Followers

Due to the fact that we are in between youth pastors at the moment, I have been taking my turn with the teens on Sunday nights leading the youth lesson.  Last night we were talking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  We started with this definition of follower:  "A follower is a person who believes in something or someone so much that it is reflected in the way they live their life."

The 25 minute bible study that ensued was quite enlightening.  The students shared openly of some of the experiences they have faced as Christ-followers.  The challenges in their schools and social orbs are huge!  While I had my share of struggles as a Christian in my teen years, today's student really has to be committed to the right path, realize that it is a spiritual battle, and remain focused on God's plan for his or her life. 

I have to say that I was impressed with their thoughtful comments and the transparency they showed as they communicated their struggles. My take-away from the evening is that I need to be more prayerful, both as a pastor as well as a parent, for my own daughter and the youth of our church and community.  It's sobering to hear what they face.  And they don't need cliches; they need to know they have someone they can fall back on to help them walk through the challenges of following Jesus.  I resolve to do a better job in this area.

Profiles in Courage

I was only five years old when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I remember that day very well.  I was sitting in our living room, watching a children's program when the news bulletin came through.  My mother was upstairs and when she came down the steps, she asked me what I was watching.  When I told her that the president had been shot, she sat on the couch and started to cry. 

I recently took note of the fact that as a student of leadership, I had never read Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.  Don't ask me why.  I just hadn't.  I recently received my copy via Amazon.com. 

I found this statement to be an indictment of our lack of leadership in America:  "The way to get along," I was told when I entered Congress, "is to go along" (2006 edition, page 4).  JFK went on in the first chapter to talk about the need in compromise and live to fight another day.  He also downplayed standing on your principles if your principles got in the way of your goals.  Kennedy seems to be saying in this chapter that to succeed you may have to let go of your principles and resist the urge to do what is right if compromise is possible.

I think too many leaders have subscribed to that and that's why our nation is facing such a lack of moral character.  Statesmanship seems to be more valued than character.  Our politicians depend more on public opinion polls than moral principle.  Re-election is sought more than doing what is right. 

It takes courage to do and say the right thing even if it is not popular or politically correct.  May God give us leaders who have a strong moral compass and who understand the saying, "Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it." 

Doing Dumb Things

I know I'm not the only one to do something dumb, but when it happens, you have to wonder "How did I do that?"  A couple of weeks ago I jammed my big toe on the deck at our home (I blame my tri-focal lenses for that!).  I could tell that I might lose my toenail, but all in all, the pain was decreasing daily and I thought I was on the mend.  Unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon, while moving some tables at the church, I hit the toenail with a table leg, ripping it about 90% of the way off.  Talk about pain!  I made it through the rest of the day and went to my doctor on Monday morning.  He removed the nail, told me to make sure it didn't get infected (I'm a diabetic - gotta watch these things) and said that the nail would grow back in 6-12 months. 

Why am I telling you this?  First, it's easy to blame the wrong thing for our problems.  I said it was my tri-focal lenses that were the cause of the first injury.  Actually, it was the fact that I was in too big of a hurry and I didn't scale the steps correctly.  Second, I should have taken better precautions.  Moving tables with flip flops on is always iffy, but to not have any protection on the toe exposed it to danger.  Finally, it takes less time to do something damaging than it does to heal the situation.

Can you see the spiritual implications?  We often blame others or situations for our own mistakes.  We make choices that put us in harms way, or in a position of compromise.  We could take better precautions by doing the right things but often choose a quicker way that does not require discipline.  That can be costly.  And when we fall from the place where God wants us to be (that's called sin), the damage that takes place can often take a long time to heal. 

Here's the good news:  God is in the life-healing business.  He rebuilds us when we have experienced damage.  We must come to Him just the way we are and experience His grace and forgiveness. 

Back At It

I know it's been months since I put anything on this site.  Perhaps by now no one is even looking at it.  But I'm going to get back to throwing out ideas and thoughts and hope that someone responds. 

Each day I wrestle with the idea of leading like Jesus.  I've been reading a great book on this topic (Leading Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard).  The struggle comes with the whole idea that leadership is often divorced from spirituality.  It shouldn't be.  But recently, during a message on spiritual leadership, I made the statement that everyone is a leader if we accept the definition of leadership as being influence.  Someone in the congregation vehemently shook his head "no" when I said that everyone is a leader.  Even as I explained my thoughts more completely, I saw that he was totally checked out from that point on. 

That's too bad.  I really believe I'm correct in my assessment of what leadership is, but far too often individuals do not see leadership for what it really is.  And the truth is, if you are breathing, someone is watching, and if they are watching, you are influencing, and that makes you a leader! 

How is your influence going?

Driving

Well, it's finally happened!  My youngest child has a learner's permit and is driving.  Bekah is doing very well, but my nerves are simply not what they used to be!  It's really not her fault, but I've decided that at age 55, I'm just not qualified to sit in the passenger seat while someone else is learning to operate a motor vehicle.  The good news is that she will get quite a few hours in before driver's training starts next month.  I'm hoping by the end of her driver's training that they will be able to sign off on the driving test.  But at least I get a break until August 11 - Bekah's 180 day waiting period will be over and she'll be eligible for her license.  The break is that I won't have to pay for insurance for her until then!

What Kind of Day Will You Make?

In his book, Coach Wooden, Pat Williams lays out the great coach John Wooden's 7 Life Principles.  One of those life principles that Coach Wooden lived by was "make each day your masterpiece."  Former basketball great Swen Nater played for Coach at UCLA.  He said, "John Wooden's philosophy was that you have never lived a perfect day until you have helped someone who can never repay you in any way.  John Wooden's goal was to live a perfect day - not once, but every single day." (page 94)

While there are a number of thing that we can do to become more efficient in our lives, the most important thing we can do is to invest ourselves in others.  Who is it that you could help today - someone who could never repay you for your act of kindness?  What can you do to make a difference, even a small one, in someone's day?  How many opportunities do we miss simply because we are so focused on what we can get out of life? 

Today our church will have a distribution, giving away non-food items to people from the community.  Some of those people will sit in our parking lot for up to 4 hours before they go through the line to get roughly $50-$60 worth of paper products, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene items, etc.  Most of them are so grateful for the chance to stretch their limited funds with this free service provided through the generosity of our congregation.  Those who are working and those who have given will be making a masterpiece of their day today.  What about you?

Aliens

Throughout history we have seen faith play a significant role in secular life.  In ancient times, kings were often appointed because they were men of faith.  This was practiced by many people groups but was especially true in Jewish culture.  The Old Testament is filled with stories of how when the people obeyed God, the nation was blessed.  When they turned from Him, there was trouble in paradise.  The place faith played in culture was the leading indicator of the nation’s success or failure. 

During the 1700’s, Europe and Great Britain were suffering from moral and economic decay.  The Great Awakening, led by men like John and Charles Wesley, brought a revival to the whole of society.  That awakening spilled over into the American colonies where powerful preachers like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards continued to fan into the flame a spirituality that impacted culture and brought about positive change.  One such change was the human rights movement which, in the early 1800’s, fueled the eventual freedom of slaves, brought an end to child slavery, and gave women a rightful place in society.  The revivalist movement of the early 1900’s continued these emphases as well as providing people with faith in the midst of two world wars and the Great Depression.

But a major shift has taken place.  Secularism has reared its head and demanded that faith take a back seat to humanism – a system of thought that is centered on man’s interests.  The defining moment for our country was in 1948 when the Supreme Court used the “Separation of Church and State” argument to outlaw a time for school prayer.  In 1962, the Supreme Court again ruled that prayer in school was unconstitutional.  Then in 1963, the Warren Court stopped schools from allowing Bible reading in classes.  The Supreme Court declared in 1980 that posting the Ten Commandments in a school classroom violated the constitution of The United States. 

What has essentially happened is that our culture has determined that the Church has no right to political or social influence.  According to those in authority, the only place for Christian faith is within the confines of a religious institution.  Christians who attempt to use their convictions to guide their moral and social commitments are assailed as being out-of-touch with the mainstream and are ridiculed for taking stands that are synchronous with historic Judeo-Christian principles.

This should not really surprise us.  The earliest Christians found themselves in the same position.  Palestine was ruled by Rome.  Thanks to Alexander the Great’s philosophy of world rule through cultural saturation, Christ-followers found themselves out-of-step with a society that was anything but spiritual.  One example of this is found in the life of the apostle Peter.  As Roman persecution of the Christians increased, Peter found himself in the crosshairs of Nero’s aim to exterminate people of faith.  In his reflections on this matter, the Apostle Peter wrote how believers live as “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11). 

It would appear that from the beginning of time, people of faith have found themselves (for the most part) to be a part of a counterculture – one that had the potential to bring about wholeness, but that stood in opposition to the mainstream of their society.  We find ourselves in that same place today.  In their book, Resident Aliens:  Life in the Christian Colony, authors Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon state that the church should in all times assert “that God, not nations, rules the world, that the boundaries of God’s kingdom transcend those of Caesar, and that the main political task of the church is the formation of people who see clearly the cost of discipleship and are willing to pay the price.” 

If this is indeed the position that we are to take (I believe it is), how then do we take back territory we have surrendered to the forces of evil?  How do we take the battle to the Enemy?  What are the possibilities that our normal daily lives can have supernatural eternal influence?  

 

The foundation for making a difference in our culture lays in our ability to build relationships that have a redemptive quality - to make friendships that literally change our world.  Take a look at Colossians 4:2-6 and see what the apostle Paul challenged the people of his time to do.