Sometimes I wake up in the morning thinking people owe me something.
Paul tells the Thessalonians that "with the help of our God we dared to tell you His gospel in spite of strong opposition." The "strong opposition" that he faced was being roughed up a bit and thrown in jail in Philippi. He then goes on to mention that his motives were pure and he wasn't trying to trick anyone, but he doesn't really care what they think of him. Verse 6 says: "We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else." He cared little about their gratitude or praise. He believed he was entrusted to spread the Gospel and man's approval or gratitude was none of his concern. His attitude comes off as somewhat flippant, unless you think about "why" he did what he did. Why he was spreading the Gospel in Thessalonica. Why?: because his desire to please God far outweighed his desire for the approval of man. He deeply desired to demonstrate his own love for Jesus by telling people about Him. If you gave him praise or blame, it made no difference.
I catch myself wanting the gratitude of others. My students at school, they need to know what I have done for them, that I'm doing them a favor, or I'm cutting them a break. Serenity, did you notice that I cleaned the entire kitchen and picked up the house? My desire is to gain some sort of approval by the gratitude of men (and women).
If my desire is to serve people so that I can then gain some sort of gratitude in return, I will be wasting my time. As Oswald Chambers writes: "If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men."
When I am searching for gratitude in my servant-hood - there is not a more empty feeling, because many times, it just won't come. We will look for our identity, our reflection in other men, and we won't find it, or at least we won't find what we want to see. However, when I have Christ and his love for me as the reason for my service there is no greater joy, and that is when we begin to reflect Christ. Service is not toil and labor; it is freedom, and joy. I can honestly say that I have had more fun under the Burnside Bridge than just about anywhere else in Portland, and the entire time, in "service" to those who owe me nothing.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
THE END OF A SEASON
I won't miss teaching. The bureaucracy, the in-services, the literacy trainings - won't miss them. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of good days teaching, and most of the time I don't mind getting out of bed and going to work. For the first time in 7 years I shared my testimony to each of my classes - I mean no holds barred testimony. I shared the gospel and told a bunch of public high school kids what God has done in my life, how he has helped me recover from alcohol and drug abuse, from sexual sin, and from other areas I have struggled in and given me a new heart. How I still struggle to be who He has called me to, but one thing I know for sure is that He loves me and that is who I am, the son of the supreme Abba, my Father. I have had a lot of conversations with students since September, and not one phone call from a parent. I connected with one of my student's parents at a parent-teacher conference in October and they are now dear friends and prayer warriors for us.
It's kinda funny, this year, I feel that I have finally been obedient to God when he has asked me to step out in faith and share with students. His Spirit has been with me at school convicting me and shaping me to be a better representation of Christ to the people I'm around. This is my last year, and I finally feel like I am doing what He has asked me to - I feel like I'm figuring it out, and now I'm leaving. Isn't that how God works, using the time in one place to shape you for the next.
One thing I will miss however is coaching. I have been the head wrestling coach for 5 years at Woodburn High School. When I took the program over in 2003 we had a total of 17 kids in the entire program. We hadn't had a state placer since 1999, and we were last in the Pac9 conference. It has been tough, but we have gotten better. In 2003 we placed 2, with one making the state finals and losing a close match 4-3. In 5 years I have had 10 placers, and placed as high as 12th in the state. We have gradually improved in our league, going from last, to this year placing 5th. We were one match away from winning the Mid Willamette League dual meet title. We went 15-4 in dual meets this season, the best WHS has done since 1990. We finished this season with 42 kids on the team. Not bad in 5 years.
I have realized though that it will never end. The program could improve to the point where we are winning state titles and I would never be satisfied. I would always want to win another, back-to-back, three in a row, and on and on. He has reminded me what is important. Even though I am able to speak into the lives of these young men, He has something else for me, the season is changing, and I am accepting that. The Holy Spirit has also worked in another way - reminding me that God is in control. Win or lose, God is in control, and I am not defined by being a winner or a loser, I am defined by being the son of the supreme Abba Father.
I will miss it. Wrestling is one of the most rewarding sports to coach. You can tell an athlete to do something standing 5 feet away from him, he does it, and all the sudden his opponent is on his back and the match is over. Instant gratification. To tell you the truth, I will miss the early mornings, the 7am weigh-ins. I'm pretty sure my wrestlers won't miss the Bulldog drills, or the 4-lines, but I will. I know it is a cliche, but is literally true in wrestling: the blood, sweat and tears will be missed too. We should be on the East Coast next February and I have already told Tim that we will need to stop in and see the Georgia state wrestling tournament.
It's kinda funny, this year, I feel that I have finally been obedient to God when he has asked me to step out in faith and share with students. His Spirit has been with me at school convicting me and shaping me to be a better representation of Christ to the people I'm around. This is my last year, and I finally feel like I am doing what He has asked me to - I feel like I'm figuring it out, and now I'm leaving. Isn't that how God works, using the time in one place to shape you for the next.
One thing I will miss however is coaching. I have been the head wrestling coach for 5 years at Woodburn High School. When I took the program over in 2003 we had a total of 17 kids in the entire program. We hadn't had a state placer since 1999, and we were last in the Pac9 conference. It has been tough, but we have gotten better. In 2003 we placed 2, with one making the state finals and losing a close match 4-3. In 5 years I have had 10 placers, and placed as high as 12th in the state. We have gradually improved in our league, going from last, to this year placing 5th. We were one match away from winning the Mid Willamette League dual meet title. We went 15-4 in dual meets this season, the best WHS has done since 1990. We finished this season with 42 kids on the team. Not bad in 5 years.I have realized though that it will never end. The program could improve to the point where we are winning state titles and I would never be satisfied. I would always want to win another, back-to-back, three in a row, and on and on. He has reminded me what is important. Even though I am able to speak into the lives of these young men, He has something else for me, the season is changing, and I am accepting that. The Holy Spirit has also worked in another way - reminding me that God is in control. Win or lose, God is in control, and I am not defined by being a winner or a loser, I am defined by being the son of the supreme Abba Father.
I will miss it. Wrestling is one of the most rewarding sports to coach. You can tell an athlete to do something standing 5 feet away from him, he does it, and all the sudden his opponent is on his back and the match is over. Instant gratification. To tell you the truth, I will miss the early mornings, the 7am weigh-ins. I'm pretty sure my wrestlers won't miss the Bulldog drills, or the 4-lines, but I will. I know it is a cliche, but is literally true in wrestling: the blood, sweat and tears will be missed too. We should be on the East Coast next February and I have already told Tim that we will need to stop in and see the Georgia state wrestling tournament.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Health and Wealth
I'm realizing that one of the quotes that has impacted me the most from Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution, was one of his chapter titles: When Comfort Becomes Uncomfortable. When you read the statistics from "Miniature Earth," or hear the stories from local doctors working in Niger, when you see with your own eyes the material poverty on the streets of America, and then compare that to the excessive consumption you live in, the excessive comfort you possess: comfort becomes uncomfortable.
Is this the life God has called His children too? The life of Joel Osteen? I agree with Mr. Osteen in one area: God wants good things for us. But treating God like a genie in a bottle who is going to answer your prayers and give you material wealth is faulty and misleading theology. True, God has blessed many of His children with material wealth. The apostle Paul writes that he has learned to be content with much and with little, so you can make the assumption that Paul, at some point in his Christian walk, lived in abundance. He blessed King David with material wealth, eventually Job is given "twice as much as he had before," and the list of God's blessings and abundance goes on and on. Wealth is not wrong. God did not condemn the rich young ruler because of his wealth, he condemned him because his wealth had become his god. And, as I mentioned, God wants good things for us, maybe even riches. But we live in a country that is so caught up in wealth and possessions, buying and consuming, that our perspective is skewed. We are constantly barraged with material comfort and consumerism that developing a healthy and Godly perspective on wealth is nearly impossible. Then we have the health and wealth theology that comes along and gives an over-consumptive society an excuse to continue to ignore the death, poverty and injustice throughout the world.
Many of you know that I teach high school social studies. One of the topics that I teach each year to my history classes is imperialism in Africa in the late 19th century. One of the justifications of imperialism (the domination of a weaker nation either politically, socially, militarily or economically) was social Darwinism. Social Darwinism was the belief that Europeans had a duty before God to "civilize" the people of foreign lands by teaching them new and “better” ways, and without this "help," the inferiority of that people group would ensure it's demise and eventual extinction. More importantly it gave developed nations the justification to continue the political, social and economic injustice.
If I could make the connection, I believe the health and wealth theology does something very similar: It allows Americans to believe that those struggling in the vicious cycle of poverty are somehow bringing it on themselves (much like Job’s friends thought about Job); while the prosperous in the United States today are somehow favored by God – and have nice shiny smiles to show for it!
This is flat out unbiblical.
This past weekend I finally listened to the lyrics of a song I had rocked out to in college, and the words fit right with my thoughts today. The song is titled “Health and Wealth” and is by the O.C. Supertones (yes I was a Ska fan – and still am!).
HEALTH AND WEALTH
by the O.C. Supertones
Poor men bound in persecution,
God's their portion everyday.
But we don't know anybody
who lives that way.
There the church grows stronger,
under politics and chains and whips.
They can't explain how they
slipped right through their grip.
in the politics of Mao Tse-Tung.
I think they got it right,
so maybe we got it wrong.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
Health and wealth, indulge ourselves,
a big fat belly underneath our belts.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
We'll never understand
the Christ they've felt,
if we keep on chasing
health and wealth.
Here we sit so comfy, rich.
use, me and you, the USA...
so far away from C-h-i-n-a.
We think they need freedom.
We're the ones in prison.
We don't have the time
to change the world.
It doesn't take long to figure out,
where all our money goes.
We're the poorest billionaires
Jesus knows.
And we ask God to refine us,
and pray that we would be freed,
from all our comfortable gods,
our straining and striving and
chasing the wind.
Is this the life God has called His children too? The life of Joel Osteen? I agree with Mr. Osteen in one area: God wants good things for us. But treating God like a genie in a bottle who is going to answer your prayers and give you material wealth is faulty and misleading theology. True, God has blessed many of His children with material wealth. The apostle Paul writes that he has learned to be content with much and with little, so you can make the assumption that Paul, at some point in his Christian walk, lived in abundance. He blessed King David with material wealth, eventually Job is given "twice as much as he had before," and the list of God's blessings and abundance goes on and on. Wealth is not wrong. God did not condemn the rich young ruler because of his wealth, he condemned him because his wealth had become his god. And, as I mentioned, God wants good things for us, maybe even riches. But we live in a country that is so caught up in wealth and possessions, buying and consuming, that our perspective is skewed. We are constantly barraged with material comfort and consumerism that developing a healthy and Godly perspective on wealth is nearly impossible. Then we have the health and wealth theology that comes along and gives an over-consumptive society an excuse to continue to ignore the death, poverty and injustice throughout the world.
Many of you know that I teach high school social studies. One of the topics that I teach each year to my history classes is imperialism in Africa in the late 19th century. One of the justifications of imperialism (the domination of a weaker nation either politically, socially, militarily or economically) was social Darwinism. Social Darwinism was the belief that Europeans had a duty before God to "civilize" the people of foreign lands by teaching them new and “better” ways, and without this "help," the inferiority of that people group would ensure it's demise and eventual extinction. More importantly it gave developed nations the justification to continue the political, social and economic injustice.
If I could make the connection, I believe the health and wealth theology does something very similar: It allows Americans to believe that those struggling in the vicious cycle of poverty are somehow bringing it on themselves (much like Job’s friends thought about Job); while the prosperous in the United States today are somehow favored by God – and have nice shiny smiles to show for it!
This is flat out unbiblical.
This past weekend I finally listened to the lyrics of a song I had rocked out to in college, and the words fit right with my thoughts today. The song is titled “Health and Wealth” and is by the O.C. Supertones (yes I was a Ska fan – and still am!).
HEALTH AND WEALTH
by the O.C. Supertones
Poor men bound in persecution,
God's their portion everyday.
But we don't know anybody
who lives that way.
There the church grows stronger,
under politics and chains and whips.
They can't explain how they
slipped right through their grip.
in the politics of Mao Tse-Tung.
I think they got it right,
so maybe we got it wrong.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
Health and wealth, indulge ourselves,
a big fat belly underneath our belts.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
We'll never understand
the Christ they've felt,
if we keep on chasing
health and wealth.
Here we sit so comfy, rich.
use, me and you, the USA...
so far away from C-h-i-n-a.
We think they need freedom.
We're the ones in prison.
We don't have the time
to change the world.
It doesn't take long to figure out,
where all our money goes.
We're the poorest billionaires
Jesus knows.
And we ask God to refine us,
and pray that we would be freed,
from all our comfortable gods,
our straining and striving and
chasing the wind.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
P-Town Thru KC
Leaning on Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps," we set an estimated departure time for June 16th, 2008. We will be first heading to Boise, Idaho for a few weeks, and on July 1st begin the journey north to Kelowna, BC for the wedding of our friend Bahati on July 12th. On to Calgary, Alberta for 2 weeks, then Denver, Co. in late July and early August. We will then head east to Kansas City, Mo. in mid August. We will continue east from there, but this is the extent we are "planning."
What exactly will we be doing? Listening. Serving. Loving. Following God. The Lord is making it clear that we need to be open to anything. We plan to connect with ministry organizations, churches and other groups in Boise, Calgary, Denver, Kansas City and in between, but mainly we just want to show people that God loves them by demonstrating the love He has overflowed on to us.
I know, I know, this is way too vague for most of you. I would love for it to be more concrete too, but that usually isn't the way God operates. I envision us volunteering with organizations that serve the poor and marginalized. I see us working on our own to reach out to the homeless who live in the areas we come across. However, our prayer is to live like the early apostles: to spread the "good news." What exactly does that mean? Nearly every time Jesus or the disciples mention "spreading the good news," they also add "to the poor."
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners."
Isaiah 61:1
Many on the streets of America are tired of "hearing" about Jesus, they want to see Him move. We plan to "do" what He has anointed us to - spread the good news to the poor - what that is exactly going to look like only God knows.
What exactly will we be doing? Listening. Serving. Loving. Following God. The Lord is making it clear that we need to be open to anything. We plan to connect with ministry organizations, churches and other groups in Boise, Calgary, Denver, Kansas City and in between, but mainly we just want to show people that God loves them by demonstrating the love He has overflowed on to us.
I know, I know, this is way too vague for most of you. I would love for it to be more concrete too, but that usually isn't the way God operates. I envision us volunteering with organizations that serve the poor and marginalized. I see us working on our own to reach out to the homeless who live in the areas we come across. However, our prayer is to live like the early apostles: to spread the "good news." What exactly does that mean? Nearly every time Jesus or the disciples mention "spreading the good news," they also add "to the poor."
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners."
Isaiah 61:1
Many on the streets of America are tired of "hearing" about Jesus, they want to see Him move. We plan to "do" what He has anointed us to - spread the good news to the poor - what that is exactly going to look like only God knows.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Our Mission Statement
We went downtown again yesterday. Fed probably 60 or so people, gave out countless blankets, sleeping bags, jackets, sweatshirts, and sandwiches to take with them. After set up, I went out on what my buddy Ross would call a "sortie" - to find men and women who could use a bowl of soup and a cup of coffee. The first guy I came across was a man named Michael. He had a little dog with him named Gidget. We asked him if he would like some home-made soup and a cup of coffee and he said that sounded great. He began walking over and we continued on the other direction to find more "homies." When we got back to our little sanctuary under the Burnside Bridge I struck up a conversation with Michael. He said him and God had a "falling out, if you want to call it that." I dug a little deeper and he said that after 19 years in a church in Billings, Montana he had fallen on hard times and had lost his job and was in the process of losing his house. He went to his church for help and they said they couldn't do much for him. So, he quickly became homeless, angry and bitter. Tired of the chilly snow storms in Montana, he headed west. He had been in Portland for 4 months and was a cook still looking for a job.
After 30 minutes or so of conversation, I could tell that Michael was a kind man with a big heart, one who put others first. Take for example his dog, Gidget. He could easily qualify for a bed at the Rescue Mission, but he refuses because they will not take Gidget, and he is unwilling to leave her out on the streets or give her up to an animal shelter, so he takes care of her and she takes care of him (she sleeps at the end of his sleeping bag and keeps his feet nice and warm). He said he hadn't eaten in a day and a half, but his dog had a full belly and plenty of food in his pack - he would give you a look like he was extra serious, turning his head slightly sideways and look at you mostly through one eye - "she eats first, period." Michael is loved by God.
Michael is angry at the people in his church in Billings, but he is also angry at God. He blames the church, what he called "God manifest on earth," for not being there when he needed them. Michael's anger is displaced. So how do we reach people like Michael?
You can't shove the Gospel down Michael's throat, he has heard it all before. You can't tell a guy like Michael that God loves him, you have to show him that God loves him, you have to prove it to him.
Our "mission statement" of sorts, for our journey is "Bringing the love of Jesus to the poor and marginalized through life's basic necessities." I believe this is what Jesus wants for all of us, to bring the love of Christ to others through simplistic acts of kindness and love. So many of us just don't get it, we try to convince intellectually when what we should be trying to do is demonstrating tangibly. We over-think things, we make it too complicated and complex. Christ's mission statement was simple: "[part I] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [part II] Love your neighbor as yourself.'
I'm not sure what Michael's church in Billings mission statement is, but if it is similar to Christ's, they aren't following it.
So how do we reach out to Michael? We give him a cup of coffee, we listen to his story, and we pet his dog. Hopefully, all of this whispers from the depths of his soul, reinforcing something he already knows - "my God loves me." I pray that Michael knows this tonight.
After 30 minutes or so of conversation, I could tell that Michael was a kind man with a big heart, one who put others first. Take for example his dog, Gidget. He could easily qualify for a bed at the Rescue Mission, but he refuses because they will not take Gidget, and he is unwilling to leave her out on the streets or give her up to an animal shelter, so he takes care of her and she takes care of him (she sleeps at the end of his sleeping bag and keeps his feet nice and warm). He said he hadn't eaten in a day and a half, but his dog had a full belly and plenty of food in his pack - he would give you a look like he was extra serious, turning his head slightly sideways and look at you mostly through one eye - "she eats first, period." Michael is loved by God.
Michael is angry at the people in his church in Billings, but he is also angry at God. He blames the church, what he called "God manifest on earth," for not being there when he needed them. Michael's anger is displaced. So how do we reach people like Michael?
You can't shove the Gospel down Michael's throat, he has heard it all before. You can't tell a guy like Michael that God loves him, you have to show him that God loves him, you have to prove it to him.
Our "mission statement" of sorts, for our journey is "Bringing the love of Jesus to the poor and marginalized through life's basic necessities." I believe this is what Jesus wants for all of us, to bring the love of Christ to others through simplistic acts of kindness and love. So many of us just don't get it, we try to convince intellectually when what we should be trying to do is demonstrating tangibly. We over-think things, we make it too complicated and complex. Christ's mission statement was simple: "[part I] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [part II] Love your neighbor as yourself.'
I'm not sure what Michael's church in Billings mission statement is, but if it is similar to Christ's, they aren't following it.
So how do we reach out to Michael? We give him a cup of coffee, we listen to his story, and we pet his dog. Hopefully, all of this whispers from the depths of his soul, reinforcing something he already knows - "my God loves me." I pray that Michael knows this tonight.
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