To All the Rahabs in the World

I’ve blogged about Rahab before. Maybe because she’s got such a beautiful story. Maybe because I can relate to her brokenness so well. Or maybe it’s because it shows God at his redemptive best.

Rahab was a prostitute who hid the Israelite spies and lied about their whereabouts to the local police. She led them to safety on the promise that they take care of her family when they come to invade the city. Note: she didn’t ask for herself, just her family.

Rahab’s past is synonymous with shame. She had seen her life spiral downward into something she could never have imagined as a little girl. Anyone else in her position could have turned hard and cold and not even let those foreign spies in.

But there was something about them that got her attention. Something about those stories of their god who had led them through the desert and defeated their enemies. All her own gods had failed her. Maybe there was something different about this Yahweh.

When people look at people like her, all they see is something broken. Something to discard, to throw away. God sees the perfect piece that will fit into his master plan of redemption. He sees the mother of Boaz, the father of Jesse, the father of King David, out of whose line came Jesus.

I love the saying that broken pieces make the best stained glass windows. It’s true. The best testimonies come from the worst moment of your life when you saw that God could stoop low enough to find you in your filth and raise you up. That he could save anyone, even you.

So to all the Rahabs in the world, just remember this. You have a place in God’s story. You have a place in God’s heart. You are not a dirty whore. You are a beloved daughter, a beloved son, a beloved child of God.

Your Abba is indeed very fond of you.

 

That Ol’ Emmaus Road

 

In the story in Luke 24 about the two disciples walking down the Emmaus road, a question probably comes to mind. How could they have not recognized Jesus walking beside them, conversing with them, the whole entire time? I mean, wasn’t he the focus of their lives for three years? How could they have been so blind?

But then I think I understand. Sometimes deep grief and pain can keep you from really seeing what and who is around you. Sometimes, you just get too wrapped up in your own problems and anxieties to really pay attention to where you are.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Maybe you feel alone and abandoned as you walk your road. You may not realize it, but Jesus is silently walking beside you.

Maybe you feel like you need to clean up your act and get your life together so you can be “good enough” to meet Jesus. You may not be aware of it, but Jesus is already where you are, waiting on you to recognize him, drop your pretenses, and come running into his arms.

It’s interesting to me that the moment those two disciples recognized Jesus was in a moment of worship. They broke bread, like they had done earlier in the week with Jesus, and suddenly their eyes were opened. True worship does that. It helps us to find Jesus and understand that he was already with us all the time.  After all, he wasn’t the one lost and needing to be found. We were.

So maybe all you need to do is cling to the promise Jesus gave that he would never leave us nor forsake us. Maybe you need to reach out your hands in faith to find his own reaching toward you. No matter where you are or what you’ve done, no matter how badly you’ve messed up, Jesus is always ready to receive you again. He’s never stopped loving you or pursuing your heart.

I think that qualifies as the best news ever.

Storms

This is like one of those albums you buy where there’s a disclaimer that reads something like “all songs previously released. In other words, I’m not saying anything new.
I heard recently that there are three kinds of people: those in a storm, those coming out of a storm, and those fixin’ to get ready (as we say in the South) to head into a storm.
No one is exempt. Storms come to the just and the unjust, to the houses built on solid foundations as well as those built on sand.
What matters in a storm is being ready, because when the time comes, you won’t have time to get ready. You’ll have to be ready.
What does being ready look like?
I think it means you have Jesus in your boat.
I’m pretty sure when my storm comes I’ll be freaking out like the disciples did and telling Jesus to wake up so we can die together.
But Jesus has a way of speaking peace over the storms. And even when he doesn’t calm the storm, he calms his child in the storm.
I’d like to take credit for all that, but it’s not original to me. I’ve heard or read it all before. But these blogs are often reminders for me as much as they are for you.
So I can take credit for about two percent of this blog. It’s a good thing I’m not having to use footnotes.
Just remember he who is in you is greater than whatever’s out there, including storms.

Hindsight Really is 20/20

I do this every single year. I look at my NCAA tournament bracket as it is in the process of imploding and wonder how I could have made some of the picks I did. I mean, Montana? Really?

At this point, I’m rooting for all the underdogs and scrapping any dreams of winning big cash with my brackets. If I’m going down, I want all the other brackets busted, too. I have no basketball pride.

It’s so easy to look back at the choices I’ve made in other areas of my life and wonder what I was thinking. I know you look back and cringe at some of the monumentally dumb decisions you’ve made.

But look at it this way. I may regret some of my choices, but not where they’ve led me, because I know God is better than anyone at bringing good out of a bad situation. Just ask Joseph (either one). Or David. Or practically anyone from the Bible.

Honestly, the only way not to fail spectacularly is not to play. And that is the worst failure of all. Failing is inevitable, but failure doesn’t have to be. You can learn from your mistakes. More importantly, you can see what God does with those mistakes, bringing you into places you might not ever have gone and to people you might not have otherwise met.

You will know better than anyone else what to say to someone because you’ve been in that same place. You can say, “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.”

I love what a pastor said. I’ve said it before, but it can’t be said enough. What you thought was your worst moment, your worst decision ever, what you swore you’d never tell anybody ever, God turns into the very first line of your testimony. Because your mistake no longer defines you. God does. The way he redeemed your failings does.

As for my bracket, I’ll fill one out again next year, hopefully a little wiser about who to pick and who NOT to pick. Or maybe I’ll just flip a coin and go with that.

 

Even the Lone Ranger Had Tonto, Right?

I hate watching nature shows that come on Discovery or the Animal Planet. There. It’s out there. I admit it for the whole blogging world to know.

The part I hate is when a cheetah or a lion separates a gazelle from the herd and. . . well, I can’t bring myself to describe it.

You feel bad for the gazelle, starting off the day with such high hopes and ending up on someone else’s dinner menu. Not the best way to go.

But I think about how so many believers do the very same thing. We allow ourselves to get cut off from fellow Christians, to get isolated with no one to keep us accountable or hold us in check. We have no one to offer empathy and encouragement. Then we fall.

The trick of the enemy is to get us alone. He knows that whenever two or more are gathered together he has no chance, but when he gets one of them alone, his odds go up dramatically.

You know the drill, right? Either you get cocky and think you don’t need anyone else or you get embarrassed at how low you’ve sunk and can’t bear to let anyone see you like this. Or maybe you think no one really cares so why bother?

I’ve believed all of these lies at least once at some point and I bet you have, too, because sometimes the lies just feel easier to accept. The truth is hard when it goes against what we feel to be true.

You and I both need someone in our corner to encourage and stir us on. We also need that one person who has permission to ask the hard questions and steer us back when we’ve drifted off course.

No man is an island, as the saying goes. There is no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity (at least not any that I’ve found in the Bible). And didn’t even the Lone Ranger at least have Tonto (not to mention his trusty horse)?

I Read Dead People

One day, I will make that into a t-shirt and feel all clever about it, even though the idea has probably already been taken.

Don’t get me wrong. I love reading the newest books by new authors. I look forward to new books by folks like Max Lucado, Jan Karon, and Francis Chan, among others.

But sometimes it’s good to read something by someone who’s no longer living. And by that I don’t mean recently deceased.

I’m talking about people like C S Lewis or G K Chesterton. People like Jane Austen or Bram Stoker. Or if you really want to get daring, go back even further and read the works of William Shakespeare or St Augustine.

It’s good to step outside of the Western 21st-century mindset to gain a fresh perspective. Especially when it comes to faith.

I’m currently reading G K Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a deeper read. This is the guy who greatly influenced C S Lewis and whose book The Everlasting Man was instrumental in Lewis coming to faith. As if you needed extra incentive.

In the past year, I’ve read Anna Karenina by Tolstoy and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Both are newer translations of the old classics that really make the text come alive in a new way and the characters seem more alive and real.

I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the one book that I read by an author who is still alive. In fact. I can actually get in touch with him to ask him what he meant on certain parts and why certain people acted the way they did.

Spoiler alert: it’s the Bible. All the other books I’ve read are great, but this one is the only one that’s living and active. It’s the only book that’s God-breathed. It’s the only book where I can figure out the craziness that is my life and make it work.

I suggest you try it sometimes.

Lost and Found 2: The Non-Sequel

I call it Lost and Found 2, not because it has anything to do with the my previous blog called Lost and Found, but because I couldn’t very well have two blogs with the same name, could I? And on a random note, I just finished watching the movie Brave, so I’m hearing a Scottish accent in my head as I’m typing all this.

When I volunteered at the Youth Evangelism Conference, I and all the other volunteers stayed at the downtown Doubletree hotel, courtesy of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. It was quite lovely. But somehow in my hurry to get dressed the next morning, I left one of my favorite t-shirts on the bathroom floor.

I didn’t catch the oversight until I got home. I was very tempted to give the shirt up as lost. I mean after all, it’s only a t-shirt, right? But I really liked this t-shirt. So I called the hotel and got transferred to the lost and found department. Or technically, to the answering machine of the lost and found department. Twice.

Any normal, non-OCD person might have given up by this point. But as I have mentioned many times before in many various settings, I am not a normal person. The OCD part is debatable.

I was going to be in downtown Nashville in the middle of a very wintery day today anyway for some other non-exciting event. So I thought, “Why not? What will it hurt to drop by the hotel and ask in person?”

It turns out the third time’s a charm. They did have my t-shirt, which I am now wearing, and everybody lived happily ever after. Except for those who had to go out into the bitterly cold weather.

The moral of this tale is to not give up, even when what you’re looking for seems hopelessly lost. Like maybe a lost coin. Or a missing sheep. Or maybe even a prodigal son. As someone said before, Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Don’t give up. By the way. that someone just so happens to be Jesus, so I’d do what he says.

Remember that you were once lost, too, and Jesus found you. He didn’t give up on you, and even though you might not have thought yourself worth the time and effort, he did. He didn’t (and won’t) give until he’s found you and rescued you and brought you all the way home.

That t-shirt that I went to all the trouble to find? It’s an Elvis Presley t-shirt from Goodwill. And yeah, it was completely worth the effort.

For When You Feel Like Giving Up

Maybe you’ve felt like giving up lately. Maybe you’ve been so discouraged and disillusioned that the prospect of another day sounds daunting and the idea of giving up sounds appealing. Instead of going out there and fighting, it would be so much easier to stay home and pop bon-bons while watching daytime TV.

Maybe you feel like things will never get better, that the way things are now is the best they will ever get. Maybe your faith is at a low ebb and your motivation is slipping. It seems like nothing you do makes anything better, so why try? Even prayer seems mechanical rather than heartfelt and you feel like the biggest phony when you pray.

Keep praying. Even if it’s nothing more than reciting the Lord’s Prayer or repeating a simple phrase like “Abba Father” over and over, keep praying. Keep getting out of bed and getting out there and believing in better days.

God has a way of putting the right people into your life at just the right moment. God has a way of speaking comfort and encouragement from his Word or from random conversations with friends.

It’s easy to give up, but it’s harder to live with the regret of what might have been had you kept on trying. The Bible speaks about how trying circumstances and challenges build endurance, which builds character, which leads to a hope that doesn’t disappoint. That’s from what I like to call the GJV version of the Bible.

My prayer for you is that you keep putting one foot in front of the other and as you do, you find the next step a little easier than the last. My prayer is that you find unexpected blessing and encouragement when you need it most. My prayer is that you will take what you learn in these dark times and share it with someone else who is going through the same thing.

Don’t give up. God is faithful and he will get you through it.

Sanctuary

I love old churches.

There’s one I particularly love in downtown Franklin. It’s an old Espiscopal church that dates back prior to the Civil War, and every time I step inside I feel like I’ve been transported to a vanished age. One where life was a lot less fast-paced and complicated.

A sanctuary is a place of safety and peace. It’s also a place where God comes and takes up residence.

The Apostle Paul said that believers are the temple of God. That means that you and I are the place where God dwells, where people come to meet God and to find peace.

I love that.

In a world filled with violence and unrest, people are desperately searching for calm. Where there’s so much upheaval and turmoil and chaos, people are looking for rest.

We as believers should be that place of calm and rest. People should see our lives and be drawn to our light. They should see God in us and the difference he makes in the way we respond to the storms and turmoil in our own lives.

That means that when those storms come, we know that God isn’t vaguely out there somewhere beyond the clouds. He’s not trapped in a building with a steeple or locked away behind  ornate church doors. He’s in us, with us, and for us.

We can know the peace of having the same Jesus who calmed the storms with a word of his mouth living in us. That same Jesus that overcame death and hell.

I’m thankful for sanctuary. I’m thankful that God has come to make his home in me and in all those who cling to Jesus as Lord and Savior. I know that means that I should be different than those around me, so they will be drawn to the God inside.

Lord, help me to love others as much as you loved me, and to show them the way to You the way you once showed me.

Amen.

 

 

Worship Music Perspectives from a Non-Worship Leader

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some worship music. Especially a lot of the new songs that have emerged in the last five or so years. I can’t get enough worship music from Passion, Hillsong, Kari Jobe, All Sons and Daughters, and so many other incredible artists who have brought renewed integrity, passion and artistry into worship music more than ever before.

But sometimes I wonder if some of the songs aren’t too me-focused. As in “I’m gonna lift my hands” or “I’m worshiping with all I’ve got” or “My love for you, Jesus, will never stop.” In other words, it’s all about how God makes me feel and how I’m going to respond.

My issue isn’t primarily a theological one. It’s just that I know me too well. I know that some days my faith is vibrant and alive and I can sing songs like these with all my heart and really mean it.

But there are days I’d be much more reluctant to sing these lines. I’ve gone through whole days without picking up a Bible or praying even once. I’ve spent days barely even giving God a thought. My faith has been virtually non-existent at times.

I think lately the worship songs that resonate most with me are the ones focused on what God has done for me. Better yet, the songs that are focused just on God. Sometimes, I need to know that my God is an awesome God. I need to know that my God is mighty to save. I need to know that my God is stronger than any other.

The point is that God is flawlessly faithful. He really is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I’ll continue to have my ups and downs, days when I’m on fire and days when I’m ice cold in my faith. God will not. He can’t ever be anything but 100% loving, 100% faithful, 100% mighty to save, and 100% for me.

That’s what I want to sing about. Because most days that’s what I need to hear.