If Every Day Was Thanksgiving

About a month ago, I was driving to church on a Sunday morning just after 7AM when I saw a car pulled off on the side of the road, and a man standing next to the car. As I drove closer, I paid particularly close attention to what was going on. Did they have car trouble? Was someone hurt?

Turns out the man was leaning against his car with a camera pointing east. As I turned to find what he was looking at, I saw a bright, magnificent sunrise just starting to peek over the horizon. And to think, I almost missed it.

I think Christ-followers are supposed to be like the man pulled off on the side of the road looking at a sunrise. Every day we have opportunities to be thankful, and to praise God for who He is and what He’s doing in our lives, but more often than not, we miss it, because we’re not looking for it.

The Apostle Paul models this kind of expectant faith well. Nearly every letter he writes starts off with the Gospel and by giving thanks for all kinds of things. My guess is Paul probably woke up every day preaching the Gospel to himself in eager expectation of how he would experience God’s love and mercy throughout the day. These encounters with God’s grace would deepen his love for the Lord and lead to an overflow of worship and thanksgiving, even in times of illness, persecution, and suffering.

What would it look like if we were characterized more by our lives of continual praise and love for God than by our worship on Sundays? Pray that we would be people who expectantly experience the Gospel and who overflow with genuine worship and thanksgiving.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power…and joyfully giving thanks to the Father. Colossians 1:10-12

CK

These Guys Can Play a Little

Every once in awhile, a song comes along that's got so much soul and groove to it that it seems like you can feel it changing the beat of your heart, all the way down through your toes. It makes you start to move your head back and forth slowly and toys with your emotions.

This is one of those songs.

Featuring two living legends in Herbie Hancock (piano) and Derek Trucks (slide guitar), this song, called "Space Captain," is from Hancock's album Imagine. Susan Tedeschi (vocals) isn't too bad either I suppose. For another good listen, check out Hancock's album Possibilities and anything by Derek Trucks.

Enjoy!

Weddings and other celebrations

There are two things I highly recommend doing if one has the chance.

The first is getting baptized.

And the second is having a wedding.

There are obviously very spiritual, meaningful and significant reasons why someone would choose to do either of those things, and those reasons are of supreme importance, yet there’s a different aspect of both that I feel like writing about.

Because at both my baptism this past weekend and my wedding several months ago, never have I felt more loved and valued than in those two instances. There’s simply nothing like embarking on an important moment in your faith and being able to look around and see many of the friends and family members that have helped to shape you into who you are. Likewise, and to an even greater extent, the feeling of beginning a journey with your spouse and having almost every person you love and cherish surrounding you, affirming you, and encouraging you is unlike anything else I’d ever experienced.

It seems like celebratory moments like these bring out stories, affirmation, and encouraging words that wouldn’t otherwise be verbalized. People telling you how much you’ve meant to them, how proud they are of you, etc.

But what if we didn’t wait until someone’s wedding to make them feel loved and valued in these ways? What if we intentionally created moments like these, not because it’s a birthday, wedding, or anniversary, but just for the heck of it?

Someday I would love to throw a surprise party for someone just to celebrate that person’s life and what their friendship has meant to me and others.

I’m incredibly grateful for the people in my life who have supported me and encouraged me as I’ve grown into the man that I am today. Unfortunately, far too many people have probably never experienced the kind of love and feeling of being valued that I’m talking about.

So, who can you encourage? Who should you tell how much they’ve meant to you? Don’t wait for a wedding. -CK

Moving Toward Pain

We spend most of our lives trying desperately to cut ourselves off from the pain we’ve incurred through different relationships, events, and past memories. In the midst of a break-up, divorce, disagreement, or hurt inflicted on us, we try desperately to put a tourniquet on the wound to stop the bleeding and try to move on and forget about it as quickly as possible.

And as time passes, we avoid the song that made us think of them, refuse to ever go back to that spot where the fight happened, and we separate ourselves from anything that reminds us of past hurt by all means necessary.

But what if, instead of running from those open wounds, as time passes, God actually desires for us to move toward the pain and the brokenness caused by these memories?

I confess that I have a dreadfully narrow view of redemption. So does the dictionary. One of the top definitions of redemption is “deliverance or rescue.” And this was all I thought it entailed for a long time.

That God would wash away my sins and take the good in me, or even the broken potential that He’s clearly put there but hasn’t quite lived up to the glory that He’s created it for, and He would use THAT to make me into who He intended and to glorify Himself.

But as usual, I have way too high a view of myself.

The beauty in redemption lies not in how God takes what’s seemingly “good” in us and makes it perfect, but that God would dare to get involved in our mess, and brokenness, and greatest weaknesses and pain, and that He would turn those things into something beautiful.

More than that, that He would choose to take some of the deepest areas of hurt in our lives, and some of our greatest shortcomings and turn them into our greatest sources of character and most significant strengths.

I’ve got a lot of junk in my life and plenty of moments in relationships that I’d rather forget. Things from college, things from high school, things from even as far back as grade school. But instead of hiding those things away somewhere beneath the surface, I choose to dig deeper, trying to figure out why it hurt and how it’s affected me, letting God into those wounds. Each and every person has probably gone through a multitude of things that have affected how we view God and how we view ourselves, and He longs to correct those things and move us closer toward who we were created to be.

We worship a God that wants to show off His power in our lives by entering into the darkest areas of our souls and creating strength and beauty out of something that was once weak and hideous. We just have to let Him go to work. -CK

Self-Esteem vs. The Gospel

When I decided to follow Jesus a little over six years ago, I was certain that a boost in self-esteem was supposed to follow. And it did for awhile. Roommates told me I looked happy all the time, I was filled with a confidence that came from finding significant things to devote my time and talents to, and I finally felt like I was someone who was wanted and valued within my community.

But the longer I’ve been a Christian and the more I’ve read the Bible, it seems as if the whole self-esteem thing was a myth. In fact, one could argue that following Christ actually results in less self-esteem.

Take Isaiah. Do you think that after experiencing God and His glory, Isaiah left that interaction being more confident of himself and sure of his character and abilities?

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’

About once a week, I find myself pretty humbled by my lack of ability as a musician, or as a writer, or athlete, or whatever. Why? Because when I experience people whose abilities and talents far outweigh my own, I realize just how short I fall and how incapable I am in the matter at hand.

So when Isaiah finds himself in the presence of, not just a man, but GOD, who is all-powerful, perfect, and "really really holy," his natural reaction is to feel “lost” or “ruined.”

(It's worth noting that in Hebrew, words are sometimes repeated to add extra emphasis. For instance, there's a reference to "gold gold" in the OT, meaning extremely pure gold. But when Isaiah uses the word "holy" three times in a row, this is the ONLY place in the entire OT that a word is repeated more than once.)

It’s kind of like when I saw about 20 of the greatest living guitar players on the Experience Hendrix Tour and wanted to quit playing guitar afterward - only multiply that feeling by about a gazillion.

The Apostle Paul’s experience was evidently similar as he writes in Galatians, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

My guess is, Paul didn’t get a lot of invitations at local high schools to be the featured motivational speaker. Thanks for the self-esteem boost, Paul!

And so I’ve experienced in life, that the more I see of God’s character and the more I experience Him, the more aware I am of my own sin and depravity. As Tim Keller says, “I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe.”

But though these truths may deplete our earthly self-esteem, they also help us to see Jesus as more precious and valuable every single day. Because the greater our realization of our depravity, the bigger our view of the Gospel, and we’re also freed to fully put our trust and confidence in something much more significant.

Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. –James 4:8-10

As God becomes more real in my life and makes His presence felt, He absolutely shatters any pride or earthly confidence I’ve been holding on to. If I’m honest, it can be a pretty depressing and crappy feeling.

But it forces me to find my identity and value in who God has created me to be and replaces all of the things in my life that have the appearance of value and self-worth with His love and affirmation.

As it turns out, there’s more to that Tim Keller quote.

“…And I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared hope.”

I don’t put much confidence in myself these days, but that – that, I will put my hope in.

-CK

Elections and Hope

Tonight’s election has a much different feel than the one two years ago when Obama was elected, yet for many people, there is still the same possibility of hope and change in the air.

Two years ago, I clearly remember thinking that I had never before seen a campaign that had inspired so much hope and so many expectations - something that seemed incredibly positive for our country and millions of people who had lost jobs and their life savings. And yet, as I write, much of America has grown tired of waiting for changes that never came and hope seems to have a distinctly red tint tonight.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe hope and expectations that can never be fully met regardless of the political party or candidate is foolish. Maybe hope that has no foundation isn’t really hope at all.

I have no idea who the better candidate is, and I don’t think I care. They will do some things well, other things not so well, and several years from now, the majority of people will likely be voting for the candidate from the other party to try to meet their unquenched hopes and expectations.

But instead of being continually shocked, frustrated, and angry that our elected officials cannot satisfy our wants and desires, we have another option.

The author of the book of Isaiah was extremely familiar with the themes of suffering, hope, expectation, and justice. He writes over and over again that the people of Israel had put their hope in militaries, kings and rulers, politics, and proudly, themselves.

But as He usually does, God flips this on its head in chapter 49:

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD;

Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Don’t get me wrong. It’s great to vote and there are some really fantastic people out there who work in politics. But if our hope is found in our political parties, stimulus plans, and health care bills, we’re missing the point, and we will always be left disappointed.

Because there is only One hope that is completely worth our time, energy and affection, and only One hope that will not leave us disappointed. Father, Your Kingdom come! -CK

A Cold, Impersonal Cross

We absolutely must get past the mistaken view of the Cross which sees Jesus as having fulfilled an impersonal duty. It’s this same view that gets lodged in our heads that tells us that Christ went to the Cross with no specific names or faces on his heart, just hoping that in the next several thousand years, people might take Him up on His offer of eternal life.

This is the idea of Jesus and of the Gospel that I have held for a long, long time and am still trying to let go of. I’ve never really thought of myself as a Calvinist, but there are some inconvenient truths inherent in the Gospel that, taken away, leave us with a pretty watered down version of the Gospel.

Isaiah 43 – But now, this is what the LORD says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.

Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.’

And eventually, just One Man would be given in exchange for life.

But the greatest truth of the Gospel is not simply salvation, or being rescued from Hell so that we can go to Heaven.

It’s adoption.

Think about the adoption process. Most times, parents adopting have the choice of what child they want to adopt. They decide if they want to adopt a child from America, Africa, China, Romania, or India. Sometimes they even go to an orphanage, stand over a bed or mat on the floor and decide, “This one. We want this one.”

There is planning, forethought, and selection.

And when we take these elements away, while there may be some resemblance of love still involved, it’s certainly not the same kind of costly love that chooses, and at great expense to the parent, goes to rescue the child and adopt them as their own son.

So when I think of salvation as something of my own doing, where “I came to the Lord,” and accepted Him into my life, I’m distorting the true Gospel and completely destroying the greatest, most important and significant thing that could ever be said about me.

For he CHOSE US in him before the creation of the world to be HOLY and BLAMELESS in his sight. In love he predestined us to be ADOPTED AS HIS SONS through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 1:4-6

-CK

Don't You Know That You're Toxic

These days, our lives are filled with so much work, so much information, so many details, and an absurd amount of distractions, that it’s easy for everything to become a jumbled mess. According to an article by CBS News in 2006, the average American may see over 5000 ads EACH DAY.

My heart and mind so often get bombarded by all these things pulling for my attention, by all the little daily worries that seem to pop up, and by not so little things that weigh on my heart.

That’s why, several times each day, I feel like there’s this toxic build-up of mush accumulating in my brain and hardening over my heart. And if I don’t take a step back from all the noise and everything that’s going on around me, those toxins start to suffocate me, and they prevent me from focusing on what’s most important.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable that includes seed that is scattered among thorns. “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”

I am up to my neck in thorns – and they’re not going anywhere. They will always be there.

But amidst the rustling of the weeds, I can choose to listen for One who brings life, peace, and fruitfulness.

Tonight it’s time to tune out the noise and do some listening. -CK

Wasting It

Everyone thinks it’s hilarious in the movie Gran Torino when Clint Eastwood’s character pours out stubbornness and bitterness and complains about the young people on his block. It’s not quite as funny if you’ve ever witnessed this kind of thing in real life.

It seems like for several weeks now, I’ve seen and experienced pretty regularly, older people who constantly complain about the younger generation, or are so stuck in their ways that they are completely closed off to any kind of new relationships and any opportunities to share with people what wisdom they might have picked up along the way.

More than anything, this has just been very annoying to me as I’ve encountered things that have come up and I wasn’t really sure what to make of some of those interactions or how to feel.

But annoyance has given way to disappointment.

As an example of some of these interactions, there’s a place in the community that I often go with our consumers during work. For the adults with developmental disabilities that I work with, playing Bingo here is often one of the highlights of their week. One day during “nickel Bingo,” the two guys I was supporting were running out of nickels, so we switched to using five pennies instead. Understand, if these guys can’t use their pennies, they can’t play, and they go home very unhappy. We were quickly informed by the older woman that collects the change that we could not play with pennies. Me being somewhat carnal at the time responded by clarifying that five pennies were indeed worth the same as one nickel, and she hesitantly allowed us to play on for today, but just for today. And for the rest of the afternoon, every time one of the other people playing Bingo collected our change when they won, we heard varying exclamations of how indecent it was to use pennies during nickel Bingo.

You’re probably thinking, “Really Chris? You were that annoyed by that incident that you would spend your precious time writing about it?”

Yes, and for the record, you’re wasting your precious time reading about it. But you can understand how dealing with things like this on a regular basis would become frustrating.

But perhaps more illustrative of what I’m trying to get at was a day a couple weeks later at a different place in the community where we were going to play Scrabble. The guys had done this several times before and absolutely loved getting to spend time with the other older ladies that played with them. THIS moment during the middle of the week, when they got to play Scrabble with these ladies, was the climax of their week.

Well we got there and found out that the ladies no longer wanted to play with them. They were free to play games by themselves in another room but “this was their only time to get out of the house,” so they didn’t want any “outsiders” around.

The guys completely dejected, we left the site trying to figure out what to say to make things better and how to lift their spirits after they had all become abundantly aware that they were “no longer wanted” in that place.

I decided I couldn’t leave without at least saying something and trying to stick up for them in some way, so I gathered my thoughts, took a deep breath, said a prayer or two and walked back in there.

“So, is this pretty much not going to happen anymore?”

(Yes. We want this time to ourselves, and they don’t really know how to play. But they can go in another room and play something by themselves.)

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful here, but that kind of defeats the purpose. They can sit in a room anywhere and play games by themselves. It’s just an unfortunate situation because they loved coming here, and it was the highlight of their week because they loved getting to spend time with you guys.”

(But it’s our only time out during the week.)

“And I understand that, but it’s their only time to do this too…(silence)…Alright, well thanks for your time. Have a good afternoon.”

I left feeling good about having the opportunity to advocate for the guys and kind of call out the women in a respectful way, but as is usually the case, there was one other thing I wished I had said.

And that’s this…

You’re wasting it.

It’s not just about you, your time, your friends, your game. You have an opportunity here to do something way more significant than just play Scrabble in your little club and you blew it. You could’ve set that all aside and invested in relationships with these guys and done something so much more important than your piecing words together for an hour or two. You have so much to offer this group of guys and you could’ve shared in the joy that they get from spending time with you, but you’re too caught up in your own little world and you’re completely missing the point.

You’re wasting it.

The pages of the Bible are plastered with examples of older generations investing in younger ones. Older women training younger women what it looks like to be good wives and raise a family. Older men raising up younger men in matters of faith, love and justice. And more generally, people investing in other people and passing on the things that they’ve learned from those before them.

I love it when I see older couples worshiping in the “hip” venue with the loud music alongside college students and twenty-somethings. I love hearing stories of retired men who refuse to sit on a sailboat in Florida and choose to lead and raise up younger men instead.

And it should go the other way. Young people worshiping with older people in the “traditional” churches and venues. I know you love your loud music and cool, new worship songs, but don’t put the presence of electric guitars before relationships with your elders and the opportunity to soak up wisdom from them.

So I’m no longer annoyed (at least not as much) and I’m more disappointed than anything. Disappointed that we as the Church would put meaningless things like electric guitars and Scrabble before developing relationships with each other and doing life together, because there’s so much to be gained and learned when we put those things aside and seek to love and know people who are different from us. -CK

comm U nity

I don’t think it’s possible to fully appreciate community until you’ve been without it for a season, have had the privilege of sharing it with a small group of people for many years, or both. I think we tend to think of community in terms of simply doing things with a large group of friends and acquaintances and as a result, we tend to settle for this kind of shallow community – if it can be called that – largely because our definition of community falls far short.

I’ve spent some time recently thinking about what exactly it was that led me to give my life to Christ almost six years ago at an October retreat. I had always said that it was the first time I had heard the Gospel presented clearly, and while that’s mostly true, there’s probably more to it than that.

Namely, it’s the first time I’d seen a Christian community I wanted to be a part of and thus probably the first time I gave the Gospel a chance.

Because let’s face it, when you’re an 18 year-old kid that’s never seen the truths of the Gospel lived out in community, the Good News just seems like an ancient tradition lacking any relevance, meaning, or power.

But all in the same weekend I understood the claims of Christ for the first time and I saw the life and kind of relationships that could only be possible through a relationship with God.

In that moment, did I completely understand that I was an adopted son of God? Did I know what the word “propitiation” meant? Or was I able to describe the Trinity?

In a word, no. (Still can’t explain the Trinity!)

But I knew that Jesus is God, that He died and was resurrected so that I might be forgiven and have a relationship with Him, and that my life was to be spent trying to glorify Him (this last part was especially mind-altering and life-changing for me).

And I saw the life of Jesus being lived out in my peers that weekend as we played football, people onstage sang, and we talked about life as men and as college students.

I recently sat around a table with a group of friends I had met that year and I can’t even begin to explain what a blessing it is to still have those people beside me now. People that have been around the world with me, have had fun with me, have been mad at me, and have made me into the person that I am today.

This has probably been happening for a long time, but lately I have noticed more and more how much the people God has placed in my life have been speaking encouragement and wisdom into my life and have affirmed the talents, gifts, and character traits that they’ve seen in me. During a season where I’ve had the chance to take a (rather large) step back from things and re-evaluate what direction my life and ministry is heading, people have gone out of their way to encourage me in the different ways they’ve seen God working in and through me.

Fairly recently, an author in the public eye made headlines when she declared that she was still a “follower of Christ” (as they like to be called) but that she was removing herself from the Church and the term “Christian.”

While I won’t get in to how ridiculous this is, let me assert that it’s also something else that most people are failing to consider…

Selfish.

The concept of the Church isn’t about “what I can get from the Church.” That’s an incredibly distorted way of looking at it.

When I was in college, I ran into a freshman who said he had gone to a certain Christian organization’s weekly meeting but that he hadn’t returned and wasn’t interested in finding any other ministry or church because “he ‘knew’ he was more mature” than everyone else there.

While his “maturity” is perhaps in question, he clearly had the wrong mindset about community.

What I’m trying to say is that we need to both receive and give community.

To isolate ourselves from community isn’t just harmful to us as individuals but it’s harmful to the community that you could be a part of.

That community needs your encouragement, your gifts, and your speaking into others’ lives words of affirmation and hope, because there’s a lot at stake.

For me as an 18 year-old kid, my eternal well-being was at stake. And as I continue in my walk as a Christian, my relationship with God, my ministry, and the talents and gifts I decide to pursue are still very much at stake. -CK

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

Melinda and Melinda

It seems probable that two lives lived in basically the same way with about the same trials and challenges could be perceived in two completely different ways - one as full of joy, happiness, and blessing and the other as painful, lonely and unfair. But I don't think we come to the end of our lives and just "end up" in one polar opposite or the other. Instead, every day is filled with simple choices that determine the perception of a life's outcome.

A couple weeks ago, I watched an older Will Ferrell movie that slipped under the radar, called Melinda and Melinda. It starts with four film writers sitting around a dinner table discussing how the same basic details of a story can be turned into a tragedy or a comedy. What follows are the "two" stories of Melinda, played out side-by-side, one a tragedy, the other a comedy.

While it wasn't where the movie ended up going, it made me think about how I look at the events that take place in my own life.

I've certainly gone through seasons of thinking that life sucks, God is unfair, and that I wasn't getting what I "deserved" - and that never ends up well. No one wants to be around a bitter person that's mad at the world, and things never change for the better when there's no hope and no expectation of change and blessing.

On the other hand, I've also gone through seasons where, still difficult, by God's grace I've managed to choose joy, hope, and the discipline of thankfulness. This is probably one of those seasons, and while life isn't maybe exactly what I'd hoped it would look like, I've been blessed to experience love, growth, and joy like never before in my life.

And it's certainly not fate or happenstance that I've ended up here, but a choice to wake up each day, expect to experience the Lord's mercy and grace, and to choose thanksgiving before complaining, joy before misery, and blessedness before bitterness.

In a recent article in Rolling Stone magazine, Stephen Colbert had some insightful things to say about suffering after the loss of his mother.

"Not to get too deep here, but the most valuable thing I can think of is to be grateful for suffering. That is a sublime feeling, and completely inexplicable and illogical, but no one doesn't suffer. So the degree to which you can be aware of your own humanity is the degree to which you can accept, with open eyes, your suffering. To be grateful for your suffering is to be grateful for your humanity, because what else are you going to do - say, 'No thanks?' It's there. 'Smile and accept,' said Mother Teresa. And she was talking to people who had it rough."

As you continue in a discipline of joy and gratitude, I think you will find that your "tongue-in-cheek" kind of thankfulness will turn into an unforced, real, and genuine kind of thankfulness that overflows in every situation and is extremely contagious.

And perhaps, no longer will you have to rack your brain trying to find the good in every situation, but you'll be able to trust in the Lord's goodness and find a joy and peace that surpasses all understanding.

Certainly, there is no greater or more difficult discipline than making the most out of suffering. But Scripture tells us that this discipline is of tremendous personal benefit.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

Training is hard, yet it's worth it. It's meant to inflict pain so that we can flourish in the midst of lesser trials. But it's also a choice. Suffering doesn't automatically equal training unless we choose to be trained by it.

So choose wisely, because no one wants to be that old, lonely, grumpy guy at the end of their lives. -CK

Unconditional Love and Bragging Rights

Ephesians 5:25 and what follows has long been one of my favorite parts of Scripture, even before I was married.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

It’s both a beautiful description of the sacrificial love between a husband and wife and a declaration that a sacrifice has already been made for us.

It’s a command for husbands to love and protect their wives as they would their own hands and feet while at the same time showing that Christ already does love us in that way – not because we have done anything to deserve it or earn it but simply because we are a part of him.

It’s a picture of wild, crazy, unconditional love described in human terms, but it also means that through our spouses and any relationship for that matter, we can experience God’s love and better understand the depth of how passionate He is about us.

Which means it’s time to brag about my wife!

For a month or two now I’ve been processing through and writing about what it means to be a child of God, and how my Father loves me regardless of what I can do or create. I am deeply loved and cherished because of who I am, and because I am his son.

Recently, I had waited a couple weeks to find out if I had earned something I had been competing for. By the time I found out, I was pretty laid back about it and content with whatever happened, but Amy was very nervous for me and was constantly checking my email to see if we had heard anything. The phone call came and I was rejected, but the look on her face was one of pride and complete love and adoration and without any hint of shame or disappointment in my inability to come out on top.

As I went to bed that night, I couldn’t have been more proud to be her husband or felt any more loved for who I was than in that moment. It quickly dawned on me that she has always loved me like that.

Coming home from basketball games, she’s never asked who won – she doesn’t really care about the final score. She doesn’t care if hundreds of people read my blog or if only she does – she just likes to read them. And she doesn’t particularly care if I’m playing music in front of 500 people or just in our living room for her – she just likes to hear me sing.

Even when I’m down about my inability to do this or that, consumed with not having a more “prestigious” job, or just flat out fail at something, I know that I am completely loved by her, not because of what I do or accomplish but because I’m her husband and she knows who I am.

And getting to experience that from her does two things.

It makes me fall even more in love with her and makes me want to serve her and cherish her like I never have before. And it helps me to experience God’s love and to know that it really is possible that He loves me deeply, simply because I’m his son.

Because if she’s capable of loving me like that, He certainly is too. -CK

Longing

There’s a feeling I get in my gut after I say goodbye to old friends that I don’t get to see very often. It’s similar to the feeling I get occasionally when my wife and I or my friend and I are trying to express what’s going on deep within our hearts but there’s some invisible disconnect that makes it seemingly impossible. Which is similar to the almost depressing feeling I get when nothing around me really seems to hold my interest or to completely satisfy my deepest desires.

It’s the feeling that something is missing, or at least, not as it’s supposed to be.

Whether it’s longing for a day when everyone I’ve ever loved will be reunited in one place to never leave again, looking forward to a time when mine and others’ social inadequacies will no longer prevent us from knowing each other fully and being fully known, or finding complete joy and satisfaction not in what I’m able to accomplish or the things I own but in relationship with others – in this moment, life is not as it should be – yet.

Call it a moment of depression, laziness, mourning, longing, or whatever else, but I think it’s something deep within my being that is sensing that either I’m not who I was created to be, the world is not as it’s supposed to be, or a combination of the two.

And it’s true. I haven’t yet fully realized who I’m supposed to be and whose I’m supposed to be. And at any given moment, I may be utterly failing at living in what God has declared to be true about me. That I am His son, that I am fully loved regardless of my skills or what I can do for Him, and that my deepest needs and desires are met in the person of Jesus Christ.

And the world is certainly not as it was created to be. It doesn’t take much more than a quick glimpse at the front page of a newspaper to figure that out.

Something is missing, or not as it’s supposed to be.

Yet that feeling of insufficiency or of yearning for something more is an opportunity to hope.

Hope that things will change. Hope that I will become who I was created to be. Hope that the earth will one day function as it’s supposed to.

Hope for Heaven.

As painful as those realizations of inadequacy, loneliness, or dissatisfaction may be, it gives us the opportunity to hope and long for Heaven. Fortunately, I think if we had any real sense of the glory and the riches of Heaven, the divide between Heaven and earth would appear exponentially greater and the pain of longing would be too much to bear.

Even though my mind can hardly fathom the majesty of Heaven and being face to face with my Savior and King, I will likely have sufficient opportunity to hope for Heaven and long for Him.

Here’s to a night of longing. -CK

My Jesus

Second re-posted blog and last one of the week. Be back in a week or so! -CK

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June 2006

How does YOUR view of Jesus affect your trust in Him?

As time has passed since Jesus hung on a cross to die for our sins nearly 2000 years ago, I think our view of Jesus has slowly been minimalized. When Jesus speaks of "an unbelieving generation" in the Gospels I immediately think of our current generation. Too many times here in South Carolina have I heard, "I think Jesus definitely lived, but I don't know...the miracles and stuff, it seems a little far fetched." If you asked most "Christians" these days, how many people would give a similar answer?

The problem with this is that if you think the miracles which Jesus performed are unlikely to have occurred, how much moreso are you doubting the death and the resurrection? Jesus couldn't turn water into wine or heal a blind man, but yes, he was resurrected from the dead?....The basis for your faith is completely blown away.

I use this only as an example. Most people reading this blog will probably not disagree with the Jesus portrayed in the Gospels of the New Testament, but how many other ways do we limit Jesus?

Here's a quote from Blaise Pascal:"God made man in his own image and man returned the compliment."Brennan Manning goes on to write in "The Signature of Jesus" that,"Through five decades I have seen Christians shaping Jesus in their own image - in each case a dreadfully small deity."

I admit to all of you that, yes, I believe that Jesus lived and did all the things the Gospels say he did, but at the same time, I don't always take Him at His word. By this I mean, sure I believe it when Jesus says that, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."But do I also believe Him and trust Him when He says not to worry about money or the approval of others? Painfully, the answer is a resounding "no".

I have a very hard time surrendering things to Jesus like my future. "I'll go wherever you want me to go Jesus and do whatever you want me to do...just as long as I don't have to raise support to go on a Stint or become a Campus Crusade staff member." I'm sure many of us could say things very similar to this, but why is it that we can't trust God to let us surrender these things to Him?

In my opinion,we don't completely trust God because we have a small view of Him, a small view of Jesus. I think maybe for some of us that view stems from what we saw of God in our own fathers, our own loved ones, our own friends, people that are human and ultimately have let us down at some point in our lives.

But no matter how many times that person has said "jump" and then failed to catch you,Jesus will ALWAYS be there to catch you. Trust the Lord and that what the Bible says is true and surrender to Him whatever it is you're holding on to TODAY!

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.-Isaiah 40:31

May God be increasing our faith and our view of who He is.

Waiting on God

I'm going to take a week or two break from posting new content due to the busyness of the end of the summer, and if I was Donald Miller I would just have my dog take over for a couple weeks, but since I don't have a dog, I came up with a different plan. With hopefully about the same frequency as before, I will be posting blogs that I wrote 2-3 years ago on a different website. They obviously come from a different season of life for me but will hopefully be life-giving nonetheless. Please forgive the formatting errors and enjoy. -CK

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Last time I briefly discussed how life is like a giant hill that requires us to slow down and take things a little bit at a time as opposed to making one giant leap.

And consequently…how many of us are like an eight year-old girl riding a bike.

I have no brilliant metaphor this time (or maybe you thought it was terrible, I guess you're relieved then) but instead will take a look in the Bible at what it means to wait on the Lord's timing.

First, let me just say that though the word "wait" seems very passive and lazy, let me suggest that waiting actually requires a very active faith that is in no way passive or lazy. I don't know about you, but I would much rather be DOING something in an effort to reach a certain goal as opposed to waiting.

I feel like I have more control that way…which is probably why God makes us wait so much.

But God wastes no time in the Bible showing us what it means to faithfully and obediently wait. Genesis 2:2 says, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."

As a college student I know that it sounds like a crazy idea to think that I could take one day each week and not do any schoolwork, and I'm sure being a man or woman with a career would be no different. But the Sabbath was meant to be more than just one of the Ten Commandments…

What God is trying to tell us is this:"The Earth doesn't stop revolving when you cease to work! I did create the Universe in six days, so if that's enough to earn your trust, I'm pretty sure things will be okay if you take a day off and be still before Me."

God shows the Israelites what it means to rely on Him instead of taking matters into their own hands during the exile from Egypt: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14)…how cool is that!

While there's no getting around the fact that waiting for something and trusting God for something can be one of the hardest things we have to do, it can also be one of the most rewarding. God IS sovereign, and choosing to wait on Him just gives Him another chance to prove His love and faithfulness to us.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)

I want to briefly (hopefully) go through two examples in the Old Testament of what it means to actively wait on the Lord's timing and to faithfully persevere even when things don't look like they're going to turn out right.

Anyone that's ever been in a long-distance relationship or waited for a long time before a certain relationship finally came to fruition should appreciate this first example. From perhaps one of my favorite sections of Scripture is the story of Jacob and Rachel in Genesis 29.

Earlier in the chapter Jacob meets Rachel as she's tending to her father's sheep and probably decides right then and there to marry her. As the story goes on, he agrees with Rachel's father Laban to work for him for SEVEN YEARS in exchange for his daughter.

Seven years…

"But they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her."

(Aww…you won't even find a line from a romantic comedy that good!)

As if that wasn't long enough, the deceptive Jacob gets a taste of his own medicine and when the seven years of labor is up, Laban tricks him into sleeping with Rachel's older sister Leah.

So Jacob agrees to work for Laban forseven more yearsin order to have Rachel!

7 + 7 =14 Years!!!

During a time when most women got married by the time they were 15 or 16, this is remarkable! Think about it…Jacob could not only have found another woman after he realized that this would take so long, but by the time his 14 years of labor had passed, he could have picked from a whole new generation of women!

God loved to bless Jacob and Jacob loved to be blessed, but this time it took a little longer.

But he perseveres and waits on God's timing because he loves her. Actively and faithfully waiting.

The second example is also from Genesis as we talk about Abraham and God's promise to him to be fruitful and multiply.

In chapter 15, while Abraham is still childless, God makes a covenant with him that one of his own sons will become his heir and that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

What's more, God TELLS HIM IN ADVANCE that his "descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated FOUR HUNDRED YEARS" before reaching the Promised Land.

Abraham has no children for his wife is barren, he's increasing in age, and God tells him that even if a miracle happens and he is able to produce offspring, his descendants will be enslaved for 400 years!…yet he believes and trusts Him.

It isn't until six chapters later and Abraham is 100 years old that his wife Sarah finally conceives their first child, Isaac.

What was Abraham thinking as he waited 100 years for even the possibility that God's promise to him would be carried out!? "What was I thinking!?…leaving behind everything that I once knew and for WHAT!? My wife is barren and I am old…how am I EVER going to conceive a child!? I thought that was YOU God!?…Your entire promise to me HINGES on me having a child!"

But Abraham waited and the rest is history. Actively and faithfully waiting.

You get the point. We could go through the story in Genesis of Joseph's dreams and imprisonment, we could talk about Paul's patience in affliction as he sat in jail, we could talk about Isaac and Rebekah also having to wait to conceive a child of their own…but you get the point.

But perhaps God's ultimate story of waiting on His timing was written a couple thousand years later…

Men and women left everything behind to follow Him.

His followers faced rejection and went two-by-two throughout the country to tell people about Him.

He proclaimed that He was the One they had been expecting.

He proclaimed that He alone was the way to eternal life.

…and then He died.

For THREE WHOLE DAYS, His disciples probably thought that everything that they had devoted the past few years of their lives to and everything that they had believed in and hoped in had quickly been destroyed in an instant.

…but three days later He is raised from the dead.

Those same disciples would go on to give their lives for the sake of the Gospel and do immeasurably more for the Kingdom of God than they probably could have ever imagined in their wildest dreams.

Three days earlier they thought that they had been defeated…but they just had to wait.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that entangles, andlet us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let usfix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,so thatyou will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Reclaiming My Heart for the World

Funny, isn't it, how you can watch the news on TV every once in awhile, read various news articles online to try to stay informed, and of course, religiously patrol the "News Feed" on Facebook, and yet in all reality, forget about the world and live as if you're enclosed in a little, personal bubble?

I never wanted to be that person that "forgot" about the rest of the world. After all, I spent a year as a missionary overseas - like I could actually forget about the world...

I never wanted to be the person that was so consumed with paying the bills, making a name for myself, what's on TV, and what things I would buy when I went to the store.

And yet how easily we get consumed with ourselves, or at least, how easily I can get consumed with myself - my problems, my frustrations, my bills, my money, my job and my time.

But let’s be honest, the society in which we live condones and even encourages this kind of mentality, and unless we were to completely shut ourselves out from the rest of the world – every store, TV show and commercial, magazine, movie, and so on- it would be impossible not to be influenced by these things.

A little over a year ago, I visited an art district in East Asia. On one street, there was a huge gallery dedicated to LeBron James, complete with bigger-than-life-size pictures of him, his shoes, a basketball court, and everything else LeBron James. Kind of fitting after James vainly decided a few weeks ago that his decision regarding where he would play basketball next year was worthy of an hour of the world’s time.

Just down the street was another, much smaller, less flashy gallery and store. I wrote this several hours later:

By far my most memorable part of the day was walking into what seemed to be a store that was selling postcards, notebooks, etc. When I rounded the corner there turned out to be a pretty small gallery with some different paintings hanging on the walls. But what caught my attention was a wall with just a few framed collections of photographs.

Contained in each of the 10 picture frames were six 3x5 photographs of impoverished families in a small village in East Asia along with a sentence or two on their story and who they were. I can't even begin to describe to you the living conditions that these pictures showed. I don't think I saw a single bed, bathroom, any kind of living area, etc - only very small, gutted, concrete structures with mud for a roof. The buildings they were living in looked more like abandoned cement cubicles than homes. Most children were orphans or living with one parent who had either a mental or physical disability and couldn't work, and whose other parent had left long ago. Many of the families were being 'supported' by the government, probably living on less than a dollar a day.

My heart just broke for these people and I turned away in the middle of the room with tears welling up in my eyes and just being frustrated because I know that you could fill up thousands of art galleries with similar pictures from all over the world, yet I don't know what I can practically do for them. I'm not rich and I can't help much by just going to them.

There HAS TO be an easier way to allow people to see these needs and then DO SOMETHING to meet them."

18 months removed from this experience and, I too, had almost completely forgotten about those pictures, the amazing people in that country and the students’ overall sense of hopelessness, the orphans I visited and their lonely beds, and the huge Kingdom vision that I had of the world.

That God so loved the world, that I’m commanded to make disciples of all nations, that I get the privilege of being involved in taking the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Grabbing hold of and keeping this kind of vision for the world is a flat out fight given all the different influences surrounding us and trying to penetrate our minds. But it’s a fight that has very real consequences and very real rewards. Much is at stake.

The world is so much more worthy of my thoughts, my prayers, my time, and my energy than my day-to-day worries, my PlayStation 3, or watching the Bachelorette on TV.

In all seriousness, it’s time I re-centered my desires and ambitions and set my mind on God’s love for the world and what I can do to be a part of that in some small way, that my God would be made famous in every nation. -CK

Poverty and the Gospel

pov·er·ty

   [pov-er-tee]

–noun

1. the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence.

2. deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities,etc.: poverty of the soil.

3. scantiness; insufficiency

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Even the dictionary contains a definition of poverty that is smothered in Western culture. In a country that is the richest society of people to ever walk the planet and where identity, power, and influence is wrapped up in work and wealth, it’s no wonder that the first thing that pops into our heads when we hear the word “poverty” is “having little or no money, goods, or means of support.”

Let me offer an alternate definition from the book When Helping Hurts, which I will refer to often:

“Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meaning.” (62)

More specifically:

“Poverty exists when one of more of the four foundational relationships are broken: a relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.” (57)

This means that poverty can show itself in us as Americans when our inability to set aside our work and invest in our families leads to divorce, strained relationships with our children, and identities that are wrapped up in what we’re able to accomplish and how much money we’re able to earn.

On the flip side, in many parts of the world, poverty can show itself when broken institutions, distorted worldviews and misconceptions about creation lead to a lack of goods or resources.

So while the visible manifestations of poverty might look completely different depending on which part of the world you’re standing in, at the root of both broken homes, failed marriages, and pride - and a lack of food, money, and resources – is one or more of these relationships being out of whack.

This is an important concept to grasp whether you’re a Christian or not. Are you ever going to give money to a charity, try to help a homeless person, build a home for someone, volunteer at a homeless shelter, or give Christmas presents to a family that can’t buy their own? Then it’s essential that you get this idea, or you could end up doing more harm than good.

I could spend several blogs elaborating on these two excerpts and the rest of this book, but that’s not what I want to get at right now. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out the blog of a friend of mine who spent several posts breaking this book down and what it means for his inner-city ministry. (See: http://nowisthedayof.blogspot.com)

There’s constant debate and criticism flying back and forth about the right approach to doing ministry in poverty-stricken areas, and even more generally, what ministry and evangelism should consist of regardless of location.

Good works versus preaching the Word…Building homes versus Bible studies…Providing food versus church leadership training.

Many popular Christian books that have come out lately have pushed the “social gospel” hard. And for good reason. We need to do good works, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, caring for orphans and widows, providing clean wells, and putting an end to HIV/AIDS, showing people the reality that the Kingdom is here and yet there is so much more to come.

But we can’t stop there, or we’ll only further peoples’ poverty. Here’s why:

If light of this new definition of poverty, if we’re to believe that poverty is really caused by these relationships being out of order, ministry and evangelism simply CAN’T be one or the other, but must be both good deeds and the preaching of the Word. This all seems logical so far, but here’s a true story from a talk by Dr. Brian Fikkert, a PhD from Yale in economics and co-author of When Helping Hurts, that helps to illustrate this point.

A Christian organization goes into a very poor farming community in Bolivia where they worship a mythical goddess that they believe will make their harvest plentiful. It is common practice there to buy llama fetuses to bury underneath the crops that they plant, as a sacrifice to their goddess.

The Christian organization wants the village’s income to increase, so they buy the community new high-yield seed. The harvest comes and it’s more plentiful than ever before. So what does the village do? They throw a HUGE party, distilling more alcohol than ever before due to their increased corn harvest, and proceed to worship their “farming goddess” for so richly blessing them with the most corn they’ve ever seen.

The organization had failed to pair their deeds with a proclamation of the Word, and thus, the help they were trying to provide actually led to deeper worship of an idol, drawing them further away from a right relationship with God, and setting them up for failure in the future when the high-yield seeds are gone and all that’s left are their superstitions and broken relationships.

In the same talk I mentioned earlier, Fikkert brings up the St. Francis of Assisi quote, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”

Fikkert acknowledges that it’s probable St. Francis never actually said this phrase, but his response is this:

“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words? It’s always necessary.”

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-23

Jesus is the King who holds everything together. In Him, through Him, and for Him, all things were created. And it is He that has the power to restore and redeem these broken relationships, institutions, governments, and manifestations of poverty. We can bring His acts of mercy and healing to people, and we can share His words and His Gospel story, but unless both are done in conjunction with one another, we fail to truly teach everything that He has commanded us, and we minimize and dilute his Kingdom and all that He came to do. –CK

*If I could put one book in the hands of every person I know, it might be this book, “When Helping Hurts.” Everyone that’s going to go on a short-term mission trip, give to a charity, do relief work, come across a homeless person, or travel abroad (hopefully this covers everyone) needs to read this book. I truly believe that while this book might not change how poverty is addressed and lead to substantial, visible change in our lifetime, it will change the lives of thousands of individuals that can combat the misconceptions and manifestations of poverty one person at a time. And that’s a step in the right direction.