Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season.

As I sit and watch social media posts about what people are giving up for Lent, I think it’s important to ask ourselves some fundamental questions:

1.  What are the origins of Lent?  Is Lent biblical?

2.  Why do people (or I) give up things for a period of time?

3. What is significant enough in my life that if I were to give it up for a time it would definitely adjust my view?

4. Why would I tell anyone a) that I’m giving something up for Lent and b) what that something is?  

If we’re not careful, the enemy of our souls can use even the Lent season as a device of pride, self-righteousness, and distraction from Christ Himself, Who is the reason for it all.

I’ve got a lot to do today, but I just had a brief visit from one of our youth leaders who serves on our teaching team for student worship services, Robin Harper.  She handed me a fat stack of slips of paper that students had written on during a response time yesterday.  More than one of them essentially said that same thing; something that stopped me in my tracks.  The words written by several students:

“I’m ready to be forgiven, but I don’t know how.”

My heart sank and aches to think that there are teenagers, children, or adults who want desperately to leave the burden and shame of their past mistakes behind, but don’t know how.

The great news is this: It couldn’t be simpler.  But first a story…

Tony Campolo tells the story of being on an airplane and watching a fellow passenger move through the cabin asking other passengers a bold question: “Are you saved?”  He got to an older gentleman seated next to Campolo and listened to his response to the man’s very direct question…

Passenger 1: “Excuse me sir, but are you saved?”

Older gentleman: “Yeah… I guess I’m saved.”

Passenger 1: “Can you tell me exactly WHEN you were saved?”

Older gentleman: “Well….not exactly….it was about 2,000 years ago.  And I just found out about it recently!”

We aren’t saved because of any effort of our own here and now, we are saved, forgiven, and set free because of the accomplished mission of Jesus on the cross those 2,000 years ago!  Don’t think God forgiving you is anything but your receiving of a completed work of grace and love on His part.

So…how can  you be forgiven by God?  It’s simpler than you may think:

1.  Be honest about your need for forgiveness.  (If you’ve read this far, that one’s probably already in the bag.)

2.  Tell God that you want to receive the forgiveness of your sins (past, present, and future) that only Jesus made possible by taking the penalty of your sins onto Himself.  God instantly removes your sin from you.  (Psalm 103:12, Romans 10:13, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:9)

3.  Live daily knowing that you are completely set free from condemnation (Romans 8:1) and are invited to live a life surrendered to God’s grace and use (Romans 12:1).  In other words, “Freely you have received…freely give.” (Matt. 10:8)

You are a new creation.  Everything old has passed away.  All things are now new.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  People will question it. Friends might doubt it. Family may turn from it. Satan will definitely attack it.  No matter what: Stand on it.  You ARE forgiven by the God who made you, loves you, and wants you to walk with Him right now and always.

As a parent of 4 kids who all attend public school (ranging from elementary through high school), an ongoing rumbling inside me is the tension between God thriving through my kids in the context of their school, and my kids surviving the spiritually dark hallways of their (and most) school systems.

Recently, I’ve been asked by a parent about how their son/daughter should start some kind of ministry on their campus.  Before I share my thoughts, let me first say that I love the fact that students are eager to engage their peers on the public school level for the glory of God.  Because if you spend 6 hours a day in a building, I think you ought to be on the lookout for where God can use you there.

Okay, here are my thoughts on Christian teens starting something on their public school campus:

1.  God is already there.  

If nothing else, simply acknowledge that God–despite our society’s best efforts to push Him out the door–is still very present in public schools.  How do I know?  Because teenagers who love Him are there and they carry Him in every day.  The only way for public school system to get rid of God on their campuses is to remove every single Christian teen from those schools.  That fact alone should give any student courage to move forward by simply asking, “Where does God want me to join in?”  

2.  Your school probably doesn’t need another “club”.

Go to your school’s website and look for the entire list of clubs that are offered to students.  Most times, its an incredible list that covers the gamut of role playing games, improv, chess, juggling, mock trial, hiking, and knitting.  Now, I’m not against the word “club”, but I have become somewhat opposed to making your “bible club” just another ladle on the smorgasbord of extra-curricular options.  Maybe instead of a huddle in the chemistry lab for 30 minutes after school on Thursdays, students obtain a list of tasks the principal, office staff, or janitor needs done and they do it.

3.  Decide who it’s for. 

Most “bible clubs” I’ve heard of or seen in operation are ingrown because they’re designed as a bomb shelter for Christian kids.  That would be fine, except in those same groups kids are wondering why more non-Christian teens don’t come.  Maybe it’s because of the prayer circle, maybe its because of the worship music sing-along, maybe its because chubby bunny just isn’t that interesting after all.  I’m not saying an evangelistic-approach group is better than a discipleship-approach group, I’m just saying decide which you’re aiming for and go with it.

4.  Start with a few.

You might think I’m aiming low here, but the premise is to start with one (maybe two) like-minded friends who have an interest and passion to see God work on their campus.  Meet Monday and Friday before or after school for 5-10 minutes.  Do that for a month.  Then, begin to let others in.  Start small and let it grow.  After another month is over, decide what your next step is.  Are you sensing there’s a call to announce an event?  Are you going to be more targeted and strategic in who is invited?  Make a decision…then move.  When I was a senior in high school, I along with 2 friends started meeting before school to pray.  By the end of the year we had a consistent 20-30 students gathering.

Just this morning I learned about one of our high school girls deciding with 4 friends that they’re all going to bring their Bible to lunch and have a discussion together.  They figured they’re chatting at lunch anyway, why not see what happens when they’re all chatting about the same book?  What might come from it?  

5.  You can’t fail.

Now, I’m not one of those people who want to do away with scores at ball games so no one loses, or stop having kids choose teams for kickball because that means someone gets picked last.  I think removing the prospect of failure is weakening our education systems.  That’s not the “fail” I’m talking about.  I think its incredibly important to know that if you are moving in faith on your campus, God will see it through.  Whether its short-lived or if you start a decades-long legacy your grandkids read about, you’ve joined with God on your campus, and you CAN’T fail when you’re walking with and trusting Him.

 

What do YOU think?  Do “bible clubs” even belong on public school campuses?  Have I missed some advice that you’d include?  What has been your experience in watching or being a part of ministry on a public school campus?

(If you’d like to read about students’ rights in the public school education system, click here.)

Originally written in 2011, but not published until 2014. Interesting to go back and read what I was thinking 3 years ago…

I’ve heard from and talked to many people over the years who struggle with the existence of God.  Some come from the offensive angle of “You can’t prove God exists, so He doesn’t” and some take the defensive angle of “Too much bad has happened to me/the world, so there must not be a God.”  I understand and even empathize with both angles.

As a Christian man who has been following Jesus (or trying to) for around 20 years, I have a thing or two to say about the notion that God isn’t around.  I have had the sensation myself that He is not near and have even (brutal honesty time) entertained the thought that perhaps this Deity I have pinned my hopes on might very well be as present and helpful as Tinkerbell.

But cliches’ notwithstanding, I’ve got to say that over the years God has proven not merely His existence, but His presence, His power, His purposes, and His pleasure–all these have been shown to me time and time again.

Back To The Future is one of my favorite movie series.  I saw the very first one when it came out, and each one has been more captivating to me than the one before.  Let me take you back to Back To The Future 3.  This one is set mostly in the “old west”.  Marty and Doc Brown are trying to figure out how to get the Delorian time machine up to 88 miles per hour when the most powerful thing around are a team of horses.  They then realize that there may be a chance that they can get a steam locomotive up to that speed if they can “get the fire as hot as the flames of hell and damnation itself”.  So, they hatch a scheme to “borrow” a locomotive and literally push the Delorian up to the required speed of 88 mph.

In true Doc Brown fashion, Doc constructs a scale model of the plan in his barn, complete with a model train, train tracks, and even a miniature version Delorian so that they can visualize the plan from start to finish.  And in that scene Doc Brown points out to Marty the “failsafe” point along the tracks; explaining that after they pass this particular point on the tracks, there is absolutely no turning back.  Quite literally, it’s either “the future or bust”.

Now, before I get to the idea of our “failsafe point” with God, I’d like to also point out that in reality (as far as Hollywood movie reality goes), they were actually pushing that Delorian with that train toward a bridge that was not yet built–a bridge that would span a huge ravine in the landscape.  A bridge that wasn’t there.  Are you beginning to see the whole idea of faith being sculpted here?

Hebrews 11:1 says clearly that “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  Ask most anyone what their definition of “faith” is and you’re likely to hear a sentence containing words like “hope”, “desire”, or even “wish”.  But the Greek word used here is the word “pistis” and has behind it the thrust of “being persuaded”.

Have you ever been in a tough situation, or known someone facing a difficult time in life and encouraged them to just “have faith” or has anyone encouraged you with “you’ve just got to find the faith to get through”?  While our human thoughts on faith might often equate to a “fingers crossed” idea of hoping really hard, the Biblical concept of faith the writer of Hebrews was referencing is not from us at all, but from God.  Faith isn’t our attempt to have good thoughts about a positive outcome in order to bring it about, but rather it is itself a gift from God.  In fact, we humans can’t even have faith on our own.  We can’t muster it.  We can’t manufacture it. (Romans 12:3)

So, when we are feeling like God simply isn’t near, or here, or listening, or caring what we must do is submissively be receptive to a) receive the faith God gives us and b) exercise the faith we have been given. (Romans 12:6)

The Biblical word “faith” in Hebrews 11:1 has the strong words “confidence” and “assurance”.  Confidence is knowing beyond knowing.  Have you ever met a confident person?  What was it about them that allowed you to see their confidence?  Confidence is knowing what we know and resting in it.

The other word in that verse is “assurance”.  As a young boy I remember well singing the old hymn by Fanny Crosby.  Crosby was a blind woman credited with writing over 5000 hymns of the faith.  She is recorded as saying about her blindness, “”I verily believe that God intended that I should live my days in physical darkness so that I might be better prepared to sing His praise and lead others from spiritual darkness into eternal light.  With sight I would have been too distracted to have written thousands of hymns.”  One of her most well-known and loved hymns is “Blessed Assurance”.  Whatever you face today, let these words encourage your heart: “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O, what a foretaste of glory divine!  Heir salvation, purchase of God.  Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.  This is my story, this is my song; praising my Savior all the day long!  This is my story, this is my song; praising my Savior all the day long!”

And I love the last verse…

“Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song; praising my Savior all the day long!  This is my story, this is my song; praising my Savior all the day long!”

As you face the railroad tracks of difficult situations today, wondering if the bridge will be there at the right moment, may you know that the God who made you is the God who knows you.  He’s the God who loves you and He is the God that will sustain you through the faith that He gives you!

“…for we walk by faith, and not by sight.” -2 Corinthians 5:7

Its time to sharpen that pencil, pull out that pad of paper, and write down the things you hope to accomplish this next year.  But before you do, take a minute and consider a few things.

I’ve made my share of lists.  I’ve won some, I’ve lost some.  Let’s be clear: I’m not a list hater, I’m not a resolution hater, and I’m not a goal hater.  Just hear me out.

I’ve noticed something that happens around this time of year as people are making their lists.  And it happens quietly.

We think that the ultimate goal is a “better you”.

We think that the natural result of completing a good list is a better life.

We make the center of the list “me”.  A “successful” me.  A “thinner” me.  A “less-stressed” me.  A “happier” me.  A “creative” me.  A “financially secure” me.  A “peaceful” me.  A “friendlier” me.  A “more charitable” me.

Meanwhile, that irritating guy named John said in John 3:30: “…less me.”

I submit to you that you can make a fantastic list of wonderful, worthy things to accomplish this coming year and you very well may achieve them all.  But if “me” is at the center and “me” is the highest goal, you’re going to find that the goal of a “better me” isn’t enough.

So as I make my list I’m definitely wanting to be healthier. I’m definitely wanting to be more successful.  I absolutely have goals that I’d love to see accomplished this coming year.  But not with me and my ego at the center; with Jesus and His glory there.  And this is both a personal decision and an ongoing, daily battle.  It is in the minutia of each hour that I tend to seek more me, and that automatically equals less Him.  So don’t think I’m pounding out a quick blog and thinking I’ve done anything.  I’ll click the “Publish” button, stand up, and get to doing what I’ve briefly expressed here.  Some of you will see me living.  At moments I’ll be less and at other moments I’ll be more.  But underneath it all I want less “me”.

Go ahead and make your list.  Write it down, pin it up, and live it out.  But do it for something–Someone–greater than “me”.

For weeks now we’ve been swimming in a sea of Christmas music, both spiritual and downright not spiritual.  And while I do my best “O Holy Night” duets with Josh Groban while riding in my car alone, I’ve got to say that I’ve been brought by it all to a stark reminder of what this is all about.

With a chill in the night air and an out-of-options housing situation a young woman and her new husband welcomed into the world the Son of God, sent directly from His throne in the heavenly realm–a throne He had some 9 months previously forfeited for a time in order to fulfill the greatest rescue mission of all eternity.  This mission would rescue, ransom, and redeem the very human race that had repeatedly turned its back on Him time and time again.

What astounds me about the birth story of Jesus is the humanness of it all wrapped in the unmistakable deity of Who He was.  Not long after His birth, kings bowed before Him offering Him gifts of adoration, kingship, and confession of His identity.  A maniacal earthly king who had himself been called “the king of the Jews” found this little child such a threat to his throne that he had an entire population of young boys exterminated in hopes of wiping the boy Jesus from the earth, from history, and from any plans of an overthrow of Herod’s throne.  Little did Herod know that Jesus never came to establish a throne on earth, but came to reveal His already established throne in heaven.  

Mary was pure, Joseph was honest, shepherds were willing, and kings were bowing.  All in recognition of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the One who has come to redeem me from myself and from an eternity apart from Him.  Not because of my own worth or merit, but because of His great love.  This is the greatest mystery, the greatest conspiracy, the greatest rescue mission the world will ever know.

We’re just days–nearly hours away from Thanksgiving 2013.  And by now you’ve certainly heard the call to “Be Thankful”, “Give Thanks”, “Count your blessings”, and/or “Pause and reflect”.  We get it, right?  Thanksgiving time is time to be thankful.

But where does thankfulness come from?  How do we muster a thankful mind and heart when we’re surrounded by trouble, heartache, loss, stress, and the details of life that leave us reeling?  What is the source of gratitude and how can we access it so that Thanksgiving isn’t merely a day (or even a half hour time span where we eat that bird), but rather a mindset or even a lifestyle?  (Or you may have skipped that part and gone right to mapping out your Thanksgiving-Thursday-evening-Pre-Black-Friday-sale-shopping attack route.)

First, we need to understand that thankfulness doesn’t come naturally.  Most of us are prone to complain.  Ironically, its those who enjoy the most that are most likely to complain when things don’t go their way.  Don’t think I’m right? Visit an undeveloped country sometime.  Visit a family with what you’d consider next to nothing that compare their level of griping to the average American.  You see, the more we have, the more we think we deserve, the more out of sorts we get when we don’t get what we think we should have.

So, if thankfulness isn’t our native language, how does it come about? Where do we find it? How does it grow?

Thankfulness begins with contentment.  It starts when striving stops.  It happens when I stop reaching.  I remember a time we were at a restaurant when my oldest daughter (now 16) was in her highchair days.  She had a bowl of mac ‘n cheese in front of her but when she scooped some with her spoon, one or two noodles would slip off and fall to the floor.  She’d get so distressed and distracted over the 2 noodles on the floor that she’d seem to completely forget about the spoonful in her hand.  We tend to do that, don’t we?  We’ve each got a couple “noodles” on the floor that we’re obsessed with simply because we don’t have them.  But take a look at what you DO have!  Take a look at the goodness of God and begin to thank Him for the spoonful.

Thankfulness continues when we give.  Nope, I’m not talking about money.  I’m talking about giving attention, giving an ear, giving a hand, giving a shoulder, giving love to those around you.  Start with those closest to you and work your way out from there.  Hug your spouse, your kids, your in-laws and tell them you love them. Bake a loaf of pumpkin bread and walk it over to your next door neighbor.  Strike up a conversation with a stranger with no other objective than to brighten their day.

Thankfulness finds its beginning and end in faith.  For me, I can be thankful no matter what the circumstance because of Jesus.  No matter how things fall apart, no matter what bills are rolling in, no matter what stresses my family faces, no matter what our nation slips into, no matter what losses we face, no matter what hills we climb, no matter what…I know that I know that Jesus is Lord and that I am completely free to trust Him with every detail.  I’m not naive. I’m not sheltered. I’m not ignorant and I’m not blind to reality.  I’m thankful.  Thankful to be given the capacity to re-calibrate my heart on the goodness I find in my life, the incredible people I get to share my life with, and the fact that when all the dust settles, I’m completely surrounded by the grace of God.

Here’s hoping that as we enter this holiday season, my life and yours would be marked with hearts that are thankful more than anything else as we allow that thankfulness to heal our wounds, set our path, and replenish our spirits.

“What can I offer the Lord for all He has done for me?”  -Psalm 116:12