Good Friday and Easter

My question to you is a very simple one. Have you ever just sat down and marveled at the Good Friday and Easter story? Have you ever just sat down and felt the mix of pain, sorrow, joy, and peace of staring at a cross? If not I’m going to try to depict the images I saw, and the feelings I felt tonight. If you have then as I go over what I felt I challenge you to remember how you felt because all these feelings and the images that go along with Good Friday and Easter are where Christianity began.
The cross was not a pretty metal necklace back in Jesus’ time. It was a method of torture. Infact it was the very worst method of torture they had. It was meant not only to cause extreme pain but also incredible humiliation. The cross was used for people then Jesus but I must confess I cant tell you the name of a single one. This is because Jesus pain was much worse than even all the others. You see Jesus wasn’t only being killed on the cross he had already endured more pain and humiliation then normal men could take. Jesus was taken and flogged nearly to the point of death and laughed at. Then he was forced to carry his cross a rather long distance up a mountain. And Jesus wasn’t exactly a weight lifter and infact most of the time he didn’t have steady meals or good shoes to walk in. So he probably wasn’t the most physically fit person in the world, but it didn’t matter because spiritually, he was more then capable. After he endured all this he got nailed to a tree. Not the nice pretty 2X4 crosses we hang in the front of our churches. Tonight more than ever before I was struck by the image of his hands, his healing hands, his pure hands, being completely covered in blood. He then shouldered what can only be described as the greatest weight in all of history. He literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders, all the sins that had ever and would ever be committed fell on him in that moment. I often become overcome by the weight of my own sins and my own transgressions and that’s only part of my sins and only the sins of one person. Not billions. After enduring all this and even some more ridicule by the very thieves being crucified beside him our Lord and Savior died. Thankfully this is not the end of the story but only the beginning.
Jesus rose again. He came back just as he said he would three days later. We all know how the stone was rolled away and he wasn’t there and how he began appear to his followers. And eventually in all his glory, Jesus ascended into heaven. When he did this he did much more then only ascend alone. Because when Jesus was resurrected so were we. And when Jesus ascended so did we. We often know that Jesus carried all our sins on the cross, but we forget that he also carried all our hopes of salvation and dreams of a relationship with God into heaven. It’s such a beautiful image that even in my very best moments I still cant seem to get my head around. It’s an image that gives me hope each and every morning that I wake up, and it’s at times the image that keeps me going. Jesus wasn’t just a man, he wasn’t just a prophet or teacher or any of that. He was the redeemer of all of us. He was literally our Savior. He saved us.
I realize I’m probably not saying anything you don’t already know. However, it is these two days, Good Friday and Easter, that we are called to always remember and carry them in our hearts. Many times we get caught up in moral debates about trivial differences in theology, or politics, or anything really, but we forget that Jesus didn’t care about any of that. Jesus was a unifier. He carried ALL of our hopes and sins. Not just the Jews. Not just the Gentiles. Not just the rich. And Not just the righteous. Everyone. I just encourage you to remember all this and try to live your life always remembering what Christ did on these days, just as I will attempt to live it out too. Maybe then we can help unify too. Praise be to God. Amen.

Cause of Sin???

We as humans have a problem. We sin…. Constantly. This has never become more obvious to me then it has since I started taking a college course on sin. It is because of this class that sin and all things that are sins have been constantly on my mind…. Yet I keep sinning anyway. There are really two key types of sins that I’ve discovered. There are the sins that we perform (lie, cheat, steal) and the ones we think. Now, it is possible to keep yourself from doing most if not all the sins that must be performed because whether we accept it or not we are responsible for our actions. However the problem is in those pesky sins we think. You know when we judge someone based on what they look like or when we allow envy into our mind. Is it even possible to control what you think? Sadly, I know now that it’s not. Ironically, I have probably been sinning more since I started thinking about sin. You know how the mind works, when you tell it not to think about something, and you instantly start thinking about that. Now we get to the point of this whole speech on sin. Both of these types of sin whether thought or performed have a common factor. There is something that I believe fuels all sins and could possibly be the reason behind every sin since the Fall of Man (what a lot of sins). That something is selfishness. Just take a minute and think about it. The seven deadly sins for example: envy- we want something someone else has… selfish, lust- we want someone to fulfill our desires of the flesh…selfish, greed- we want more money or material things…selfish, wrath- we get mad because someone/something isn’t doing what we want them to do…selfish, sloth- we are lazy because we would rather sit around then help someone…selfish, pride- overly loving of yourself because you want everyones attention and all the spot light…selfish, and finally gluttony- we overindulge because we just can’t seem to get enough…you guessed it that’s selfish. Every person is selfish. It’s just in our DNA or something, but we can minimize our selfishness. The only way to minimize selfishness is by being selfless. Serving at a soup kitchen on your one day off that week sure isn’t selfish, neither is giving half the already minuscule Christmas bonus you got to the needy. These are the things that Christ would have done. Christ was able to not be selfish because he was completely selfless. No matter how obvious it seems or no matter what roundabout way I try to explain this, the end is the same. The way you act shapes the way you think and visa versa. Selflessness isn’t something that can be faked and it can only be found by truly knowing where God wants you and being completely content with it. We as Americans are taught never to be content we should always strive to be something better and greater, but I say that there is nothing greater or better than a servant of our Lord. Glory be to God. Amen

Obstacles

Life is full of obstacles. A lot of obstacles. There are big and small ones, although they all seem big when they happen. There’s the obstacle of losing a loved one and coping with that loss and then there’s the obstacle of just trying to be yourself while trying to fit in. There’s the obstacle of getting caught up in things of the flesh and then there’s the obstacle of getting caught up in a juvenile game to try to win over a gorgeous girl (if you can’t tell this happened to me recently). Each and every obstacle despite how big or small seems is important. I must confess that I have baited you my reader until this point, because there’s a reason I refer only to these as obstacles. Imagine that your entire life is like an obstacle course. Now I don’t mean an obstacle course like in Indiana Jones, where one wrong turn could be your imminent death. Instead I mean an obstacle course that is set up with one thing in mind, to make you stronger. You see obstacle courses aren’t meant to kill us or harm us in anyway; they are meant to inspire and cause us to discover things that we had never discovered before. We can take on all the obstacles in life that are thrown our way because they aren’t meant to make us stronger. However, we can’t be completely successful all the time or we would never learn. Sometimes you have to slip and fall in the mud or be unable to scale the wooden wall, so that you can reassess your approach. Maybe there is an easier way to climb that wall or maybe if you tried slowing down a little bit in the mud pit you might be able to stay on your feet. The good news today is that unlike earthly strength which you have to build up over months, and years of sweating and toiling, strength from God is given plentifully and He has given us more then we need and far more than we could ever achieve on our own. In 2 Samuel 22:33 it says “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.” We cannot aspire to be perfect on our own because we have all learned through years of failure that it is not possible, but through God we can be made perfect. Through Him, We, the weak, are made strong. Glory be to God. Amen.

A hard lesson learned

Today marks the beginning of the end, the end of one of the hardest times in my young life. For all of you who don’t know I broke my leg and messed up my ankle during my first week of college. Perfect way to start off right? It’s now 15 weeks later and I’ve had two surgeries on my ankle and haven’t even taken a step with my left leg in the last three or four months. It definitely isn’t the way I planned for my college experience to begin, especially since I thrive on competition and haven’t had any in quite some time, but I must confess that I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process. At first I was really pissed. There’s no other way to describe it. For the most part I just laid around feeling sorry for myself for the first month or so. Needless to say this was some of the least productive time ever in my life. Then God challenged me to get up and do more. So I did. It hasn’t been easy to try to live a normal life but I’ve done the very best I could. I’ve learned that when disaster strikes a man learns what he’s really made of. My favorite quote from Martin Luther King Jr. describes this “the ultimate measure of a man isn’t where he stands of moments of comfort and convenience, but in moments of challenge and controversy.” (that’s probably not exactly word for word so don’t hold me to it) I’ve always loved that quote, but never really had to live it before this. I’ve also learned something about the competition that I love so much. I’m blessed just to have it. There are thousands of people my age who physically can’t play ultimate Frisbee, golf, or soccer. It’s not my job to throw a temper tantrum when I don’t score, or gloat when I do. Instead it’s my job to enjoy it and to give my teammates the credit they deserve. To anyone out there who loves to compete like I do I offer a challenge, next time you play your favorite sport don’t say a word. You can still give high fives and point and your teammates when they make a good play to show them some love, but just keep your mouth shut otherwise. You will either love it or hate it. If you love it then you know exactly what I’ve learned that little things like this should be cherished. And after all without my God given ability I wouldn’t be able to play anyway, so I guess the glory all belongs to Him.

The Three Highly Underappreciated Wisemen

As I started reading Matthew something stuck out at me that never had before. The role of the three wise men/magi seems minor, especially once compared to other characters in the story. Yet, it becomes apparent to me that these 3 men were incredible figures. They left their home which was a great distance away just to follow a star because they believed it was a symbol of their coming king. Just convincing yourself to go on such a trip must be impossibly hard, but actually fulfilling the trip is even harder. Especially since you must consider that the star didn’t stay in one place… it kept moving. So there had to be a large period of time when they were making no ground up or even possibly losing ground which we would consider unbearable. Working so hard all day just because you believe in something but for a long time it looks like you are just standing still or falling farther and farther behind. It is also important to remember that they weren’t just like walking down a street as we know it today or even just going for a stroll through the woods. Instead they had dirt paths at best and most likely a lot of, for lack of a better word, luggage that they and their servants carried. So with all these things in mind it is easy to understand why the author says in Matt. 2.10 “When they saw that the star had stopped , they were overwhelmed with joy.” I would be pretty excited too after traveling for months or years towards a target that never gets any closer with very heavy equipment and probably not always the best place to stay and walking shoes that are far from our modern day Nike and Reebok and all of a sudden your faith gets rewarded by the star finally resting in one position. I would probably break down and cry just because I’d be so excited. Once there, all these three men did was give gifts to a baby who probably couldn’t have even realized what they were or were used for and then they got on their way back. Oh but there’s a catch it’s not like they can take some magic portal and he back in their beds at home…. They have to walk all that way back. But even more than that they can’t even go home the way that they came, instead they have to take some random and obscure road because they had this weird dream that told them not to go back to Herod. So what’s the point in this story. Well it’s the seemingly immeasurable lengths these three men were willing to go just to get a glimpse of the Messiah, even in infant form, and to lay a gift at his feet. It seems kind of funny that they can walk for miles and miles, days and days, to give their offering and they do it happily and we many times write a check or take a twenty out of our wallet as the collection plate passes just so the people next to us don’t look at us funny. So even when it’s not Christmas and I am giving tithes and offerings I will try to think of these three wise men and their generosity and there incredible faith.

In Awe of God

It’s 2 in the morning and I have an 8 o clock class tomorrow yet here I am typing on my computer because of one thing. I’m in awe of God. Kind of a weird time I know… theres no sunset or sunrise theres no beautiful sky and birds singing but yet for once everything in my life is still and peace and I have a moment to enjoy it. While sitting here I realized something I’m in a new place in a tough situation and I’ve been trying to make the best of it, but God has given me all the tools necessary to thrive in this environment. Just to start I don’t know many people here but the ones that I do know are willing to help me with nearly anything I need which is incredible how they are all so selfless so often… Maybe I can learn from that. God has also given me the gifts within myself to do this because God wouldn’t give me a test I couldn’t pass because He doesn’t set people up for failure. He also continues to reveal in me new strengths I never knew I possessed like the ability to listen instead of speaking. Sounds kinda simple but a lot of times before I would be so anxious to get to my next point I wouldn’t listen to what the other person was saying. Yet now I can honestly say I know what’s going on in my friends lives and I had lost sight of that for a while. The thing with going to college is you see things so don’t like but that’s bound to happen anywhere in the world. It is a lot better and a lot healthier to instead thank God for all that which he has given us that is good and try to fix or improve things that we don’t like. If the world was perfect then walking the Christian life would be easy. And it’s not….. It goes back to my old quote: life aint always easy but man is it fun. That’s the way to look at it and approach it, I just lost sight of it for a while.

God is Everywhere

God is everywhere… What an incredibly tacky and cliché statement, but yet it is true. In my old age, well not quite, I’ve become very tired of hearing this, but I finally realize it’s true. God is in the rain….. This I definitely realized a few nights ago when I was worshiping in the chapel with some friends. It began pouring outside and Trey and Joe, who where leading the worship, instantly transitioned to praise songs about the rain. Before I knew it I was out in the pouring rain on my knees, staring face to face with my Lord and Savior. Moments like that are so rare but so perfect. I long for those moments but they are so spontaneous and unpredictable that I can never plan them, but I’m never closer to God then I am in those moments. That moment has left it’s mark on me. Everywhere I go now I cant help but notice God in things. God is in the stars, God is in the wind, God is in us. Then I got to thinking as I often do…. God isn’t in stuff really is he? I don’t think He is in stuff…. I think He is everything… God isn’t in the rain, stars, wind, and us. He is us…. Some of you are thinking that I may be stretching it a little bit with the reference to us but I would disagree. Christ makes us new creations when we enter into a new life with Him and we are called to be HIS BODY. He’s not entering into our body. God is us because we do God’s work. Now in no way am I saying we are God and that we can do whatever we want; in fact that’s the exact opposite of what I’m saying. Maybe here is a better analogy. God is like the coach of a team. He teaches us. He prepares us. He guides us. But then we have to go play. We have to go out and get dirty. Now sometimes we strike out and others we hit a homerun…. I strike out a lot. Sometimes God gives you the loving caring approach to get you to try harder and other times He needs you to tell you that you are aren’t swinging right so that you can do better the next time. The good news is life isn’t about winning or losing because God already won the game for us. What kind of coach can do that? Our job is to just go out and try. We don’t have to win the race…. Just finish…. Blessed be The Lord Almighty. Amen