Enter the Fray

Don't you look away. Don't you dare.

If any of what I have to say stands a chance of sinking in the way it ought to, you must start with the grotesque truth. 

Before writing this, I put images like this before my eyes for the first time in a little while. I'd seen the flash in a pan stuff associated with the videos that have been released this summer, exposing Planned Parenthood. But it had been a while since I sat and looked at a picture of an aborted child. Not an aborted fetus, an aborted child. 

Looking at images like this didn't take long to bring me to tears. Those tears were of grief, for the hideousness of the loss of precious life. They were tears of anger, as I almost snapped a sharpie in my hand from clenching it so hard, thinking that this has been allowed to go on over 40 years. They were tears of intervention, a desperate pleading for mercy from God - mercy on our country, where images like this are of something legal, and not a crime. 

I remember a time when, as a high schooler, I used to point out to others, in my frustration, how contradictory it was for the law to count as two deaths the death of a pregnant mother in an auto accident. "What if she was on her way to an abortion clinic??" I'd say, and plead for your agreement that this was so backwards. 

Somehow...to my shame...this issue has dimmed in the spotlight of my heart and mind over the years since I first grappled with it. But recently, God has nudged my conscience repeatedly, and I've had my moment of realizing I must do more. 

Have you had your moment? 

Take an extra 2 minutes - please! - and click the link below for a slice of a message at Hope Church, given last Sunday. For right now, listen from 21:30 to 23:40 (though I'd highly recommend setting aside the 42 minutes to listen to the whole thing when you can, or go check it out at www.hopeinjesus.org. 

Hope Sermon - "Called" Part 6: Fair Exchange

There is a lot of outcry in our lands today, for many different reasons. And if your personal outcry, about which you've already taken action and are passionately committed to making a difference, is something else besides this, God bless you in that. May you stand strong. May you "seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." 

But if not, listen up. God has called us. He has called you and I to do something about this.

In 2013, 3 people were killed by the explosion at the Boston Marathon, arranged by a terrorist. There was massive outcry for justice. 

In 1995, 168 people were killed in Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. There was a massive outcry for justice. When he was executed, you probably weren't sad about it. Maybe you even nodded in righteous approval. 

On September 11th, 2001, nearly 3,000 of our dear American citizens were killed when terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center towers. America went to war over it. The outcry still lives in the hearts of many, and we are a country divided to this day over the issue of how to view Muslims. 

Where is our outcry over abortion??

Where is our outcry over the 57,000,000 (that's 57 MILLION) babies who have died in America since the Roe v. Wade decision??

There are several reasons why we might not do something about this issue. The reason that it's not wrong, and that a woman has sacred rights to her own body that supercede those of anything/anyone growing inside her - - THIS reason is for a different discussion. If you uphold this reason, I really truly pray for you, and hope that your eyes are someday opened, and the lie is cast out. 

But other reasons exist too that have held far too great a power over us as Christians. We might agree it's terrible, yet feel powerless to change anything. "What can I do as one person?" might be the thought inside. Or we might feel at a loss for where to start. "What part of the warpath should I first step foot on?" we ask. 

Frankly, I think the biggest reason most of us do basically nothing is that we are like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are "overfed and unconcerned."

Hold on a second, you say. What gives you the right to lump us into that kind of company?

See what God said about Sodom and Gomorrah in Ezekiel 16:49-50:

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom:

She and her daughters were arrogant, 

overfed and unconcerned;

they did not help the poor and needy.

They were haughty and did 

detestable things before me.

Therefore I did away with them 

as you have seen."

Sounds like the masses in America, doesn't it? Sounds like the corruption, the moral backsliding, and the general apathy that's out there on account of being a society that, for the most part, has it better than 90% or more of the rest of the world's population. We have fast food chains whose coverage maps shame those of cell phone providers. We have our flat screens, our smartphones, our jacuzzis. We have our flex spending accounts, our grocery stores with entire aisles dedicated to just chips.We have our IMax theaters, our $200 Nikes, our sofa sectionals, and our "bling." We have our cake, and boy, do we eat it too. 

That passage also sounds like you and me. Don't shake your head or cross your arms at me. We have everything...except the time of day for causes that matter. 

Disagree? 

What do our calendars look like?

What do our spending histories look like?

What do we most cry over?

Is abortion still running rampant in our country? 

Don't our children still die in the womb or on cold metal trays because we choose in favor of ourselves and our comfort, or because we don't know we have other choices?

Don't women still get bullied by someone else into thinking abortion is her duty in her circumstance?

Don't people that we know go on down the road, led by the conformity to a politician's statement, or the murmur of the crowd on social media, simply because actual conversations with others about sensitive issues make us uncomfortable?

We are the apathetic ones. We are the ones ignoring the outcry. We are the ones preferring to play Judge instead of entering the fray and rolling our sleeves up and DOING SOMETHING about this. We are the ones who, by veritably sitting by and allowing injustice to happen over and over, are no better for that than those carrying out the heinous acts themselves. And meanwhile we content ourselves to think,

"Somebody else will do something."

Somebody else is YOU. Somebody else is ME. 

Enter the fray with me, brothers and sisters. Stand up against the injustice being done, and find a way - any way you can - to take action, in prayer AND donation. In prayer AND adoption. In prayer AND foster parenting. In prayer AND volunteering to get the word out there that there is another option besides ending new lives God has started knitting together in the womb. 

One such place you can begin is in support of an organization like WELS Lutheran for Life (www.alife2.com). Their mission is "Saving the life of a baby, transforming the family from at-risk to thriving, and doing it all again tomorrow." They need your prayers, they need your monetary first-fruits, and they even need your hands, feet, and voices! They are acting on behalf of God's children who cannot speak for themselves!

The point is, let's not sit idly by any longer. The outcry has been reaching God's ears for over 40 long years. We are God's church. We are his "church militant," as some like to say. Well, then let's get militant already. Let's form ranks. Let's put on the full armor of God, and with boldness and an audacity for justice, march out and take action in answer to the outcry in our land! 

Please.....don't ignore this. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about this. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Enter the fray. 

For me, this all started because one day, I realized I'd only written my own posts on social media, or shared someone else's, about this issue...and that's it. One day God whispered to my soul that he wanted me to take a step (or a thousand, I don't know yet) farther than that. I have taken a couple steps onto the warpath for myself (beyond just writing this). I'm saying "Here am I, Lord, send me!" 

Will you? The warpath awaits, soldier.

Pass the Salt

Another day started with sadness. My own life was just fine, actually. But it took less than an hour to become aware of yet another group of people for whom today, and many days to come, is a day of mourning. 

Another shooting. States away from me, sure. But in my country, happening to two people just out doing their jobs as news reporters. Another senseless act. More tears. More heads shaking in bewilderment. More eyes lifted up asking God, or just the skies, "Why my loved one??"

This life can have such a bitter taste. Sometimes I get so tired of feeling like the good is just being drowned out by the noise of the bad. I can even lose my joy for living in the now when I stop and think long enough on all the things we have done to mess up this world so terribly. 

After checking out news on the shooting in Virginia today, that claimed the life of a 24 year old female reporter and a 27 year old cameraman, I sat on my couch looking dismally at the floor. Then I sent the following message to my friend in China via WeChat:

"Can you imagine what it'll be like when we're with [God], and we get to like, Day 5 of no bad news, no crying, no fights, no pain, no anger over someone doing something?"

I answered my own question to myself silently for a moment as I awaited his reply. I really couldn't. I really could not imagine for myself what that will feel like to have gone days, then weeks, then months, then YEARS without those things that bring sadness in this life. See, I tend to focus less on the visuals and stuff like whether our pets will be with us in heaven. I meditate more on the way it'll feel to my human soul, to be forever removed from this existence, and instead alongside Jesus in a place of perfection. I want so badly to know what heaven is like, and I want even worse to be there now. Especially when the news is bad. And it so often is. 

Then my friend on WeChat broke the gloom of my despairing thoughts and yearning for what isn't, with this reply:

"Until that time, we must be that taste of what's to come. I believe that's part of what was meant by being salt."

Of course!! I realized I couldn't agree more. This had to at least one nuance of what Jesus meant when he talked about salt. 

For those of you unfamiliar with this, in the book of Matthew Jesus was recorded as saying,

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men" (Matthew 5:13).

Jesus said this during a famous sermon he preached while a large group of people was gathered around him on a mountainside. He'd just talked about how we who believe in him and follow God's ways will be persecuted and unpopular in this world because of it, but that we are meant to stand out, and meant to be different, and we'll be blessed because of it. Here he is telling those who get sick and tired of this world, like I often feel, that we are meant to be a flavoring that changes how life tastes to others. 

Many people don't know God but they long for hope. Even those of us who know God and love him can lose our hopefulness too, while living in the deep shadow of the fallen ways of mankind, in a world that seems like it's growing darker by the day. While on earth, heaven can certainly feel far away. 

But every Christian like me has a mission. We can change this bitter taste into something more flavorful, more savory. 

All it takes is a pinch of salt. 

With every kind act we perform to someone around us, or every seized opportunity to love those in our lives with a kindness and selflessness that Christ exhibited on a daily basis, we give a foretaste of heaven. 

There will be nothing that our hearts or brains can experience or contrive during this lifetime to truly capture the beauty, the relief, and the elation of what heaven will feel like to enjoy. 

But that doesn't mean we need to live as though it's a far off reality that nobody can know of until they get there. The life of a Christian is one that has countless opportunities to add the flavor of good news that, no matter how dark this world is, Jesus overcame the world's darkness, and defeated death and violence and malice and all the other sad headlines. He overcame all that by his death on the cross, and his resurrection to eternal life. He has promised to allow me to inherit all that because he loves me so much. He wants me to pass that deliciously salty flavor to the drab and boring and hopeless plates that sit at everyone else's tables. 

Those of us who follow Jesus will get to taste heaven someday, when our time here is up, because of God's undeserved and incredible love. 

And in the meanwhile, we can share something that's different with everyone else. Something that's new, and fresh. Something that isn't sad, depressing, or painful like so much else in life. Something that's reason for hope and peace because it speaks of never-ending tomorrows in a real paradise that will make us forget this place. Something that drowns out all the noise of the bad with the goosebump-inducing symphony of the good and beautiful - God's love.

We can pass that salt, and let everyone taste heaven now, through us.

Selective Amnesia

A Facebook meme crossed my timeline today that asked the question, "What would you tell me if I lost my memory?" In other words, what would you want me to know?

I don't know how many of you are like me, but my first thought was about how nice it would be to lose all memory of the evils I have committed in my thoughts, the words from my mouth, and my deeds. Not all of my sins of the past are at the forefront of my mind, but don't we all have some (or a lot) that are only a subtle trigger or a quiet, pensive moment away from recall? 

Part of that curse of living with past sins is that Satan loves to remind us of how we've messed up or done evil. Even though Satan, whose other common name is the Devil, knows that God forgives all sin equally and irrevocably, his devious scheme is to drive doubt into our hearts that it can be so, and the more he gets us to remember our sins, the easier it can become to doubt God's forgiveness. 

We can live lives of "quiet desperation" (to quote Thoreau), where that desperation is rendered from a feeling that, despite the Gospel message, we still stand in shame, accused. In fact, that's what "the devil" means. Its Greek word διάβολος  (pronounced "dee-AH-bo-los" - think "diablo" or "diabolical") means "the accuser." That's his baddest trick. Accusing God's forgiven people and fooling them into forgetting grace by overwhelming them with the ghosts of their sins. 

In that first moment of reading the question of the Facebook meme, I almost felt a little stutter of the heart, signalling a hopeful "What if?" My inmost self actually instinctively wanted the prospect of my memory slate being wiped clean. It wasn't until my second moment of reaction that I realized all the beautiful things from my life - all gifts from God, made possible only because he has grace for me, because Jesus died to erase my sins - would be lost memories too. Imagine that: holding in one hand all your bloody, lustful, greedy, arrogant iniquities, and in your other, holding your proverbial photo album/video archive of every dear moment in your life....and actually considering letting go of the latter just to be rid of the former!

What would you choose, if you could? That's where I was...but thankfully, only for a moment. Then that moment was ended by truth coming back to my mind, to blow away the yearning for memory loss like a soothing southern wind on a chilly day in March. In swept words that I've known, but that, if Satan had his way, would be forgotten:

" 'This is the covenant I will make with

them...' says the Lord. ' I will put my

laws in their hearts, and I will write 

them on their minds.'

Then he adds:

'Their sins and lawless acts I will

remember no more.' "

(Hebrews 10:17)

That's what the symbol of the cross stands for. That my sin and yours has been acquitted, and dismissed from our record. God could be a harsh judge and hold it against us, as we do to ourselves. But he can't. He is a holy God who is bound by his own ideal that he will honor the sacrifice of Jesus. As part of his covenant of love (unconditional, undeserved) for people who follow him, God has to forget our sins. He "will remember them no more." He chooses, rather he selects, amnesia of our sinfulness. It's gone. Poof. Erased forever at the cross. 

Sometimes this prospect of forgiving myself as God already has seems impossible. Does it ever weigh you down too? Does it ever hold you back from things in life? Does it maybe just linger, like a pesky, haunting little spook that hangs out in the back of your mind, eroding your true joy in daily living? 

It's not impossible to let it go. It's not impossible to forget. It wouldn't require some all-or-nothing mind wipe either. We wouldn't have to be strapped into a lab gurney with electrodes and a metal crown of probes from some sci-fi film that would zap all memory out of us, just to rid us of the guilt. 

With Jesus, it can be left behind. Satan's accusing voice can be shut up. To quote a song from the Christian band Sanctus Real, "just hold onto the promises."

Youtube video of Sanctus Real music video "Promises"

Hold on to the promise that Christ made through his act of laying down his life on the cross, for you and me. Hold on to the promise he made by rising again from his grave to defeat even death. Hold on to the promise he made when, as he left Earth for Heaven, he told his disciples watching him rise into the clouds, "Surely I am with you always, even to the end of time" (Matthew 28:20). Hold on to the promise he made when he said, earlier in his lifetime, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). 

Hold on to the promises of God. He will remember our sins no more. He selects forgetting them. He chooses to lose those memories. So can we. It is possible!

And we can keep the beautiful memories at the same time.

The Number of Completion

It was a sharply cold night in early March of 2008. I was not myself. I was spiritually lost. I felt like a shell. I strongly disliked my life.

I had wandered the city streets near my apartment complex in Eagan, MN, with a beer in my hand, and even though my light mock army jacket wasn't keeping me at all warm, I endured the bitter cold a bit longer while sitting on a swing in a dark municipal playground, shuffling the shallow snow with my shoes. 

Looking up, breathing out frosty breath, gripping the icy chains, I peered to the overcast sky and asked aloud, "WHY, GOD?"

"WHY is it impossible to get anyone to stay?"

It was a swing of a playground where I'd hung out months earlier with a woman now vanished from my life. That day we'd passed through was one of those quintessential days of dating when two grown people, very seemingly in love, had lightheartedly played on children's play equipment. It was the scene of a memory that, for me, signified happiness I thought I would share for years to come. 

But she was gone. And I couldn't understand it all. Even though I was familiar with the grief of letting go of someone I wanted badly to share my life with, I never got used to the scenario. This time it was kind of the nail in the coffin. I was ready to give up hope. 

In hindsight this seems overly dramatic, and even silly. But when you're a young man (or a man of any age, some would say) who's grown accustomed to giving his heart away with deep fervent ambition, and who's grown to believe that love is always meant to be a movie-like battle, then there's only so many deathblows you'll take before hope runs out. 

If you're someone who's given up on anything before, I hope this story speaks to you. Have you given up on love? Have you given up on finding a gratifying calling in life? Have you given up on God? 

What is your impossibility?

I want to tell you about grace. God gives us things many times when we least deserve it. That's what he did when he sent Jesus Christ into the world a couple thousand years ago. Humanity didn't deserve God's love anymore at that time than they do today. Yet people like me and you are saved, in spite of ourselves, through faith in what Jesus accomplished for us. 

Grace, folks, is when God steps into your life and, in spite of the things you've been doing in ignorance, in violence, in selfishness, and self-pity, or with an ugly chip on your shoulder, he places a gift before you that is so beautiful and right. 

That, for me, was a woman named Jennifer Krueger. To this day I still call her my "Second Grace." First, 2,000+ years ago, Christ died on the cross to save me, spiritually, from my sins. Then, in 2008, he arranged the intersection of Jeff Ulrich and Jen Krueger to save me from myself and give me someone I couldn't possibly deserve. 

When we met I was unprepared, skeptical, wounded, and undeserving....but I knew what was good for me and did not let her get away. Three months later we were engaged, and by August 10th we were standing before God, a small group of family, and a minister, and declared our vows and love publicly and became husband and wife. First there was that small, somewhat private ceremony (below):

Then, in December of that year, we held a more formal and full-scaled "public declaration of vows" with all friends and family in attendance, to make it more official (below):

(Don't mind the weird facial reaction - the kiss marks were from all the females in the wedding party - I was VERY sure I wanted to be there!)

Today marks seven years since that beautiful day that we began our official journey together. 

It's commonly agreed on by Biblical scholars that the use of the number 7 in Scripture points to an idea of completion, or completeness, of something. If there were 7 years of something, that's how long God wanted that thing to go on until his purpose for it was complete (Jacob waiting and working to earn the hand of a bride, the length of a drought/famine, etc.). If there were 7 of something else, like the 7 seals in Revelation, that represented everything of that which the symbol represented being accounted for. In Genesis, God is reported to have used just 7 days to create the whole cosmos, down to every droplet in the oceans, every blade of wild grass, and every tuft of fur or hair on Adam and Eve's heads. The seventh day of that first week of human history, since his creative work was done and complete, he put his stamp of approval on everything by resting. 

I like to loosely make use of this analogy now. Not to say that my ability to love my wife and family won't grow or mature further (because it sure better!), and not to say that we've been through everything there is to endure in a marriage (because that would be silly to presume, and I just know we haven't)...but when I look back on the storyline of my life with the woman who married me, and the family we've made together, with two sons, Daniel (6) and Braden (just about 4), it's at this point that I feel some completeness embossing the print of this chapter heading. 

In seven years we've lived at more addresses than we'd care to, have held more unwanted, dead-end, part-time, temporary, or plain ol' annoying jobs than we'd care to, have lost grandparents to death, have had a sibling go through cancer, have spent thousands of hard-earned dollars on car repairs or buying new clunkers, have seen friendships end, and have dealt with the turbulence of a struggling economy. We've cleaned up the messes of many a poor decision, many a victimization at the hands of a rude or dishonest folks, and many a random crapshoot of this unpredictable life. 

In seven years, we've learned many lessons relationally, spiritually, financially, physically, and parentally. We've ridden the roller coaster of raising two children over 6 years (if you're a middle aged adult who's maybe even gotten to the empty-nester stage, yes, I know that sounds like nothing compared to your fuller spectrum of experience....but, as you assuredly recall, those first several years were very foundational to your parenting). We've lived in two different states, both near to and far from each side of our combined families, and have experimented to the greatest extent that we'd prefer with rental housing (both in management and in residence). 

In seven years, we've had joyful times, angry and bitter, battlesome times, worried and anxious times, placid and serene times, depressed and sorrowful times, and elated times. We've seen the mountain highs of being "in love" in the giddy ways that accompany dating, engagement, and being newlywed, and we've fought our way through the dark valley times when love was harder to find because of sin and self-centeredness. 

But most of all, in seven years we've seen every opportunity to learn again and again what the love of a marriage is supposed to truly be. We've seen time after time, in example after shameful example around us in society, what it's NOT meant to be, and have agreed continually to not let that be us. We have made up (eventually, though sometimes more quickly than others) after every fight. We have apologized for as many wrongs to each other as we could think of or see. We have worked through the differences in preference, the pet peeves, the differences in personality and temperament, and even the really difficult topics, like how to maintain a healthy balance between fantasy football and family time during the NFL season. :) 

Thanks to countless great examples in our community or family or among friends, and thanks to great sermons at our church in Oconomowoc (somehow, these have been the best of our lives), we've learned over and over to remember that our marriage is a sermon itself. We've worked through tears and tragedies and selfish pride and hurt and anger to always arrive together once more at a place that recalls how much Jesus loved us, that he died for us, and forgave every wrongdoing. We wake up each day committed to demonstrating that marriage is for showing the world what Jesus' love looks like in everyday life. 

Through the experiences, the humbling lessons of life, the ebbs and flows of good times and bad, the memories, the joys of being parents to two active, sweet and rascally little sons, and the adventurous path of always learning about each other, we have been made complete. Seven years of completion....and we know we're right where we're meant to be, doing all the things we're meant to be doing, and loving the ones we were made to love. 

It all began when two mid-twenty-somethings who liked to call themselves "cool, but in the nerdy way" were nudged together by external forces, snapped out of their self-absorbed heartbreak comas, and began following God's path of learning to love the way he drew it up long ago. 

Sacrificially....

Passionately and tirelessly....

Unconditionally....

With a complete and peace-filled recognition that no cause is ever lost, nothing is ever hopeless, and, with God....ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

*Happy 7th anniversary, Jen, my sweetheart! I love you forever and always, and I'm even more overwhelmed at your devotion and the certainty of your love than I was when I first laid eyes on your lovely face. Thank you for being the better half of genes in these crazy, smart, fun little boys of ours. Thank you for never ceasing to forgive me when I fail to serve you correctly. Thank you for being reckless and generous with your heart, with me. Thank you for letting me be the one who gets to hold you close, and kiss you goodnight, for the rest of my days.
- Love, Jeff* 

Why Are We Surprised?

This is the face of the Christian these days, as the world sees it. 

I wish I were wrong. I wish I were overreacting, and that it's only in personal experience. The fact is, it's been a long time since someone accused me to my face of coming across this way (so I pray there aren't a bunch of people silently thinking it!). It's what you hear in the media. It's what you can see in the responses of non-Christians or non-spiritual types on social media platforms, when they rant and rave against our attitudes, judgments, and airs of superiority that come out in rantings and ravings of our own.

Look, I get it. I have been the chief of sinners, of the overly indignant and righteously angry variety, many many times. I have been the Matt Walsh-esque ranter and raver over the atrocities of our godless society, and have found justification in the manner of delivery because many others will yell "Here, here!" and "Amen!" along with me. 

And hey, I get it... I've seen the headlines. I've witnessed the manifestations of leftist living in my communities, and have shaken my head quietly to myself. Probably in the not too distant past my own Facebook page has occasionally had more frustrated posts shared that just bemoaned the loss of Christian values along with more popular outspoken Christians like the Robertsons of "Duck Dynasty" (and don't get me wrong, I love the show, love the values, love the family). 

The point is, what good are we doing by being so shocked at the horrible deeds of murderous ISIS members? What's accomplished by public outrage over the Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage nationally? Are we fixing anything or getting anywhere when we rant and rave piously about how the government isn't kicking down the door of Planned Parenthood? 

Why all the ruckus? Why all the clamor and commotion in righteous wrath? Why are we so surprised at the way the world is living and operating today?

I say this not to discredit the evils in all these things. Rather, I want to encourage us all to wake up and smell the coffee. This is ALL - all of it - to be expected....IF we understand the times in which we live.

"The person without the Spirit does not

accept the things that come from the Spirit

of God but considers them foolishness, 

and cannot understand them because they are

discerned only through the Spirit. The person

with the Spirit makes judgments about all 

things, but such a person is not subject

to merely human judgments, for,

'Who has known the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him?'

But we have the mind of Christ."

- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

Americans today have lost the culture. It's a simple fact of the times. Every dominant civilization throughout the course of history has ridden the same roller coaster of morality in their own national history. Everywhere the gospel has thrived at one time has eventually turned its back on God's Word and kicked it to the curb. That may very well be what's happening, historically, before our very eyes as the 20th century has transitioned into the 21st and the new parameters of enlightenment are qualified by just how unChristian they can be. We are continually becoming a nation of "persons without the Spirit." And St. Paul says in the above portion of his letter to Corinthian believers that wherever there's an absence of the Spirit, there's an absence of wisdom. There's an absence of discretion and ability to make proper judgments. 

It's just such a sad thing to see happening, though. That's why we all get so worked up. Maybe at the center of it there is often a truly righteous zeal for God's Word to be protected and abided by, and although we may have said, like Joshua in ancient times, "As for me and my house, WE WILL serve the Lord," we're grieved in our souls to watch as so many other millions of people or families just have abandoned him, or never really knew him to begin with. 

But if you're like me, all this supposedly righteous anger and stern indignance comes out in its frowny-faced, index-finger-wagging form because we believe the lie that we're actually better than others. 

We forget that the sins we each commit every Sunday afternoon, barely hours removed from church fellowship, are every bit as damning as the ones committed by Muslim extremists, abortionists selling baby parts, crooked politicians, homosexuals, or criminals whose acts reported in the evening news make our blood boil.

If you're not a committed follower of Jesus, this message isn't for you. I pray for you, and hope that you'll find the peace and amazing promise of a heaven free of charge, thanks to Jesus Christ, that has been mercifully given to me and all true Christians. I pray that you'll understand we don't mean to be so.....mean...We're just upset that we look around in our world and feel sometimes, culturally, like it's all closing in on us and the values we hold dear. Frankly, we're proud of ourselves and the stand we want to make, and we just get - well, defensive! If we take it out on non-Christians like you and judge too harshly, when we should be focusing on our own problems and lives, we're very sorry. It's NOT how Jesus lived, nor how he wants us to live and represent him. Seriously.

But brothers and sisters in the faith we share in Christ, this message IS for you, and for me. 

We need to chill out. 

We need to stop believing the lie that A) we're better than the ones we think are ruining the culture, and we should shame them all back into line, and B) that this world's salvation is about us. 

This is our Father's world. The wisdom that comes through his Holy Spirit, that we're privileged to possess, comes only from one place, and when and where it's found, that's literally a miracle. By nature, every last one of us, including the pastors, including the life-long Lutherans, including the faithful Baptists, including the born-again Methodists, including the spiritually passionate and the ones who know every Bible verse hands-down...we were ALL born diametrically opposed to God and his will. If it weren't for his act of mercy, to reach into our lives, just as we wish he would with those in the headlines, we'd be JUST as lost. We'd be JUST as despicable looking to the pious ones. 

And as for the fate of our society, our culture, and our nation.... All we can do about that is live how Jesus lived, and pray about the results. 

Jesus' M.O. was not all about the table-flipping in the temple bazaar. It was love-centric. It was hope for redemption cloaked warmly in acceptance of the person, and value of their humanity and their eternal soul. It was sacrifice, humility, and a courageous willingness to lay himself down for another, no matter the personal cost. It was a submission to God's will at the expense of personal comfort or agenda. It was never about appearances and pedigree, and ALWAYS about what's on the inside, the heart of man. 

God doesn't call us to be judges up on high pedestals. We can speak his truth and convey his wisdom and reason with people who don't have his Spirit yet...but when the situation allows it, and with tact, with gentleness, and with a love and concern for their spiritual welfare, not with the selfish desire to be right or to be vindicated. 

God calls us to be faithful. What was Jesus' image of faithfulness? Did he get dragged to his crucifixion, kicking and screaming, frothing at the mouth with furious condemnations of his accusers and executioners? Did he rant and rave about how they'd get their just desserts in the flames of hell for treating him, God's own son, like that? 

Nope. He was silent, like a lamb before the shearers. As he was led to his own physical slaughter, he quietly bled, and prayed, and yearned inside for there to be room in heaven for all those he would save with his blood. And upon the cross, as the spikes pulled through the flesh of his wrists, and the jeers of his fellow Jews and Roman soldiers seared in his ears, he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

They know not. Remember that. Because they don't have the Spirit, like we do.

Is it in stark opposition to God's ways? Yes. Is it the kind of living that will earn hell? Perhaps. 

But we'll pray them and love them into heaven long before we'll finger-wag them there. 

And when they stand next to us in eternal paradise at the foot of Jesus' throne, we'll look exactly the same to our Savior who loved us all. 

The Next Place

"It's just a temporary body, Mommy. You don't have to go to the next place."

Long after the credits rolled, I sat stunned and thought about what I'd just been taught by the movie "CHAPPiE." Could it be that there's more this film was saying about mankind's perception of this existence than just some fanciful curiosity about artificial intelligence, as a possibility in our modern society?

I've seen other movies in the past 10 to 15 years that explored this idea of artificial intelligence, but something about this film - maybe even this one line with which I opened, uttered by CHAPPiE to a deceased Yolandi - really struck me with a thought:

We don't want this life to end. 

To give a quick background on everything (and if you haven't seen this movie, and would like to without a spoiler, then go rent it on Redbox, watch it with a grain of salt - it's rated R for pervasive language and violence, mostly - and come back to my post later):

CHAPPiE is created when an engineer repurposes a scrap robot from a futuristic robotic police force that's been put into play in Johannesburg, South Africa. His maker, Deon, has had a breakthrough in A.I. and CHAPPiE is the test bot who comes to display extraordinary development and all the traits of humanity, down to discerning between right and wrong, truth and lies, and fear and loyalty. CHAPPiE is caught between the influences of good and evil (i.e. Deon, his programmer, and a family of criminals). In the end, he comes to realize the gravity of the fact that his battery, which is inextricably connected to his body's chassis, will run out, and he'll die, in essence. Among all the fracas of the various plot lines converging, CHAPPiE wants to find another robot body to download his own consciousness into from a programming he's made himself. He gets his chance to first see this manifested successfully when he transfers Deon's consciousness into another robot before he can die of a mortal wound. The two get CHAPPiE transferred into another robot (there are lots of vacant, "offline" robot bodies lying around by the end of this flick) before his battery life ends, and they return to the family of criminals to help Ninja (CHAPPiE's "daddy") bury his girlfriend, Yolandi (who had CHAPPiE call her "Mommy"), who died in a gunfight. As the movie ends, CHAPPiE is accessing manufacturing to autonomously create a replica robot body for Yolandi, so her consciousness can be transferred off a flash drive it was saved to from syncing with her consciousness earlier in the movie by way of a helmet that controls other robots. Before that final image of Yolandi's replica creation, CHAPPiE says the words I opened with as they bury Yolandi:

"It's just a temporary body, Mommy. You don't have to go to the next place."

"The next place," according to Yolandi in the movie, as she tells CHAPPiE about death one night, is the name of the ambiguous place we go to when we meet our end. 

Aside from what CHAPPiE learns experientially during the movie, there's no direct indoctrination of this sentient being that he shouldn't want to die, or that going to the "next place" is a horrible thing. The fact that CHAPPiE wants so badly to stay alive that it essentially overrides his program and leads him to break promises to his maker, to not commit crimes, to ensure his survival, seems to suggest that this subtext of the story is a reflection of our society's view of the afterlife. 

I wonder if this is why movies about artificial intelligence are so popular, and seeming to spike in number in recent years ("Lucy," "Transcendent," "Ex Machina"). Mankind has always been searching for a solution to the problem - as mankind sees it - of mortality. Be it the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon tried to find as a conquistador, or any other elixirs or scientific advancements, fictional or real-life, that have been concocted...it's as if we just can't stomach the idea of having to die, or lose others to death. 

This is, of course, nothing new. We want to live forever, and in a way that's totally natural. There was a time when such a desire would've been completely normal and would've been realized, since we were originally created to live forever, by God. That original design, though, was sabotaged by the Fall into sin and ever since those first people, Adam and Eve, mankind has been pining for the immortality that we lost. 

The "next place," however, doesn't have to be the dreaded destination that most will make of it nowadays. 

The creators of the idea in the film "CHAPPiE" will have you believe that one way of looking at the consciousness of humanity is that it's the soul. Science has yet to truly come to terms with what the consciousness is, and maybe that's because it is the soul, as God speaks of it in Scriptures. Maybe the lines on that subject are too blurry for us humans to ever understand. 

But what I can know, as a Christian, is that my soul is meant for heaven. That next place that waits for me, until the God-ordained time when I'll pass away from this earth, is a beautiful place that will be the awarded to me because of God's mercy and grace. It will be an existence completely devoid of sadness, anger, sin, pain, death, or fear. Everything dark and dreadful about this life on this fallen earth will be in the rearview mirror and fading fast. As many a hymn will say, "Heaven is my home." I'm just a tourist here. 

Watching CHAPPiE struggle and strain with his last gasps of energy and battery to survive to prolong the "life" of his maker, Deon, and then to ultimately extend his own consciousness -- basically, to live forever, just makes me wonder "WHY?"

What is there here that's so worth clinging onto? What is the often times maniacal drive of man to try and stay alive, as if every inch he creeps closer to death and the afterlife is a torment and a cruel harbinger?

I guess where there's no God, there's no hope of anything more. Maybe that's all these artificial intelligence plots serve to remind us of. Of course, there'll be other messages sent in movies such as this that suggest that this is all about an evolutionary truth that, in the grand scheme of things, mankind has only ever been an entity of consciousness, and the human body as we know it today is just the latest vessel we've had to deal with traveling in. If we were to evolve further and live on in more durable shells like robots or other mechanical means, maybe we'd be better off?

Or maybe....just maybe....we're not meant for any of it. We do serve a purpose while here in this mortal life, but that's God's purpose. It's a sometimes mysterious mission, but it grows ever brighter and more vibrant under the light of God's grace, forgiveness, and new life in Christ. And when this time here is up, according to his heavenly plan, we get to go to "the next place." 

This "we" I'm referring to is anyone who has the one true God in their heart. It's true that, without knowing him and his plan for me, and all of the liberating truths he has in store, this life's brevity and fragility could be so frightening, and could lead me to scramble for any options that could prolong my time. That's why it's an indescribable relief that, thanks to Jesus Christ, I've been given the prospect of a far different ending one day.

That ending will be only the beginning. "The next place" will be the place where God's always been wanting me to be, the true home I long for in my heart. That's where eternity in God's presence begins. I guess the makers of "CHAPPiE" got one thing right: We can live forever. 

Just not here. Nor should we want to, considering how immeasurably greater life in "the next place" can be.

In the deepest part of my being, I wish for this destiny for everyone. CHAPPiE was spot on. It's just a temporary body...But we do have to go to the next place. If heaven, where God dwells in eternity, is your next place, you'll be doing better than ever. 

The Christian Franchisee

So many things in life can feel impossible at times. Those of us possessing melodramatic tendencies know especially well how it can feel overwhelming to do this thing called life. For the Christian, it can be even worse if you, like me, are a hypocan'triac. 

(Okay, okay, I'll pre-emptively oblige my wife's request to explain the geeky made up term: a hypocan'triac - not to be confused with a hypochondriac, someone who always believes they're sick - is someone who's always up against something impossible.)

See, the hypocan'triac suffers from a disease of the mind. It's all in their head. After all, Philippians 4:13 encourages us with the message that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When God's power attends the man or woman who truly wants to be about his will and his business in life, their missions and pursuits cannot be stopped. Successes may not always come in streaks or bunches, and may not be to the scale that our human perspective feels entitled to require of God for us to see proof. But with God, nothing is impossible (hence the name of this blog site). 

But the hypocan'triac just continually feels overwhelmed by something that CAN'T be done. Maybe it's a pesky temptation that hasn't been defeated, and it's become a vicious and debilitating pet sin. Maybe it's circumstantial; the checkbook just refuses to be balanced, the favorite sports team just will not have a winning season, or the spouse fails over and over to meet some very *cough* reasonable expectations about coexisting in the same household. Or it might be more big picture stuff, like discovering a true and defined purpose in life to really feel invigorated by. 

To be honest though, whether you share the symptoms or behaviors of a classic hypocan'triac, or you're just someone who has experienced feelings of impossibility in life a couple times...there's good news for all. 

[Spoiler alert: I already tipped it off in a general fashion with the Philippians passage.]

I've had some things really get in my way this year so far. I realize that much of this hindered feeling is self-generated and overplayed in my mind, but there's truth, too, in the reality that obstacles have sprung up in my way as I seek to move forward as a husband, father, friend, church volunteer, citizen, employee, and grad school student. Just one big example of these things to get me wearing out the word "impossible" again is a year's worth of neck, shoulder, and back pains that have culminated in an MRI diagnosis and surgery recommendation for July. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say that'll throw a bit of a wrench in our summer's spokes. But I've gone farther than that in my mind and heart as I anticipate that event and its before-and-after ramifications. Suddenly, having a good summer and a successful rest of my 2015 seems to be leaning toward "impossible." 

What a wuss I can be! Would I really succumb that easily/quickly to "just getting by" mode, or to having a "damage control" year?

Thankfully Pastor Jason at our church, Hope, recently gave a powerful sermon to close out a recent sermon series called "Undone." His message that particular Sunday, "Right Hand Man" (check it out on hopeinjesus.org - see Messages tab), made a life-giving point:

"Jesus' life is not only to be admired, it is to be experienced."

When hearing again that day about the deeper meaning to the day of Jesus' ascension back to heaven, I was reminded that as a Christian, all this defeatist talk is just so counterproductive. The idea has taken time to set in and take root because, well, we hypocan'triacs are a little too set in our ways sometimes. But God keeps knocking at the door of my heart with his truth-o'-grams, waiting for me to be ready to really let it in. 

Do you get that? Do you grasp that we've got so much important and amazing work to be done, as Christians, that we can't afford to sit around whining and wondering if something is possible or not?? 

Your life is God's work. OF COURSE it's possible!!

Matthew 28's final verses hold something for the reader that's considered by Christians the world around to be the "Great Commission." In other words, if you're a follower of Jesus and you wrestle with the ages old existential query, "Why am I here?" you may want to start with Matthew 28:19-20. It'll guide so much of your ambitions, and begin to heal wounds and solve problems faster than any other manmade philosophy. And the passage of the sermon I'm citing refers to the same account from a different angle, in Acts chapter 1. 

Therein lies the empowerment to "do work, son." Because Jesus left behind his mission for us to carry on, we know we are meant to succeed.  

You see, while it's wrong thinking and false theology to want to act like Jesus because we think it'll put some icing on the cake of our salvation, which only his blood won for us on the cross, it IS acceptable and spiritually enlightening to recall that every Christian is an embodiment of Christ's roles of prophet, priest, and king in our own individual lifetimes. We have been endowed with the mission. We have been left with the humbling responsibility to keep his kingdom growing in the hearts of mankind even today!

When you look at the words of the Great Commission, it's sobering to note that Jesus didn't say it was somehow optional to be an evangelist with your life if you've become a Christian. It's no add-on, custom feature when you buy into following Jesus (and, theologically speaking, for the record, the Bible shows there's no actual buy-in, per se, it's a free gift, a true inheritance). He said in Acts 1:8, "...You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

When he said, "...you WILL BE my witnesses," that was a little stronger and more affirmative language than, "You can decide to maybe be witnesses if you want," or "If you feel like you've got the gift of sermonizing, and nothing stands in your way, you can consider being witnesses." 

Also worth noting about this passage is its timing. Christ's words came as an answer. His disciples' question was the same type of question we often ask of God. They were out there in that meadow, gathered together, and as the sensation that Jesus was about to doing something else really big was mounting in everyone's minds, disciples asked, "Are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom of God?" 

Jesus' answer: Nope. You are. You're my witnesses. You know the truth. You have facts, a real actual story of salvation for all people, and YOU get to be the ones to go share it. I'm leaving you behind with that mission. 

We too more often than not spiritually rest back on our laurels and ask this sort of thing. Not necessarily about a full, dramatic restoration of the kingdom (which, in the disciples' case, meant that Christ would ruthlessly overthrow the Roman empire's presence in the Judean province and set the Jews free of their political and earthly oppression). But we have our own preconceived notions, whimsical dreams, or even real issues in life that seem insurmountable to us, and we just want God to solve it. Maybe it's because we're thinking about how powerful God is, and it's as natural to ask him to step in as it is for a pipsqueak little boy to ask an MMA fighter to go take down the neighborhood 3rd grader bully. But maybe it's also laziness. I know for me, it usually is.

But we're meant for more. God had a reason for his plans to not include Jesus converting the entire human race before returning to his home in heaven, next to the throne of the Father. His reason was that he delights even more in having entrusted that huge mission to his children, his redeemed sons and daughters - YOU and ME - and letting us share in the tremendous glory of accomplishing it. We get to be the Lord's tools. We are his hands and feet, bringing that saving word of truth with us. We are his megaphones, calling out hope in the midst of confusion and darkness and spiritual hopelessness. 

There is some serious work to be done. We have been left something big to get done. It won't be all on us to make it happen, because luckily the power of God has also been left behind to us to use in his name. 

Here's an analogy I think is very fitting. The Christian, the Jesus-follower, is very much like a franchisee. 

Think about it. Any entrepreneur is going to automatically be striking out on their own to accomplish their goals of financial freedom and business autonomy. But to buy into a pre-existing franchise and utilize all the tools, resources, programs, services, and reputation of the franchise in one's own individual business endeavor is very savvy. It's the act of harnessing something that was started without you, that you just carry forward, and as long as you stick to the program, you yourself can be a successful embodiment of the franchise's brand which you represent. 

As a Christian, we receive the already existing, undeniably effective, all-important enterprise of the one true faith, and the commission of the Kingdom of God whose reign expands within hearts and minds of people. We're not mere representatives. We're not meek, bored, underpaid employees who don't qualify for any benefits, or can be laid off at any moment. We are the owners of the kingdom too, because it was left behind by the original founder, Jesus Christ. He has given us the rights of children, and with his advocacy and empowerment, we're not meant to fail. 

So if there was ever something to aspire to that could never be labeled futile, or impossible, it's carrying out God's work. You don't have to be a pastor or a Sunday School teacher, you don't have to be a Seminary professor, you don't have to be the most knowledgeable elder of your local congregation. You don't have to be this or that. You just need to be a Christian. 

Is a Christian someone who's morally better than others? Someone who sins less, or commits puny, PG-rated sins? Someone who's memorized every Bible passage? No. Every Christian is someone whose evil heart has been made new by faith, whose slate of unspeakable deeds and thoughts is washed clean, and who now belongs to God instead of being his damned enemy. 

All you need is the laminated tag of being a franchisee of the Kingdom. And you got that handed to you for free - no entrance fee, no capital, no solid credit score requirement - all because Christ found you worthy of his sacrifice on the cross. 

Hypocan'triacs really run clean out of excuses when joining those slack-jawed disciples on that grassy hill, watching Jesus ascend to heaven, with those words fresh in the mind...

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

There is no "can't." There is no impossible. There is just a mission, a Great Commissioner who set me free with his own death and resurrection, and a promise that I'm never alone in my endeavor. 

I am the Kingdom. I am the temple of God. I am the franchise headquarters. His mission is mine. His power is mine. 

Now that we know that success is promised, and victory is sure, and nothing's impossible, let's get to work!