I grew up in the church. And I mean that almost literally. It wasn’t until I was 30 years old that I ever lived in a house not owned by the church it was located directly next to. So, when I talk about growing up in the shadow of the church, you can know for certain that I know of which I speak.

I’m a Christian.  But I didn’t choose Christianity.  Well, not at first.  Quite decidely, Christianity chose me.  I was born to two parents who love the Lord.  They are Christians.  So quite naturally, they brought me up to know, understand, and embrace the tenets of Christianity.  I grew up learning the stories, reciting the Bible verses, attending  church services everytime the church doors were open, memorizing Scripture, knowing the answers when asked a question in Sunday school class, eating regularly at “potluck” dinners, singing the hymns of our theology and faith, and all the other varied activities of “church people.”  I had a wonderful upbringing and I credit my parents with passing on the Truth about God, sin, heaven, hell, Jesus, forgiveness, and purpose.  Some might say, “Poor kid. You were brainwashed.” But I don’t look at it that way at all.  I never have.  Because I wasn’t.

Like I said, I didn’t choose Christianity.  I instead chose to love the God who created me, who knows me, who loves me, and who died in my place so that I can have the ability to choose Him.  And I do.  I choose God.  But not just any God.  THE God.  The God of the Bible; not the Torah, not the Qu’ran, not the Book of Mormon, not the Vedas, or any other religious book.  I don’t choose a religion.  I choose a reunion.  I choose a reconnection made possible by the gracious gift of Jesus, the only One born who’s birth was significant enough to turn BC into AD.  Ask anyone what year it is…then ask why.

So, I become saddened when I start to think that I’m lumped together with religious kooks like the pastor in Florida who thinks he should burn copies of the Qu’ran.  The only thing I can find as distasteful is building a mosque at ground zero in NYC.  I don’t consider myself a religious person, as ironic as that might sound coming from a pastor.  Reverent? Yes.  Religious? I don’t think so.

I’m not trying to create a distance between myself and “organized Christianity” (which to me is a contradiction in terms, given its beginning); I’m only trying to clarify what I feel has become increasingly muddy waters when it comes to who a Christian is and who a Christian isn’t.  I recently was flipping through all 5 of my television channels and found a short clip of the stand-up comedian George Carlin.  He was in the middle of doing a comedy bit on the Ten Commandments whereby he was using his logic to narrow the ten (one-by-one) down to just 2, and then finally to one.  Was it funny?  No, not really.  It was poignant, telling, and jagged with cynicism.  While I absolutely defend and respect Mr. Carlin’s right (and yours) to take pot-shots at religion, I most certainly had to laugh at the ignorance shown in his closing statement when he said “Keep thy religion to thyself!” and walked off the stage to an uproarious applause handed over by what must have been an equally ignorant audience.

What Carlin fails to recognize is that “religion” (Christianity as he was referring to) cannot be separated from its engrained mandate to spread, to share, to pass on, to give, and even–dare I say it–evangelize.  What Mr. Carlin is requesting is that the people just as free as he is should separate their beliefs from their behavior.  In essence, us “religious people” should keep our mouths shut, even though doing so would go against the very instructions of the God we love, follow, and live for.  What then?  Would we gain his or anyone else’s respect?  How could we since we would then lack integrity; believing we should share good news and yet not share it, and saying we believe the Bible and yet not doing what it says.  Why would we give hearty approval to Madonna for being true to herself and her beliefs, or Tom Cruise and his lucritive dealings with the Church of Scientology, or Richard Gere for his quiet peace-loving Buddhism, or the Dalai Lama, or Deepak Chopra for cryin’ out loud–and yet spit in the face of any Jesus follower who dares speak of humanity’s need for forgiveness and redemption–including their own?  It seems that we need to rethink what we call “tolerance” which seems so en vogue in our time.

The reason for the imbalance is clear.  And not suprisingly, Jesus gives it to us in Luke 6:22 (among many other places): “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

While the world and even popular culture at large may equate Christianity with “Churchianity” and therefore full of religious nut-jobs who need to be dismissed as lunatics, I stand firmly on my decision to follow Jesus…no matter what.

There’s a great show on TV these days called “the middle”.  It reminds me of my own family quite often.  If you’ve seen the show and know the youngest character named “Brick”, you should know that my youngest son ALSO repeats himself under his breath.  Before the first time we saw the middle, we just figured it was a quirky thing all his own.

In a recent episode, Sue (the only daughter of the Heck family) discovers the joys of youth group.  Sue is an otherwise rather lanky, gangly, awkward and somewhat inept young teen girl.  She has tried so many things and failed at most.  Her mom encouraged her to go with a friend to youth group because “there’s no try-outs for Jesus!”

If you’ve got 22 minutes, head to abc, Hulu, or your favorite online viewing site, grab a drink, a chair, and enjoy.  Enjoy Brick’s struggle to socialize.  Enjoy Axel’s attempts to get girls in the pool.  And enjoy Reverend Tim Tom’s ability to set anything to music.  Hilarious, and as youth pastors go…nothing at all like me.  At least I hope not.

Anne Rice, famed “vampire genre” author of several well-known and acclaimed books, recently stated publicly that she “quit Christianity”.  Want to read about it?  Click here.  However, upon closer inspection of her forsaking “Christianity” as  her stated religion, she clearly is trying to stay close to Jesus Christ.  This presents a problem: it’s impossible.

Impossible, and yet quite trendy.  And comfortable.  And easy.  And non-sensical.  And unbiblical.  And trendy.

From what I can gather, the movement known as the “Emerging Church” has based its premise of existence on a similar notion.  Here’s the idea: Following a decapitated Jesus.  There seems to be a subtle dismissal (and sometimes blatant condemning) of the body of Christ as it is as new trends in church leadership bring a new a kind of Christianity.  Ironically enough, the word “Church” (ekklesia) is still in their name.

Jesus said clearly that He is the “head of the Church” (Eph. 5:23) and that His followers (mathetes) are His body (1 Cor. 12:27).  And yet it seems that some people try and marry Jesus’ head without marrying His body.  Again, I’ll say it: Impossible.

Anne Rice’s #1 reason for leaving Christianity?  She has reached the conclusion that the word “Christian” is synonymous/interchangable with words like “anti-gay”, “right-wing conservative”, “bigoted”, “judgmental”, “condescending” and the ever en vogue “hypocritical”.  To her, Christians are defined by those people who profess one thing while living something else.

So, what should someone do when they find more in the Church to condemn than celebrate?  What should someone do who wants to cling to Christ but tell His followers to “take a hike”?  What should someone do who has become disenfranchised by the short-fallings of those they’re attached to, by virtue of being under the same “religious” umbrella?  What does someone do when they, like Anne Rice, find themselves wanting to follow Jesus, but want to have no part of “organized religion”?  Here are my thoughts.

1. Remember your humanity.  This one sounds simple, I admit.  But if you’ll just remember the frailty of your own skin, bones, attitudes, spirit, and self then you’re a step away from remembering that every other person on the planet has the same frailties.  We’re all spiritual beings wrapped in flawed and broken vessels.  And inasmuch as we are all imperfect, we need to stop expecting anyone (even “Christians”) to live completely perfect lives.  Do some Christians seem to place themselves on some higher pedestal where they look down on others?  Sure they do.  And so do some Buddhists.  And so do some Muslims.  And so do some Taoists.  And so do some Wiccans.  And so do some Hindus.  And so do some Atheists.  And so do some Gnostics.  And so do some Mormons.  And so do some Free Masons.  Why?  Because the one thing we all have in common is that we are all broken humans.  Remember that and you’ll find yourself open to grace for others, perhaps as quickly as you receive it for yourself.

2.  Remember the definition of “religion”.  Let’s be clear.  Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion.  In fact, that is one thing that sets Him completely apart from all other “religions”.  Jesus came to “seek and save that which was lost.”  (Luke 19:10)  The idea that the final mission of Jesus was to simply establish guidelines for living is utterly offensive.  Jesus’ mission was far more radical and ultimately eternal.  Jesus came to reunite the Creator with His creation.  If I have one thing against the Church today, its that we’re really good at producing “nice people” or “responsible citizens” and “good neighbors”.  Those are good things, but if that’s all we’re producing…God help us.  Jesus came to make us nice AND dangerous.  Dangerous toward the “wiles of the devil”, dangerous in that we are charged with “bringing heaven to earth”.  The definition of religion (look it up for yourself) is more about a sense of guidelines and rules based on a particular belief.  Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If what you believe doesn’t affect how you behave, then you really don’t believe it.”  To be sure, living right (Jesus called “righteousness”) is absolutely an essential part of the life of a follower of Jesus.  But religion speaks more about making behavior the primary issue.  That’s why if you were to walk outside right now and approach the first person you see and ask them, “Do you think you’ll go to heaven?”, you’re more than likely going to hear something like this…

“Yes, I think I’ll go to heaven (if there is one).  You ask, “Why do you think you’ll go to heaven?”  They’ll respond, “Because I’ve basically been a good person.  I’ve done more good than bad.  I haven’t killed or raped anybody.  I think God will let me in because I’ve basically lived a good life and tried to be nice to people.”

Our focus on “doing good” is not a bad thing (of course), its just that we’ve put too much emphasis on that being the MAIN criteria for entrance into heaven and eternal salvation.  Tisk tisk.

#3: Remember grace.  This one sounds close to #1, but when a person hears, receives, and is transformed by God’s grace, they MUST live a life from that point on that seeks only to communicate that grace to every other person they come into contact with.  Any good Christian (and most non-Christians) can quote John 3:16 to you.  You know, the one about how much God loves the world, and how He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him (Jesus) won’t die but will live forever.”  However, we need to know just as well the very next verse; that Jesus didn’t come to earth to condemn it, but that through Him the world (that’s us) might be saved.  Where in there are we as His followers called to bring the gavel down?  We are called to love the Truth, love all people, and to speak truth (Eph. 4:15) with love.  Some people are really good at speaking truth but lacking the love part, and some people are so loving that they forget the truth part.  Both of those are equally off.

We’ve come to this idea today that the greatest kind of love accepts everyone’s beliefs as all true, all valid, all equal.  This is actually the most pretentious farce of real love as we can hold and perpetuate.  “Tolerance” has seen its crest in popularity and is now engrained in our children.  Tolerance says that I can say that there is a God and I’m right because I believe it.  And you can say that there is no God and you’re right because you believe it.  And neither of us should say anything that might hint at the fact that we’re completely illogical as long as we hold tight to our “tolerance”.  Its completely disrespectful in today’s society to convey any sense of absolute.  Why?  Because absolutes inevitably make someone uncomfortable and God (or Allah or Buddha or the Jolly Green Giant)-forbid that we make anyone uncomfortable.

So goodbye Anne Rice, enjoy your walk into the sunset with the head of Jesus tucked under your arm.  We, His body, those who love Him, love others, give grace, seek justice, walk humbly, and love mercy will be here if (and when) you get back.

*That Newsweek magazine cover was added April 2012, 2 years AFTER this post was originally written.  Pretty crazy, huh?

My youngest son has been a bit cantankerous today.  I’ve had to corral and try to correct his attitude, his actions, and his words throughout the day.  And when I’ve had to say, “Don’t ________”, his common response today has been “I can if I want to!”

Now, civil liberties aside, I have to say that I vehemently disagree with my son’s assertion.  Indeed, while he may want to believe that he in fact can do whatever he wants to, it is my God-given responsibility to teach him that he most certainly can NOT do whatever he wants to.  All the hipsters out there might say I’m stifling his creativity, but their kids are brats.  And I’m not raising a brat.

The notion that we are all free to “do what we want to” is one that has become quite en vogue.  And I’d contend that it is that notion that has, more than anything else, aided in the denegration of our society.  Not only that, but that sense of freedom that says in essence “To thine own self be true” is exactly opposite to God’s design and desire for humankind.

My previous blog post was all about my recent trip to Kentucky; what I experienced, saw, and learned.  And I suppose that my thoughts here take a step away from that particular trip and closer to a truth that each of us must grasp, ingest, digest, and live out (I was going to say “excrete” but I thought that might be too crass).

Where are you right now?  Who is the person closest to you in proximity right now?  What needs are most obvious to you right now?  What needs that bless others are within reach right now?  What is stopping you from standing up and going to meet that need…right now?

Some thoughts that come to mind in response to those questions may be, “I hadn’t planned that.”, “I don’t have time for that.”, “I’m not comfortable with that.”, “I don’t know how to do that.”, or an otherwise “That’s not really something I’m willing to do.”

But when it comes to blessing others, I’d like to borrow the words from my Mom (which I suspect she “borrowed” from someone else)…”When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  I know it sounds like it’s straight out of some corporate playbook, filled with quips and inspirational sayings, but even on a spiritual level it’s all too true.

So, what is your plan to bless someone today?  No.  What is your plan to bless someone right now?  I’ve never seen a watch with a “sometime” on it and yet that is when we figure we’ll get around to doing that thing that would make that difference in that person’s life.

Last week, I took a dozen or so high school students to a nursing home.  I’d dare say that most if not all of them were uncomfortable with the concept of sitting, chatting, crafting, listening, or singing with nursing home residents.  It simply wasn’t something they were used to doing.  But you know what happened?  When we left 2 hours or so later, every one of them had become an expert in the areas of sitting, chatting, crafting, listening, and singing with nursing home residents.  And do you know who trained them?  They did.  Not with a how-to manual, not with a script, and not with a crash course from the nurses.  Giving themselves to the experience rendered its own beautiful benefits.  I’d even guess that some of them would go to our local nursing homes in our area and do the exact same thing.  I challenged them to consider just one hour a month volunteering at their local nursing home.

The nursing home is only one of millions of options when it comes to blessing others.  But no matter what the open door, there’s one thing that is sure to kill it: “I can if I want to” gone wrong.

I don’t really.  The only times I do are when my hot wife says, “You want to run with me?”  The entire time I am running, I am asking myself “Why do people do this?!?  I just don’t get it!”  But man do I love my wife, so anytime with her (even running/trying not to die) is always welcome.

Getting entrenched in life is something that I highly recommend. 

However, it’s not so good if you hope to keep your blog current.  And for those who have been checking daily, weekly, monthly, or centennially….I’m back now and hope to get my blog groove on.  At least for now.  We’ll see.

Maybe I should rename my blog to “We’ll see.”  It reminds me of the intramural basketball teams I led in college; one year our team name was “Maybe next year” and another year our team name was “Yeah…whatever.”  We wore plaid button-up shirts with the sleeves cut off.  Collars and everything.  We took all the players the other teams didn’t want.  We were terrible.  It was great.

So, in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been immersed in our annual middle school mission trip and all the details revolving around that.  All in all, it was a fantastic experience.  We took a new step in our leadership development plan this year and took along high school student leaders who I have worked with over the past year.  I can confidently say that they brought SO much to the table as it relates to influencing our middle school students.  Even as young and spry as I am, middle schoolers consider me “old” (anything over 25 qualifies), so having high schoolers whom they idolize speak into their lives for the week did immeasurable good.  No doubt about it, Student Leaders rock.

We had an interesting thing happen one night while on the trip.  If you’re up for a quick story, read on.

We had rented a YMCA camp for the week and spent most of our time there.  But with one of our “sister” churches right up the road, we thought it’d be fun one night to have a change of scenery, and take our students there for some dodgeball. The youth pastor there was totally down with it and asked if he could invite some of his students to join in. I’m a “the more the merrier” kinda guy, so I thought that was a great idea.
We arrived at the church and as we began to gather all the students together, I noticed that their students looked more like high school and even college age or perhaps even inmates.  (reminder: our students were middle schoolers). I thought to myself, “No biggie, I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
As one of their youth leaders began to explain the rules, I noticed that “head shots” were allowed. “No biggie”, I thought. “I’m sure it’ll still be fun.”
Then it was decided that we’d have a church vs. church battle for round one. This is where I should have stepped in but didn’t. Because after all, “No biggie, I’m sure this will be fun and a healthy competition.” I still had no reason to believe otherwise.

At the sound of the starting whistle I learned exactly what kind of nightmare we were in for.

Remember that rule that “headshots are allowed”? Well, it turns out that’s pretty much all they threw. And when I say “threw”, I mean “shot” or “launched”. I’m not joking–I’ve NEVER seen dodgeballs move that fast. Within seconds I had a few of our students in tears, gripping the side of their head, and all of our students looking like the proverbial “deer in the headlights” Leaders were consoling the casualties (which turned out to be more in shock than in pain). The game didn’t last long, even though we outnumbered them almost 2 to 1. As it turns out, a 6th grade girl is no match for a 22 yr. old man when it comes to dodgeball.
Leaders came up to me, voicing their discomfort with the situation, but I barely heard any of that because I was mentally rehearsing a) the earful I was about to give the other youth pastor and b) the angry phone calls I would receive Monday morning after we get back.
After speaking with the youth pastor and voicing my concern in no uncertain terms, he apologized and assured me there was no intention to harm, and that we should mix up the teams and even them out. I could not have agreed more.

(I’ll say here that there really was no malicious intent from the other team, they were just really REALLY good at dodgeball! We still love them and many of our kids have dedicated the next year to training and steroids, looking forward to a rematch!)

After we evened out the teams, most of my students actually BEGGED to keep playing, even after 3 more rounds.

This was a situation where no one was “wrong” per se; we just had 2 very different approaches to the same game. And I also learned that their students play dodgeball religiously every time they get together.
That would explain the special shoes and the tattoos.

So, since returning from that trip, I’ve been sleeping, reminisching, and thanking God for the fantastic time that we had.  Hopefully that explains my absence from blogging as of late.