." I think he makes a good point. We could all do better to remove the seeking of status through material things from our lives.

2. "Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction to you."

I think we all are addicted to something. Food. Shopping. Attention. Whatever it is, we need to get control of it in our lives. By definition, to be addicted to something is to not have it surrendered to God. May we all live addiction free lives.

3. "Third, develop a habit of giving things away."

This is key. As I have said before, the only way I can continually break the grip that materialism has on me is by giving stuff away. When we think of giving, we primarily think of money, and probably rightly so. But I think we can do good by giving away possessions as well. I had a good friend in college give me the shirt off of his back, literally (he had one underneath). May we give stuff away and show that possessions do not possess us.

4. "Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry."

This can be a deep hole to fall into. When you start to buy the newest and best stuff, you tend to just want newer and better stuff and you are never happy. I think this relates to the usefulness point above. So you need a PDA, fine, but do you need the $600 E-Palm 3000 that rakes your leaves and speaks to you with an accent? I think you get my point.

5. "Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them."

Foster makes a good point here encouraging the use of parks and libraries. I admit that I struggle with this, because I like to own my own books. I am a not take and a resource guy, so I like to mark up my books and then reference them later. I guess I have to find the place to draw the line.

6. "Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation."

We don't need to all be entertained by tv, radio, and other noise. The sky, birds, smells, and other stuff in the world can give us a simpler pleasure. When we shut off the noise, we appreciate the world around us.

7. "Seventh, look with a healthy skepticism at all 'buy now, pay later' schemes."

In other words, avoid debt. This is pretty strait forward. Be wise with what money you borrow. I think there are times when it is wise to finance certain things, but do your best to pay it off as soon as you can.

8. "Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech."

Foster says we should "avoid flattery and half-truths. Make honesty and integrity the distinguishing characteristics of your speech." In a world where much is fake and few people say what they mean and mean what they say, this sort of communication is refreshing. I think we would all do better to practice this more.

9. "Ninth, reject anything that breeds the oppression of others."

This is a tough one. First, it is an "out of sight, out of mind" issue. We don't typically think of where our stuff comes from. Secondly, oppression happens so often by so many big companies. According to Claiborne's book (left), Coca-cola, Nestle, Disney, Nike, and Gap have all been exposed for running sweatshops overseas and being militant and abusive towards workers. Some websites to check out are www.globalexchange.org, www.sweatshopwatch.org, and www.hrw.org.

10. "Tenth, shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God."

"It is so easy," says Foster, "to lose focus in the pursuit of legitimate, even good things." May we keep our focus on the King and his Kingdom first and foremost, and may everything else fade into the periphery.

I will conclude with Foster's final thought: "May God give you--and me--the courage, the wisdom, the strength always to hold the kingdom of God as the number one priority of our lives. To do so is to live in simplicity."

Simply Simplicity, Part 1

As the New Year is underway, it is time for New Year's resolutions. There are many good ones, such as those made 2 centuries ago by Jonathan Edwards, and there are the most common ones. I have made two. The first is to lose a few of these marriage pounds I have put on. The second is to take a step closer to living a life of simplicity. Here's why.

Right before Christmas I finished an amazing book called The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I honestly think that this is a must read for anyone who is serious about changing the world (You can purchase it on the left). It rocked me. Shane has a ministry to homeless people that you can read about here. Shane did an internship with Mother Theresa in Calcutta before she died and now has dedicated his life to working with the poor and homeless. It is an amazing story, and he is quite a theologian as well. After reading Claiborne's book, and wrestling with the fact that he makes his own clothes and shoes when one of my struggles is buying too many clothes, I made a decision. In the year of 2007, I am not going to buy any clothes (there are 2 small exceptions to that, 2 specific things that I will get, and then that is it). It is my small act simplicity to get my life moving that way.

As I continued to pray and study this, I opened Richard Foster's classic work The Celebration of Discipline, as I remembered some of his thoughts on simplicity. He has some great thoughts on what he separates out as Inner Simplicity and Outward Simplicity. Today, we will deal with Inner, and part two will look at the Outward.

Foster starts by critiquing our culture on its lack of simplicity (which is not hard, not even 25 years ago when Foster first wrote this). He states, "Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry." He then gives an overview of the scriptural examples of simplicity and the statements against greed. He then summarizes Inner Simplicity with three attitudes that we should all have. Here they are with my commentary.

1. "To receive what we have as a gift from God is the first inner attitude of simplicity."

Everything we have is from God, and we must always remember that. The simplest things that we depend on are typically the things we don't control anyway: air, water, sun(warmth). Realizing that we trust God for what we have and receive is very important to living a life of simplicity. It is when we see ourselves as the source that we can both succumb to greed and be gripped with the fear of falling with no security. When a person starts playing these games, it is hard to come back.

2. "To know that it is God's business, and not ours, to care for what we have is the second inner attitude of simplicity."

It is certainly wise to take precautions like locking the doors to your house. But, in the end, it is God who protects the house, and not the lock. For that matter it is God who ultimately protects everything we have; our employment, our reputations, our families. If we were to see ourselves as the protectors of these things, we could easily go crazy taking every precaution. We would be gripped with anxiety. It boils down to a trust issue, once again.

3. "To have our goods available to others marks the third inner attitude of simplicity."

Foster attributes our incessant need to hold onto our possessions and never share with others to one thing: fear of the future. We do not trust God to provide for us for tomorrow, so we hoard and collect so we will have enough for tomorrow. This is the exact thing that the Israelites tried to do with Manna, and they were corrected for not having proper faith in God to provide for them each day. Foster says, "If our goods are not available to the community when it is clearly right and good, then they are stolen goods." What a statement. I still think this goes back to the idea that we think we own what we have, and the truth is that that is not stewardship, because stewards don't own anything.

I am devoting 2007 as a year where I vow to live a life that can be more identified with simplicity than in the past. Maybe some of you would choose to make the same commitment. May God help us in this tough battle, and may we honor him by seeking his kingdom by living a simple life.

The Crash

Allow me to share some of the recent adventures in my life.

I was in a serious automobile accident a week and a half ago in my 2003 Ford Escape. Let me first say that I am fine (most importantly). It was Thursday, December 21st, and I had been meeting with a student named Jacob for coffee at Starbucks. As we were sitting by the window at Starbucks having an awesome talk as student and youth pastor, we noticed that big flakes of snow were painting the ground outside. It was coming down fast. It had been raining all day, and the ground was cool enough for the snow to stick immediately. It came time for us to go and we headed out into our snowy world.

I entered highway 61 from 80th street traveling south-east. The snow/water/ice mixture was forming a sort of hard slush. About a quarter of a mile south of 80th, I hit a patch of slush that was jettisoning out into my lane. I was not driving fast, but we started skidding. I was familiar with correcting a skid, as I am no stranger to driving in bad weather. I had many times defensively driven out of a skid. This one was different though. For whatever reason, we began to slide sideways into the ditch. I remember saying to Jacob "Hold on!" as we were sliding into the ditch and facing the way we came. At one point we began to roll. We rolled one and a quarter times and ended up on the driver's side door. I said to Jacob, "You okay!?" to which he replied, "Yeah, you?!" I was. The passenger's side window had shattered. I helped Jacob get his seat belt off and get situated. There were already people there checking on us. We climbed up, out the passenger's side window and jumped down into the ditch. I called 911, and then my wife, then the person I was supposed to be meeting next, then the insurance company. Jacob called his parents.

The roof was partially caved in. The SUV was in pretty bad shape. It turned out to be totaled. For such a bad accident, it is amazing to me that we both walked away without a scratch on us. I credit God (please, get to know him if you don't already), seat belts (please, wear them if you don't already), and safe cars (they are worth the money). Looking back the moment was kind of surreal. It seemed to happen both very fast and in slow-motion. I remember Jacob's coffee spilling on me as we rolled (which turned out to smell like puke when it gets on your clothes...what's that about?). I remember adrenaline taking over. I don't remember the window shattering, or when we first leaned into the first roll, or smashing over the fence. It is interesting to think back on such an event and remember all of the things that happened.

It turned out that the insurance company was great (hooray Allstate!) and is giving me a great settlement. The cop who came out was great. Jacob and his parent were cool. Friends called to check on me. We planned to leave the next day for Ohio to visit Angela's family...so a friend let me borrow his car for the 2,000 mile round trip. All in all, God really took care of me in this whole ordeal. And to think that I sometimes have a problem trusting fully in God.

A friend emailed me today and said, "You should be looking for God to do something special in and through you, soon. These things do not happen by chance." That is quite a thing to be reminded from an ordeal like this. I'm here for a reason. There is work left for me to do. Bring it on.