The Biggest Shopping Weekend of the Year!

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it. I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my kids. I love spending time with my family, laughing together in the living room while in the background the Lions find new and interesting ways to lose another game and the smell of cooking turkey and stuffing wafts in from the kitchen. I love sitting back and drinking a post-dinner cup of coffee while deciding whether or not to eat another piece of pie, or whether to simply wait a few hours so it will be as enjoyable as it is delicious. I love how easy it is, looking around the room and listening to the sounds of my children playing, to find reasons to be thankful.

Many people find it ironic that, on the heels of this wonderful day of togetherness and thankfulness, we spend the early hours of Friday standing in line, nearly freezing to death as we wait for the stores to open, so we can push, shove, scream, cajole, and fight our way to whatever big sale brought us there in the first place. How the Rockwellian family portrait of Thanksgiving gives way to the materialistic, consumer-driven chaos of Black Friday.

Even more ironic, perhaps, is that all this insane materialism is in celebration of a small child, born in poverty, the very incarnation of God on earth, who grew into a Man, a prophet, and a Savior for the entire world.

As the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year creeps into the entire weekend, and on into Cyber-Monday, let us remember what's truly important -- not only during the Christmas season, but for the entire year. And let us be an example for the rest of the world, in our love, joy, and thanksgiving for what Christ has done, and for what God gives us every single day.

Philippians 4:5-7

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Where to, God? Part 2

I went to college for radio. Sort of.

Fresh out of high school, excited for what God had planned, and ready to get started, I began my Freshman year with a double major in Broadcasting and Business Management (the latter to make my parents -- who wisely insisted on a fall-back plan -- happy). By the time I actually left college (not graduated -- a story, perhaps, for another time), I had spent much of my time in video production, film studies, journalism, writing, and, yes, radio. My experiences were as varied as could be for a mediaphile. I had gotten married, interned with a film company, and had decided my career would not, in fact, be in radio, but in film and video production.

I mention this, because looking back on it now, I see that God had given me my original passion and that I -- and not He -- moved in a different direction. A fickle race, mankind.

And of course, when it came to doing things my own way, I failed. Often. After multiple part-time and temporary jobs, and after failing to pull the video production job into a permanent, full-time position, it still took a long time for me to get the hint.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. My wife had, at some point during all this, gotten pregnant. I still couldn't find a solid, full-time job, and, once the kids came, we thought we needed a bigger place. We found what we thought was perfect -- until the landlord decided, six months into our stay, that he wanted his daughter to live there. Now we had two kids, little money, and soon, no home. We did what you do in those situations: we went to family.

We moved in with my wife's family in Northern New York. Then, once his rental property opened up, we took up residence there as her father's tenants. We got jobs, the two of us, almost right away after moving out there. Well, part-time jobs in retail. But it was work.

A few years after moving, my Father-in-law found an ad in the local paper: a small country radio station was hiring. No experience necessary. I actually HAD experience -- AND education. I applied, and was more or less hired immediately. It didn't pay a lot, but it made me happy, and I kept my part-time job to make ends meet. More importantly, I believe now, it was God's way of getting me back on track for His plan.

Making a long story short, after a couple years there, I was hired into a larger station, where I worked another three, before finally being brought back into Christian radio where, I suspect, God wanted me all along.

Here's the thing with God. When you seek His will, ultimately you will find it. When you fall short of seeking God's will, He will put you into a place where, as Rich Mullins sang, You're lost enough to let yourself be led.

I spent a good chunk of my adult life depressed and unsatisfied. Ashamed of my failure to provide for my family. Even more ashamed that I knew, ultimately, I wasn't doing what God wanted me to do. But as I look back, I see something amazing: even though I forgot about God's will, He did not. And, when I was ready to ask Him, He had already laid the groundwork to put me back on His path.

Matthew 6:31-33

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I have learned, through my own errors in life, by the side of a patient and understanding wife, under the watchful eye of a loving God, that a life lived outside of His will is a life unfulfilled. I'm not going to pretend everything will be perfect here on Earth as long as we do what God says; but I know it's a better life knowing that I'm walking the path laid out by the creator of the Universe. I won't pretend to know what's up ahead, but God does. And that's good enough for me.

Where to, God? Part 1

Sometimes, it feels like there aren't ANY choices...
Sometimes, that's because there are just too many.

My favorite song by Rich Mullins is one he recorded as a demo, shortly before his death in 1997. In the final verse of "Hard to Get," which is about the struggle to understand God's relationship to man, Rich sings:

I can't see where You're leading me, unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led

It can be difficult, in the midst of depression or despair, to feel the Hand of God on your life. In an economy where finding a job that allows you to support your family is itself a monumental task -- so monumental, in fact, that many have simply given up looking -- it's easy to wonder: where is God's plan for my life?

Before my children were born, that was where I found myself. I had left my job -- a dead-end position in corporate communications that, at least, paid a living wage -- in order to more fully engage in freelance video production. I was an entrepreneur! I had begun working with a woman who had established herself in the professional videography world, and we had plans to take her company beyond weddings and graduations. The time was right. People would pay for our services, and there was plenty of money to go around.

I had planned to leave my position right before 9/11/2001, and left shortly thereafter. I was just too short-sighted to understand the economic impact at the time. I learned. After years of struggling and taking on part-time jobs, I was offered a position with another company to do exactly what I had wanted to do, but with full-time hours and pay. I would build their video services business from the ground up, and it would be exciting, and new, and fulfilling. And, to make a long story short, it was a bitter disappointment.

Just like that, I was back to substitute teaching. To taking whatever wedding video job I could find, and filling the rest of my hours through a temp service. I was briefly offered a full-time, entry-level position with a multi-billion dollar corporation, only to see the position eliminated before my first day of work.

It was depressing. It was debilitating. There were days I couldn't even get off the couch. I was just... ashamed. Saddened that I was unable to provide for my family. Beginning to crumble under the debt and pressure. My wife and I were fighting about everything. Put simply, if my little family had a future, I couldn't see it.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

I love to look back and see now how the Lord moved in my life. How He positioned  me from depression to trust in Him. This is all part of a larger story, of course... one that is still playing itself out, even now. 

I couldn't see God's Hand leading me. I couldn't see that He led me to exactly that point -- the point at which I could realize that I -- and my family -- needed to let Him lead.

The Law of the Lord is to Love

The one thing Christians seem to have a hard time with, when it comes to the "religion" aspect of our Faith is how easy it really is to become a follower of Christ. On many levels, this really makes a lot of sense. After all, noting worth having is simply given away, right? You work for it; you fight for it; you grab hold and never let go.

Fair enough.

Then you have that whole Law and Prophets -- more or less everything before Jesus came to the Earth. Ancient Israel certainly had to do more than just sit back and accept a free gift. Certainly, that doesn't just disappear, right?

Strangely, though Jesus Himself shows and tells us how to follow Him, it's still so easy to get caught up in "being religious."

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

He gives further explanation in Matthew 22. 

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (34-40)

So, when it comes to following Jesus, the daily question I ask myself is this: why is it so much easier to try to obey "the law" -- that is, to be religious -- than it is to simply love? We're so caught up in "do"s and "don't"s that it becomes easy to judge others rather than love them.

The truth is, sometimes, Jesus is asking a lot when he asks us to love our neighbors. Other people can be rude, obnoxious, or otherwise just plain unlikeable. It's so much easier, sometimes, to cling to our religiosity and to look down our noses at all those sinners out there, and to believe ourselves to be "good people."

It's easier to forget that we, too, are fallen and that, if it weren't for the Love of Christ and the indwelling of His spirit, we, too, are just a bunch of sinful people who need a little Grace. And a whole lot of love.

Too Bad The Colors Don't Match

I grew up in Michigan with a Barry Sanders poster on my wall. It wasn't always easy being a Lions fan... heartbreaking, in fact, during the Sanders years. But it's what I grew up with and, as somebody who really has never had time to be a regular sports fan, liking the Lions was simply a part of my heritage. As an adult, I found I longed for those Thanksgivings with my family, watching the Lions braving the cold while the smell of turkey, stuffing, and varied pies wafted from the kitchen. A New Yorker for seven years, I never cared about their teams one way or another -- a condition borne of the fact that I simply didn't have anyone with whom to watch the game. Yeah... I'm a social football watcher.

Since moving to Wisconsin, of course, football is an inescapable part of the culture. Especially when you live just a quick drive away from Lambeau Field. After being introduced to the team in the best possible way -- a friend took me to a Packers preseason game shortly after we moved out here -- I developed a genuine affinity for my new home team. Which is great... except for when they play the Lions. Like this coming Sunday.

Try as I might, there's a bit of a divided loyalty there. Though I really do like Green Bay, my childhood self won't let me wish defeat on my Lions. The result is a sort of apathy, the end result of which is that I root for the most convenient.

Go Pack!

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24,

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Ultimately, in football or in life, you will choose sides. If your loyalty is split between you and God, your heart will simply do what is easiest and, before long, God won't even be in the picture. If you're going to serve God, you must make your choice.

As for me, praising God that He is as stable as I am fickle, I gladly choose to serve my Savior.

If You're Still Stalling, You Haven't Been Repaired

This has probably happened to you, too: I took my car to a shop a couple years back, because it wouldn't start properly. The mechanic looked it over, fixed... something... and declared it repaired. Within a couple of days, I noticed the car still wasn't starting the way it should and took it back. I don't know what the mechanic fixed, but it wasn't the problem. If he had, I would have seen a change. Pretty basic stuff.

In the same way, a lot of people claim to know Jesus -- that He has come in and transformed their lives. But, when you actually look at their lives, it seems nothing has changed.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that in Christ we are a new creation. Not a changed creation -- new. Meaning, if we are truly transformed in Jesus, we will be different than we were before. We will reflect Christ to those around us, creating an undeniable witness.

If the book of 1 John has an overall message to it, I think it's this: that people truly transformed by Christ will show it in the way they treat others.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:3-11)

God's will in our lives is evidenced by our love for those around us. It's really that simple. 

I don't have a lot to add, except this: First John is an exceptional book, and not extremely long. Ask God to prepare your heart, to open it to His teaching, and then take a moment to read this epistle. And as you read, compare it to your own life and ask: Does my life reflect the change God has made in me -- and if it doesn't, can I really claim to know Him?

Really, It's Just a Fun Word To Say

John 10:10 is a familiar enough verse, neatly tucked at the end of Jesus' description of Himself as a shepherd, who keeps the gate of the sheepfold against "thieves and robbers."

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

There's a lot of confusion in our world about the meaning of that word: "Abundantly." Purveyors of the prosperity Gospel will tell you it means God wants to grant you health and wealth on earth, and to give you a comfortable life.  Of course, if we look at the rest of Scripture, we can pretty quickly rule that out. But what does it mean?

Some synonyms for "Abundant:"
copious, profuse, overflowing, plentiful, teeming, rich.

When Jesus talks about Life, most often, He is referring, not merely to our temporary bodies, but our entire selves. Our souls. He's not talking just about our brief time on this planet, but our eternities, starting right now. 

I have come to believe that an Abundant Life is one given up to the Will of God. It is a life filled, teeming, overflowing with the Love of our Savior. It is a life of service to God and His people. An abundant life is a life free from Sin, not given over to temptation, and filled with the joy that can only come by being called a Child of God.