The Apostle Paul’s Boasts

As I see what churches and pastors boast about, I wonder if they have a right. Churches let visitors know what they have to offer. Not inherently boasting, this advertising markets the “strengths” of each church. As fellow pastors understand, the church without programs can’t make it. So, a little boasting about programs!

The Apostle Paul did not boast in programs he sponsored. He boasted about people, giving and what God had done.

1Cor. 9:1   Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?  2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

I find that after 25 years of ministry, when I need to take inventory of what has happened I look at people. We had some good runs with programs, some success with numbers but I feel the greatest satisfaction when I get word from people who are still running with The Lord. Every “program” that was successful as I get older produced a lifelong change in some folks who have reproduced other lifelong Christians. I can’t say I’ve had the impact of some world leaders, but in so many people, a love for Christ and his work has thoroughly worked through them. I can say that their kids are also going in that same direction. The secret? What’s your boasting in?

Two of Paul’s favorite boasts:

1 Cor. 1:31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Gal. 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Fall 2008
College:				Kirkhof College of Nursing
Major:				Pre-Nursing
Academic Standing:				Good Standing
Subject	Course	Level	Title					Grade	Credit Hours	Quality Points	R
ART	101	U	Introduction to Art					C-	3.000	5.10
CHM	109	U	Introductory Chemistry					C+	5.000	11.50
MTH	097	U	Elementary Algebra					A-	4.000	14.80
WRT	098	U	Writing with a Purpose					C	4.000	8.00
					Attempt Hours	Passed Hours	Earned Hours	GPA Hours	Quality Points	GPA
Current Term:					16.000	16.000	16.000	16.000	39.40	2.463
Cumulative:					16.000	16.000	16.000	16.000	39.40	2.463
Winter 2009
College:				Kirkhof College of Nursing
Major:				Pre-Nursing
Academic Standing:				Good Standing
Last Academic Standing:				Good Standing
Subject	Course	Level	Title					Grade	Credit Hours	Quality Points	R
BIO	120	U	General Biology I					C	4.000	8.00
MTH	110	U	Algebra					C	4.000	8.00
PSY	101	U	SLA Introductory Psychology					C-	3.000	5.10
WRT	150	U	Strategies in Writing					B	4.000	12.00
				Attempt Hours	Passed Hours	Earned Hours	GPA Hours	Quality Points	GPA
Current Term:				15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000	33.10	2.207
Cumulative:				31.000	31.000	31.000	31.000	72.50	2.339
TRANSCRIPT TOTALS (UNDERGRADUATE)      -Top-
				Attempt Hours	Passed Hours	Earned Hours	GPA Hours	Quality Points	GPA
Total Institution:				31.000	31.000	31.000	31.000	72.50	2.339
Total Transfer:				0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.00	0.000
Overall:				31.000	31.000	31.000	31.000	72.50	2.339

Marriage Hypocrisy

The myth of Christian values permeates our culture or should I say, covers a multitude of sins. One example is marriage. We are marriage hypocrites here. We value the institution of marriage so highly, yet treat it so poorly. For example, if we hold that marriage is so important to create stable homes, why would Sweden’s unmarried, co-habitating couples have a greater chance of staying together and provide more security than a comparable American family? Why do we have a revolving door of significant relationships in America greater than any other country? Why are we in a raging debate about same-sex marriages that doesn’t seem to affect other western nations? Why do we hold marriage to be the right of “first-class-citizenship”?

BTW, I think marriage is a great institution! We’re going on 24 this August! And if you want to see Co-habitation statistics in our culture read about the dangers here! The chance of divorce or break up in the USA for cohabitating couples is monstrous.

You can read one sociologist’s study about why and join the debate about the value of marriage in

The Marriage-Go-Round

The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today

Written by Andrew J. Cherlin

The Interior Voice of the Spirit

by Francis Fenelon (Chapter 21 in Christian Classics, Fenelon, Talking with God, by Francois Fenelon. Modern English Version by Hal M. Helms. Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 1997.)

Our God is not Flat Stanley. Have you ever wondered why your God seems so blah? Read on and practice the presence of God in the inner sanctuary! Wow!

The Interior Voice of the Spirit

It is certain from the Holy Scriptures that the Spirit of God dwells within us. There he acts, there he prays without ceasing, groans, desires, and asks for us what we do not know how to ask for ourselves. The Spirit urges us on, animates us, speaks to us when we are silent, suggests to us all truth, and so unites us to him that we become one spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17)

That is the teaching of faith, and even those teachers farthest removed from the interior life cannot avoid acknowledging it to be so. To be sure, there are some who strive to maintain that in practice, we are illuminated by external law, or by the light of learning and reason, and that then our understanding acts of itself from that instruction. They do not rely sufficiently on upon the interior Teacher, the Holy Spirit, who does everything within us. We could not form a thought or desire without him. Alas, what blindness is ours! We suppose ourselves alone in the inner sanctuary, when God is more intimately present there than we are ourselves.

You may say, “What then! Are we all inspired?”

Healthy Chicken, Easy!

You might like this quick and easy, healthy chicken recipe. I cooked for the family the other day, and the chicken was delicious. What a nice surprise to have an easy meal like this taste so good!

Chicken, Mushrooms, Spinach

Three large chicken breasts boneless
•    Place in frying pan on med high
•    Add 1/3 to ½ cup Olive Oil
•    Add ½ tsp ground pepper
•    Add 2 tablespoons dried parsley
•    Add 1 tablespoon dried onions
•    Add 8 oz sliced mushrooms over the top of chicken breasts

Cook ten minutes then flip chicken breasts ( Do not cover!)
•    Cook another ten minutes but keep checking so they don’t burn
•    Cut chicken breasts into smaller pieces with a spatula (cutting here keeps the inside moist!)
•    Cook another ten minutes stirring frequently.

Turn off heat.
•    Place two cups of fresh spinach leaves over the top of the chicken and mushrooms.
•    When the leaves begin to wilt stir spinach into chicken and mushrooms.

Serve immediately.

Sean’s Hard Verses List

Just thought you might like to see Sean’s list of verses he wants explained. I find these verses cropping up in all kinds of places on the web, in conversation, with doubters and in Bible studies. Why? For most of the past 200 years Jewish background studies of the New Testament were negligible. The gospels are Jewish documents, not Greek or Roman. Everything must be filtered through authors who wrote to Jews. None wrote to a Gentile audience. Luke may come closest since he is a gentile, but never forget that Christianity in it’s infancy was a Jewish cult. Jesus went to the Jews. “He went to that which was his own but his own received him not!” John 1:10.

Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi. You can read Geza Vermes brilliant outline of Jesus the Jew to see how this is so true. Vermes is not a Christian, but a Jewish scholar fascinated by Jesus, yet remaining in unbelief. If you cannot see Jesus using Rabbinical teaching methods or teaching through a Jewish lens on the world, many of his teachings are bizarre and contradictory.  For instance. “hate your mother”, he says. This is simple hyperbole or exaggeration to get a point across about your devotion to God. “Carry your cross,” is again a mystical view of the greatness of living for Christ in the face of overwhelming odds against living for Christ. Jesus poses questions and riddles to people who are seeking his identity. He does exactly what Rabbi’s do all through history. In Luke 20:1-5, Jesus doesn’t answer the question about where he gets his authority or who sponsors him. He poses a riddle about John the Baptist. He’s helping the Pharisees to see their ladder of inference, their basis for their assumptions. Of course, they don’t, but that’s his point. Self-delusion blinds people to his identity.

And today is no exception. People are so full of themselves and their ability to discern truth that questioning their assumptions is sacrosanct. NADA! Don’t go there. We are supposed to allow people to make up their beliefs and then coddle them with ooh’s and ahh’s at their high sounding arguments. “I’m not exclusive!” “How can I believe in a God who wipes out thousands of Philistines or kills his own son?” “I’m a Buddhist Christian!” Sounds profound, but of course, Jesus would ask a question in return or prod them with a parable. (Maybe the parable of Lazarus and the rich man might work. The rich man made up his religion, lived for himself and ended up on the short side of the chasm. The beggar understood a need for God, as he was stripped of any sense of self aggrandizement in his poverty.)

So, if you want to probe Sean’s Hard Verses List, go ahead. See how my friend is thinking. If you are interested in more theological discussion check out “FAbricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospel,” by Mark Evans. He’s not a hyper ventilating apologeticist, but a theo-historian with a pragmatic and comprehensive view of the first Century world Jesus and other Jews inhabited. You may also want to read, “Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus (Hinges of History)”, by Thomas Cahill.

Anyone who reads the New Testament must understand the division between Paul and all the others. Remember, he’s the only apostle who understood the mystery of the gospel.

Romans 16:24-26 (New International Version)

²⁵Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—

Lydia Graduates: Magna Cum Honduras

With a degree in Mathematics, a minor in Bible and Spanish, Lydia rushed from graduation last Saturday, May 9th, for six weeks. Is she using her math degree? Nope. She’s using her God degree. Our Lydia is gifted in translating the gospel cross culturally. So, she’s using what God has given to her. This fall she goes back to Lee U. for her Masters. Will she be using her math degree? Nope. She’s using her passion for helping people to receive the first ever Lee U. Masters in Cross Cultural Counseling. Figuring out people’s problems is new math at its best!

We are all so proud of you Lydia Lea! And also for graduating Magna Cum Laude and Magna Cum Honduras!

No More Money

I read a blog by a man who lives without money. He’s lived without it for nine years. How? Dumpster diving. Living in a cave.

Dumpster diving in London

Eating roadkill. Getting free clothes. Eating insects, grass and leaves. Yum!

He’s a genius, and a philosopher. He’s not mentally crazy. He’s part of a contingency of people who say that money makes us all crazy and lawless. The moneyless man states that people share and love more when money is not involved. Native Americans before the Europeans didn’t worry about who’s bowl or who’s blanket they used, he says. He is unencumbered with cares of this world and can sit all day watching clouds go by. Wow! I want that life! NO WORRY

When I told Rhonda this great idea about living without money and all our money issues would be solved  she made it clear that she didn’t want to do the dumpster diving. She did mention that Ken White, our pastor friend in Ann Arbor, ate someone else’s leftover pizza once in college. She didn’t buy the great concept of freedom held out by our penniless friend.

In Summary: The guy’s crazy. He has no kids. It’s a selfish existence. He takes care of himself. He makes absolutely no case at all about taking care of the sick, the impaired, those who cannot care for themselves, like children. he doesn’t care. He can watch the clouds all day, all by himself, making up his religion and his purpose in life. I find it no surprise that in the fine print he’s an avid evolutionist. He’s as counter cultural as he can be, making a statement against traditions and cultural mores. Screaming loudly on the internet so that others will be jealous of his freedom. Ballyhooing anything of the cross, the Bible and of course, evil Christians!

He’s as right as the Beatles who said, “Can’t buy me love!” He’s right that, we think way too much that money solves our problems. Money does enslave us, but can you see his flawed argument? Freedom doesn’t come from having no worries or no binding contracts with anyone. Isolation is not freedom. Dumpster diving is not freedom.

Have you ever stayed up all night talking to a friend or a group of friends? That’s freedom! Have you ever stayed up reading a good book until you knew that the next day would be the zombiest day of the week? That’s freedom! Have you ever hiked or ran until you were exhausted, squeezed dry on the inside and your inside was on the outside? Jumping into a cool pond is where the feeling of freedom comes. We are unencumbered by things and money problems in the penniless man’s system, but is that freedom? What would he do in a Utah desert without any of the dumpsters or free clothes or wood to burn from building sites? He wouldn’t feel so free? Unencumbered, yes, but free?

Freedom comes from another source, through a relationship with one who sets us free and reminds us about our own self-delusions that enslave us. When will we ever be totally free here? Jesus said,  “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 The way to freedom he says is “to hold to my teachings.” What are his teachings? The way of the cross. The way of belief in the Father’s gifts. The way of the gospel: his death for our lives and the crazy world and universe we live in. Freedom comes when we “see” him and “visualize” his truth and “meditate on” these glories of God at work in life and thought. Freedom from self-delusion and from the cares of this world happens when we are staying up all night talking to a real God and contemplating his being and glory revealed in history (The Bible) and in His Son.

Most people will settle for dumpster diving.

Profound Quotes and Stupid Movie Video

This post is an oxyposting: two opposite posts in one post. I came across a couple of quotes: the first from a random Journal entry of mine (I don’t know where I got it), and the second from a friend’s sermon. The opposite from profound: last summer a friend and I “made” a video response to the most stupid movie ever, “Gerry”, with zero profound or memorable quotes. (I’m not linking to its website because you are smarter than that!)

Quote 1: “Grace runs downhill and pools in the lowest places.”

Quote 2: “God puts us in situations we may not have chosen, and so we have to learn to lead through it. When the going gets tough don’t turn your back on it.” –Dave Bianchin

Watch the response to the least creative and time wasting movie ever, here, but don’t click until you read further. I just love this spontaneous video we made last summer. It’s based on the really stupid movie made by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck called “Gerry”. In “Gerry”, beware! Caution! NOTHING HAPPENS!   But in our response, something does happen! Gerry won not one, but two awards!  The movie summary: A friendship between two twenty-something men is tested to its very limits when they go on a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them. The movie has the crunching sound of walking on gravel throughout, so we thought we’d spice up our response version of it to make ours more interesting. And ours is only 65 seconds long, compared to 100 minutes of stone crunching noises!

If you must see more about the movie, click here to see some reviews at the bottom of the page. The first review shows why it received a 6.2 rating, but I think they made the film just to fool people into watching idiocy, much like Damon’s and the other Affleck’s movie about Jesus, “Dogma.”

Time Does Stand Still

We have had several sets of friends visit for a day or two in the last two months. We pick up where we left off. Time stands still. The feeling when we meet is a joy and a lightness, the reconnection of two dots on the line graph of time, but the dots seem so close together, like waking from a deep sleep. We have not witnessed the passing of time. Do you know what I mean? The casual banter and homey feeling doesn’t leave over time. Sure, events and age show through, but the connection did not dim. How so?

When people visit, they risk being de-hospitable-ized which means “to become a burden”. Old friends visiting a burden? Feels like an honor, not a burden. Do you feel that connection with the desk clerk at the Marriott or the receptionist at the doctor? Of course not. They look up, but have no recognition. They do not have a life experience with you. They won’t recognize you in a week. They are paid to make you feel welcomed. What kind of a welcome is that? The de-hospitable-izing effect is known when you wait in silence for them, or wait for them to tell you what to do. We are a burden to be passed off.

We welcome our friends into our lives as if they have never left. We anticipate the joy of having this friend in the same room, face-to-face, again. We enjoy preparing a room and a meal. Yesterday, I enjoyed sharing swimming techniques, food and a couple hours of probing some spiritual depth in my friend Dave. Last night and this morning we shared our cell groups, breakfast and some stories about how we all met, fell in love, and took a post-wedding drive to Lake Michigan.

Hospitality goes both ways here. Our friends have to tell us they are coming through or want to see us. I am honored they want this connection. Today, I am thankful for friends with whom I can experience the phenomenon of Time Standing Still.

Thank you Dave and Sue, Jordan and Laura, Gary and Jane, Alan and Mary, Eric and Jen, Grandma Marge and Eddie…and…Ralph and Mrt, Christine Freed, Joel, Kayla, Nathan’s friends, Ellen’s friends, and on and on and on!