Summation of the Gospel

At the end of it all, the Gospel of Christ is this: God will give you what you really want. If you want to be with Him, Christ broke through the power of death and has Satan’s power bound and gagged. You no longer have to be a prisoner to death. He made the way for you to be with Him, where previously, it was barred by sin and the grave.

But if you do not want to be with God, he grants that as well. Many people think it’s cruel that “God would send people to hell.” Let me assure you, God does not send you anywhere, but calls you out of death and into life. God does not send you to hell any more than the sun sends you inside your home. The fact is simply that to be inside your home is to be out of the sun’s rays, and to be outside of God’s presence is to be, in the strictest and undebatable way, in hell.

But you now have the ability to be in the sun’s rays, fully and freely. Many people complain that God is not very loving, because he does not accept us the way we are, but demand that we change into what He wants us to be. The sun must also be unfair then, because when I spend time soaking up its rays, I too am changed. The fact of nature is that the power you spend time with will change you. The things you love will always change you to be more like them – this is why the things you watch and think about and listen to should not be carelessly chosen. Over time, you always become like what you love.

So this is the gospel. We were in a room with no doors – a prison. Outside, the sun was radiant and beautiful, but we could not enjoy it. We became pale and sickly, held against our will. When Christ came, he walked into our prison, and made a door in the wall for us to escape through. Like fools, we say that it is narrow minded to believe there is only one door in the prison. But prisons always only have one door.

So now, we are faced with a choice. Do we choose to stay or do we choose to go? Once outside, you find that there are actual places to go in the world. There are adventures and people and light and love. You will also find that your time in prison has left you sickly and damaged, not fully able to set out. But the first step is to walk out of the prison into the light of day. After time, you will find yourself becoming changed. This is the Christian idea of sanctification – it’s like a spiritual tan – the effect of spending time in God’s rays.

So it is not unfair to say that Jesus is the only way to God. What is unfair is to blame God for you not going anywhere, while you stay inside the prison of your choosing. 

How to Be a Man

I just finished ordering a coffee at Starbucks, and was a little disappointed that the barista did not ask me if I wanted room for cream as she was pouring my dark roast coffee.  I would have said, with a slight air of nonchalance, that I did not want cream in my coffee, but that I drink it black.

This is because take a level of pride in drinking black coffee - it feels more manly.  Like, when someone offers me pre-cut firewood, and I say, "No, I got this" as I swing my ax onto my flannel-covered shoulders and head out into an unmarked forest in the dead of winter.

This creamer thing got me thinking about what else I do, just because it fits into my idea of what a man should look like.  So, here is a list of things that I find in myself that tell me how to be a man.

• Drink black coffee.  You don't have to do it every time, but you should be able to without too much fuss.  
• Be able to drive a manual transmission car without any trouble.  If you learned a long time ago, but haven't done it in a while, it might be time for a refresher course.  If you are being chased by international terrorists, and you jump into that Ferrari to get away, and grind the gears down the runway of an airport, it loses a certain level of cool, and telling that story later on will be tricky.
• Tie your own tie.  This includes bow ties, and half and full Windsor knots.  It's just one of those skills you should know.
• Appreciate old things.  Learn to love old books, old cities, old people, old music, old movies, old boats, or anything else that has figured out how to survive time.  
• Be able to read a book without pictures that aren't novels.  Stories are great, but figure out how to grapple with tough ideas in black and white books.  
• Know how to read and fold a newspaper.  They aren't irrelevant just yet, so maybe don't think of a newspaper as a tablet made out of paper.  The creases are there for a reason.
• Be able to sit and be quiet.  There is no inherent need in the heart of mankind that needs constant entertainment or stimulation.  Learn to just be.  We are human beings, not human doings. 
• Be able to start a fire without too much mess.    

And the most important one on the list - be secure in your own identity even if you don't know how to do any of the things on this list.  

What it really means to be a man is the same thing that it means to be a good human being.  And it boils down to this:

Love God as devotedly as you can, love people deeply and honestly, work as hard as you can, have personal integrity, make your word mean something, never cheat or take a shortcut, don't compromise your soul, love others more than you love yourself, and above all, stop putting creamer in your coffee and learn to read a book.

    

A Person Who Interests Me

This past Christmas and New Years, my wife Caroline and I went to Bogota, Colombia to visit her family down there.  To pass the time on the plane, I brought a recent gift from my sister-in-law, Sally - a book called "643 Things to Write About."  This is a note book, full of 643 prompts, ranging from things like "You are a pirate.  Describe your perfect day" to things like "A tree from the point of view of one of its leaves."  I love this book so much, and had fun writing on the plane.

When we arrived, Caroline's Uncle Juampa saw the book and started flipping through it.  Jokingly, he marked the prompt "Choose a person who interests you.  Write about the following person home" and slipped in a note that said "Uncle Juampa!"  Never one to let a challenge go unmet, I decided that before we left, I would do just that.

Not surprisingly, by the end of the trip, he genuinely interested me and I grew very fond of him.  So here is the bit that I wrote on Uncle Juampa - the examples below are experiences we had while we were there.

"Few people have the distinction of being known as a walking experience.  A simple walk with this kind of person will leave you wiser, calmer, and happier than you would have thought possible.  You wonder how this person sees the world, and wonder if it's a nicer world than you've seen.  A walk home with this person would cover classical Greek, Spanish grammar, local geography, and personal poetry.  It is in the nature of this person to bleed the perfect gifts - at just he right moment, generosity strikes and makes you wonder why you don't think of doing the same for other people.  This person is not too proud to talk to a homeless man telling jokes for money, and doesn't care if you are a king - you are a person.  You exist.  And this is enough for Uncle Juampa's time, attention, and love."



Here's the bottom line - Do good, create, have fun, and Life will beg you to dance with it.  Try cooking, try dancing, try learning.  And above all, love tensegrity.

Regeneration

So for those of you who don't know, I'm a big fan of this kooky show called "Doctor Who."  It's a quirky, British, sci-fi show that I won't even attempt to sell you on - you either already love it or hate it.  The only thing you need to know for this post is that when The Doctor (the main character) is close to dying, he regenerates into an entirely new person.  This was probably BBC's way of keeping a show going longer than one actor would sign up for, but it's a fun idea.

Now that it's after the new year, everyone is thinking through resolutions and things they're going to change about themselves because this year is going to be totally different from any other year.  Sarcasm included.

But when I think about myself five, or even ten years ago, I'm not sure I could say I am the same person I was - or rather, I'm not the same version of myself that I was.  Part of that is that ten years ago I was "half-baked" and still figuring out who I wanted to be.  But what if figuring out who you wanted to be was a life-long pursuit?  

I read in a New York Times article that practically every cell in our bodies replaces itself every 7-10 years.  The ones that don't really seem to change are a small amount of cells in your cerebral cortex.  So, if almost all of my body is physically replaced every 7-10 years, it's like I'm regenerating.  It's like I'm constantly regenerating.  

So I'm beginning this year, not thinking of what the old me wants to change, but thinking rather, that I have become someone new this year, and I get to decide what kind of person that is.  I get to try new hobbies to see if this new me likes them.  I get to try memorizing poetry, because maybe this new me can memorize poetry better than the old me. 

But maybe we don't become new people just because our cells replace themselves, and maybe we don't change because it's the new year.  Maybe we change when we actually start behaving like the people we want to be, rather than the people we've grown tired of being.  It might be worth your while to list out the kind of person you wouldn't mind being like, and then do small things every day that this new kind of person might do.  Maybe in the doing, the becoming sneaks up on us.  

Bending and Breaking

While I was living in Orlando in 2009, I attended Summit Church, founded and pastored by a man named Isaac Hunter.  When thinking about people who have had a significant impact on my spiritual life, it's hard to know the full extent, but Isaac Hunter will always be on the list of people who helped my love of God grow deeper.

Last year it was revealed that he had been having an affair with a staff member and his wife had filed domestic abuse charges against him.  He resigned from his position at Summit and decided that the affair was more important than his family, and left them.  On December 21st he committed suicide and his death was covered nationally because his father is a spiritual adviser to President Obama.

This news was very hard on me - partially due to the great love I have always felt towards Isaac, and partially due to the great pain that suicide has already inflicted on my heart over the last two years.  As I think through what integrity means, and the immense pressure those in the public eye must feel, I can't help but think of King David.

David was the King of Israel, and was called a man after God's own heart, despite his own affair with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband.  David had an elastic repentance - he messed up, more than most people, but when he was confronted with his sin, he was quick to admit it and repent.  This put him in great dependence on God and great humility before people.  

I do not care that Isaac Hunter had an affair - that is primarily a sin against God and his wife and family, not against me.  People are constantly failing and being forgiven by a gracious God.  People will always mess up - but what I want, and what I think God wants, is for people to be quick to make right their wrong.  Isaac Hunter chose not to bend, either from pride, blindness, or a small view of God's capacity of forgiveness.  Because he did not bend, be broke - and it his is breaking, not his failure that breaks my heart.  Breaking is not sinning - breaking is not repenting of the sin.

A man's failures do not negate the great good that God accomplished through them in the lives of others.  God is glorified within and often despite my failures.  My sadness is not due to someone I respect failing - that will always happen.  My sadness is due to a man not seeing the redemption possible after such a failure.  God is so much greater than our sin and so much better than our badness.  

Don't Be a Tourist

After doing a little bit of world traveling, I've started to wonder how someone can actually experience a city, town, or country.  If I went to a province in China, and I only stay in one part, how can I have really known the heart of China?

As I'm writing this, I am in Bogota, Colombia, and we have just returned from a flea market.  As we sat on the curb of the street, we talked about what it means to experience a city. Thanks to Camilia, Marcela, Caroline, Jay, and Liliana for helping me make this list.  Here are some of the things we talked about to really experience a city.

- Eat in Hole-in-the-Wall Places.  Whether these are street vendors or small cafes, eat the local food as much as possible.  It might give you heart burn sometimes, but you are already across the world, live adventurously.

- Find the Local Music, and dance your heart out.  Music reflects the heart of the city, so find what locals listen to, and join in the dancing.  You are already going to stand out in most of the world, so just go ahead and commit.

- Walk Alone.  Always having a translator or guide will dampen your ability to actually look at where you are.  Wander around a market and try out those four words you know.  The worst that can happen is that you will be robbed and murdered in broad daylight...but hasn't that always been the worst that could happen?  Stop thinking about the worst thing that can happen...it'll make you a crazy person who has no fun.

- Learn the Language.  Culture and language are inseparable.  Learn as much of the local language as you can before arriving, and then spend the entire trip absorbing as much as you can.  Insisting that other people learn your language and then making no effort to learn theirs is not an option. If you don't care about other people's languages, you probably don't care very much about other people - and I've found that life is much better when you care about other people.

- Avoid the Tourist Traps.  Sometimes you rely should go to them anyway, but remember that it is not really seeing the heart of the city.  You are seeing what everybody sees, not what the locals see.

- Travel the City/Country.  Broaden your view of  the City or Country by traveling the highlands, swamplands, coastlines, and skylines.

- Learn the Geography.  It helps your understanding of a city to know where you are and the different parts of the city.

- Go to a Market.  Wander and browse the places where the locals shop.  Avoid the malls and chain restaurants.

- Don't Only Stay in the Rich Part of Town.  A lot of people are poor or middle class.  If you stay where the money is, you will experience money culture, not local culture.  Money culture is the same world round.

- Learn the Local Politics.  You don't have to start rioting in the streets with locals over fair trade, but you should learn about what makes the government tick.

- Finally, travel with an open mind and go to learn and experience, not just to take pictures.  Pictures can often take the place of experiences and give the illusion of having had an experience.  Try not taking a picture, but instead, spend five minutes absorbing the image, rather than snapping a picture and moving on without being moved at all.

Discipleship is Gardening

Jesus said that Christians are supposed to "make disciples of all nations."  I've thought a lot about what this means, to make disciples, and I think it goes far beyond just sharing the gospel or sharing our testimony.

In Mathew 13 Jesus told a parable of someone throwing seeds around on the ground.  He said that some fell on a sidewalk and the birds pecked up the seeds.  He said some seeds fell on some rocks where some dirt had gathered, and the seeds took root right away, but because there was no real soil and the plants died as soon as the hot sun hit them.  He said some fell in side a patch of thorns and as soon as the plants grew, the thorns crowded around and choked them to death.  Finally, he said that some fell on good ground and that seed made a crop that gave back a massive amount of food.

The disciples, Jesus' disciples, didn't understand what he was talking about.  To be honest, even after hearing Jesus' explanation, I didn't understand what he was talking about.

He went on to explain it by saying that the person who hears the gospel and doesn't understand it is like the seed that fell on the sidewalk - Satan comes along and snatches it away before anything can really happen.  The seed that falls on the shallow soil on the rock is like the person who gets excited and all fired up when they hear the gospel, but because they have no depth to their understanding, fall away as soon as it gets hot out.  The seed that falls in the thorn patch is someone who hears the gospel and tries to grow, but because of the cares of the world and worries that they have, let the Truth be choked out.  Finally, the seed that has depth and good soil and no weeds or rocks are like someone who receives the gospel and produces fruit because of it.

For the longest time, I thought this meant "well, you win some and you lose some, but share the gospel with everyone.  It might not stick to everyone, but that's the way the seeds fall."  To some extent this might be true, but I think it was overemphasized with me because of my history in street evangelism and open air preaching.

Sharing the gospel is throwing the seed, but discipleship is gardening.  Gardening starts long before the seeds are planted.  Gardening loosens up the soil and gets those rocks out.  Gardening is guarding against birds that snatch seeds.  Gardening is pulling those thorns out.  All of this is so that when that seed is planted it lands in good soil.

Discipleship begins long before the seed of the gospel takes root, because discipleship is preparing the ground.  Don't ignore the important and messy part of the gospel that prepares people's hearts.