Last night I took the boys to Harrison’s baseball practice. I sat with Hudson and Hunter by a tree out of the way and in the shade and they had a good time messing with the tree and throwing rocks. There was a large ant pile, or at least what used to be one, by the curb and the tree. Hudson finally went over to the mound and stomped on it. This is a favorite pastime for he and my wife. Well, no ants came out and that sparked Hudson’s curiosity. So he asked me where all the ants were. I told him that they must have gone somewhere else. His immediate response:

Oh, they must be shopping at Target!

And also,

Harrison and I have been watching the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament on Versus this afternoon. After watching Ian Poulter, who is known for wearing brightly colored pants and today has a pair of bright pink pants on, told me he still likes Ian Kinsler. I asked him why and he said even though he has the same name as the weird guy on tv wearing pink pants he still likes him. Good for him.

Great Paragraph from the book.

In performance Christians are called upon to recognize time aright, to attune themselves to a time that is God’s time. The context in which this attunement occurs is properly called worship. Liturgical time, in other words, takes Christians out of what the world teaches them to think of as the standard or normative measurements of time and orients them to, sets them firmly within, God’s eschatological horizon. Worship marks the time of Christ that breaks into “our” time, the time that Christians are lulled into thinking is always here. In this regard, the regular, continual pattern of gathering for worship may be viewed as the church’s rehearsal. Worship thus becomes a kind of performance before the performance, a preparation beforehand for whatever witness the church might be called upon to give. Being schooled in the basic rhythms and movements that constitute the Christian faith means that the church’s witness is more than something spoke, debated, written about, discussed; it is a faith that is enacted, performed, fleshed out. In order for such a witness to be faithful and true, in order for it to be convincing, the church must be attuned to the times. Only by continually practicing, rehearsing, performing the faith will Christians have any chance of learning what it means to keep God’s time.

pages 97-98

Welcome to the gun show

Today Jaclyn went to do the “big” shopping, which is several weeks worth of groceries at a time at Target. She also needed to pick up a little something for her sister, who is getting married in a couple weeks. So, Hudson likes to help as much as possible during the shopping. When Jaclyn got home, I was already there as I am taking the afternoon and evening off, she realized that there were certain items in the bags that she didn’t put in the cart. Of course, Hudson wanted to make sure we had everything that is essential to the home. The three boys are big fans of pop tarts, so Hudson added two boxes worth of them to the cart while Jaclyn wasn’t looking. Also, while Jaclyn wasn’t looking, in an obvious chip off the ol’ block moment, Hudson managed to throw in a pair of thong panties.

Yup, Daddy’s little helper he is.

So Hudson has been changing his name lately. First it was Gap, then Johnny Test showed up, and today he has decided he is Bibleman. Johnny Test is actually the name of a cartoon on tv I think. But anyway, Hudson decided today that Jaclyn should watch one of the episodes. Jaclyn explained to him that she is a girl and doesn’t really watch those kind of things. Hudson promptly replied,

Don’t worry Mommy, God can change you to a boy.

Do I have a vote in this?

Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

So far, this is by far the best chapter in the book. It is the most challenging and most frank. It is a harsh reality in churches today that attenders are often left unchallenged. We fail to give God our complete and total self while holding significant portions of life back from God and His purposes for us. We draft somewhere in the middle failing to be either hot or cold for God and His plan. Building off of Revelation 3 and the letter to the church of Laodecia. Chan takes on the often overlooked and ignored truth that a believer in Christ will show evidence of that belief in their daily life. To show no evidences brings a daring and truly difficult question of one’s truthful conversion and faith. Not that someone who continues to struggle with sin is not a believer, but the one who knowingly continues to ignore God’s best and never produces fruit in their life may simply be fooling himself. And how often does the individual believer choose to not honor God in everything in order to maintain a somewhat easy existence? Lots of good questions, and lots of things to ponder in this chapter. Chan continues the idea of soils in this as well and leaves all of us with the question of just what type of soil are we.

Choice quotes:

Jesus’ call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a “Christian” without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.

Each of us has lukewarm elements and practices in our life; therein lies the senseless, extravagant grace of it all. The Scriptures demonstrate clearly that there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God.

To call someone a Christian simply because he does some Christian-y things is giving false comfort to the unsaved. But to declare anyone who sins “unsaved” is to deny the reality and truth of God’s grace.

I believe that much of the American churchgoing population, while not specifically swimming downstream, is slowly floating away from Christ. It isn’t a conscious choice, but it is nonetheless happening because little in their lives propels them to Christ.

Celebrity Mullets from Fox News Online.

Profile of the Lukewarm

Chan begins to compare and contrast the person who is actively recognizing God’s supreme love and existence in his life with the person who is, quite frankly, fooling himself. In the discussion, Chan identifies a dynamic of the parable of the sower that is often overlooked or ignored by churchgoers today. Far too many assume that they are the “good soil” Jesus refers to in His parable. There is an presumption that since church attendance is priority (unless of course our favored sports team has a noon kickoff, but God understands that right?) and biblical facts are memorized then we are growing spiritually. I mean, look at all those members of our churches who don’t show up on Sunday! We are better than they are right?

Chan profiles with scripture the numerous examples of lukewarm people present in our churches every Sunday. Things like giving out of excess, focusing more on today’s to-do list than God, putting limits on things like serving, loving, and sharing Christ with others. The harsh reality of church today is that the vast majority of people live at a lukewarm spiritual existence. The truths of God have ceased to have an impact because they have been sequestered to the mind and have failed to impact the heart. We think we are “good soil” because of presence, but in truth, good soil produces fruit for the kingdom.

Crazy Love

And so we begin chapter 3 of Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. Chan now begins to move from the dramatic awesomeness of God to the nitty gritty reality of His interest in us as His creation. Equating God to love can often appear paradoxical given the sad state of the global culture today. Yet, I am impressed every day with the simple truth that much of the world still runs from God rather than to God. It is easier sometimes to say that there isn’t a God because of the mess we have made of His creation than to take responsibility for our complete failure as caretakers.

Chan hammers through one very very important truth that many believers and unbelievers alike miss. God actually, really, truly does love us and desires us to experience the greatest good in life, which is Him. In stark contrast, many people know cognitively that God loves them, but the truth never moves to their heart where it can take root and create fruit. What a shameful life to live without real passion and purpose.

For a long time I have always recognized the difficulty of relating to a heavenly Father while never really having an earthly one. Chan shares his experiences with his dad and how the dysfunction of that relationship created challenges later on in his spiritual relationship. I never knew my real father. I know bits and pieces and such, but have not grown up with any sort of male role model or figure in my life. I have three boys now who mean the world to me. It took years after I began believing in Christ for me to reconcile the loss of my father with God. I struggle with it at times today. I used to think that hindsight was 20/20. I don’t anymore. How arrogant of me to think that life would have better only if … If I could go back and change things I would only make life different, not better or worse.

You Might Not Finish This Chapter

That is the title of the second chapter of Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. I started reading the chapter rather interestingly, I was reviewing chapter one and had tried to skip forward a couple pages and accidentally landed in the second chapter. I dug in thinking to myself how out of it I must of been when I first read this part because I didn’t remember any of it. But, I soon recognized my folly and retreated back to the first chapter. Yes, I realize most of you could care less, but it makes for good filler material. Anyway, on to the chapter I might not have finished. Granted, I might not finish this blog post either according to Chan.

I started this chapter with an expectation, I should not have, but I did. I read the title of the chapter and made some preconceived ideas about what the subject would be. I was wrong. Chan’ primary goal appeared to be getting his reader to recognize the whisper that is our life in the grand scheme of history. Because of this nature of life, we must make every moment count in bringing glory back to our Creator, because our life may end at any moment. It is a noble effort indeed. The multitude of cultural identities today would do well to stop (especially in the United States) and recognize how blessed we are by God. Some choice quotes are below:

When I am consumed by my problems … I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice

Your part is to bring Him glory

Turning inward is one way to respond [to our lack of control]; the other is to acknowledge our lack of control and reach out for God’s help.

The ultimate theme here is that for too long we (and I think he is specifically targeted the American church culture) have thought primarily of ourselves. We have failed miserably in our spiritual lives to progress beyond infancy towards spiritual adulthood. God did not create us for self-absorption but to bring glory to Him and be evidence of the magnitude of how great God is.

I have started reading Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. I am reading it with Matt Knight, who works with me. We are taking a chapter a week and then discussing it. Tomorrow we will discuss the first chapter, Stop Praying. The title immediately brings to mind a verse of which I have to consistently remind myself, which is Psalm 46:10. Say it with me: Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations… Actually, many don’t realize that the original language could be understood as saying cease striving, it isn’t that different from be still. The two are similar, although our lives are filled with striving far more than stillness. I know mine is. I rarely stop like I ought to just focus on God.

A few choice quotes:

The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of Him

[God's] perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him

[God] has far more of a right to ask us why His people are starving. As much as we want God to explain Himself to us, His creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us.

I won’t give away too much of my thoughts, since I would hate to ruin the discussion Matt and I will have. However, Chan lays out a couple questions that are very challenging to me.

Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God you an explanation?

I fought for a long time with God over the specifics of my life. If you don’t know them then click to the right where the link is about my journey. I live with hope everyday because of a God who saw fit to transcend His own incredible holiness and save a wretch like me. I don’t always understand and I don’t always get it. But I always remember how screwed up I make it when I try to be in control. God’s vast reality verses my short existence in the scope of history is remarkable. Stop babbling empty words at an eternal God for sure. Start living in awe of His awesomeness, definitely.