Happy New Year's Eve, friends! As you're out celebrating and I'm at home in my pajamas, let's reflect together on these words. This quote is from one of my favorite movies, Pirates of the Caribbean. Gibbs says to Captain Jack, "Take what you can." Captain Jack replies, "Give nothing back."
That's our attitude in much of life, isn't it? Most of us are not pirates sailing the seven seas, but we are pirates right where we are. We ignore the plights of others, choosing instead to focus on our own wants and desires. For example, we buy new pairs of mittens for ourselves, despite the fact that the mittens we already have are just fine, and we conveniently don't see the homeless man on the side of the snowy street whose hands are frozen.
Now, I'm not trying to get into a debate about how to best help the homeless. What I am trying to point out is that we are a selfish people. We are no better than Gibbs and Captain Jack.
Here's what I propose: that we see ourselves in others and do for them what we would have them do for us. This will be different for each of us. Some of us have been blessed financially and can give to various organizations. Some of us have been blessed with talents that can be beneficial to others. Some of us have been blessed with time to use serving others. Whatever it may be, let's change the quote - give what you can, and take nothing back. After all, that's what Jesus did for us. It's what he calls us to do as his people. Let's do it!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Thursday, December 24, 2015
A Christmas Doggie Devotional
Hello, friends! Merry, merry, merry Christmas! I'm writing to you from my garage, where my dog and I have been engaged in a celebratory game of fetch for over an hour.
(Before anyone says, "Why are you not with your family?!", let me reassure you, I will be seeing my family soon. My nephew, along with a few other people probably, will be in Urbandale over New Year's, so that's when I'm going home.)
Now, back to that celebratory game of fetch. Pastor Jay once told me that you can make a spiritual analogy out of anything, so here's my attempt. :p
My dog lives in my garage, because I'm not allowed to have her in the house. Every morning, the first thing I do is get up and let her out of her crate. She is beyond excited to see me. We usually go for a walk or play some fetch before I feed her. Then I have to go to work, so I lock her in her crate again.
When I come home for lunch, the first thing I do is let her out of her crate. She's beyond excited to see me. We go for a short walk and I let her hang out outside on her tether (which is no longer attached to any windows) while I eat on the kitchen. Then I have to make the long trek across the parking lot back to work, so I lock her back in the crate.
When I get off of work, I return home and let my dog out of her crate. She's beyond excited to see me. This is usually when we go for a nice long walk, often an hour or more. We play fetch in the backyard or "find-the-treat" in the garage. I feed her around 4:30. However, I do have to leave her by herself outside or in the garage while I am productive (or unproductive, as the case may be) inside. She's always rather sad when I leave her alone. She checks the kitchen door every few minutes to see if I happen to want to play fetch. Then, when I go to bed, I lock her in her crate and leave her for the night.
Now, I tell you all of these mundane details about the life of Kensi for a reason, I promise. Kensi is what every good Christian should be: she is enthusiastic, persistent, dedicated, and loving. Just like Kensi, I should be enthusiastic about my God. I should be persistent, constantly checking to see if my God has anything new to do or say. I should be dedicated, always willing and eager to do whatever it is that my God sets before me. And finally, I should be loving. I should emulate my loving God in everything I say and do.
Notice I said "should." I'll be honest with you - I don't do those things; at least, I don't do them all the time.
But there is this wonderful holiday. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called Christmas. On Christmas, Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ came to earth to fulfill all of our "shoulds." Jesus was enthusiastic, persistent, dedicated and loving from the day he was conceived to the day he died - and to the day he rose again, and still even to today. There has never been better news in all of eternity.
Because of Jesus, my "shoulds" turn into "cans" - as in, my "I should be enthusiastic" turns into "I can be enthusiastic - in Christ." My "I should be persistent" turns into "I can be persistent - in Christ." My "I should be dedicated" turns into "I can be dedicated - in Christ." And my "I should be loving" turns into "I can be loving - in Christ." Just like the angel told Mary, "Nothing will be impossible with God."
Now, before I finish this blog, there's another spiritual analogy I want to make. My dog's whole life revolves around me coming into the garage. When I'm not present, she sleeps. End of story. This is yet another way in which I can copy my wonderful animal. My whole life should revolve around my God. It doesn't - but because Jesus's did, mine can, too. And the great thing is that I don't have to wait for my God to come into my garage, so to speak. He's with me always, and that is never more evident then on Christmas.
From me and mine, to you and yours, with love, merry Christmas. I pray that you keep the hope of Christ's birth in your heart today and always.
(Before anyone says, "Why are you not with your family?!", let me reassure you, I will be seeing my family soon. My nephew, along with a few other people probably, will be in Urbandale over New Year's, so that's when I'm going home.)
Now, back to that celebratory game of fetch. Pastor Jay once told me that you can make a spiritual analogy out of anything, so here's my attempt. :p
My dog lives in my garage, because I'm not allowed to have her in the house. Every morning, the first thing I do is get up and let her out of her crate. She is beyond excited to see me. We usually go for a walk or play some fetch before I feed her. Then I have to go to work, so I lock her in her crate again.
When I come home for lunch, the first thing I do is let her out of her crate. She's beyond excited to see me. We go for a short walk and I let her hang out outside on her tether (which is no longer attached to any windows) while I eat on the kitchen. Then I have to make the long trek across the parking lot back to work, so I lock her back in the crate.
When I get off of work, I return home and let my dog out of her crate. She's beyond excited to see me. This is usually when we go for a nice long walk, often an hour or more. We play fetch in the backyard or "find-the-treat" in the garage. I feed her around 4:30. However, I do have to leave her by herself outside or in the garage while I am productive (or unproductive, as the case may be) inside. She's always rather sad when I leave her alone. She checks the kitchen door every few minutes to see if I happen to want to play fetch. Then, when I go to bed, I lock her in her crate and leave her for the night.
Now, I tell you all of these mundane details about the life of Kensi for a reason, I promise. Kensi is what every good Christian should be: she is enthusiastic, persistent, dedicated, and loving. Just like Kensi, I should be enthusiastic about my God. I should be persistent, constantly checking to see if my God has anything new to do or say. I should be dedicated, always willing and eager to do whatever it is that my God sets before me. And finally, I should be loving. I should emulate my loving God in everything I say and do.
Notice I said "should." I'll be honest with you - I don't do those things; at least, I don't do them all the time.
But there is this wonderful holiday. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called Christmas. On Christmas, Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ came to earth to fulfill all of our "shoulds." Jesus was enthusiastic, persistent, dedicated and loving from the day he was conceived to the day he died - and to the day he rose again, and still even to today. There has never been better news in all of eternity.
Because of Jesus, my "shoulds" turn into "cans" - as in, my "I should be enthusiastic" turns into "I can be enthusiastic - in Christ." My "I should be persistent" turns into "I can be persistent - in Christ." My "I should be dedicated" turns into "I can be dedicated - in Christ." And my "I should be loving" turns into "I can be loving - in Christ." Just like the angel told Mary, "Nothing will be impossible with God."
Now, before I finish this blog, there's another spiritual analogy I want to make. My dog's whole life revolves around me coming into the garage. When I'm not present, she sleeps. End of story. This is yet another way in which I can copy my wonderful animal. My whole life should revolve around my God. It doesn't - but because Jesus's did, mine can, too. And the great thing is that I don't have to wait for my God to come into my garage, so to speak. He's with me always, and that is never more evident then on Christmas.
From me and mine, to you and yours, with love, merry Christmas. I pray that you keep the hope of Christ's birth in your heart today and always.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Don't Cry Over Broken Windows
Hello, friends. Here's what I have learned today:
Storm windows are great at protecting your house against storms.
Storm windows are not so great as an anchor for your dog tether.
And, finally, the trustees at my church are wonderful.
...I'm sure some of you are wanting the whole story, so here you go. I have a fairly narrow backyard, and no matter where I put the stake for my dog's tether, my dog can still get under the fence. Today I noticed that there was a handle on the outside of the storm window in my kitchen. It seemed pretty sturdy, and it would prevent her from getting under the fence, so I attached her tether to that and went back inside. This was a poor decision. In fact, it was a terrible decision. About half an hour later, I heard an enormous crash from outside. I raced out my back door to find the storm window on the ground, completely smashed.
Thank God, Kensi wasn't underneath the window when it fell! She is completely unharmed, and the non-storm window is still intact, so my house isn't exposed or anything. I brought my dog inside and promptly called one of our church trustees, because I had absolutely no idea what to do about the situation. He came over within a few minutes, took a look at the problem, and not only helped me get rid of the smashed window, he also brought me something so that I can attach Kensi's tether to the house without breaking anything else. He said he'll probably get a new storm window and put it up on Monday. Thank God for trustees! I don't know what I would have done without him!
He also said something that made me feel a lot better: "It's all part of loving a dog." These things happen when you bring anyone else into your life, really, not just a pet. You open yourself up to more problems than you would have if you were alone -- but you also open yourself up to more joy. My dog may have brought my window crashing down, but she's also brought me a reason to look forward to coming home. Without her, I'd probably still have a window, but I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun.
Storm windows are great at protecting your house against storms.
Storm windows are not so great as an anchor for your dog tether.
And, finally, the trustees at my church are wonderful.
...I'm sure some of you are wanting the whole story, so here you go. I have a fairly narrow backyard, and no matter where I put the stake for my dog's tether, my dog can still get under the fence. Today I noticed that there was a handle on the outside of the storm window in my kitchen. It seemed pretty sturdy, and it would prevent her from getting under the fence, so I attached her tether to that and went back inside. This was a poor decision. In fact, it was a terrible decision. About half an hour later, I heard an enormous crash from outside. I raced out my back door to find the storm window on the ground, completely smashed.
Thank God, Kensi wasn't underneath the window when it fell! She is completely unharmed, and the non-storm window is still intact, so my house isn't exposed or anything. I brought my dog inside and promptly called one of our church trustees, because I had absolutely no idea what to do about the situation. He came over within a few minutes, took a look at the problem, and not only helped me get rid of the smashed window, he also brought me something so that I can attach Kensi's tether to the house without breaking anything else. He said he'll probably get a new storm window and put it up on Monday. Thank God for trustees! I don't know what I would have done without him!
He also said something that made me feel a lot better: "It's all part of loving a dog." These things happen when you bring anyone else into your life, really, not just a pet. You open yourself up to more problems than you would have if you were alone -- but you also open yourself up to more joy. My dog may have brought my window crashing down, but she's also brought me a reason to look forward to coming home. Without her, I'd probably still have a window, but I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Season of Love
Hello, friends. Have you ever noticed that you go through seasons in your life? For example, I went through a season in which running was the most important thing to me. During high school, cross country and track pretty much were my life. Then, in college, I went through a season in which the ability to be observant and perceptive became extremely important. In Tallahassee, meeting people was most important. I went out of my way to get to know people who were different from me.
I am currently in a season, here in Enid, in which loving others is most important. That's not to say that loving others wasn't always important to me -- it's simply to say that it is particularly important to me right now. I wrote about love in my last blog post. I've been talking about love in almost all of my children's messages to date. I emphasized love at our Friendsgiving youth event. Yesterday, I was at OK'D in Christ, the Oklahoma district high school youth gathering. I led a breakout session entitled, "How can you be a force for change at school?" Who wants to guess what I talked about?
When you're going to the Bible to research love, 1 Corinthians 13 might come to mind. However, I went to several passages from the book of John and the book of 1 John. Love is a topic that the apostle John is particularly fond of. He refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in his Gospel, and he mentions variations of the word "love" 60 times in that book. Love is mentioned 35 times in 1 John, which has a whopping total of 5 chapters. Obviously, John has a lot to say about love.
I pointed out to the high schoolers in my session that Jesus loved us in very tangible ways. He sacrificed everything for us, not only through dying on the cross, but by becoming human and coming to earth in the first place. He ignored his own well-being in order to concentrate on ours. He also trusted his Father to take care of us. Instead of worrying about himself, he put everything in his Father's hands, focusing on us.
We are called to love in the same way that Jesus loves us. That's what 1 John 3:16 says. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Now, we probably won't love in exactly the same way that Jesus did. Very few of us will probably die on a cross. But we are called to sacrifice like Jesus did. We are called to put aside our own well-being to focus on the well-being of others. We are called to trust our Father to take care of us and focus on other people.
After we discussed this in our session, I asked the teenagers to think of scenarios that they encounter in school. Topics ranged from gossip to premarital sex to schoolwork to sports to abortion. I asked them this question: "How can you be a force for change, a force for love, in these situations?" We talked through some potential responses. Each time, I emphasized love in the situation. Sometimes I pressed them to see how a response might be loving to one person, but not to another. I tried to get them to a point where they could see how their responses could be a witness to their faith, not only to their character.
The basis for my talk was John 13:34-35. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
I would say that we as Christians have been pretty bad at showing love for one another. That's definitely not what Christians are known for today. I'd say it's the opposite: we are known for our hate. We expect all people to fall in line with our principles, whether or not they agree with them, and we can be vicious when they don't. That's something I do not understand. Why do we expect non-Christians to behave in Christian ways when we aren't even behaving in Christian ways? Why do we expect non-Christians to act in love when we don't even act in love?
Keep in mind, I'm being general here. I know many, many Christians who are loving people. But I know that I myself struggle to always act in love. I tend to judge on sight and not on what's inside, just as Samuel did (1 Samuel 16). I tend to put myself above other people while ignoring what I'm doing wrong, which Jesus warned against (Matthew 7). I sin in all sorts of ways. I sit in my DCE study and write about love, despite the fact that I am the least loving person of all. Move aside, Paul. I am the chief of sinners.
Here's what I propose, just as I proposed it to my high schoolers this weekend. First, let's remember how Jesus loved us. We always have to begin there, or nothing we do matters. Let's remember how Jesus loved us so much, so unconditionally, so sacrificially, that he gave up everything he had to save us. And with that love in our hearts and minds and spirits, let's go out into the world and make ourselves known by love, not hate. Let's show our faith by our works (James 2). Let's show the love of Christ through the love of Christians. Let's love others, friends. That's what it's all about. That's what matters. That's what we are called to do.
I am currently in a season, here in Enid, in which loving others is most important. That's not to say that loving others wasn't always important to me -- it's simply to say that it is particularly important to me right now. I wrote about love in my last blog post. I've been talking about love in almost all of my children's messages to date. I emphasized love at our Friendsgiving youth event. Yesterday, I was at OK'D in Christ, the Oklahoma district high school youth gathering. I led a breakout session entitled, "How can you be a force for change at school?" Who wants to guess what I talked about?
When you're going to the Bible to research love, 1 Corinthians 13 might come to mind. However, I went to several passages from the book of John and the book of 1 John. Love is a topic that the apostle John is particularly fond of. He refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in his Gospel, and he mentions variations of the word "love" 60 times in that book. Love is mentioned 35 times in 1 John, which has a whopping total of 5 chapters. Obviously, John has a lot to say about love.
I pointed out to the high schoolers in my session that Jesus loved us in very tangible ways. He sacrificed everything for us, not only through dying on the cross, but by becoming human and coming to earth in the first place. He ignored his own well-being in order to concentrate on ours. He also trusted his Father to take care of us. Instead of worrying about himself, he put everything in his Father's hands, focusing on us.
We are called to love in the same way that Jesus loves us. That's what 1 John 3:16 says. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Now, we probably won't love in exactly the same way that Jesus did. Very few of us will probably die on a cross. But we are called to sacrifice like Jesus did. We are called to put aside our own well-being to focus on the well-being of others. We are called to trust our Father to take care of us and focus on other people.
After we discussed this in our session, I asked the teenagers to think of scenarios that they encounter in school. Topics ranged from gossip to premarital sex to schoolwork to sports to abortion. I asked them this question: "How can you be a force for change, a force for love, in these situations?" We talked through some potential responses. Each time, I emphasized love in the situation. Sometimes I pressed them to see how a response might be loving to one person, but not to another. I tried to get them to a point where they could see how their responses could be a witness to their faith, not only to their character.
The basis for my talk was John 13:34-35. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
I would say that we as Christians have been pretty bad at showing love for one another. That's definitely not what Christians are known for today. I'd say it's the opposite: we are known for our hate. We expect all people to fall in line with our principles, whether or not they agree with them, and we can be vicious when they don't. That's something I do not understand. Why do we expect non-Christians to behave in Christian ways when we aren't even behaving in Christian ways? Why do we expect non-Christians to act in love when we don't even act in love?
Keep in mind, I'm being general here. I know many, many Christians who are loving people. But I know that I myself struggle to always act in love. I tend to judge on sight and not on what's inside, just as Samuel did (1 Samuel 16). I tend to put myself above other people while ignoring what I'm doing wrong, which Jesus warned against (Matthew 7). I sin in all sorts of ways. I sit in my DCE study and write about love, despite the fact that I am the least loving person of all. Move aside, Paul. I am the chief of sinners.
Here's what I propose, just as I proposed it to my high schoolers this weekend. First, let's remember how Jesus loved us. We always have to begin there, or nothing we do matters. Let's remember how Jesus loved us so much, so unconditionally, so sacrificially, that he gave up everything he had to save us. And with that love in our hearts and minds and spirits, let's go out into the world and make ourselves known by love, not hate. Let's show our faith by our works (James 2). Let's show the love of Christ through the love of Christians. Let's love others, friends. That's what it's all about. That's what matters. That's what we are called to do.
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