Where is God?

Where is God? 
In the wake of yesterday's tragedy in Newtown, CT, "Where is God" is a natural question. 
I have seen many attempted answers to this question on social media and heard many attempted answers on TV. 

It is natural to want to point a finger, to place blame, and to figure out what would motivate someone to do such a horrific act. 

It is easier to vilify someone like Adam Lanza and write him off as evil than it is to try to identify and have compassion for the struggle in his life.  The more evil we can make him out to be, the less "like him" we feel.  The reality is that we are all broken and in need of God's love.  Some folks brokenness is just more visible than others. 

I admit, the heinous acts of Adam Lanza angers me greatly.  I think of those 20 young school age children shot down and I just want to cry.  My heart breaks for the families that are dealing with the loss of their loved young children.  I think of the adults that were lost and just feel helpless and saddened.

But I also recognize this is not a time for mudslinging.  I have seen some very angry, rude, and frankly just unloving post on Facebook.  I read these post on social media and John 13:35 comes to mind..."Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."  If we as Christians are known by our "love", it is not shocking that Christianity often has such a bad reputation among non-Christians. 

As Christians, now is not the time to mud-sling, to place blame, or to grab our children and retreat to our homes to home-school.  Now is not the time to retreat and hide from the broken world.  Now is the time to run into the broke world and show them love.  Now is the time to recognize our own brokenness and not try to just cover it up. 

Now is the time for taking responsibility for the brokenness of the world, and not a time to try to separate ourselves from this brokenness. 

The number one "reason" I see people posting for this tragic event is that "God was removed from schools."  Honestly, this statement angers me almost as much as the act of Lanza yesterday. 
I believe one of the greatest threats to the church today is the lack of ownership of one's faith.  We quickly blame our "lack of faith" on the pastor or church staff.  We blame our work schedules or school schedules.  We shift responsibility to others quickly, but rarely acknowledge our own laziness in our faith journey. 

The reality is, as long as there are Christians in schools, God is in the schools.  Government may be able to legislate how much God is in the curriculum, but they cannot regulate how much God is in our hearts.  They may be able to legislate how much teachers can talk to students about their faith, but they cannot legislate how loving the teachers are to their students. 

Government simply cannot remove God from schools.  If God is not present in the school, it is because Christians are not showing that God is within them.  That is an area we cannot put the blame on others, and must take ownership and responsibility ourselves. 

Matthew 18:20 tells us that "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”  As long as Christians bind together to show love to others at school, at work, in our neighborhoods and communities...God will be among them. 

I personally find peace in the belief that God was present with each person who lost their life yesterday.  I do not believe God stayed out just because our Government said God wasn't allowed.  God is not bound by our government.  I believe God is present with the families who lost loved ones.  I believe that God is present with the Lanzas as well. 

The reality is that we are all given a choice.  God granted us the gift of free will.  When it comes down to it, this free will is the ability to choose between having a relationship with God, or a life rejecting God.  Many folks do not see this as a gift.  Many folks see this as God's greatest "mistake". 
I believe it is very much a gift.  I believe that God understood that love and relationship cannot be forced.  If relationship is forced, it is not real. 

Lanza made a choice yesterday that had an impact on many lives. 
We also as Christians have a choice to make.  We can choose to share God's love with others, or we can choose to run, hide and sling mud at others for their choices. 

Government and places of work may be able to legislate what you can "say", but they cannot legislate the way you live your life. 

Oliver Goldsmith once said that "You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips." 

Our words have power, social media can attest to that.  However, our actions (often our actions through our words) can have a greater impact. 

Choose to live your life in a way that shares Jesus with others.
Recognize your own brokenness and do not be afraid to let others see that brokenness. 
Be careful what you say on social media, recognizing that people often take the words of Christians as the words of God. 

And remember, in Hebrews, we are told that "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." 

So where is God in times like this? 
God is within you.  God is wrapping God's arms around those who are hurt, broken, and struggling. 
God is devastated just like the rest of us. 
God did not cause this to happen yesterday, but God is very much ready, willing, and longing to be shared through this tragedy. 
God is present in YOU...and you are present in this world.  So if God is "missing" in this world, then ultimately that means YOU are "missing" in this world.  

Do not point the finger at others, but take some ownership of how you can help prevent this from happening again.  Keep your eyes open to those around you that are hurting and broken. 

Ultimately, "Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words." 

Slide Show From Youth Mission Trip

Final Day

We had a great final day with great weather! 

You'll find a wrap up of each job site below!
We will be getting up and we'll be out of here by 7 am tomorrow!

Its been a great week, but an exhausting week as well.  
We did not finish all of our jobs, but we had a few that were basically impossible to finish in a week.  The poverty level here is simply mind blowing. 
I believe all the youth have had a great week, but I think many of them are also ready to be home and back to their cell phones as well!

See you all soon!

Brian and Karen’s Group

Today was a very productive day; we completed our goal for the week, which was to finish siding on three sides of the house. Everybody worked really hard to try and get the work done. For our homeowner we gave her a picture frame of our picture in it and we all signed it. We noticed she had many pictures hanging up in her house so we thought that would be something special to her. We also took two pieces of wood and nailed them together to make a cross. We painted it blue and put all of our figure prints on it in white. We thought that would be a good way for her to remember us. We had a very good week full of working hard and having fun. We were very happy with what we completed and glad we got the chance to work on this house.

Tony and Kim’s Group

Today we arrived, tired out from our week’s toils, but ready to offer comfort to Mrs. Sarah and her two grandsons (Payton and Kenneth). We arrived, however, to find the boy’s other grandmother watching them while Mrs. Sarah visited her daughter WHO HAD ONLY A BROKEN TOE in the hospital. (Miracles of God!)  We started off our day with a devotion telling us to hang in there for the last day and to lean on God for our strength. Then we gave the grandsons their gifts, a football for 11 year old Kenneth and a Frisbee for 7 year old Payton. They immediately ran outside to play as the rest of us got to work cutting wood, caulking windows, and hammering nails. Payton and I finished making and painting a “table” for his mother, who ended up being able to come home that day! We were packed up; almost ready to go when their car pulled up and let Mrs. Sarah out. We hurried in and she loved our gifts as we presented them to her. She went on and on about how blessed she was and how blessed her daughter was to be as fortunate as they were. (Note: without iPods, cool phones, reliable Internet—she felt BLESSED! I almost wish I grew up like her!). We ended up with her crying for joy (Mya with her), before we all hugged her goodbye and headed off in the vans to Randy’s worksite where we moved some materials around and returned back to the settlement.

Randy and Liz’s Group

Today was our very last day at our work site. It was a very hard and productive day. Even though we did not finish we still worked really hard. We started off the day with barely any of the siding on the front finished and the back wasn’t even started. By the end of the day, we finished with most of the back and front completed. Today we also gave our homeowner a gift. We gave him a fruit basket, a picture, and a toy for his dog, Duke. He seemed overwhelmed, but you could really tell that he really appreciated all we were doing for him. Coming into this week, we didn’t really know the people in our group very well, but as the week progressed we really bonded and became a big family! We have had an amazing trip and we feel so blessed to have had this opportunity.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head

Here is the update on the job sites from some of the youth.  You can tell by their writing that they are having fun and are getting a bit loopy as well.  :-)  We had a great day overall.  Our youth did an amazing job this morning leading the whole camp in devotions.  The group decided to sing "Come Thou Fount" and "Light the Fire"  It was great to be able to just be "in the crowd" and have the youth lead.  They came up with the whole devotion on their own.   Hank did a fantastic job imitating his Dad by giving the message!  

Tomorrow is the last work day!  We will not finish all the jobs, but the youth have worked very hard this week.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been on our side this week. 

Karen and Brian’s Group

            We worked. Hard. Really Hard. Like we were amazing. We put up two sections of siding and had a great, fun, and bonding experience. We didn’t see the homeowners, but hopefully we sent out a wave of passion and self-love. We turned the experience into one where great bonds were built by singing country music as we worked.   I love Alex!  We just decided her new nickname is merp.  Merp Merp Merpity Merp Merp Merp.   Kevin accidently cut the homeowners telephone wire but he was forgiven because that is what good Christians do.  We got a lot done and we are beyond excited to get as much work done as possible tomorrow.  We’ve had a ton of fun so far and we hope to reach our goals of getting the front of the house done.   

Kim and Tony’s Group

We are almost done with the windows. 

We made some great progress today, until something unexpected happened. The daughter of the lady we were working for was in a severe car accident. Someone hit her head on while driving on the highway. Her children were staying at their grandmother’s house (the lady we were working for.) The children were upset to the point of crying. We comforted and wept with them like Romans 12:15 says to do. But the response of the lady we working for was particularly inspiring. Her faith and trust were among the strongest we’ve ever seen. She was obviously upset but had complete trust that God would pull her through. She kept saying that everything would be all right and that it was in God’s hands. She even said if her daughter died that it would be ok because she knew her daughter would be with God. This woman has been through so much. She has lost her husband, lost her leg two years ago in a car accident with her own son, and now is going through this. A lot of people would take this and question God saying “Why me?” But she looks at it as even more reason to trust God. She says that when we go through tragedy, it’s all part of God’s plan, that it might have happened so someone else could know Jesus. She asks who else is there to pull us through it besides God?

Liz and Randy’s Group

Today we started putting up the siding, the weather wasn’t so nice but we dealt with it because we wanted to get our house done for our homeowner. We have been working on the house for almost a week and it has been very fun. Our homeowner Eric is a very nice man even though we don’t see him much. He has the cutest little dog named Duck; he is so cute. I didn’t think we were going to get done with the house in just 4 days but its really starting to come along. I think God put our group together on purpose because we all work well together and we still are ready every morning to go to Eric’s house. Today our group was ready and came prepared a long day of work (we had bandanas on with our names on them and we had put on some war paint under our eyes to make us look tough). I really hope that our group leave a huge impact on Eric’s life.

Day off

Mission Trip – Day Off

Brian and Karen’s Group

Today we went together to Wal-Mart, and we bought a picture frame for our family. We have been helping them with their home and fixing it. We ate at the original KFC and it was so fun and tasty. Then we went to the water park and it was very moist, we swam in nice cool water and had a lot of fun. There where two water slides a blue one and a yellow one. The yellow one oooh it was so slow and dark but that was okay. The blue one you had to use a tube it felt like you were going to fall but it was really fun you should really try it out.

Tony and Kim’s Group

The lady our group is working for revealed that her favorite Bible verse is John 3:16. So, today we went to Wal-Mart and bought her a picture frame with two picture slots. In one of them we’re going to put a picture of her with our group, and in the other will put a picture of a rainbow that we saw driving down the road today above John 3:16. She also has grandkids that are very important to her. Bubbles are a fun and inexpensive toy that can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. We thought it would be a great gift. One of the kids is named Kenith, is 11 years old, and proved to be very helpful on the worksite. He was extremely eager to help, and very talkative. He told us that he played football, and so we bought him a new football and a pump. Lastly, at our worksite yesterday we took two spare pieces of wood, and nailed them together into a cross. Tomorrow we will paint it and write on it all of our names.

Liz and Randy’s Group

Today, the day off it was fun but it was kinda strange not being at the work site and sleeping in. The day was filled with hours of really exhausting fun starting at our journey in Wal-Mart finding the gifts for our families from there we headed off for lunch at the historic and interesting Original KFC (Sanders Café,) from there with bellies full of delicious chicken and sides we ventured to the fun “small” water park where we played, swam, laughed, and so on till we were tired. After we went to dinner to the all known Taco Bell not all went some to Wendy’s, weirdoes. After that we went back to Henderson Settlement tired and full. On the way back we road through a rainbow and saw two others.  It was quite interesting as we went through it started to rain but it rained side ways . After the long ride back we all were strangely filled with more energy and took pictures for the families in the strangely bright orange shirts.  

Special Picture Update

There will be a written update in a little bit, but first I'm going to post some pictures from the last few days!  The youth are currently in their family group devotion times at the moment, and then some will be writing their updates for their family groups!

 Mission Biscuit Checking in to HS the first day.

 Randy and Liz's group project

 Mission Biscuit Helping out

 Enjoying the Jobsite

 Working Hard?!?!

 Mission Biscuit helping out at Karen and Brian's site

 Youth working hard

 Sanders Cafe (Original KFC)

 The chicken had odd effects on some youth.

 Enjoying the water park

 Pausing for a picture

 Group chat time!

 Fun in the wave pool

 Enjoying the lazy river

 Horsing around

 Our morning view during devotions

 One of the rainbows we saw (None of us had actually ever seen the "end of the rainbow", but we literally drove right through it)

 Liz and Randy's Group

 Karen and Brian's Group

 Tony and Kim's Group

 The whole clan

 Our group is leading the morning camp wide devotion tomorrow, so we were practicing the songs)

 Everyone, including Mission Biscuit resting after a hard day's work

 Tony and Kim's jobsite

 Walking to the store for a snack

Brian sitting with the Colonel 

Updates from the eyes of the youth in a few minutes.  Then its time to hit the bed (its already passed lights out)

Culture Clash

 Today was a gloomy "wet" day, but we were still able to get lots of work done.  One weather page said it was going to be clear early afternoon and rain the rest of the day.  Another weather page said it was going to rain early and be clear the rest of the day.  Luckily they were both right on parts and wrong on others.  It looked like it was going to rain all day, but only really rained before breakfast and during lunch.    

Each team is progressing nicely and working hard.  We may not be able to finish all of the projects we came to start, but it is clear the youth can tell that God is using them to bless the families we are working alongside.  

Brian and Karen's Group

Today was quite interesting.  We got there in the morning and got right to it. We got a lot of work done in the limited time we had before lunch.  We were worried that we might not be able to go back after lunch but God cleared up the weather for us to be able to make it and get even more work done.  We were very proud of what we accomplished. The job we had was putting insulation and siding on.  Hunter, Jacob, and Austin took ownership of the back of the house and are determined to finish it on their on by the end of the week. 

Kim and Tony's Group

Today went real well. We got lots of work done. Today my group replaced three more windows, and we painted four. The gentlemen work hard hard and installing the windows, and worked at finishing the windows (trimming, painting, caulking). The girls also played a lot with the babies!  The babies were so cute.  There is also a "pet goat" that hangs around our site!  Max and Andrew W. basically took on a window all on their own and installed a window completely by themselves!  Our group may be done Thursday afternoon and get to go help another group finish up their project! 

Liz and Randy's Group

Today we have started to build parts for the house, the siding mostly.  There was a killer load of hornets. I think we are slowly impacting and changing the homeowners’ lives with every small action at a time. Our group has become more connected, we’ve even given each other nicknames and a team name. Elijah is buzz, Alex is ladder trauma, LT for short, Andrew is baby face, Paige is pip, Justin is blue, Destiny is biggy smalls, Ja’Niya is squeaky, Randy is superman, and Liz is named lucky. WE ARE THE WASP WARRIORS!!!!!!

 

 Tonight we had a bit of a culture clash.  There was a local bluegrass/gospel band that played for the camp.  They played "old time" bluegrass and there were lots of blank stares from our youth! :-)  They were very talented musicians...but in the opinions of most of the youth, many songs "sounded the same".   It was a good "cultural" experience for our group.  

It's a short post tonight because we are all tired!  

We'll check in tomorrow!  Depending on the weather, we'll either be bowling or at the water park!

What would you cut out?

What a great day!  A hot day, but a great one!  Monday's are usually a bit slow on mission trips as the groups are "figuring out their projects".  There is usually a bit of sitting around and a good bit of scratching of our heads.  The youth all did a great job today and were very patient in waiting to really get started on their jobs.  Below, some youth from each group (please refer to yesterday's blog to see who is in each group) gave a synopsis of their day and their job! 

Family Group 1 - Brian and Karen's Group

            Today we started our adventure!!  We met our homeowners, a mom, her brother, her two sons, her daughter, and her grandson.  We made evaluations on what we had to do and what our goals would be.  Besides cleaning up, our BIG job was to install insulation and siding.  We started with the back wall. While covered in sweat and dirt we made it through the day with getting done more than we expected. Everyone worked together and helped each other out, this way we were able to get a lot done. We managed to keep our smiles, while stepping around the sewage. It was a great day!

Family Group 2 - Tony and Kim's Group

            Starting off our day was very exciting for all of us. As we knew that helping others is very important and honoring our commitment to God. We did our very best to be humble, kind, and patient. Our mission is to replace windows, and we got a decent amount done. We did a lot more than replace windows though, we made a bond. We made a bond with Mrs. Sarah as she told us about her trials and tribulations and other moments in her life. Mrs. Sarah (the women we helped) was a nice woman who loved the Lord and her words were very heartfelt when she talked about the Lord. She told us about how the Lord blessed her and brought her through the toughest times in her life. She inspired us to continue to seek God in our lives and to trust in him when adversities arise. Lastly, if Mrs. Sarah can make it through tough times then we can too!

Family Group 3 - Randy and Liz's Group

            Today was a very productive day for our group! When we first got to our worksite, we met only one of our homeowners, Eric Partin. His wife and children were not present today. Although he was not very social, he was still very thankful for our work. Our main job today was taking down all the old siding and insulation from the house. It took us mostly all day. We took turns on the ladders and pulling out the nails. When we weren’t pulling nails we were taking the old scraps out back. Even though we were having a great workday, we still had a very major problem. WASPS! Almost every time we pulled away the siding we saw wasps. Randy was our hero today and killed all the nests. We went through 5 cans of wasp killers, but it still didn’t keep one of our fellow leaders safe. Liz Snyder got stung on our site today, but she was strong and made it through! Since there were so many wasps, we came up with a group name called the WASPS WARRIORS!! We had a little slogan to go along with it too: “Who are we? WASPS WARRIORS! What do we do? CALL RANDY!!” We had a lot of fun today! We finished pulling down all the siding and hope to put up the new siding tomorrow. Lastly, I want to say thank you to our nail collectors, Ja’Niya and Liz!!! WE ARE HAVING SOOOO MUCH FUN! 

From my seat, there are a lot of tired youth and leaders today, but they have what I call that "mission trip glow".  Though their muscles ache and they are dragging a bit, you can still see the excitement in each of them from encountering God through service to others.

I was on the job site with Family Group 2 today and Mrs. Sarah is a very inspiring person.  She was in a car accident a few years ago and had to have part of her leg removed.  She was also born with Spina Bifida (as she said, at a time when they couldn't "fix it" with surgery).  She was also told she would never have children.  And yet, she had one of the most positive outlooks on life that I've seen.  She had a deep faith in God and truly keeps her eyes fixed on God.  It was very cool hearing her tell her story to the youth and leaders of Family Group 2.  It was a reminder that our "work" here has more to do than simply helping someone, but part of our job as well is to build relationships and be open to learning from the lovely people of Frakes, KY.

One last interesting thought for you.  Jerry (the work camp director) shared with us that the average income of the families that we are all working with (all summer long for Henderson Settlement) is barely over $13,000 per household.  This average includes their food stamps they collect.  The unemployment rate in Frakes, Ky is said to be a little over 50%.  Poverty reaches a new level.  They showed a very powerful video that helped us see a different side of poverty.  The main point of the video was to get us thinking about "what would we cut out?"  If your family only brought in $13,000 a year.  What would you cut out of your budget?

Housing?

Food?

Health Care?

Child Care?

Utilities?

Transportation?

Luckily, most of us do not have to make these decisions...but that does not get us off the hook.  It is our job as the church to work toward making sure others do not have to make those decisions either. 

As I heard one pastor say a few years ago...if we are living in excess, it should not be considered waste... We are literally "stealing from the poor."  It changes my perspective when I'm here and stand face to face with poverty.  It is easy to put it out of my mind in my comfortable home back in NC.  It is hard to not feel responsible when its staring me in the face.  

This mornings devotion challenged us to "be pushed outside of our comfort zone."  For me, that discomfort came from thinking about all the "excess" that I live with.  I hate feeling like a thief. 

Safe and Sound

St. Andrew's UMC youth have arrived to Kentucky safe and sound.  We pulled into Henderson Settlement about 5:15 and got settled into our rooms.  We are on the top floor of the mission dorm and are sharing a room with several other churches. 
Thankfully, we had an uneventful trip up here (its never good to have an eventful "travel day")!
We stopped in Shelby as planned for lunch.  So folks ate at Burger King, some at Arby's, some at Sonic, and some at Wendy's.  Luckily, all 4 were right there together. 
There are a little over 200 work campers here this week, so it is a "tight" week.  Because of the large group, we'll be eating in two shifts.  We will eat first shift Monday thru Wednesday (7:30 am, 11:00 am and 5:00 pm).  Thursday and Friday we'll have second shift meals (8:00 am, 11:30 am, 5:30 pm).

Tomorrow we'll all go see our job sites and begin our work!  Luckily, it is supposed to cool off as the week goes on! 

Tomorrow night, we'll post a synopsis of each job site and what the homes are like that we are working on! 

Below, you'll see the work teams!
Pray for each team and the work they'll be doing this week!
We'll all be getting up around 6:00 am!  I know the youth are going to love that!

Liz and Randy's Group
Alex G.
Paige S.
Ja'Niya R.
Destiny R.
Andrew G.
Justin M.
Elijah H.

Kim and Tony's Group
Max S.
Hank H.
Andrew W.
Mya I.
Mackenzie S.
Danisha F.
Shaniya I.
A'Jaya C.

Karen and Brian's Group
Jacob P.
Hunter B.
Austin S.
Zoey I.
Rachel G.
Haley B.
Ashley P
Kayla M.

I'll believe it when I see it...

The longer I work in the church, the more I come to think that most of us have this whole "faith" thing a little backwards.

If you look at the dictionary, the first two definitions of faith are:
1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing
2. Belief that is not based on proof

Faith has an element of trusting in the things that we cannot prove.  However, many of us in the church approach faith with an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude.

I find the very nature of this attitude a bit amusing.   If we can see it...if we can prove it...do we really have faith?  If we can prove it...does it really require us to put our trust in it.

Al, a member of our church staff, gave a sermon yesterday on the story of Thomas that brought this faith issue back to the forefront of my mind. 

John 20: 24-25
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

This passage comes right after Jesus appearance to the disciples (minus Thomas).  Though the disciples tell Thomas of their encounter with the resurrected Jesus, Thomas will not believe until he sees it for himself.  

The passage goes on to say in verse 26 -28
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”  Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus appears to Thomas later, Thomas gets his chance to touch Jesus' wounds and believe.

Verse 29 goes on to say...
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas is credited for his belief, but Jesus is quick to point out that those who believe without seeing are the ones who are blessed.  

I think Thomas' story is an important story for many of us today given the way that we approach our relationship with God.
We test God often with our "if you do this for me God...then I'll believe and be faithful".
We trust more in our own ability to provide for ourselves than we do in God's promise to provide for us.  
We only believe in what we can see and can prove.

Hebrew's 11:1 states "Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see."

Ultimately, I believe we are missing out on a true blessing of what church and God is all about when we only put faith in what we can see and prove.  
Few of us live our lives in a way that we really have to trust God in much of anything.  
We work ourselves to death to be able to have things "stable" for our families.   
We work hard to control things in our lives and we only like to participate in things that we can project or know the outcome.
We have belief in God, but we are missing the trust aspect of our faith.

Often things happen in our lives that make it impossible for us to know the outcome and instead of having faith in God, we blame God for not taking care of us to the manner in which we've become accustomed to.

Sickness comes into our lives and anger is often the first response instead of faith in God.  "God, how could you let this happen to my family, we are good people."
We get laid off at work and we are afraid and angry.

I find myself often wondering where the "faith" is in our churches.  We only launch ministries when we know it will be successful.  We only set budgets if we know the money will be there.  We only participate in ministries we are comfortable with and feel like we have a little bit of control.
We are often afraid of really being honest with our fellow church members about what is going on in our life, because we are afraid of being judged.

In so many ways we simply lack the "trust in the unseen" aspect of faith.

I know I often add to this problem more than I add to the solution.

My question to you is where in your life are you having to really trust in God?
Do you simply work toward having everything in your life controllable?
When is the last time you really had to step out in faith and put your full trust in God?

In many ways, I'm a control freak.  I like to be in charge, I like to know the outcome.  I can also look at my life and realize how this has hindered my relationship with God. 

I had a friend in college once try to point this out to me and tell me that "Kevin, you only believe it when you see it".
Instead, he messed up this cliche and said instead "Kevin, you'll only see it when you believe it."
We both laughed when he messed up, but then had a great conversation about the truth of his actual statement.


More than anything...I believe God is just waiting to bless us in so many ways.
Not with money...
Not with possessions...
Not with ability to control things...
But with faith...
With depth of relationship with God...
With confidence and hope in the areas in our lives that are beyond our control. 
With a peace that passes all understanding.

Hard Story to Sell...

At my recent visit to Haywood Street Congregation, many things stood out as different from your ordinary church experience.  The experience of John going from cursing loudly and threatening people to him sitting on the Altar rail and playing along with the music during communion was certainly different (see the last 2 blog posts if you are lost right now :-))
However, the thing that had the biggest impact on me spiritually came from the message time.
Like everything else, the message time at Haywood Street Congregation is different.  Instead of Pastor Brian just "preaching to us", we all had the opportunity to preach with each other. 
First, Pastor Brian asked for someone in the congregation to read our scripture  aloud.

Mark 16: 1-8
"When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?'  When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side: and they were alarmed. But he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.' So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

After someone read this aloud, Pastor Brian just asked a simple question... "What did you hear in this passage?"
Instead of Pastor Brian telling us what he thinks we should hear out of the passage, he opened it up and we had a discussion as a congregation.  It was fascinating to hear the different parts that stuck out to different people. 
Two of those comments had a big impact on my spirit. 
The first sprang from the experience with John earlier.  Someone made a comment about the empty tomb and Pastor Brian used it as a teaching moment.  He explained that Easter is a hard sell.  The Christmas story is easy to sell because it has a cute little kid as the leading role in the story and a great supporting cast.  It has gifts, singing and cute furry little animals all as part of the story.  We like that story, it is an easy sell.

But Easter...all we seem to have is an empty grave.  It is harder to make a graveyard cute.  It is hard to market an empty tomb...it is a harder sell. 
From that, Pastor Brian asked the question about "what filled our tombs" or "what in our lives needed resurrection?"  He said that John's tomb was obvious.  The things that haunt John were easy for most folks to see. 
One gentlemen in the back made a comment that our "big homes" are just like tombs, but the sad part for us is that we are able to hide behind our doors and keep those things a secret. 
This thought really got me thinking.  Are our homes and possessions really tombs for us?  Does our "resurrection" mean that we have to take our focus off of our "tombs" and everything that represents for us?
For many of us, our homes are our security.  They block out the rest of the world and give us a place to retreat.
Our homes are also representative of our families.
Our homes are often a reflection of our social status. 

Our homes are important places for us, but what does it mean to take a look at each of these things as part of our "tombs" instead of part of our "resurrection"?  How can our homes and all the security, material possessions, and status that come with it, be holding us back from our relationship with God?

The second comment that really got me thinking came when Pastor Brian was wrapping up our "message" time.
He said, "If you were one of those folks that could read this text in the Greek, you would know that it is not properly translated."
He went on to explain that the Greek text ends with the word "and".  For us, it ends with "and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid", but that really isn't the end of the story.

The "and" implies there is more.  We know the rest of the story, so we know that the women really did not keep their mouths shut too long.  The word of Jesus' resurrection spread. 

For me the "and" ending of the Gospel of Mark is the authors way of allowing us to fill in the rest of the story. 
Are you going to return to work on Monday and say nothing of your resurrection experience this weekend because "you are afraid"?
Are you going to go back to school next week and say nothing of your Easter experience because you are afraid of what others may think of you?

What does the "and" mean for you?  How are you going to fill in the rest of the story?  The Easter story doesn't just end with a great service in the morning and then some time with our families.
We are "Easter" people and we should be living out the "and". 

Video on Haywood Street...

St. John?

I had the pleasure of visiting Haywood Street Congregation this past week.  If you have never heard of Haywood Street, I encourage you to look it up (http://haywoodstreet.org/).  Haywood Street is...well, an unusual church. 
Haywood Street is a church that expects diversity.
They expect diversity in the form of race.
They expect diversity in economic situations.
They expect diversity in housing (or no housing) situations.

Haywood Street is a church with a high expectation of what church should be all about.

And yet...Haywood Street is a church that also carries no expectations at all. 

Ultimately, Haywood Street is a church that has a heart for those who are outcasts of society. 
Many churches claim this, but I must say that Haywood Street is the first church I know that lives this out to the fullest extent.

They see people as Children of God and not as scary dangerous people.
They see all people as friends...not an object to serve.
They see people as real.

I was fascinated to experience this church.  I felt like I got a glimpse into what Jesus' ministry looked like.  I also understood why that scared so many of the religious leaders.  This wasn't a "clean" experience.  People smelled, people cussed like sailors, and smoked like chimney's.  I stood in line with one individual that was so drunk, I occasionally had to help keep him from falling over.

And yet, these people were loved.  Not just in word...they were truly loved.  The gentleman that could barely stand told me no less than 20 times how loved he felt by the church and how loved he felt by the pastors.  He confessed his "drinking sin" to me just as many times.  He talked about how he was held accountable by the pastors and yet the pastors still loved him when he fell off the wagon.  

I also kept thinking about how these folks would not be welcomed in most churches that I know.  They would be welcomed to certain activities, but they would not truly be "welcomed" the way they are at Haywood Street.

No one exemplifies this better than John.  John was an interesting man.  He has lived a rough life.  He had quite a "smell" to him.

Haywood Street starts off their Wednesday with a free meal for the community.  Lots of folks show up for this meal, but only about a third or so of them actually make their way into the worship service that follows.  Many churches would see this as a failure, but Haywood Street sees this as a huge success.

As we started the service, we came to our prayer time.  Just as we were about to start our pray...a profanity laced tirade started outside.  A slew of f-bombs were mixed with threats of many kinds.  He wasn't quiet either and he showed little sign of slowing down.  Pastor Brian paused the service and stated "it sounds like Haywood Street outside, John's had a rough week, let's pray for him."  Like that, we went off of our bulletin script and started to pray for John.
We prayed for peace...
We prayed for healing...
We prayed for his Spirit to be calmed...
We prayed that he would feel how loved he is in this community...
We just prayed.  It wasn't in the script or bulletin, but it is what life called for at that moment. 

A few moments later we heard sirens and the police outside helping calm the situation.  I had a mixture of relief and fear.
Relief that they were there to calm the situation...
and fear for John that the police would react to his actions without really knowing what all was going on in his life. 

We move on in the service and debrief what just happened (I'll post about that in a few days).

When we get time to the message, the back door opens and in comes John. 
He walks right up the center aisle and gives Pastor Brian a big hug and apologizes.  He then takes his place in one of the pews up front and just cries for a while. 

How many churches do you know that would allow John to come into the service right after this experience. 
The man that just dropped the f-bomb more times in 5 minutes that I've heard it used in the last year is now welcomed into the church.
The man who was just threatening to "cut" people 10 minutes before that is now sitting in the pew in front of me. 

What was even more amazing is that when it came time for communion, John moved to the front of the sanctuary and sat on the Altar rail.  He pulled a harmonica out of his pocket and played along with the guitar player for the communion music.  The same man that caused such a stir and had me rattled is now participating in worship.  No one acted like this was unusual and no one seemed bothered by the fact that John was now participating. 
It was beautiful.
It was moving.
In many ways...I feel like it was my first experience of what "the church" is supposed to be. 
In some ways, I also felt a great sadness as well. 
I was thinking about how I would react if this same situation had played out at my own church on Sunday morning.  Would I welcome him in or would I escort him out? 
I know how I hope I'd react if this same situation happened this Sunday...but I was sad about how I believe I would have reacted if this had happened before I got to experience Haywood Street. 

Flip, Push, Rotate...Repeat

I've been life-guarding in the mornings now for about eight months.  It is a fascinating job in some aspects and a completely boring job in others! :-)

One thing I get to do often though, is watch people's strokes while they swim.  It is amazing what you can learn from watching the difference between great swimmers and those...well, we'll just say those like myself!

I would not say I'm a great swimmer.  I think I'm a strong swimmer.  I can pull about anyone in if I needed to do a rescue, I just won't win any speed awards.

Though, one of the biggest things I notice really speeds up a swimmer actually has nothing to do with their stroke.  It is all in their turns. 

Some people swim to the wall...pause for a while (for some this is a few seconds, some a few minutes :-), turn around and keep swimming. 
Some people swim to the wall...come up for a breath, turn and keep swimming. 
Others do a flip turn of sorts.  Well, they at least are attempting a flip turn.  It often looks more like a whale crashing into an invisible wall.
Some do a half a flip turn, where they kind of rotate, but really are just keeping their head in the water for their turn.
However, there are a few that just have beautiful flip turns.
They flip over, push off the wall, and rotate back to their stomach.

These are the folks that really are fun to watch.  It is amazing to see them come to the wall a full body length behind someone, and come back off the wall a body length or two ahead.

For eight months, I've watched all the flip turns, trying to learn how to do them properly.

I was taught how to do them while on the swim team in high school, but I had a knack for kicking the all or flipping and pushing off the wall straight into the bottom of the pool.  Finally my swim coach just told me to touch the wall and turn without attempting to flip.

So, last Friday...after eight months of studying, it was my time to try the flip turn.
It looks simple, flip, push off the wall, and rotate.
That's what the masters swim coach says when he comes in to do his morning class.

Well, as you can imagine, just watching did not necessarily translate into my body doing what it is supposed to do.  I looked more like the whale crashing into an invisible wall than I did the graceful swimmers.

I decided to give up after, 45 minutes of flip, flop, hit the bottom, crash into the wall, drink some from the pool and even the fun, flip and push with being so far from the wall I kick nothing.

I think I had lowered the pool level a good solid inch from the splashing and drinking. 
I was really more entertained by my arrogance of thinking that watching folks do it properly would quickly translate into me doing a good flip turn. 

I did stumble into a few good flip turns, but overall, I need a lot more practice.

I loved how much I think this also reflects in our spiritual lives.  We love to watch others do things, and thing that translates for us.  However, everything we do requires practice. 
Having faith does not just come, it takes practice and work.
Having patience does not just happen, it takes practice and work. 

Many of us are okay with just letting others do the work and trying to learn from their mistakes, but we simply have to learn things own our own. 

As I prepare to head toward Nicaragua on a mission trip in the morning, I have been thinking about what I need to work on in my own life.  What spiritual disciplines do I need to practice more for my faith to grow? 

Here are a few disciplines and traits I want God to help me practice while in Nicaragua.
1. Compassion - I believe I used to be a very compassionate person, but I believe in many ways I have lost that over the last few years.  I want to practice having compassion for people again.  I know this will be easy to do in Nicaragua, but I want it to translate into my life back home here as well.

2. Listening - I also believe I was a great listener once upon a time.  I think I have grown distracted with too many things lately and I do not believe I listen to people very well anymore.  The challenge in Nicaragua is that most folks will be speaking a language I do not speak, but I don't think that is an excuse for not listening.  This too I want to translate back into my personal life here in the states.

3. Simplicity - It is difficult in American culture to live a "simplistic" life.  Our culture dictates that so much of life "requires" us to have so many material possessions.  I believe I have become to dependent on these many different forms of technology over the last few years.  In Nicaragua, I'll be forced into a more simplistic life, but my spirit desperately needs this to translate back into my home life. 

These are just a few things I'm praying that God helps me practice in Nicaragua. 
I believe too often we just "justify" away these things, saying they are either traits you are born with or traits you are not born with.  I believe they are things we can practice.  I believe there are many traits that we could practice, but cop out and say "it just isn't who I am". 

This Lenten season, what traits do you need to practice more?  What things have been on your heart that you know God wants you to start putting into your life?  Challenge yourself on this and do not just take the easy way out. 

I do believe that God loves us just the way that we are, but I also believe that God loves us too much to leave us the way we are. 

"More Possessions Mean Less Community"

February of 2005, I spent 10 days in Lucea, Jamaica on a work-based mission team.  It is a trip that had quite an impact on my life.  However, like many experiences, the lessons learned seem to fade over time. 

In a few weeks, I will be headed on another work-based mission team to Nicaragua.  I've been praying about this experience, this team and the community we will be building a school for.  I've been praying that God would move my heart on this trip.  A few days after first praying this prayer, I found the "journal" from my trip to Jamaica that one of the women kept during our time on the trip.  As I read the journal, the same theme seemed to come up during each day's journal entry... "More possessions mean less community." 

This is a theme we discussed a lot in the evenings during our dominos or spoons games.  Each of us were amazed at how much "community" there was in Lucea.  Everyone knew each other and more importantly, everyone relied on each other for strength.  This stood in stark contrast to many of the communities at our homes in Charlotte.  At the time, I had lived in a neighborhood where I had just bought my first home.  Of the many homes that would be considered my "neighbors", I couldn't even tell you people's names.  Even if I could tell you people's first names, I definitely was not relying on anyone but myself. 

More possessions means less community... here in the States, we seem to pride ourselves on not needing to rely on others.  The "American dream" seems to mean being financially stable, relying on no one else.  However, reflecting back on my time in Jamaica, I wonder if the "American dream" is really more of a nightmare.  The folks in Jamaica seem so happy.  My neighbors in Charlotte had more to "be happy about", but definitely did not seem happy.  Same rings true today, I do not see many smiles amongst my neighbors. 

In The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids, Madeline Levine discusses how privilege has its price.  She talks about how miserable today's teens seem to be, despite having everything that American culture says we need to be happy. 

The longer I work with teenagers, the more I believe the "American Dream" really is a nightmare.  There is just so much "noise" in our lives.  The more "things" teenagers have in their lives, the more difficult it appears to be for them to really be able to connect to God.  I'm not just talking about material "things".  I am also talking about the packed schedules, the social media, texting, sports, jobs, school work loads and more. 

This is not a generation that often has to "deny" themselves of much of anything.  They typically get whatever they want, when they want it.  Truth is, I'm not sure whether age has anything to do with it.  I would say our culture today does not necessarily promote "denying" ourselves of anything, no matter what our age. 

So, why bring this up today?  Well, in the church, today is the first day of Lent.  Today is Ash Wednesday and is also the day many Christians begin a "fast" of some kind.  We "give up" something in our lives to become more spiritually focused. 

I hope this is something that you each participate in and I hope that you choose to "fast" with something that is a real challenge.  Today on the radio I heard many people calling in to tell what they were going to give up and it amazed me at how few of them seemed to want to really challenge themselves.  Most of us use this day to give up something in our lives that we know we need to give up anyway. 

But there is often no "challenge" to it and it is no surprise that it is also often not that much of a spiritual experience for folks either.  Some folks even skip the "fast" all together and just "add something good" to their lives.

My challenge to you is to really focus on giving up something this lent that is a true challenge.  Do not just give up something simple.  Try giving up TV for lent.  Even for someone who doesn't watch much TV, it was one of the most challenging things I have ever given up. 

Reflecting back on my Jamaica Mission trip experience, I must say that most of us have plenty to choose from when it comes time to giving something up.  We, as a culture, just have so many "things" that serve as a distraction from God.  These things also often serve as a distraction from our communities as well.  We are an isolated society and in many ways a miserable society. 

This Lent, take a good long look at your life.  Really think about things in your life that need to be changed.  Really think about things in your life that serve as distractions from God. 

In your life, do your possessions keep you from really living in community?  Does your schedule seclude you from your community.  More importantly, do your possessions and schedule disconnect you from God?