91119

4428688046_baabbdcaa4_b Eighteen years ago America’s soil was violated in a three pronged terrorist attack that left many of us stunned. Most of us have recovered. Some of us weren’t even born. But this attack changed the way we viewed our safety, our stability, and our place in the world.

But what have we learned? We learned that our homeland is not impervious to attack. That 2,977+ Americans dies that morning. That wars are not always waged between nations but between ideologies. That ancient and extreme forms of Islam are alive and practiced today. Some barbarous. That America has some sins to be atoned. [We’re not a perfect pious country.] That many peoples around the world truly hate us and our way of life. They may have a point.

From our point of view, we created a lot of enemies that day. The reality is that we already had them.

Now let’s run ahead 18 years and look back. We are still fighting a war with certain branches of Islam. No resolution. Yet! But our God is full of surprises.

Most of us have been enemies of God for much of our lives. But God demonstrated his love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8] Even genuine Christians remain enemies in some areas of our lives. Hey, we’re only human! No. For too much of our lives we are worse than that. Nonetheless, Christ calls us to walk honorably before him, to care for widows and orphans, to feed the poor…, and to forgive our enemies.

It is the evil that invades our hearts and ensnares us that is the enemy of Christ; and ours too. We dare not lose sight of that. Ever.

Many in the West don’t give much credence to good & evil. They’re just constructs of the mind and definitions we use to label us vs. them. SERIOUSLY! So men are neither good nor evil. We are neutral. Really?!? History records otherwise.

So as we commemorate this 9-11 remembrance let’s remember who the real enemy is; not Islam, not the radical right or left, not home grown terror. It is the evil that under-rides the world and the entire universe seeking to destroy us and divide us and take away any remembrance of God and his redemption.

Bastard!

If you are a genuine follower of Christ you have been set free from your rebellion and rejection of his holiness. You do not have to hate or hold grudges or ancient animosities. You can chose to live a life that makes a difference among men, that forgives wrongs done, that prevents future conflicts. Now get on with it.

Honor God, honor people…, and be a pain in Satan’s ass,

Gary

NEXT— TEPID

Of Cubes and Chaos: Stepping up our Game

134294 One of the oddities of our day, or maybe every era, is that genuine Christians never seem to rise to the occasion. We wait to see what happens before we respond or step in. To my way of thinking we need to step up our game. We need to be leaders within our culture and community, not waiting to see how things go and then reacting.

One of the causes of this is that we are too wrapped up in church work. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but if it keeps us from our primary mission of drawing people to Christ then something is seriously wrong. We create a comfortable confined faith imprisoning ourselves from the world out there. I never saw Jesus draw that us/them dichotomy.

In the world, but not of it. Remember?

So…, how do we step up our game? Some thoughts—

Start by cutting back. You are probably excessively frantic & over-committed. [Aren’t we all?] You will never be able to have an effect on your surrounding community unless you make time for them— and that means cutting.

Listen to people around you; friends, neighbors, work associates, waitresses. Learn from them. It may take a while before they open their lives to you, but there will come a time when you become a safe person for them. Wait for it. Wait for it.

Up your silence before the Lord. Listen more before him than you ask for things. ‘Nough said.

Find someone with a common mind and heart to yours; someone who shares your passion for this world and the people in it. Meet often. Talk about your discouragements too.

Never forget that our Adversary prowls about like a roaring lion who wants to eat you up. [1 Peter 5:8]

Finally, stick to it; stay committed. It is too easy to become distracted and exhausted when our Lord calls you to make a difference.

There will always be challenges-to-complacency in life. Don’t give in to the illusion of safety.

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,

Gary

Of Cubes & Chaos: tempus fugit

2013nov28_macro-11-13_0016-as-smart-object-1

Since the American Holiday, Labor Day, is fast approaching it might be in all of our interests to take a look at our TIME and how we handle it. Therefore I thought this image of the inner workings of a timepiece would be an apropos starting point.

Granted, recent scientific research by José Senovilla and his team has postulated that time is slowing down and will eventually stop (1), it will probably not happen in our lifetime. So you will eventually be on time for just about everything. Mostly..

Still, the unofficial start of the new year, FALL, is just around the corner. And we all know how September kicks everything into high gear. So, here are some wise (?) suggestions on how to stay sane as your body runs away from you.

1.       Remember that God created Time so you do not have to do everything. Just some things.
2.       There is enough time in each day for you to do all of God’s will. So…?
3.       Remember Gordon McDonald’s People classification-

a.       Very Resourceful People- they ignite your passion.
b.       Very Important People- they share your passion.
c.       Very Trainable People- they catch your spiritual passion.
d.       Very Nice People- they enjoy your passion.
e.       Very Draining People- they sap your spiritual passion.
Choose wisely who you spend your time with.

4.       Plan ½ day off, a whole day off if you can get it, throughout the Fall. You know you need it.
5.       Allow someone minister to you; remember Elijah & the prophets of Baal? [I Kings 18-19]
6.       DELEGATE! Delegate! Delegate! Let it go, let it go!
7.       Pray often with your spouse, a friend, or alone in your car.
8.       Eat right. Sleep right. Pray wisely. ‘nough said,
9.       Get off your butt and MOVE!
10.   STOP.

Fall will fall upon you no matter how well you think you are prepared. Get ready. Pace yourself. Breathe.

Honor God, honor people…, and, again, breathe…, in, out, in, out,

Gary

NEXT– Paradigm Positioning 4: stepping up our game.

of cubes & chaos- paradigm positioning 2 mass murder in America

These past two weeks in America we have seen what could be our new reality. Our government seems to have fallen to its lowest common denominator in extreme language, on both sides, to devastate anyone not on their side. Four mass murders have been carried out from Texas to Ohio and two in California. Seriously.

WHAT IS GOING ON?!? Civil values in our country have taken a nose dive into deepest hell. And no one seems able to stop it. Not uncivil conservatives: nor socialistic liberals. Lots of promises, little action. After your initial reaction of surprise and shock, a search for meaning and solutions should be rolling around in your head. Seriously?!?

I don’t know about you but I am heart-sick by all the killings, the rhetoric, and the mutual-hate practices in our country. What can we do?

Nothing— That appears to be the wait-and-see answer. I’ve never been a wait-and-see kind of person. I want to make a difference in this world. Think globally: act globally! Think locally: act locally. Our Christian enclave no longer has the luxury of sitting back and waiting…, waiting…, waiting.

What used to be seen as acceptable civil values has shifted from the center to the edge. Any Judeo-Christian impact hasn’t been dominant in North America, or elsewhere, in quite some time. Yet many of us pretend it still holds some sway over the powers-that-be, the culture at large, world politics, and local manifestations. It may appear to be so, but Christianity’s influence on our world has become shallow, just-a-show-on-the-surface. Our deep values no longer even go that deep for the majority of American Christians, let alone others.

One perspective I read summed up our new world cultural paradigm as “Anyone, Anything, Anytime, Anywhere.” [Big Blue Gumball]

Three comments—

It’s not all that new.
Time for Christians to stop pretending.
Why are we so afraid of getting involved?

It’s time for genuine Christians to take a stand for the principles our Lord taught us when he was on earth. They still hold true; they still make sense. Yes, we are in a new paradigm of anti-religion, anti-Christian ideology. But our faith is neither Liberal nor Conservative. Jesus Christ owns our allegiance.

Now let us, individually and corporately, get up and get moving. Talk’s cheap: action’s everything. I’m all in!

NEXT— Paradigm Positioning 3: stepping up our game.

Of Cubes & Chaos: Paradigm Positioning

authograph-world-map-projection-4

Ever see a map of the world that looks like this one? Probably not. This is one of the 2D maps that keeps the positions of the continents in correct proportion.

Unlike the Mercator map (see below) which keeps the longitude and latitude parallels in line & makes Greenland look pretty much like the biggest continent on the face of the planet, whereas the AuthaGraph map is concerned with representing the continents in proper proportion to one another.

This is a major shift in how we image, or imagine our planet to appear in a 2D format. It requires us to think differently.

For many of us this amounts to a new way of perceiving. It forces us to consider a new paradigm of the placing of the continents.

The same kind of paradigm positioning is now thrust upon the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church has known for quite some time that she is no longer a dominant force in the world in a political sense. But she still holds the power of God to change cultures and individual lives. We need to learn a new way of intermingling that is in keeping with the new paradigms of our changing cultural attitudes to our faith.

We need to position ourselves within a new way of perceiving, and of being perceived, in our rapidly changing world. ALL Christian witness is predicated on the following factors: Scripture, culture, personality, relationships, and the power of God at work in us, individually, and globally. Over the centuries, the Church has grown more organizationally than spiritually: as such, it has become more concerned with quantifiable control than empowered presence. This is an imbalance and must be adjusted.

But how?!? Might I suggest that we start by losing our fear and judgmentalism and learn to love our healthy pagan neighbors as themselves— the way Jesus loved people. His love was full of compassion, passion, patience, truth and grace. Should our love be any less than that?

That’s right, even the way we love people has to change. Paradigm positioning is real.

NEXT— Paradigm Positioning 2…

Of Cubes & Chaos: Forgiveness

jesus-cross-summit-cross-37737 Another side of my Cube simply reads FORGIVE. It is important for us to remember how difficult it is to do that. We may say we forgive; but then we harbor a grudge, or a slander, or cast a shadow, for decades. We “share” a concern about the one who wronged us with others considering him/her for promotion or something; not fully trustworthy, possibly. Remember Truthiness?

Our reality is that we haven’t actually forgiven that group or individual. So we disparage them to others. Subtle, isn’t it. Maybe not so much.

Which is more challenging— to offer forgiveness, or to seek it? Two sides of the same coin? Over my life-span I’ve noticed that the people who are more willing to admit wrong, and seek forgiveness, are also those who forgive others more readily.

But there will always be those who find it virtually impossible to admit wrong, or seek forgiveness whatsoever. Why? I think it has to do with their self-worth. If they admit to being wrong that somehow diminishes their personhood; it becomes a matter of personal pride.

Some people simply cannot see themselves as wrong…, ever. That would make them less of a person; it would throw spurious doubt on their perfection. (Which they know, deep down, they are not anyway.) FYI— I was perfect once! For about 5 minutes in April of 1987. (You’d better be laughing.)

To err is human (Duh!) To screw up is even more human. To forgive is not. It takes a special strength to confess you are wrong about something. You are going to need God on this one. Prayer matters.

My wife and I have a principle we’ve tried to abide by our entire marriage. Always be the first to say you’re sorry; especially when you know you’re right.”

We admit we’re wrong much more readily now.

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

NEXT— paradigm positioning— where are we?

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,

Gary

Defective

new-would-you-recognize-verbal-abuse-heres-what-you-need-to-know-1 Our world is full of broken people. Too many of us live our lives with shattered hopes, unmet expectations, and life disappointments. Joyous moments seem serendipitous at best. So we find solace in alcohol and drugs. I’m not talking about the seedier elements of our society; rather, the mainstream of boomers, to genX, on down to our emerging generations. We are addicted more to virtual reality than to real reality. We are defective.

This can be traced, basically, back to our first rejection of God’s protection in the Garden. But this is too simple, too overarching an explanation. A more contemporary clarification would be our own propensity to put God out of our lives and replace Him with our own desires in life. We chose to be defective rather than safe within His security.

There is hope, but it requires an admission that we are not whole. And we need to admit it. Defective, broken, incomplete, whatever; we are not what we could be. Redefining reality does not make it so. Get used to it.

What we need is a hunger to be transformed beyond who we are today, into something we cannot imagine. But how do we get there? Suggestions are on the table—

Reexamine your strengths. Are they still your strengths? How have they developed, changed, weakened?
Reexamine your weaknesses. Come on, you have them. Can’t think of any? Ask someone who loves you.
Confess your failings with God and with others. You know you have let other people down. You know you have stepped outside of the perimeters of Christ’s protection for you. Confess it. Seek restoration.
Actively seek to make a difference in our world. Maybe inside the church, more likely outside it. Our society, our world, needs people like you who care and are willing to get dirty in the filth of life.
Sacrifice. Doesn’t matter what. Sacrifice is different for all of us. Surrender what you do not need in the context of your own situation.
Lighten up. Christ has forgiven us for our rebellion and cleansed us. Don’t heap guilt on another.
Count on your holiness to come through. Christ has declared us holy (I Peter 1:16). Trust in His gift to undergird your commitments. It is amazing!
Accept Christ’s forgiveness for your rebellions & failures. ‘Nough said.

Sure, we are defective. But that is not how it is supposed to be. I truly believe that it is only the God of the Universe who can get hold of us to flip our defective characteristics into powerful ones, so that we can make a difference among those who don’t know the difference.

Yes, we are defective. But there is always hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NEXT— “The word of the Lord came to me… .”

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,

excuses, excuses, excuses!

“The cross solved our problem by first revealing our real problem, our universal pattern of scapegoating and sacrificing others. The cross exposes forever the scene of our crime.”

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

A more intricate way of saying BUT we’ve come to know as making excuses. We all do it; we’ve done it from the Garden of Eden onward. [Am I my brother’s keeper?] The dog ate my homework. Really?!? And we actually believe people will believe us.

To be sure, some excuses are legitimate. The dog and nuclear holocaust are not one of them. The funny thing is that we make excuses to God for the things we’ve left undone, or for the things we’ve committed ourselves to do and haven’t. It’s one thing to say you’ll take out the trash or cut the grass; it’s quite another to swear an oath, or make a promise to God and not follow up on it.

This can become a very dangerous game with rather austere consequences. DO NOT PLAY.

Psalm 15, a psalm of David, puts it quite eloquently for us—

1 Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

2 He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;

3 He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5 He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

I’ve highlighted the phrase that we all need to take to heart…, and put into practice. No excuses.

NEXT—Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,

But…BUTT OUT!!

black-man-yelling-into-phone-500x295

Ok, OK…, this “butt” piece may not be what I intended when I first started writing this whole series, but it seemed to fit. Why— because sometime you don’t want to deal with all the crazies nosing around or interfering in your business. You simply want people to BUTT OUT!!!

In this over-connected techno era it seems like everybody has access to your information, your identity, your very personal and financial documents. You can run, but you cannot hide. More and more, the concept of personal privacy is being challenged. How much information about you do governments, clothing lines, credit card companies, medical practitioners and medical insurers, even grocery stores have a right to know about you, let alone, the right to share with their “partners”?!?

Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s play of the same name, once pondered “To be, or not to be. That is the question.” Today that question would be more like “To be known, or not to be known.” A young bride once said to me that the greatest fear she had of getting married was being known.

It’s not so much that knowledge is power, as it is the withholding of information, knowledge, is power. Too many prying eyes, too many internet connections, have made us a culture of isolationists. LEAVE ME ALONE! BUTT OUT! If you think privacy on the internet is an issue, try personal privacy in life. We crave personal privacy, personal space, and, not unexpectedly, a deepening desire to be alone, to be silent, tranquil, in a serene, safe place. Not easily accessed in our open-faced society.

Some of us even want God to Butt-Out. He becomes too intrusive in our lives, always interfering with what we want, with our rights and pleasures. Does he really know what’s best for us? Who says? Well, he does. Contrary to popular opinion, God is not sitting up in heaven trying to think of ways to take the fun out of life, or steal our joy, or rob us of our pleasure. More likely than not, he is trying to protect us from ourselves. One of the consequences of wanting our own way, with no acknowledgement of the perimeters-of-protection he has set in place for us is that we are left to our own undoing. Ignoring Christ’s principles for living is simply not a smart move. Telling the Lord God Creator, in essence, to butt-out, is quite dangerous.

Sitting humbly before him to learn is a much wiser choice. And safer.

Your move.

NEXT— But I’m afraid.

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,
Gary

Lese Majesty Notre Dame Cathedral

This is the image that blazed across our local newspaper in Colorado Springs this morning. Like many of us, it pierced my heart. I’m not that much a religious person, but I am a genuine Christian, one who doesn’t strap his faith onto the rest of his life; rather one who integrates his faith into everything he does.

What struck me about this picture, being part art historian, is the juxtaposition of the alter, the cross, the statue of Mary holding her son Jesus, with the total devastation that lay at their feet. What a depiction of our present world’s quandary.

Within less than 3 days of this tragedy, almost one billion dollars has been raised to rebuild this Parisian landmark. Pledges have poured in from across the world, from small churches in Arkansas, to major European conglomerates, to individuals, to tycoons, to common folk. This incredible generosity bespeaks of the love and honor that people held for this global landmark— this personification of Paris. As one Parisian said,

“Notre Dame is our history, it’s our literature, it’s our imagery. It’s the place where we live our greatest moments, from wars to pandemics to liberations.” [https://wnep.com/2019/04/15/first-photos-show-damage-inside-notre-dame-cathedral/]

May God bless all those who are contributing to the restoration of this majestic icon of Western Civilization!

But what of the ruble that lay at the foot of the cross, at the feet of Jesus? These are the 850 year old oak beams that held the roof of the cathedral, now devastated and burned. What can replace them? Surely not more oak beams. But what?

In so many ways this is an image of our postChristian world. A billion dollars will easily repair the cathedral, but what of the lives of people who have lost faith in their church, in their personal relationship and trust in God? What of them? What will become of them? A billion dollars doesn’t come near to rebuilding or restoring, their faith.

I put it to you that genuine Christians around the world have a responsibility to reexamine their faith in the God of the universe who has created and who will restore all things to an greater glory, even greater than this glorious Notre Dame. We have the responsibility to repair and rebuild the faith of so many who have lost faith in Christ in these pluralistic and often convoluted times.

So as we contribute to repairing this magnificent cathedral, may we also spend some time, and money, rebuilding others’ lives, to honor God, in Christ Jesus. May this tragedy remind us again of our mission to bring this broken, charred world to the offer of a new life in the Lord who sustains it all— Jesus Christ!

A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so everyone would have life, and have it fully.
[John 10:10 CEV]

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Gary

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: