"EXCLUSIVE"...A WORD THAT ANNOYS ME WHEN DESCRIBING THE GOSPEL

There is something about the word "exclusive" that drives me a little nutty when it comes to the Gospel.  It's not because it's not true in the theological sense that Jesus is the only way to God the Father...it's more because of the ways that it has often been wrongly used to describe the Gospel.

One of the ways that "exclusive" has been misused is much like the kid who gets invited to the Chucky Cheese birthday party brags to the kid who didn't get invited.  It wreaks of an "I'm right and I get to go/ you're wrong and you don't get to go" tone that sounds more like a nerd who's right about an algebra problem than it is a beggar who has found bread trying to tell another beggar where to find it.

Another use of "exclusive" that drives me equally batty is a tone often taken by those of a more universalist bent where it is used an insult that is much like the terms "narrow minded" or "intolerant".  This use of the word comes from those who would say "how dare you say that Jesus is the only way to God!  That is narrow minded and intolerant of other views!"

The response that rises up in me would be "how dare you say He's not!".

I guess part of the reason that I get so agitated is that I don't think that the Gospel is exclusive at all.  If there was an impassable canyon that everyone had tried and failed to cross but  finally a bridge had been provided to cross it and ANYONE can cross the bridge, would it be "exclusive" to tell people that the bridge was the only way to successfully cross but thank God there was a way across?

If there was an incurable disease but through some miraculous anomaly, a child was born with a natural immunity towards the disease?  Would it be "exclusive" to tell the world that they would all have to get the vaccine that came from that child's blood but thank God, there was a cure!
Since we are talking about the Gospel let's take this metaphor a little further (and it is just a metaphor that will inevitably break down somewhere)... What if the production of a cure required the use of every drop of that child's blood (thus taking the child's life) but both the father and the child agreed that this was necessary to save the world..would it be "intolerant" to say that there was only one vaccine but now there was enough for everyone to get it?  If I was that father, and after losing my son to save the world, someone had the nerve to say in my presence "it' narrow minded to say there's only one vaccine and I don't like getting shots so...no thanks", I can't imagine what I'd I want to do to them...but I might just let them have their way and let them face the sickness unprepared.  Fortunately, God is nothing like me.  He is far more merciful and gracious in pleading with us even as we refuse Him and insult the death of His son.

I know that God is much more than just a father but He IS a father and from that point of view, I just don't believe He would have let Jesus go to the cross if there was ANY other way.  The hard reality is that there was only one way to pay for and cure the brokenness of man so that we could be restored back to God.  The good news and the good news is that Jesus is the only way...and He is the only way that is available to anyone and everyone.

IT'S BEEN A YEAR..

It was one year ago today that we got up at the crack of dawn, loaded up in our mini-van and our rented moving truck and headed down to Nashville.  It was one of the saddest and most exciting drives of my life.  I had no idea that that drive would very much be a symbol of the year that was to come.
and now I'm feeling the weight of this year.

There has been a lot of change.  You always see those lists of top ten stressors in life.  We've checked off most of the top five on that list...We changed cities, changed homes, changed jobs.
Not only have we changed a lot but we have left and lost.  We left a church job that might be the only perfect job description for a worship leader on the planet leading worship for the only perfectly imperfect church on the planet.  We left people at that church that had very much become family.  They're still family but now they don't live close enough to drop by or invite us over for Sunday dinner.

My kids left everything that they would call their childhood up to this point.   They left a neighborhood that was like the neighborhoods you see in old movies where the families all know each other cause they're all outside a lot doing things like Fourth of July parades around the block and impromptu driveway fire pit get togethers at night.  My kids left a church where for seven years they had the royal privileges of being a staff kid where they could roam throughout the building wherever they wanted and we didn't worry about them cause everybody there knew them.


I also lost my older brother in early March.  Him having a heart attack could not have come more out of nowhere than it did.  Mike was the one who somehow always came out of a situation unscathed.  He was the kid in the neighborhood who could ride a wheelie all the way up the cul de sac.  He was the one who could always lay down a game time performance not having practiced at all.  It's been over seven months and I'm still not sure if I have even started the grieving process...but I know I'm really starting to miss my big brother.  Life is a little more scary and I feel a little more exposed with my big brother not being there to finish fights that I started.

We have also gained.  We have gained the comfort of being back in the area that both Jenna and I grew up calling home.  I'm more convinced than ever that the deep seeded longing and dream that feels like home will never be realized on this earth..but it is nice to not have to make a whole new set of friends and start all over like we have in so many other ministry moves.  This time we moved back to people who have known us most of our lives...and we get to add new friends to that mix too.   We also gained a neighborhood right away that is very much like the one we left where it's a real neighborhood with real neighbors who have already become really good friends.

We also added.  In January, we started the process of adopting a little girl named Fodie from Sierra Leone Africa.  Under normal circumstances, we might have waited until life had calmed down a bit but because of an upcoming change in the Sierra Leone law that would make the adoption process much harder, we started the process.  We made a trip to Africa in April to go to court to make her legally ours.  Jenna made another trip in early September to bring her home and she arrived in the U.S. September 4..my big brother's birthday....and just a few days before they started closing the Sierra Leone borders because of the spread of Ebola in the region.
These first couple months with Fodie have seemed like a couple of years but not in a bad way.  I feel like we are watching a little girl who was developmentally and emotionally
a three year old blossom and catch up to the six year old that she actually is.

My body and my emotions are beginning to manifest the effects of all of the change this year has brought.  I am more tired than I think I am and there's more sorrow inside that needs to find it's way out.  I know I need to let myself feel the weight of this year.  In measuring it, I can honestly say that I know I can't bear it...but I can honestly see that I haven't been bearing it.  God has kindly been carrying it for me.  That doesn't mean that I don't need to process some things like grief and change..but I can't force that process and I'm not going to try.  It will happen when it needs to.  I'm just grateful for God's kindness through it all.

BEATING THE FEAR BULLIES

2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline" NLT

the voices at 3am are very convincing..we all know the voices... the ones that remind you that certain bills haven't been paid yet...because you haven't been paid yet.  They ask a lot of 'how' questions that really don't sound like questions at all..they sound more like an accusations.

For the single person, they may say stuff like "How are you going to find the right person at this age?..you're so far behind the timeline you laid out...even if you do get married, by the time you do, you'll be to old to start having kids!"

For the CEO the may say stuff like "how much longer do you think you can hide the fact that you really have no clue what you're doing much less how to lead a company with this many people's livelihood at stake?!...Somebody's eventually gonna find you out!"

Those voices sound suspiciously like bullies.  They are loud and intimidating.  They get right up in your face and the only thing you can see is their accusing eyes and all you can hear is the horrible sound of their voice.

But maybe there's a reason that the bully needs to get up in our face.  Our God is so great, so vast, so strong, and so easily seen in all that He has made that the only way the bully can possibly block our view is it get right up in our face so that he is the only thing we can see and hear.

As a guy who often gets to lead, write, and sing songs that talk about the greatness, the vastness, and the strength of our God, I have come to a new insight to what those songs can do on Sunday and throughout the week.  Those songs are a way to push the bully's face away (like you'd do to a little brother when he tries to get up in your face) and lift our eyes to see just how big our God is.  Those songs give us something to sing so loudly that it drowns out the voice of the accuser.  Worship in song is a chance to let God define our circumstance instead of letting our circumstances define us.  Worship is a chance to see the angel army that has surrounded the tiny fear army that has surrounded us.  In our worship, we get to look around the bully and see the Sovereign God who is unchanging and whose goodness will remain long after the voice of fear and all of our terrifying circumstances fade away.

Look up, see Him, sing out, and fear no more.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FODIE

It's been a little over a month since our newly adopted daughter has been home.  It has been one of the most challenging transitions we've ever made but it is also one of the most rewarding.   But even before Fodie arrived in America, God was already showing me the implications of His love demonstrated in the Gospel...what it means to be adopted and what it means to be called a co-heirs with Christ.

In our process of trying to get Fodie out of Sierra Leone, Africa, where Ebola is running rampant and killing thousands, there was a moment where we were afraid that Fodie's flight would be cancelled.  I knew that if her flight got cancelled that there was a good chance that all flights would be cancelled indefinitely because they would close the border to try to contain the Ebola virus (and they did close the border two days after Fodie arrived home).  In that moment, I realized that, since Fodie was now legally my daughter, I needed to do for her whatever I would do for my biological daughter.  In that context, I realized that, whether by flying to a neighboring country and driving in and out to get her or walking in or whatever, I would get my daughter home no matter what it took.  Even if I risked getting Ebola myself, I would get her out because she was now mine.  Her flight didn't get cancelled and she made it out, but I was ready to do whatever.  That is what God risked when He sent Jesus to earth.  That is the Gospel.

Now that Fodie is with us, Jenna and I have four children.  In other words, four different orthodontist bills, four different doctor bills, four different sets of clothes, two hotel rooms instead of one when we go on vacation now, four very used vehicles (or one very used vehicle to be handed down as each child turns sixteen...sorry kids),  four college tuitions, and someday, four people to share whatever resources we leave behind.

Now that Fodie is with us I am falling in love with her more everyday, but before I ever had any feelings (and even when the feelings I have aren't full of love) I had already legally made her mine and made the choice to give her every right and privilege that my other three children have.  This is the Gospel that God has made us co-heirs through and with Christ.

I knew that Fodie's transition into our family would be very difficult.  After being with her in Africa for a week in our adoption process, I knew that Fodie would try to make it very hard for us to love her because that was the only way she knew how to protect her fragile little heart that had already been wounded and disappointed so many times.  But Jenna and I chose to love her.  Not based on anything she had done to deserve our love but based on our choice...and we choose to love her even when she does everything in her power to defy our love.  We didn't and don't just choose to take her in, meet her needs, and tolerate her.  We chose and choose to love her even on those days where it would be easier to stay detached and guarded so that her rejection of our love doesn't hurt so much.  That is the Gospel.  It is the choice that God has made and makes daily to not just keep His promise of salvation and His covenant of provision, but to Love us.  To truly love us just like He loves Jesus....Just. Like. He. Loves. Jesus.

(picture by Sarah Bridgeman, @sarahjbridgeman)

ANOTHER KIND OF GRAVITY

Romans 7:21-23 
"I have discovered this principle of life..that when I want to do what is right, I ineveitably do what is wrong.  I love God's law with all my heart.  But there is another power in me that is at war with my mind.  This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me."   The Message

I can't prove the science behind it but I'm convinced that there is another kind of gravity.  It's not a physical force that can be measured but it's a force that is easily felt on a daily basis.  It's a resistance to doing the right thing and a lot of times it feels like the heavy pull of gravity.

Sometimes it comes in the form of a Saturday college football game and right as I sit down, my eight year old son asks me to come outside and throw the football with him.  That's when I feel it, it pulls against me making the right decision.  It tells me that there will be other days to throw the football which is a bit of a lie.  The truth is, there will always college football games but there will not always be an eight year old boy who wants to throw the football with his dad.

Sometimes the gravity comes in the form of exercise.  I finally get some time to go for a run and as I'm about head down the street, I notice that my 72 year old neighbor is sitting in his screened in garage alone.  He's alone a lot these days because his sweet wife passed away two years ago.  His daughter and granddaughter are really good about visiting with him regularly but even then, he's still alone alot.  I realize that I should probably stop over for a while and just spend time with him.  Once again, I feel the tug.  I hear gravity tell me that I can visit with him on another day...again, it's such an obvious lie.  My neighbor is 72 and the reality is that he biologically just doesn't have that many days left.

The more I am aware of it, the more I see a pattern emerging.  This strange force seems to show up every time there is a right decision to be made.  It's funny how those right and crucial choices never seem to come up at convenient times.  My neighbor never seems to be in his garage when I'm bored and looking for something to do.  It's the same with my son.  Anytime I think about throwing a football around, he's playing with a friend or doing something else.

I've also noticed another pattern.  Some of the most meaningful moments I've had with my neighbor and with my son were moments that came only after fighting through that gravity, getting up and going out.

We live in an upside down world so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised that this other kind of gravity will always try to pull me in the wrong direction but if I let it, that same gravity can act as a reverse compass pointing me in the right direction..

HE NEVER GETS OVER US

Psalm 139:2 "..He knows when I lie down to sleep and when I rise to wake"

I can't think of the last time I watched my kids while they slept.  My oldest is now 13, my middle is 11, and my youngest is 7.  They're growing up so fast.
I remember watching all three of them at different times when they were babies.  I was so smitten with them..I would just sit in amazement at how perfect and peaceful they were as they slept.  I was always wonderstruck when I would see them smile in their sleep and watch their eye movement beneath their little eyelids indicating that they were dreaming.  What could they possibly be dreaming about after only a few weeks or months on this earth?  Is it possible that they could remember the face of their Maker as He was smiling and cooing over them as He made them?  I'm pretty sure they were not smiling over the memories of their first experience of arriving on this earth.

I'm not sure why but I don't ever take the time to watch them any more.  I'm certainly not 'over it' or, by any stretch, less in love with them than I've ever been.  I guess it's just the nature of imperfect human love.  The 'shine' wears off and we stop taking note of the little miraculous details that happen daily in their growth and development.

I love the passage in Psalm 139 because it reminds me that God still watches us when we sleep.  How else would He know when we lie down and when we awake?  God is still absolutely smitten with us.  He never gets over us....ever.

DISCIPLEOSOURUS

1 Corinthians 11:1 "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

When thinking about discipleship, my mind naturally goes to the topic of dinosaurs...doesn't everyone's? I have always been fascinated by the topic of dinosaurs.  I remember being amazed in elementary school science class at the textbooks of what these colossal reptiles looked like.  I loved hearing about the different types of meat eaters and vegetarians and the way that some dinosaurs were predatory hunters and others were passive grazers.  My teacher would teach with such certainty about how the triceratops would defend itself with it's powerful three horned charge or how the Stegosaurus would use it's massive mace like tail as a strong defense against the sharp teeth of the Tyrranosaurus Rex or a charging pack of Velociraptors. 

But as I've grown older I've realized there's a huge problem with all of the science around dinosaurs..no one has ever actually seen a living dinosaur!  Almost all of it is educated speculation.  By the bone fossils left behind we can deduce that there were dinosaurs.  We can even get an idea of their skeletal structure but we would know so much more if we could just see them and their behavior in real life. 

We as disciples of Jesus are a lot like dinosaurs.  We are the only living example of what it looks like to follow Christ in the world today.  The unbeliever does not go the instruction manual of scripture or the example of Jesus to see what it's supposed to look like.  They are listening to what we say but significantly more so, they're watching what we do.  They don't know what we should be doing or what it's supposed to look like..they are looking to us to show them what we are.

This is also true of new believers who come behind us.  Though they do go to the authority of scripture and the perfect example of Jesus, they're still looking at us to see how the Gospel is lived out in our modern context and all of the unique dilemnas, temptations and opportunites in the cultures we live in. 

In a way, we are the like the dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park.  But instead of mosquito DNA, we've been reanimated by the Spirit of God and if we let Him, the blood, flesh and skin of our Lord is spiritually being added back to our bones so that the world and all who come behind us can have a clear picture of how Jesus and those who follow Him lived and loved.

Father, we help us to look like Jesus, to act like Jesus, and to love like Jesus so the world will see You and how much You love them through us.