“An ‘impersonal God’–well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads–better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap–best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband–that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall?…Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?”

Don’t you just love that image? Pulling at the other end…approaching at an infinite speed.

It seems very like God to remind us of this. Especially when we get lost in our rituals and habits, and you lose sight of the fact that there’s a real person on the other end of this relationship, and then He somehow taps on your shoulder or busts open your little bubble and you get that same jolt that you get during scary movies.

Maybe I’m just weird, but I hope some of you know what I’m talking about.

It is a crazy wonderful thing that God pursues. That He taps and whistles and pokes and yells, through a thousand different things to get our attention. Because we drift, forget, become numb and sleepy.

But the difficult thing about God being a real person happens to be the fact that, well, He’s a real person. Not a construct or a fetch-boy, but a real, wise and self-sufficient being. He can’t be pigeon-holed or bossed around. He can say “No” and not do things exactly like we want Him to. Just like other people.

If He was a robot, you could make Him yank the other end of the rope when you wanted Him to. (But you’ll be glad to hear that He’s not a robot.)

If you don’t believe me, do an experiment. Go up to a random stranger and instruct them to take off your smelly shoes and give you a ten-minute foot massage. See if they comply.

You’re back already? That didn’t take long…

So…that fact makes me really wary when I hear people talk about testing God. Specifically when people get really stressed, frustrated, or confused and they’re like “Okay, GOD–if you’re really out there then I need you to do _______ to prove to me that you’re really there.” It’s essentially drawing a box, giving God a time-frame, and then standing there to watch the box.

And I suppose that sometimes God goes along with it. I’ve heard stories.

But I’ve also heard stories of bitter and cynical people who believe God bailed on them because He didn’t show up in their box in their timeframe. Like a story I heard recently about a guy who was laid off from a ministry, and after praying and searching for a job for several years, he didn’t find one that he wanted. So he bailed on God and doesn’t want to talk about Him at all now, with anyone.

And that makes me cringe. Because if I’ve learned anything about God, it’s that He generally doesn’t fit into boxes.

So, please remember that the next time you are standing there, staring back and forth between your watch and a box in the sand, growing more bitter and jaded by the minute.

You just never know.

He may be doing jumping jacks behind you.

And we have never (except for a VERY brief stint) had services on Sunday mornings.

Can you believe that? (Just in case you don’t know, that is extremely rare.)

We’ve begged and pleaded with God to give us a space to meet on Sunday mornings. Because that’s when most people want to attend church services. Especially older people and families with children.

But for five years He said “Wait.” He certainly still blessed us in unimaginable ways. But with that seemingly very important thing, He said to wait.

So we did. And He still blessed us along the way.

And then yesterday, we finally had our first Sunday morning service (in addition to 4 other Sunday night services).

I’ll admit, none of us thought it would take five years to get that prayer answered.

But you know what we learned through it?

That God and His timing are worth waiting on.

That He’s good in the meantime.

That you don’t have to meet on Sunday mornings to be the church.

That sometimes you appreciate things more when you have to wait on them.

That God provides for us. Even with a bunch of young people and a ridiculously shoestring budget. He provides.

So. I bet there is probably something in your life that you are waiting for. Something you are praying and yearning for.

Maybe it’s a new job. One that you don’t hate.

Maybe it’s an acceptance letter from your dream school or a contract with a publisher.

Maybe it’s a husband or a wife.

Maybe it’s having a child.

Maybe it’s ______ , one of a thousand different things.

I have good news for you.

It’s not that if you just wait long enough, you’ll definitely get _______. Sorry. I could tell you that, but it’d be a lie. I don’t know if God will definitely give you what you’re waiting for.

The good news is that, in short, He is good and you get Him. A Father who gives good gifts to His children. And He grows and changes you along the way.

That’s actually better news than “You’ll definitely get _______.” Because He knows what’s best for you. You can trust Him. And He very well may give you _______ eventually.

But it’s okay if He doesn’t, because ______ is not a cure-all and it’s not the point and you still get Him. He is the real treasure and prize, so anything else is just icing on the cake.

He would have been good if we were a “Sunday night church” forever.

And He’ll be good if whatever you’re waiting for takes a really long time, or even never comes.

Because you’ll sit there without _______ and come to realize that you’re okay without it though you once thought you’d die if you didn’t get it. You’ll see that you have depth and relationship with your Father and you’ll be resolved that the immovable peace that He brings is better than a thousand _______’s.

So. The good news is:

If you have Him, you win either way.

Every Bush Is Burning by Brandon Clements is one of those books you start reading and think to yourself, “I really don’t like this guy,” (the main character) but you keep reading because you somehow understand exactly what he’s talking about.  And what Jack Bennett is talking about is his life; his work, his failing marriage, and his disgust with ‘Christianity.’

Jack is a thirty-something reporter who writes op-ed pieces.  He has the perfect life; house in the suburbs, beautiful and adoring wife, twin boys who are two years old… and a mistress.  But after he writes an article on how most of America’s Christians go to church on Sunday and look down their noses at the less-fortunate the rest of the week, his entire world changes.

He meets a homeless man named Yeshua, who tells him to confess his affair to his wife and do whatever it takes to win her back.  As Jack and Yeshua spend time together, Jack becomes more and more convinced that this man really is the Jesus of the Bible.

Jack shares the stories of his childhood; an absent father, a loving and hard-working mother, and the responisibility he feels about the sexual abuse his younger sister endured at the hands of an uncle.  The reader begins to believe that this is some supernatural relationship, just like Jack does. It’s not until the very end that the reader discovers why Jack is sharing his story with a complete stranger and realizes what the relationship between Yeshua and Jack truly is.

This is an enjoyable story, even though what the author is saying about the 21st-century American church is often painful to read.  But it’s painful in the way removing an infected sliver from a finger is painful.  It must be done if the infection is to be stopped so the finger can heal.  Although some may have trouble with a Jesus who drinks beer and listens to Nine-Inch Nails (this reader wasn’t particularly pleased with it), being able to move past these minor details is essential, especially in light of how the story concludes.  A look at the bigger picture is needed.

Each individual reader may recognize themselves in different passages of Every Bush Is Burning, but in order to make a real differnce in the lives of those we interact with every day, we need to do more than recognize our failings.  We must admit them and be willing to do the hard work that comes with being a Christian in a fallen world.

This is Brandon Clements’ debut novel, but hopefully it won’t be his last.

(Funny clarification: Yeshua didn’t actually listen to Nine Inch Nails in the book. I got a good laugh out of that.)

Thanks to Cindi for the encouragement and for posting this great review!

So it’s crazy to think about the way he actually met Jesus.

Have you ever seen the movie Saved, with Mandy Moore? If you have, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. She plays the role of a very cheesy, over the top, insincerely over-zealous Christian who is just honestly sad to watch. The funny thing is, her character reminds me a tad bit of myself in high school. (Don’t worry, I definitely wasn’t as crazy or weird. And I was much more sincere and actually loved people. And I had friends:)

But I was very zealous like her. I would stop anyone and talk to them about Jesus. I once led a stranger in the sinner’s prayer in the parking lot of a gas station. If I felt any kind of inclination at all to talk to a particular person, I would turn my car around, go out of my way, do anything. It didn’t matter. I’d rather interrupt my whole day than bear that guilty feeling of “I should have talked to them but I didn’t.”

Those of you who know me know that I am different now. I would lean more on the side of relational evangelism now–that you should ideally get to know people, serve them, and invest in relationship instead of just whopping them over the head with “Do you know Jesus?” And I kind of shake my head thinking about some of the things I used to do, like the guy in the parking lot. I didn’t even get his phone number! What was I thinking? I guess I was just like, “Alright, see you in heaven!” Yikes.

But when I hear Matt Chandler tell the story of how he came to faith, it makes me feel better. He grew up in a non-Christian home, then moved from San Fransisco to Texas in high school. And one day while getting dressed for football practice, the guy beside him literally says, “Hey, my name is Jeff, I need to tell you about Jesus…do you want to do that now or later?”

What? Mandy Moore led Matt Chandler to Jesus?

I’m sure Jeff was more sincere, and that he did build relationship over time. But still. That’s one of those things where I would step in to someone I knew and be like, “You probably shouldn’t do that…”

But God used that guy’s boldness, and now Matt is probably one of the greatest preachers of our time.

That just goes to show that it’s God who is doing the real work, through or sometimes in spite of our meek and wayward attempts.

And that is very freeing.

So, what about the guy from the parking lot? Maybe I just confused him–made him think that all he had to do was say a magic string of words to punch his ticket to heaven. I really hope not, but maybe that’s what happened. Or…maybe he really met Jesus that night. He might even be the next Matt Chandler for all we know.

Either way, it’s great to know that:

a) God loves that guy,

b) He has certainly pursued him in many other ways than me, and

c) He doesn’t need me to reach him. 

That’s very good news.

Because if Mandy Moore can be used to lead Matt Chandler to Jesus, what do we have to worry about?

(If you aren’t familiar with Matt, or even if you are and haven’t seen this, check out the video below titled “Jesus Wants The Rose.” It’s one of my favorites.)

The Black church has taken over the KKK, or at least a store selling its memorabilia in South Carolina.

A circuit court judge recently ruled that New Beginnings Baptist Church is the rightful property owner of the Redneck Shop, which operates as a so-called Klan museum, selling robes and t-shirts with racial slurs.

According to court documents, in 1997, ownership of the Laurens, South Carolina building in which the store exists was transferred to the Rev. David Kennedy and his church, by a Klansman fighting with others within the hate group. A clause in the deed, however, entitled John Howard, a former KKK grand dragon for the Carolinas, to operate his business in the building until he dies.

After years of trying to have the property inspected, Howard was sued by Kennedy, New Beginnings and others in 2008 in an effort to void the agreement and, on Dec. 9, 2011, a judge ruled in Kennedy and the church’s favor.

“It has been a long time coming,” Kennedy, who learned of the ruling this week, told the Associated Press. “We knew we had done everything right. … The court knows that we have suffered.”

Kennedy claims that because of the store, his congregation’s numbers have decreased as some of its 200 members became fearful of reprisals from Klan members. The congregants also found Nazi and Confederate symbols and dead animals left outside of the mobile home where the church now meets, though it is not known if Klansmen were responsible.

What a huge divine “Gotcha!” this is for some of the unbridled ignorance and stupidity of racism in my home state. I pray that their church members will overcome fear and set up shop in that building to preach Jesus’ gospel of grace that tears down walls of hostility.

Maybe some of those KKK people will meet Jesus there one day.

Simple.

You tell them a good story.

Jesus told parables.

Nathan told David a story about a stolen sheep that suddenly made him care very much about a poor man who was wronged.

Thai Life Insurance told a story about a deaf and mute father.

(Sidenote: Are commercials supposed to make you cry? They must do things differently in Thailand…)

Thanks to Michael Bailey for posting!

“Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So that it can make us happy, as you put it? Good God, we’d be just as happy if we had no books at all; books that make us happy we could, in a pinch, also write ourselves. What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than we love ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods, far from any human presence, like suicide. A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us. That is what I believe.”

 
—Franz Kafka, from a letter to Oskar Pollak dated January 27, 1904.

I can’t stop thinking about this quote.

What are books you’ve read that come to mind with this quote? Which ones have broken the frozen sea inside of you?

Following Jesus isn’t about “turning over a new leaf”. It’s about a whole new tree…a whole new us, by God’s grace. -Scotty Ward Smith

The word “new” is all over the Bible. It is a word that God seems to be particularly fond of. Here are just a few examples:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5.17

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. -Ezekiel 36.26

I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. -Revelation 2.17

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” -Revelation 21.5

At the turn of every new year, I find the discussions about the new year (goals, resolutions, etc.) very interesting. One of the most intriguing parts of it all for me is the cynicism that lies beneath much of it. The conversations that almost mock the idea that something will actually be new this year–that things will actually change. Many people are jaded and bitter about the very idea of change, because of experience after experience that leads us to believe that change is unattainable, or at least highly improbable.

Because we are realists (or pessimists). We know ourselves. We know other people. We know the world. And if not on the surface, many of us on a deeper level believe that the new year will bring nothing but more of the same crap. The same struggles, demons, weaknesses, failures, and hopelessness.

And yet, somehow, New Years still gets us–even the cynical ones. We put on a smile for a day or a couple. We make resolutions, even if the other side of our brain is reminding us that we’ve never kept them and probably won’t start this year.

There is something incredibly powerful about the idea of new–the concept of change. You see, I think God created seasons and cycles and re-starts for the express purpose of reminding us of the unalterable fact that because of Him

things

can

be

different.

We stand there in our jaded, just-trying-to-get-by-cynicism, broken against the reality of life as we know it. And God shows up in the form of a giant, sparkly ball that slowly falls amidst a crowd of a million people in Times Square, and a new number, never before seen, lights up to remind us that we’ve got another shot at this thing. A new leaf.

And then He whispers, “Forget about turning over a new leaf…how about a new tree?”

If you are local to Columbia and have a major life issue that you would love to be different this year, I’d love to cordially invite you to our Recovery ministry at Midtown. Our Spring cycle starts January 16th, and I think you’ll enjoy it. God is making lots of things new there.

Just one word.

You can remember that, right? You can keep up with that. You won’t have to bear the guilt of losing track of your resolutions in February, because you’ll just be getting started learning, growing, and changing in the one area that you chose to focus on the entire year.

Because, as my friend Jeff Goins reminded me the other day, we need to forget about resolutions and goals and instead focus on new resolve and habits–because those are the things that actually accomplish resolutions. They are what give goals their feet. That really resonated with me because I’m not a very goal-oriented person.

I like the idea of focusing on one word for an entire year. And I’m doing it this year.

I’ve just decided that my one word for 2012 is going to be: pray. I know that might sound anti-climactic, seeing that I’m a pastor and all, and I should already have this praying thing down.

But I don’t. I’ve learned that in the past few weeks while reading through the book A Praying Life by Paul Miller. It has been kicking my rear all over the place, and I have a feeling I will be flipping back through it the entire year. Because I have a long way to go in this super simple, super mysterious and difficult discipline.

Pray.

Today, and for 364 tomorrows.

I’m looking forward to it.

So, do you want to consider joining? If so, I’d love to hear what your one word is. You can comment below and tell me, or email me if you’d rather not comment. You can also share it on Twitter with the hashtag #OneWord365. This kind of thing is way more fun to do in community, after all.

And of course, Happy New Year!

Also, Merry Christmas!

And lastly, this:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Til He appeared and the soul felt it’s worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.