Author: jerrythinks

“You’d better sit down for this one…”

/ jerrythinks / Leave a comment

Spring has sprung and that means one thing:  yard sales.  My wife and I hit a community yard sale this past Saturday and while most of what we saw was better suited for the donation box than the yard sale box, I did see a really nice looking recliner….that swiveled…..and rocked…..and reclined…..all in leather.  And the seller even knocked $5 off the price when she found out I bought her couch the year before.  Not sure how I feel about my “frequent buyer” status at a total stranger’s house, but the discount was a nice thought and made the deal even more tempting.  Still, I turned it down. I did buy a classic game “Pit” (harkening back many childhood memories of the adults yelling from the livingroom, “Two! Two! Two!  Three! Three! Three! One! One! One!….DING!”) and “The Diary of Anne Frank” for my 8th grade daughter who is currently reading it and doing a project on it for school.  I figured $.25 wasn’t too steep a price for her to have her own copy.  So even though I left the recliner behind, I did hold onto my “repeat offender” status in this woman’s front yard.

I sit at a desk a fair amount of time when I’m working in the office.  There is quite a bit of administrative work to be done and even with an administrative assistant (who rocks), there’s plenty of screen time in the life of a youth pastor–and I’m not talking about video games.  Emails, reports, publications, curriculum writing, promotion of upcoming events, video editing, social media, and countless other ways that put my duff in a seat looking at a screen.  And that doesn’t even touch the meetings and the sit-time they bring.  Or the time in the car.  Or the couch.

A few years ago, I tried to acquire a stainless steel stand-up height desk for my office.  Its still around, but being used somewhere else and I still have my eye on it.  I’ll keep you posted.

You know how it works…the longer you sit, the longer you want to sit.  The less active you are, the easier it becomes to be less active.  And I can tell you personally that while I can accomplish a whole heck of a lot at work while sitting on my can (yesterday is a great example), I feel much more alive and even stronger when I limit my time on my derriere.

I wrote an article months ago called “Ministry Saddlebags”.  It is about the dangers of a sedentary ministry lifestyle.  Of course, there is by nature a demand to sit down, pound the keyboard, and get stuff done but it seems the larger the ministry, the more demanding the desk chair is for my rear end to be in it.  The bigger the ministry (I moved from medium-sized to larger-sized nearly 7 years ago), the more administrative work seems to be necessary…and that leads to one thing: “saddlebags”.  And not the leather pouches you throw over the horse, but the fatty cellulite ones attached to your (my) outer thighs.

So all this to say that I’m currently looking for creative ways to get off my butt and onto my feet more and more, especially at work.  Just a century ago (you remember those times, don’t you?), America wasn’t as physically stagnate as we are now.  Who knows what trends we can reverse if we get up and move more than we do?  And as strange as this may sound, I’m not even looking at this strictly from a physical perspective, but from a spiritual and ministry perspective.  And I’m looking forward to seeing what develops.

For more on what sitting does, check out this link.

Uh….You’re welcome?

/ jerrythinks / 1 Comment

Yesterday, I met with a good friend named Rob.  We get together each week for lunch.  Rob is in my small group and whenever we meet I always come away encouraged.  I’d sure hope he’d say the same.  I think he would.

So, yesterday was our scheduled lunch “man-date” and since I had exactly 5 1-dollar bills in my wallet, I suggested meeting at Costco for the cheapest lunch in town–a buck 57 for a huge hotdog and a drink.

We got our lunch, found a table and sat down.  We bowed our heads and I thanked God for our friendship, for our wives and kids, asked God to bless them with a great day, thanked Him for all-beef hotdogs, and told Him we love Him.  Amen.

Not a minute after I finished praying, I saw a man moving toward our table.  He got close to us, leaned down and said, “Thank for your testimony.”  Apparently he had seen us praying.  Have you ever wanted to say something but were too stunned by what you just heard that your brain couldn’t process it all fast enough?  Before I could engage my mouth with something intelligent; something besides “Uh, thanks”, he walked off.

I was thrown.  That might sound weird, but I honestly took several seconds to get my mind back in gear to continue the conversation with Rob.  I’m pretty sure I literally stumbled with my words for a minute or so.  I’ve never been thanked or acknowledged for praying before.  And I’ve certainly never been thanked “for my testimony” like that before.

And quite honestly I’m not sure that I would have responded to the stranger any differently even if I could somehow have known what was coming.  I mean, what do you say to someone who appears out of the blue, thanks you for your testimony (of praying in Costco), and disappears into the crowd?  I’m not sure you say anything.

But it got me thinking about what a testimony is.  Everyone has one.  I believe that every person on earth–past, present, and future–has a testimony.  Everyone has a story that they are telling every day of their lives.  Some are amazing to watch, some are honestly painful to watch.  Some are dripping with adventure, and some with paralyzing fear.  Some take every moment as a gift, and some take every moment as a right due them.  Some live serving, some live taking, and some live lives that seem to want neither.  Some live bold lives that come off as obnoxious and preachy.  Some live quiet lives that are somehow just as bold.  Some live for God and others while others live for themselves.  Some live right, and some live wrong.  But ALL of them tell a story.

That man who I’ll likely never see again played a part in my life yesterday.  He reminded me that even in the smallest of moments, like bowing your head over a Costco hotdog, is a moment of significance for someone else.

Check your fly.

/ jerrythinks / 1 Comment

I’ve been accidentally leaving my zipper down more often recently, and that reminded me of a spiritual truth.  I think I may have lost some of you already.

For those of you still with me, look down at your zipper.  I know this seems weird, but go with it.  If you’re wearing a jacket, use that but if not–there’s really only one zipper left to look it.  If you’re one of those chic button-fly hipsters, then you can just leave now.

A zipper has basically 3 parts: the “teeth”, the “pull” and the “slider”.  They all work together to get the job done.  Take one of the three out the equation and none of it works.

When you pull up on that zipper pull and that slider moves along those teeth, the teeth do an amazing thing.  They mesh together.  I know this isn’t rocket science, but neither is the spiritual truth represented in this simple fastener.

Take a look at these verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 5:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

There’s a theme here, don’t you think?  The biblical concept of reconciliation is more than near and dear to the heart of God, it is the desire behind every decision God makes.  God’s desire is to be reconciled to you, His creation.  The passage starts out stating clearly what happens when reconciliation with God happens: “the new is here!”  That is, all things are new. Fresh start. New beginnings. A new day and a new you in every sense.

The word “reconciliation” is one that is repeated in different variations through that passage.  The Greek word is “katallasso” and its the combination of 2 words: “kata” = “down” and “allasso” = “change”.  In reconciling us to Himself, God brings about a “down-change” within us.  And I don’t have to convince anyone of the fact that in order for change to happen in our lives–any change–something has got to “come down”.  It may be our pride, our habits, our sinful nature, or anything else that might stand in the way of our forward motion toward God.

Have you ever zipped up a jacket zipper and gotten a piece of fabric stuck in it?  It seems the more you pull, the more fabric gets stuck in the zipper.  Things bind up and the zipper doesn’t work the way it was designed to work.  If I may, I’d like to draw a parallel here.  Reconciliation with God is the meshing of your heart to God’s heart, without any “fabric” getting in the way and jamming up our complete surrender to Him.

And once your heart is zipped and meshed with the heart of God, He then gives you the privilege and responsibility of sharing His message of reconciliation with the world.  This is our “ministry of reconciliation” handed to us by God Himself.  And we’re told clearly that God is not holding people’s sins against them, and He is making His loving appeal of reconciliation to the entire world through those who have already been reconciled to Him.

In essence, if I may take a risk here, we’re urging people to “check their fly” and see where they stand with God.  Are you reconciled to God?  If you are, let me celebrate and praise the Lord!  Now, go and allow God to make His appeal to humanity through you.  If you are not, let me encourage you to “be reconciled to God”!  He’s not holding your sins against you, but let me be gut-level honest: that offer will only stand for a certain time.  There will be a day of reckoning when those who have not been reconciled will have to pay their own price for their sins.  I beg and urge you if you have not done so already, be reconciled to God.

The Jesus-Driven Life

/ jerrythinks / 2 Comments

I saw something today that I’ve never seen before.  I was driving along and there it was just a few car lengths ahead of me.  I thought, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those before.”  And I hadn’t.  So I was glad when we soon came to a red light and I was able to take my camera out of my pocket and snap a picture of it.

What is it?  Well, I don’t know the exact name of it, but I’ll call it a hoist truck.  It was clearly designed to lift and carry things on and off of its bed.  Sitting there on the back of this truck that was rumbling down the road, clear as day, was the unmistakable sight of a casket case.  What struck me was the normalness of it all.  It was very matter-of-fact, like the driver was running a casket errand or something.  No pomp, no processional, no long line of cars all with their hazards or headlights on.  Just a casket case sitting in traffic on the back of a truck.

As a pastor, I’ve been around an awful lot of death.  Just last month, I stood in a hospital room with a family weeping over the dead body of their father, grandfather, husband, and friend.  Death, as they say is a “fact of life”.   We’re all going to die physically.  Nobody argues that.  What gets people upset is when I say things like, “But none of us will die spiritually.”  Just as true as the first statement is, so is the second.  We’ll all live eternally in one of two places: heaven or hell.

That is precisely why the way I live must be marked indelibly by the centrality of Jesus.  Jesus is many things to many people.  To some He is a historic figure, to others a good teacher who lived long ago, to others Jesus is someone on a long list of options.  To others He is a crutch, to others He is a fairytale.  To still others He’s a nice idea that just doesn’t “work” for them.

As I said, I’ve been a pastor for a long time and I’ve been alive even longer.  And as long as I can remember, Jesus has been an issue in my life.  Even in my “rebellious” phase as a teenager, I still knew in my heart that while I lived contrary to His character and indulged in a completely selfish way of life, He was still there; waiting, watching, wanting me for His own.

We’re in the season of Lent.  That’s the 40 days preceding the celebration of Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father while I type these words.  He’s going to return in glory someday…anyday…maybe even while I’m typing these words.  And during this time I often find myself cogitating on the reality of who Jesus really is, because that question stands alone as the one question every person in all of history has had to and will have to answer.

Jesus asked that very question of Peter one day.  “Who do people say that I am?” and then a few minutes later, “Who do YOU say that I am?”  Make no mistake about it.  The answer to THAT question is THE defining issue in my life.  Either Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the risen Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind, the sacrifice for my sins and yours, the One who has conquered death, hell and the grave, the Healer, the forgiver, the author and perfecter….or He’s not.  And if He’s  not, then He isn’t much of anything at all.  If He’s not, then He stands on equal footing with Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jr., and a host of other revolutionary “good” people.   If He’s not, then I might as well have spent the last 21 years of my life surrendered to Winnie the Pooh, environmentalism, Oprah or even (dare I say) “purpose”.

But  I didn’t.  I chose Jesus because Jesus chose me.  God has shown me love poured out on a cross, has convicted me of my sinful dead end, and invited me to receive grace heaped on top of forgiveness, with a hefty side of mercy. Not because I deserve it, but because of who He is.   God loved me, and so now I know what love is.

Studies show the 80% of Christian teens today do not believe in the centrality of Jesus as Lord.  Read that again.

That means that to the vast majority of teens who claim Christianity as their “religion”, they do so with a very loose grip on the hand of Christ, if any at all.  That means that while they claim Jesus as a way to heaven, He is by no means the way to anything.  That means that for 8 out of 10 teens today, Jesus is nothing more than one person on a long list of options; one of many roads that all end up in the same place.  And where that leads us is to Jesus being a bold-faced liar.  Jesus simply lied when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”

To that many say, “Haha, Jesus.  Good one.”

So when Jesus asked Peter, “Who do YOU say that I am?”, Peter actually got it right: “You are the Christ.”

May we never exalt Christ-like behavior over Christ.  May we never worship the worship more than the King.  May we never rise up in social activism apart from rising up in declaration of Jesus as Coming King.  May we never make good things, nice things, right things, or Godly things central to our lives.  May we take hold of the face of Jesus, stare into His eyes, and lose ourselves in that gaze.  May that be the center of each word, may that be the catalyst of each action, and may that permeate each thought.

More than you can bear

/ jerrythinks / 2 Comments

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of “God-isms”; statements that are born out of a need to understand things, be at peace with things, or even encourage others.  One such example is “God doesn’t give us more than we can bear.”  I heard it again just the other day from a wonderful, Godly Christian person.

And when I heard it, I thought to myself, “Really?”

Now, I’m not trying to be a stickler or a legalist.  If you’re thinking I should “lighten up” then clearly we’ve never met face-to-face.  I’m about as “light” as you get.  But when I see something that seems to collide with Scripture and has the potential to rob us from a deeper understanding of the things of God and the rich truth of God’s Word, I really find myself desiring to dive in and wrestle.

Let’s start with an obvious truth: Nobody in the Bible or in all of human history had a problem-free life.  Everyone without exception had difficulties, trials, problems, and heart-breaking situations to face.  From Adam to Zephaniah, all people have had problems.

And all throughout Scripture we can see lots of different methods for dealing with our problems.  Some stand and fight, some go to prayer, some hide, some wrestle with unanswered questions, some live in denial, some sweep it under the rug, some surrender, and some run.

But does God really only give us what we can handle?  Did He give Moses what Moses could handle?  Did He give Abraham what only Abraham could handle?  Did He give Esther what Esther was able to handle?  Did He saddle David what David’s “fair share” and not an ounce more?  Did He give Paul what Paul was strong enough to deal with?  With John, did He reach John’s limit and not give John any more?  I believe that to all of these we can offer a resounding “No!”

The truth is, when we look at each of the examples of people in the Bible and when we look at our own lives honestly, we find that God doesn’t seem to use the same system of measurement that we do.  He doesn’t put only in your life that which you can handle.  He puts in your life that which will drive you to Him, and no less.

There are so many passages in God’s Word that tell of His enabling strength, but let me point out just three:

Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

–Isaiah 41:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

–Ephesians 6:10

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

–Philippians 4:13
None of these verses say anything about what you can handle, what you can do, how much you can bear, how strong you are, or what your pain threshold is.  Every one of these verses and so many more focus our attention on GOD’s ability, GOD’s strength, and GOD’s power.
Perhaps the most well-known example of this is found in the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  As you read these words, allow your spirit to echo Paul’s words and confession of who is who in your life…
But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It is not when we are at our best that God shines brightest, but when we are at our weakest.  Remember that even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane called out to His Father for compassion, truly sensing that the “cup” before Him was too much to humanly bear.  And the truth is, it was. Which is precisely why God the Father had Jesus drink from that cup of crucifixion.  Because it isn’t about our strength.  It isn’t about our ability or what we can handle.  It’s about allowing His strength–the endless supply of power and sustaining grace offered to us by our loving Heavenly Father–to be our portion.

God doesn’t give you only what you can handle.  He gives you what HE can handle.  He gives you whatever it takes to draw you to Him, and not an ounce less.  Because He knows that when you are with Him, resting in His presence, drawing on His strength, you are truly unstoppable.

4 seats away

/ jerrythinks / 1 Comment

I’m at the Simply Youth Workers Conference in Chicago.  The event started today and it has been a full day to say the least.  Let me share with you a true truth that I was reminded of while in the “general session” just a few hours away.

I was sitting in a veritable sea of youth workers from all across the country.  I knew only one person the row I was sitting in; my co-youth pastor and partner in student ministry crime, Steve.  And as I sat and listened to what was going on up on the stage, I heard a still, small voice.  But this time, it wasn’t God.

It was a guy 4 seats away who was talking to the person next to him.  He wasn’t talking all that loud, but he was talking loudly enough for me (4 seats away) to hear that he was talking.  I don’t know about you, but that just bugged me.  Certainly what was going on onstage was louder, better, more interesting, and more worth my attention.  Still, I just couldn’t help but be distracted by that stranger’s voice just 4 seats away.

As the session went on, I began to hope more and more that he’d stop talking.  And I found myself more and more disappointed and frustrated that he didn’t.  I was hoping someone closer to him would shush him, or at least give him an eye roll; something that would send a message to him to shut it.  I’d have done it, but remember–I was 4 seats away, clearly outside the circle of responsibility.

Jesus Christ wants my attention.  What Jesus is saying and doing and thinking is more worth my attention than anything else.  If I allow anything else to distract me from His rare voice, then I’ve got to face the reality that while that chatterbox 4 seats away has responsibility over his etiquette while in a crowd, I have responsibility over keeping my ear, mind, heart and life tuned to the One who is more interesting, more loving, and more worth my attention than anything or anyone else.

As I sat there stewing about this stranger’s incessant talking, I was reminded that where my attention lies is always up to me.  There will always be something just 4 seats away, something calling for me to look over here, give my heart over there, and spend my attention other than where it belongs.

A Different Type of Workout

/ jerrythinks / 2 Comments

No doubt you’ve read about my adventures in Zumba (if not, simply scroll down to the previous post), and you might be wondering one week later: “Did Jerry return to attend a SECOND Zumba class?”  The short answer is: “No.  He did not.”  In case the reason for that isn’t blatantly obvious, let me clarify something I merely eluded to in that post about my Zumba class.  I mentioned that I was expecting it to be a half hour long class, but it turned out to be an hour.  What I didn’t mention is that because it was an hour long class, it ended at 10:45 a.m.  What you also may not know is that I have a standing lunch date with my youngest son every Friday in his school cafeteria.  What time does that start?  Oh, around 11 a.m.  Believe it or not, last Friday I bolted out of my Zumba class, into the locker room for a quick shower, and got over to the school cafeteria in time for lunch with the greatest 7 year old I know.  I even impressed myself on that one.

So, today being Friday and even as I’m typing this it’s 9:44 a.m., Zumba starts in 1 minute.  I’m not going because I decided that I would have a different type of workout today.  Today, in order to get my cardio in, I would run a fitness trail through the woods at a nearby park. 

As I arrived, there were several other cars already in the parking lot at the edge of the woods.  I got out of my car and started walking toward the trail’s entrance some 50 feet away.  Parked just near the entrance to the trail was a car that had the windows down and some fairly loud music coming from it.  I noticed that a woman was sitting in the front seat of the car and as I got closer I saw that she had her right hand raised heavenward.  The music was upbeat, energetic worship music and this woman was having her own personal worship service in her car, obviously not caring what anyone else saw or thought of her.  I thought to myself, “That’s awesome.”

As I did my pre-run stretching of my calves, thighs and “hammys”, I listened to that music coming from that car and glanced over at that woman enthralled by the worship of her King.  Windows down, hands up, heart overflowing.  Yep, I’ll say it again: “That’s awesome.”

Psalm 22:3 tells us that “God inhabits the praises of His people.”  But praise isn’t always an easy task is it?  Just like the countless hills, valleys, and curves in the fitness trail I ran this morning–so life has its endless supply of ups and downs and downs and outs.  And in those moments where we struggle to understand what God is doing, or we struggle to understand why He would allow such a thing to happen to us or to that person we love, we also can struggle to praise Him. 

But praise is as much a discipline that precedes His blessing as it is a result that proceeds from a blessed life.  If we are holding out on praising Him waiting to see if He comes through, then we have not read about or understood the Biblical examples of Abraham, Isaac, Noah, Moses, David, Samuel, or Esther to name a few.  We have not understood the verse in Psalm 22:3 and its clear instruction to literally create a life of praise that God can be enthroned upon.  If praise is just a pat on God’s back for a job well done, I fear we are not doing our jobs well at all.

Watching, listening to, and being encouraged by that woman in her car this morning also served as a reminder to me.  Just as it was an act of my will to drive myself to that park and run myself through that course in those woods for the purpose of my physical health, so it must be an act of my will to praise God (regardless of how I’m feeling)  for my spiritual health.