Degaje

There's a term that's used in Haiti as a way of life- Degaje! It means, "make do." Take what you have and make the best of it. In Haiti this is not only a way of life, but a necessity. It eases the tensions of things going wrong, vehicles breaking down, running out of gas, not having milk for the kids. It's woven into the fabric of a country that has very little and so they simply make do. Degaje. It has been frustrating to me, as an American, to go to Haiti and live under this lifestyle credo, but it was eye opening as well. The whole team I traveled with had to relax and simply let things go the way they had to go....degaje! It would be wonderful if we let a little degaje creep into our lives.....if we let God change our plans and we are "ok" with it. It would be great if we could enjoy the wonderful guidance and care of God to provide what we need instead of what we want. We might want a pond to swim in, but a cup will do. We might want a dinner of meat and potatoes, but rice would nourish us just as well. We might want new slacks and a shirt, but what we have is perfectly fine. Could a little Haitian "degaje" be healthy for us? I think it might.

What I'm reading

It's taken me nearly a month to work through N.T. Wright's new book, After you believe. I have taken some time with this work because it is so good. Many of the pages have almost every word underlined in red. It's been a challenging book and very inspirational, but it is not an easy read. If you are looking for something that will challenge your faith I recommend this book. If you want an easy read avoid this one at all cost! I only have a few pages left, but I loved this book!

Nuts and Bolts

I'm beginning a project to rewrite some material we used a number of years ago called "Nuts and Bolts." It was an attempt to teach the basics of the Christian faith to those who didn't know anything.

Here's where I need your help- If you were to write this material what are the important things you think a new Christian needs to know to get started well? What are the basics, the "Nuts and Bolts" of the Christian faith?

My reason for asking for your help is that I know you are all brilliant men and women of faith and I value your opinion. Thanks for your help!

The foolishness of naturalism

I've been fascinated with the recent flurry of words from atheists and naturalists attacking Christianity and faith of any kind. Suddenly, atheism is the hot new product and identity everyone wants. It's now "cool" to be an atheist. It's fascinating to me because atheism is a vacuum of thought and belief. An atheist is never an atheist for intellectual reasons. Atheists are always created for emotional reasons. Reason itself is absent when an atheist is created. My thoughts on this have been reinforced as I read some of C.S. Lewis' work this morning. Over the last few months I've been slowly working through his book, God in the dock, and slowly because you can't read this amazing book quickly. In the portion of the book I was working through this morning I came to these words and thought you would enjoy them as well. So, here are the brilliant thoughts of Mr. C.S. Lewis on the topic of naturalism:

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"It would be impossible to accept naturalism itself if we really and consistently believed naturalism. For naturalism is a system of thought. But for naturalism all thoughts are mere events with irrational causes......if naturalism were true then all thoughts whatever would be wholly the result of irrational causes, Therefore, all thoughts would be equally worthless. Therefore, naturalism is worthless. If it is true, then we can know no truths. It cuts its own throat....when it takes the final step and we attempt a naturalistic account of thought itself, suddenly the whole thing unravels. The last fatal step has invalidated all the preceding ones: for they were all reasoning and reason itself has been discredited. We must, therefore, either give up thinking altogether or else begin again from the ground floor. There is no reason, at this point, to bring in either Christianity or spiritualism. We do not need them to refute naturalist. It refutes itself."

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The naturalist, in his great "wisdom," has created a system that is self defeating. A naturalist (atheist) becomes one because of events of life, and never because of reason and sound thinking. Reason would not take you there. Sound thinking may make you question our world and how we got here, but would never lead you to a world of order created by chance.

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Faith is foundational for all of us. The key question is what is your faith founded upon? The naturalist would call my faith foolish because I believe in a God I have never seen. I, in response, would call his views foolish because he has created a world system that is self defeating built completely on chance. I think I will continue to trust in the God of the bible. It's the most logical decision available.

Monday's cartoon

Weddings

I'm at the church on a Saturday waiting to perform a wedding service in about 40 minutes for one of our young couples in the church. I'm really glad to do this wedding. The couple and I have been meeting for about 3 months before the wedding working on issues they will face after the wedding service in hopes of avoiding the plight of this poor bride. (And I've been looking for an excuse to use this photo anyway.)

Marriage is wonderful, but it's also the hardest thing I've ever done. It means you learn to set aside "you" and make decisions about "we." It's difficult and rewarding all at the same time. After hundreds of weddings over the years I have no idea how many of them have survived, but I would tell anyone thinking about marriage that it will give you the greatest challenges and greatest rewards of any decision you will make. So, now for the tie and jacket on a hot 100 degree Texas afternoon. It's time for a wedding!

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Saturday's cartoon

Wonderfully sad

Today was wonderfully sad.

Let me explain...

Today I had lunch with a great friend, Tony Appuglies. It was wonderful because over the years we have become good friends as we have pastored in different churches and encouraged each other through the difficult days. Sad because this will be our last lunch for a while. Tony has taken a church in Vermont and is leaving Monday to take his family to the wonderful state of Vermont. I am thrilled for Tony. He will do a great job with this church. I'm sad for both of us because our visits will have to be over the phone rather than over coffee. Although, I told him that anytime he needs a guest speaker I'm available. We both smiled.

Two Kingdoms

I've been thinking about one of the ongoing themes of the bible- the theme of two kingdoms. The bible describes these kingdoms in a very interesting way. The kingdoms are described as "The Kingdom of Light" and "The Kingdom of Darkness." The clear implications of the bible are that each of us are in one of these two kingdoms. In protest some would request a third or fourth choice, but there are only two kingdoms battling for the souls of man. The kingdom of light is ruled by God and the kingdom of darkness is ruled by the devil. We are under the rule of one of these kingdoms, one of these rulers.

There are dozens of verses in the bible that talk about this contrast and the blessings or challenges of each. This morning as I read in the book of Job I came to another reference to subjects of one of these kingdoms. Job speaks, "There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths....they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, deep darkness is their morning, they make friends with the terrors of darkness." I think that one of the realities we forget is that those living in the kingdom of darkness really like it there. They do not like the light. In fact the light hurts their eyes, their senses. For those in darkness even our presence is irritating, annoying to them.

Here are just a few observations we should be aware of for those who live under the rule of darkness-

1. Those in the kingdom of darkness love the dark. They don't like the light because it shows others what they are doing. John 3:19

2. Those in the kingdom of darkness don't know where they are going. They have no direction. They stumble and don't know what they stumbled over. How could you when you walk in darkness? In the kingdom of darkness direction and purpose are unknown concepts. John 12:35

3. Those in the kingdom of darkness have become blind. The darkness has blinded their eyes. When there is no light to use your eyes soon they become useless. There is a blindness for those in the kingdom of darkness that we don't understand, but you need to know that they simply can't see anymore. 1 John 2:11

4. Those in the kingdom of darkness don't understand the things of the kingdom of light. They are spiritually blind to what is going on in the light and don't understand it. John 1:5

You are under the rule of one of these kingdoms. So is everyone you know. All of us are either in the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness. There is an interesting note about the rulers of these two kingdoms you need to know- The ruler of the kingdom of light loves his subjects. The ruler of the kingdom of darkness hates his subjects. Both rule out of how they view their subjects. It makes a big difference.

There is much more to discuss on this topic of two kingdoms, but for today I just wanted to make a few observations to "shine some light" on the battle for planet earth. It's literally a battle of light verses dark. Which kingdom rules you?

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I hope that Paul's words are true of your life when he writes, "...He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves," Colossians 1:13

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Quote of the day

"Living in regret of the past, or fear of the future, are two ways of not living at all." -Andree Seu
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Best intentions....wrong results

Time for a smile? Here it is. I can only assume the owner of this barber shop or hair salon meant the best by the sign they chose with little thought to what it communicated. It makes you smile, doesn't it?

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I wonder....how many times have my best intentions turned out to have the wrong results. I only hope they at least make people smile.

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Untold stories

My brother called me tonight to let me know that an old neighbor of ours died. When I say "old" I mean we were boyhood neighbors. Mike lived three houses down from us and was the obstacle between our house and the grade school. Mike was our neighborhood bully. No one went by his house untaunted, unchallenged, without threats. Mike took his role as our neighborhood bully seriously. It's amazing to me how much the lives of others affect us. There is more to this story, but here is all that was written about our old neighbor:

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CEDAR, IOWA — Mike Hendricks, 59, of Cedar, died June 18, 2010, at his home.

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I looked for more, but this was all that was written about Mike. And yet our lives impact others. The hurts are never forgotten. Sometimes the impact is unknown to everyone but the one hurt. I haven't thought about Mike in decades. We all have a way of putting bad memories in the back of our thoughts. My brother reminded me of the pinnacle event in our relationship with Mike. There was a day when my brother came home crying, with a bloody nose. Mike had caught him on the way home. My brother reminded me that, in anger, I ran down the street and gave Mike the beating he had long deserved. Now, I'm not replaying history for glory. I was only 12. How much glory can children get from the abuse we inflict on each other? But, Mike never bullied us again.

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Why the story? It struck me that our lives have much more content to them than the few words written at the end in an obituary. We impact others for the rest of their lives. Even the little things are not forgotten. For each of us there are untold stories that have made us into who we are. It's funny....we never forget the untold stories.

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Press on!

We were at a snow cone shop yesterday enjoying some cool drinks with the grandson when in the store comes a flock of teenage girls. I don't know how else to describe it, but a flock is the right word for my thoughts. As I watched them I noticed on of the girls had a t-shirt that had written on the back, "Press on!" Below those two words was this reference: Hosea 6:1-3. I'm very familiar with Hosea 6:6, but I didn't have verses 1-3 clearly in my mind. I looked up the verses last night and here is what this passage says,
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1"Come, let us return to the LORD

For He has torn us, but He will heal us;

He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2"He will revive us after two days;

He will raise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him.

3"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth."

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So, let us know, let us PRESS ON to know the Lord. Press on to know the Lord....what an interesting phrase. There are several things that come to my thoughts immediately, 1. There is something I must do, 2. It will take some effort and intentionality, and 3. It is possible to know the Lord, he invites such a press on our part. God wants to be known by his creation! That reality is thrilling to me. I can choose to pursue him, to know him. Knowing God is available, it's desirable, and God invites it, but it will take some work. Is it worth it? YES! Without question the most important relationship any man or woman will every have is the one we have with God. It changes everything!

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So, let us press on to know the Lord! You will never regret the quest.

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Monday's cartoon

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

For one day a year we celebrate dads. A card. A hug. A phone call. A smile. A thought.

May I take a moment and thank my dad for his wonderful example of hard work, godly living and care for us through many years. I'm glad my dad is still a part of my life. He's struggling with health issues, but makes the best of his life. I got to be with him a month ago for his 84th birthday. It was great to see him.

As a dad and granddad myself, I hope I leave behind a good memory and model in the lives of those I care about in the years ahead. For all a man does being a dad is the most difficult, most important and most rewarding task we have. We are called to show our kids what God is like, how he feels about them. Our impact on our children is bigger than we know.

So, for all you dads...Happy Father's Day! Live your life with the realization that your children learn what God is like by watching you. Live well and have a great day!

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