cracking the windows

(Two quick things: facebook friends, i'm sorry, i will try and hit your topics... just not in this post. secondly, my friend Jason has a blog, and his latest post i consider his best of many great posts so far. Please visit In Lieu of Eye Contact and enjoy.)

I drove to Lowe's today to see if they had dry erase paint. It's paint you put on your walls so you can draw directly on the wall with dry erase markers and are still able to erase it right back off. Awesome stuff, except that i failed in my first attempt to put it on my office wall. Long story.

But as i parked my car in the Lowe's parking lot i had a very quick dilemma on my hands: do i lock my car or keep it unlocked? As i exited my car i made this decision: i'm going to "crack the windows to give the appearance of security." I thought those literal words.

In that moment i had an insanely meta-cognitive moment: is this really me? is this who i am? Do i leave the windows cracked just to show people something i'm really not?

Do you leave the windows cracked in your life? Maybe with a trusted friend you tell the stories but leave out the details. "Well, i did something i'm not proud of... but i learned my lesson..." but you don't ever share the details, and what it was you learned. You provide a cracked window, but you don't let them in.

The thing with me is this, i probably crack the windows the best around my wife, closest friends and fellow employees. Why? So that i look secure. But isn't it better to be secure?

In the Kingdom, being open is being secure. "They were naked (bare), and felt no shame." Genesis 2:25. In what ways are you cracking the window, and with whom? Why? Are you afraid they can't help you? Are you afraid of the consequences?

What about with God? Cracking the window with Him comes in various forms. One of the easiest of the many forms to fall into is doing something good instead of doing His will. "I wrote my dad a card," doesn't substitute that exact thing on your heart that you know God's calling you to do in that moment. We create security in the cracked window of a good deed, when our true security comes in following His will. There is no greater security than being in God's unlocked car of His dreams for you.

Stop cracking the window, and you will experience a greater security than the false security you are trying to show off to the world.

Or to the customers at Lowe's for that matter.

Liberty

You know you've seen it recently. That person dancing in the statue-of-liberty costume that is clearly as cheaply made as possible while still resembling her universally renown meaning. That person works for Liberty Tax Service and can usually be seen doing the above...

One morning i watched as our local red-headed twenty-something male donned the costume and was dancing during the morning rush hour. A girl who was about the same age was walking two dogs on leashes right towards the dancing statue of liberty. Then i witnessed "the moment."

This moment is the one where the dude realizes he has to do something to redeem his unfortunate scenario if he's going to impress the girl. So he pauses his dancing, and as the girl is halfway across the street he haunches over to welcome the two puppies.

Well, the two dogs get so freaked out that the he-lady liberty just turned his/her attention to them that they darted out into the middle of the busy intersection. And they darted so quickly that the owner lost control of both of the leashes.

I know. I know. There just can't be a good ending to this. Right?

Well, the girl called the dogs' names and, before being pummeled by oncoming traffic, returned safely to the girl. She scooped them up, grabbed their leashes (firmly) and walked the dogs politely right on by our local friendly Liberty Tax employee.

You know, there are a lot of things dressing themselves up as "liberty" to us these days. And our Master calls our name in those moments, beckoning us back to Him. Will you let those fake promises of liberty run you right out into traffic (which often in our day truly is busy-ness)? Or will you stay on course with your Master? Take some time to recognize the things in your life that dress themselves up as freedom in your life and draw close to your Master instead. It will save you from much unneeded harm.

"It is for freedom Christ set you free." -Galatians 5:1

thinking big

Man! There is so much i want to blog about! So this blog will be in a different style than normal.

*I got to speak to Donald Miller.*

No, you read that right. And to the left is photographic proof. He took it well. Donald brought up some very interesting ideas about competition being a result of the fall of man, valuing relationship, sin, God not really having a plan for our life, and his view on "the problem of evil." I really would want to summarize all of this to you, and my counter for his argument for competition being a result of the fall, but, i'll let you inquire from within. If you want my take, let me know. I'll share/blog about it.

It was a great night, and you should check out his blog at donmilleris.com and specifically read this blog post on God not really having a plan for our lives.

*thinking big*

If you missed this event in Shippensburg tonight, you truly did miss it. Placed in an old warehouse of sorts right in the middle of town, the left for dead building was transformed into a grand hall featuring art, music and coffee. The art was terrific, inspiring and all local. The coffee was debuted by friends Matt and Kristin Ramsay. There were tons of puns: a "Pop Gun" which was an over sized gun in pop art form, a walk-through piece made entirely of envelopes (so that you were enveloped), and a mammoth (adjective) mammoth (elephant) mask that was beaten like a pinata symbolizing the destruction of the giant mask we all put on every day.

People, we should have had to pay for all of this, and it was free. It was incredible, outstanding and wonderful that there was so much culture in Shippensburg. You can check out www.postnowpa.com to see more about the vision for contemporary art in Shippensburg.

*these guys get it.*

I was so inspired in meeting Scott and Lindsay tonight. They are a missionary couple that are home raising funds to head back to Dublin. Scott is also a photographer. The way they do mission's is radical (which means to the root by the way). They develop art centers, hold displays much like tonight, allow the artists to explain their inspiration for their work (God) and allow conversation to take place from there. All the meanwhile training people to be able to church plant and seek community revival in a place that's considered very "dark." Please check out what they are doing here. I would love to have these guys speak to students at Shippensburg because i think they get it. You know. It.

Again, each one of these could have been a blog post in itself, and i know this is short, but hopefully it inspires questions. So feel free to ask me for further thoughts.

Kadesh and Shur

"From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar." -Genesis 20:1

Ever been "stuck between a rock and a hard place?"

In Genesis chapter 20, Abraham journeys between Kadesh (which can be translated "a place in the desert) and Shur (which can be translated "the enemy"). And you could say, that it showed.

He ends up, for the second time in his life, playing his wife off as his sister which potentially made her an option as someone elses wife, concubine, etc. The second time! But God appears to the deceived suitor, Abimelech, in a dream telling him that Sarah is Abraham's wife, not sister.

Abimelech confronts Abraham on it, but then gives him money and lambs and land.

Now, this in no way means that we should sin. No.

But somehow, even in Abraham's weirdest most selfish tactics to keep himself alive and well, God seems to protect him and those he's deceiving. Now we could spend tons of time debating what Abe's real motives were, but one thing i see here is this...

Normally i am the one that condemns myself, not God. When i sin, or try and create my own scheme to get me through the desert and the enemy, and get caught in it, i beat myself up. But somehow God really has always proven faithful. No matter how many times i fail, or scheme, or act selfishly, God is faithful, even in my faithlessness.

"It is for freedom that Christ set you free." Galatians 5:1. Don't encumber yourself with schemes and tactics and selfishness to get yourself out of the desert and away from the enemy. And don't beat yourself up when you do act that way. Simply look to Christ to guide you. He will do so in a way that sets you free. Even from yourself.

Let it Shine!

I love when i find a passage that i've read a bunch of times and discover something new about it. Especially the verses that we base songs off of. Even more especially the ones we base children's songs off of and we are never told their context!

Check out this passage of Luke 8:16-18 in the ESV:

No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

"...I'm gonna let it shine!" Right?

Interestingly enough, the passage's emphasis seems to be on "shining" "how you hear."

The times that i'm the most "on" in life is when i'm the most richly reading scripture and have spent daily times in conversational prayer, speaking and listening. I think this passage is saying when Jesus reveals to you some quality about Himself or the Kingdom (see the context of Luke 8) that revelation has no purpose of being secret or hidden. "Let it shine!"

But of course, we can not do any shining if we haven't lit the lamp. I believe we can consume the Bible without tasting it, and converse with Jesus without hearing Him. Real easily too.

When we read the Bible, make sure you're not just hogging it down and finishing up the meal. Really taste and digest what is being fed to you.

And when you pray, don't just talk. Listen. Listen, listen, listen. If we really are going to preach "relationship" we must listen, for listening is the key part of communication, which is the key part to any relationship. And the promise says that if you listen, and receive, you will be given more! But it's up to us to begin really listening. So...

"Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!"

too good to be true

"seems too good to be true."

Don't i know it?

I think a lot of us search for God to be true. There's just one problem with that, and Meredith Vieira hits on that poignantly in this interview. God is simply "too good to be true." He's too good to be simply true. In fact, He's just plain good. And that is what makes him true: His goodness. Here's one example how.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And i believe this is just the first of many, many, many stories we are going to have like this! For four days Florida's best, by land and by air, were searching for this girl. In one morning James King finds her "by the Spirit of the Lord."

My wife asked me, "How does a girl just wander off into the swamp?" It reminded me of the story of when Jesus let Lazarus ("...he sure knows how to take one for the team.") die in John chapter 11. Martha says to Jesus, "if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Earlier in the chapter when Jesus gets wind of Lazarus' sickness He tells the disciples, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son can be glorified through it."

I know that a lot of "bad" happens and doesn't end in this same result. And there still is no one great answer to all the evil in the world. But i know that every situation that is bad is a huge opportunity for God's Son to be glorified.

The question is not whether God's up for the task. He always is. The question is, is James King up for the task?

I can hear the taunts already in his head. "Don't bring water. You won't find her. Don't bother with the toilet paper. There's no chance." I doubt that this was easy for him. But, it was good.

So the question is no longer is James King up to the task. No. Are you up to the task? Am i up to the task?

There are a lot of non-believers out there. And i think Christians often think, "how can they not believe?" Maybe we need to ask this: "What is something impossible i can go after?" Instead of trying to always present proofs and arguments, we should live out lives that reek of the impossible happening "by the Spirit of the Lord." But that only happens if you believe it will and you bring the toilet paper.

Are you up to pursuing the impossible?

my daily chase

the sun rose
my hope began the day
with doubt spitting in his face
across the sky, the sun i chase

and true to form
i run and grasp
only to wildly miss
a shadow only i kiss

now it's dark and i'm tired
wondering where i've been
lost in my own treasure map

i never reach my final lap

the sun set

was it worth it?

the sun seemed to think so

he never dimmed his glow

in the chase after the sun

i only ever lusted after my own shadow

because i put the sun behind me

a now rather obvious fallacy

but the sun never returns

no, he only ever rises

with the sun ever before me
my face bronzes in his glory

(but when the sun does one day return

rise again, it never will
shadows will be that former story
we will all burn from within the sun's glory)