The Night Before

How long into the night did the betrayal of Jesus go? Was everything over by now? Are the disciples still reclining in the upper room uneasy about all the Jesus has been saying and his action of washing their feet. Do they get it yet? Maybe they are asleep in the garden right now?

If all has been said and done, how is Peter feeling right now? Has he denied Jesus yet, or is he simply stewing in his over the top personality, frustrated that Jesus said he would deny him three times. “It isn’t going to happen! I have Jesus’ back!”

And then there is the guard who got whacked in the ear with the sword. How does he handle the night? Does he know of the Jesus before being sent into the dark to get him? How angry is he when he takes a sword to the head? Is he happy that Peter has bad aim? Even more, what does he do when Jesus heals his ear? I know what my reaction would be: “I’M OUT!!! DID YOU SEE WHAT HE JUST DID? I’M NOT TYING HIS HANDS UP!”

Or, if we want to go really dark, what are the teachers of the law and the priests feeling right know? Do they have the eager stomach butterflies that you get when you are on the edge of something big? Are they confident in their actions? Are they prideful? I think they are probably a bit skeptical. They’ve been in the place before when they almost had Jesus. He’s a slippery one, always getting away. Are they simply waiting until he’s finally dead to relax?

As I have mulled over the Scriptures and stories for today, one thing in all of these stories grips me. Every one of the people in the story has no idea how upside down life will be in a few days. They have expectations of what could happen and of what they want to happen, but they have no idea…

Here’s the question that has haunted me the most today. I know the end of the story. I know what happens. How am I allowing that to change me? Do I have any expectations?

Stop and chew on those two questions for awhile. Shut the music off and close the tab for Facebook and Twitter. Be still for a few moments and reflect on the Cross of Christ and ask those two questions: How am I allowing that to change me? Do I have any expectations?

How are you allowing the Light to penetrate your life? How are you, in turn, being the Light to others?

PBJ

If you were to look at my calendar, you would see an event called PBJ scheduled every day. PBJ to me is not a sandwich, but Prayer, Bible, and Journaling. Others might call it their quiet time or devotional time. It is simply setting aside time each day to spend time in the Bible, to pray, and to journal.

One would think that me being a minister means I’m consistent–that this time is a given every day. Some may even think this is all we do as ministers. Boy, do I have you fooled. I am simply like everyone else. Some days my time is good and consistent. Sometimes, its horrible and lost amidst the busy and mundane.

I have struggled with making PBJ time most for most of my spiritual walk. I would do well with reading the Bible, but I would be horrible at a specific prayer time in my day. I would do well reading the Bible, but there would be days and week long gaps between when I wrote in my journal. I simply wasn’t good at making time and being disciplined. Isn’t that what we all struggle with?

This year I have made a purposeful effort to make more time. I’ve been purposeful to be more consistent and to put this time first in my day. There is an alarm set on my phone for 5:50am every week day. It goes off, and I argue with myself about getting up to spend time with God. I have been doing it for a little over a month now. I’ve had good weeks, and bad weeks. I’ve made at least three days each week.

Do I tell you this to say, “I’m better than everyone else?” Not at all! I partly say it so you can keep me accountable. You have every right to stop me some Sunday and ask, “How is PBJ going?” I’ll be honest and tell you if its good or if I’ve given into sleeping through the mornings.

I also tell you to hopefully encourage you. We are called to live our lives for God. To do that, we need to engage our hearts and minds with him–with his Kingdom. How do you do that? How do you make time to seek God every day? If you don’t, how do I help you start?

We have plenty of resources. I’d be more than happy to find you a journal to start in and give you some directions. If you need a Bible, we have plenty of those. You can even get them online for free. If you need a reading plan, we have those too. If you need a PBJ buddy–someone who will ask once in a while how it is going and how you are making space, just ask!

One more thing–I don’t simply get up at 5:50 each morning to have my PBJ time because it is a requirement or a checkbox I need to fill for my spiritual life. It is me making time to allow God to shape my day. It gives me time to read Scripture and see how others lived and interacted with God and his Kingdom. It gives me the chance to pray for those around me and to thank God for the day ahead. While it hasn’t been easy to get up each day, this last month has felt better. I feel better about who I am. I feel more focused on my ministry and how I am helping to lead you all to seek, study, and serve God. I don’t think that has been on accident.

I encourage you to make time for God. Lean in to Him and see what happens!

Football and Worship

Every week at South, the worship team comes out to begin the worship gathering. The beginning of the first song signals to everyone in the lobby that it is time to come in for worship. In the time of one worship song, the droves of people join the handful in the handful of people already in the room. Normally everyone is quick to engage. This week was slightly different.

As the first song came to an end, about twenty people clapped. In a room with over two hundred people in it, twenty people clapping sounds like you would expect it to sound….dismal. And, for the record, let me state that people clapping after a song has nothing to do with us on the stage getting accolades. We aren’t there for that. We are not rock stars. We are there worshiping along side those gathered with us. Our focus is revering God with our singing and music. I felt the need, as the worship minister, to stop the worship train and challenge our people. See, the MSU football game was the night before. It started at 8:00pm and went way late. I know this because I was up watching the almost self destruction of the green and white in the 4th quarter. I was there, frustrated, yelling, cheering, and so on just like everyone else. Understandably, everyone was tired and reserved the next morning.

Which leads us back to worship. We finished the first song where we were just singing about how God’s creation shares in our worship of the Creator. Our response was extremely lack luster, “Yeah God, for being the creator of everything….where’s the coffee…who is clapping…stop clapping!”

My challenge to our people was that we must have perspective on life. Staying up late and yelling/cheering at a football game pales in comparison to us joining together to worship God, the creator of everything. He who gives us breath to breathe should receive much greater accolades than a football game or team.

Now, understand. I’m not innocent in the matter. I don’t know that I clearly communicated that last week when I paused our singing (and I will probably address it again this week). We will get emotional and fired up for just about anything like a hockey game, a new apple product, the beginning of the new fall TV schedule, America, a new app, hunting, eating, exercise, or even our Facebook feed. This list is endless. It doesn’t even have any bad stuff on there like porn, gambling, drinking, money, power or whatever else we crave. Our attentions are continually distracted from the one who created life and gave redemption.

Our struggle runs really deep in our souls. How many of us have made time in our schedules to make sure we can watch the game each week, yet struggle to find anytime to read God’s word or pray? What’s the first thing you check on your phone each morning? Twitter? Email? The scores of last night’s game? Would we be embarrassed if we tracked how much time we spent on Facebook or playing video games and compared it to the time each week that we mentally engaged in our spiritual lives? We are a mess and in continual need of our Savior.

Like I said above, I am not innocent in this matter, not in the least. The question for us is this: How do we change so that our Creator has the top spot in our attention all the time?

Maybe you need to schedule God time each day. Maybe you need to delete some apps off your phone. Maybe you need to quit doing some things. Maybe you need to read Job 38-42 or Psalm 104. Then go spend some time out in nature, taking in God’s creation, seeing the beauty in it. Stand in awe of it, in awe of the Creator, the giver of life, the only one who can rescue us from ourselves.

Lord, help us to lay aside our idols so we can truly be your children.

Testing Again

I am testing to see if stackedit.io will work on my ipad in a browser. It seems to be. 

Technology amazes me sometimes. I can have conversations with people on the other side of the world with simple technology now. I can talk face to face with my siblings with my phone. The rental car I am driving helps me see where I am backing up with cameras, lights, and guide lines on the screen in the dash. My phone helps me not get lost when going from here to there when away from home.

I can type here on my iPad, have stackedit.io do its magic, and eventually post to my blog without having to fight format issues and the such. We have it so good.

I read articles on the internet, save them to my Pocket to reread later. Then I file them to Evernote. Of course, all of these resources are available on my phone, my ipad, and my computer on my desk. I am completely mobile and able to do just about anything from anywhere. AND, when I need to do something heavier, I can log into my home base computer in my office and control it from my phone and my ipad, as long as I have an internet connection. 

While all of these things are great, they still involve one thing. Me doing things. The enable me to be more productive from anywhere, but I still have to be productive. I still need to be engaged and do something.

Isn’t that always our problem?

Spoke too soon….wasn’t able to fully get it to work. Bummer. Now I have to move this over myself. Ho hum.