Peace on Earth

I had a conversation this week with some friends about the gospel. We were talking about politics, about the church, and ultimately about the role of the Christian in the world. One of the questions we were discussing was in raising children - how much do you expose a child to in order to help them learn to live as a Christian in the world. My friend talked about how growing up in a Christian school didn't really prepare him for the reality of the world. I fully understand wanting to protect our children, particularly in the most formative times of their life. I protect Hannah from things like TV - I don't want her to see certain things. I don't want her to watch commercials even if I can help it, because I realize that the ads are attempting to feed her a lie about what satisfies in life. Does that mean we keep our kids inside, turn off the TV, home school them all, hand pick their friends? I live in a rough neighborhood. Most police in my city call it the ghetto. In a few short years since we've lived here, we've had drug deals, race riots, graffiti on our garage door, hit and run car accidents, home invasion robberies (not my home), cars broken into (mine), an attempted break in to my house, arrests and more arrests, domestic abuse, sexual predators, and lots more. Part of me thinks that this is exactly where a follower of Christ needs to be. I know that God placed us in this neighborhood, and maybe that's because he wants us to be aware of the needs of a seemingly small peaceful city. But does God want me to put my family at risk for the sake of the gospel? Even asking that question seems silly to me. I know the right answer - the gospel is about bringing hope and healing and restoration to those in bondage. It makes sense that God would put us in a place of significant need. But again, how do I teach my daughter about the reality of sin in the world, and the hope of the gospel, without jading her, or putting her life in danger? I know the danger for myself, and I've chosen to live with that. But a four year old? What does the gospel look like for her? What does it expect of her?

So anyway, back to this conversation at lunch. I shared about how I don't want Hannah to be unaware of pain in the world. We talk to her about orphans in Africa, and she struggles to understand how kids could live without their parents. We take her with us into Mexico - where she has gone door to door, shack to shack, handing out invitations for VBS programs. She has seen poverty first hand. We talk to her about kids that go without food. She understands that. I don't think she's at a place yet to understand salvation, or a divine God-man who came and died for our sins. We talk about that, but based on her playtime when the occasional kitty "dies on the cross", I'm pretty sure she hasn't grasped that idea yet. But, she gets the gospel of meeting needs. She understands that when a homeless man is hungry, we feed him. She gets that when people living in a dump in Mexico need a home - we build them one. She knows that daddy went to Africa to help kids and people who were sick. And she connects that with Jesus. She knows that we do these things because of him.

But last night it was as if Jesus was asking - how much do you really believe that the gospel is good news for the world? I was sitting on my couch, about ready to head off to bed when I heard three gun shots, which to be honest is something I've heard before. But soon after the shots I heard lots of yelling and noise. So I went out on my front porch to see where all the noise was coming from. At that point a saw a man running away from the area of the noise, and he ran right past my house. Honestly, I don't know who this person was or their connection to the situation. But it very well could have been the shooter, or someone just scared running away. Soon after the police were all over the neighborhood, a helicopter was circling with spot light on, people were yelling and screaming, it was nuts. This morning, one man is dead.

When people fight, they do drugs, they break things, they vandalize - all of that doesn't really affect me. People heal, stuff gets fixed. But when bullets start flying - it's way too easy for someone innocent to get hurt. So again, the question of the gospel. Would Jesus ask me to put my family at risk for the sake of the gospel? My daughter is pretty unaware, but my wife is scared. I can't blame her. I'm really wrestling with it all this morning. I realize that my first priority is to my family. If the gospel doesn't give them hope and peace, then something isn't right. But I don't know if that's the same thing as safety. Living out the gospel in the midst of brokenness is not a safe thing. But it's what Jesus calls us to do. I guess I'm just realizing that the gospel demands much more of me than living a nice, safe, comfortable life. I know that Jesus has us here right now. In the meantime, I will protect my family from those that would seek to harm us. I mean, we lock our doors, we have an alarm, I own a gun. But I won't hide inside, and I won't run away. I will live my life as a follower of Jesus. I will be available to meet the needs that arise. I will do my best to add to the peace and hope of people in this neighborhood. The gospel not only brings hope to those that need it, but it also stands up and fights what is evil, and it takes on injustice. Ultimately, it brings peace, because love wins.

Peace on earth. I long for that.

What do you think of all this? Does the gospel ask us to put ourselves and/or the ones we love at risk?

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Turkey Day

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which is really a great day. To be honest, I mostly look forward to Thanksgiving because of the food. I'm sure that's true for lots of people. This week I've been thinking though about gratitude. Tonight we will be having church with our high school students and I plan on simply having a time of thankfulness. Before I do that, I thought I better write about some of my own thoughts. It's quite interesting to me that Thanksgiving day has become less and less significant in American culture. Most of the stores simply go from candy everywhere and Halloween costumes and decorations, to Christmas. Many stores have both of those going at the same time. Thanksgiving is less marketable I guess. It's about being thankful for what we have, for family, for freedoms, etc. There's no exchange of gifts, no dressing up or parties - mostly just family gatherings centered around a meal and that's about it. And yet, I still hear the word Thanksgiving a lot on TV this week, but it's mostly preceded by the words "Day After" and followed up by the word "Sale." It's kind of ironic I suppose, that Thanksgiving day is all about being thankful for what is truly important, and for what we already have. And for many, less than twenty four hours later it will be a consumeristic blitz. Thanksgiving day is spent forming plans as to what stores to go to, what ungodly hour they should wake up to be there when it opens, and how much money they will spend. I realize there are deals to be had on what is now known as "Black Friday." I realize that if you are going to buy certain things, that this is a great day to do that. But isn't it kind of hypocritical of us as a society? Aren't we saying in one breath how thankful we are for what he have and what is truly important, and in the very next breath consuming more and more in order to be more happy?

Now, it's pretty easy for me to stand here and point fingers at people who love to shop. I can't think of anything more torturous than being in stores on Black Friday. Seriously, you couldn't pay me enough money to go to someplace like Walmart, or Best Buy on Friday. No freaking way. But, I still struggle with the same thing. I like stuff. I like to buy stuff. I like to have the newest, the biggest, the best - and I find myself every so often feeling the need to just spend money. Where does that come from? This year I've been in the dump in Mexico building a family a house there. I've been in Bohlokong, South Africa and gone inside homes where people were dying of AIDS. And yet, I want a new ipod. I want tools. I want music, movies, and more. Is it wrong to want things? Is it wrong to buy things like this? How do I reconcile living in an affluent culture with what I know and have seen in the world? Should I sell everything and live on the streets? Should I give all my possessions away? To be honest, it's a question I am wrestling with, and will continue to wrestle with.

I do know this - something has changed. I no longer mindlessly consume. I am aware of how rich I am compared to the world. There's a great website called globalrichlist.com. On this site, you can put in how much money you make in a year and it will tell you where you rate in the world's wealth. I make a modest income compared to many in the U.S. In fact, I think I'm below average. And yet, I am in the top 3% of the world in terms of my wealth. Are you kidding me? I am richer than 97% of the world. That's crazy. When Jesus said it is difficult for the rich to inherit the kingdom, I've always thought about "rich" people I know. And yet, Jesus is talking about me! 97% of the world would look at me and say I am rich. Wow. That sure changes the way I think about how I spend my money. Do I still go to Starbucks? Yeah. Do I still buy things? Yeah. But I've began to change other habits. I got a DVR the other day with DirecTV. I don't watch commercials any more - which is awesome! All of those ads telling me what I need to buy are now gone. We also give more. We talk about greed and charity and gratitude a lot with our students. We try and model giving to our daughter. She got a bunch of money (I say a bunch, because for a 4 year old $30 is a ton of money!) for her birthday last month. The first thing out of her mouth was "How am I going to send all of this to Africa?" Wow. She understands money buys things. She gets the fact that money has value. Sure, she doesn't understand everything about money, but one thing is for sure - money doesn't own her. She knows that when she has much, there are some that have none, and she can't comprehend a world where she would keep all of that to herself. I love that. I want to be free from money like she is.

OK, so back to gratitude and Thanksgiving. I am thankful for many things. I have an amazing wife. She is simply amazing. I keep wondering how I ended up with her. I have an unbelievable daughter. She is just awesome. I have another daughter on the way. That is such a blessing for us as we tried for a year and a half to get pregnant again. I have a mom that has been such a godly example to me that I love deeply. I have a dad that I love. The fact that I can say that today is a huge answer to prayer. I have a great church family. I love the staff I get to work with. I love our students. They challenge me and stretch me to new places all the time. I have great friends. I have a dream that God has given me - and for that I am very grateful. What's amazing to me is that as I look back at some of the things I wrote about here - not one of them had a price tag. They were never purchased. They were never on sale. And that's because they are priceless. They can't be marketed, they can't be owned. They are gifts to be sure, but I guarantee you that none of these things will be put on any credit card this Friday.

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The Gods Aren't Angry

I went last night to see Rob Bell at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on his "The gods Aren't Angry" tour. First of all, it was my first time to the Wiltern and it's a pretty amazing venue. I sat in the balcony on a rather uncomfortable seat, but I had a good view of the stage and a Coke in my hands, so it wasn't all bad.

On the stage was a stone structure, which we later learned was an altar. Other than that, nothing on the stage at all. The lights dimmed and an opera starting playing rather loudly until finally Rob Bell came out onto the stage. "Sooooo...... there's a cave-woman...." Anyway, he talked about how people early on in the history of man started to notice a correlation between the sun and the moon and food and weather, and everything else. They began to see that all of it was connected. And they attributed good things with gods who were blessing them, and bad things with gods that were angry. And so the altar became central to civilization. If the gods are in a good mood and blessing you, well then you offer them more so that they will continue to be happy and bless you. And if the gods are angry, then you offer them more so that they will become happy and bless you once again. The whole system is burdensome. A person never knows where they stand in relation to the gods - are they happy with me, have I done enough, or are they angry with me? And then the God of the Hebrews comes along to this man named Abraham. He tells him to take his son and sacrifice him on the altar, but before he is able to do so, God tells him to stop and sacrifice a lamb instead. Suddenly this is a God who reaches out to man and provides for man - including the sacrifice. And as the law develops in Leviticus, we see all kinds of rules about sacrifice - including 5 different types of sacrifice. Rob Bell argues that is a revolutionary idea. God is telling people this is exactly what you do, how you do it, etc. For the first time there are no more questions about "Did I do enough? Is God still angry? Is he pleased with me?" When you leave it on the altar it is done and over.

Then, Jesus rolls around and begins saying things like destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days. Jesus is once again introducing a completely new concept - that is that the old system is done with. It's no longer necessary. In fact in Hebrews it even says that the blood of animals could never cover sin. It never worked. What the heck then? Why did they do it? It wasn't for God's sake, it was for their sake. It allowed them to function guilt free. And now Jesus has said that all of it is done away with and now all of our sin is gone. So Rob Bell's talk was basically about grace. There were lots of personal stories thrown in, as well as stories from his church. The basic point in the end was that we become instruments for God's grace here when we do good and we free people from the sense that they have to somehow appease God in order to make him happy. He made the statement that any system that weighs down, adds lists to do, etc. is not of God, because our God isn't keeping score. There's no "celestial clipboard in the sky" that God is checking off. Many people live their lives as if God is angry - they do things (church, bible reading, etc.) simply to appease God and keep him off their backs. Other things they don't do (enter any sin here) because they don't want to make him angry. We realize how strange and primitive these things were in the past, and yet our culture continues many of the same practices on today. I love grace. It's amazing. And I'm sure I will never fully comprehend it, but it's an incredible concept and I had a good time hearing Rob Bell speak about it in a fresh way.

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