Not many people know this, but I’ve had my fair share of celebrity run-ins. 

I asked Ollie North a question and got an answer.  I saw Alan Ruck (“Cameron” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) TWO different times at the grocery store when I lived in NY and I even talked to him (inviting him to one of MY performances).  I’ve been to the Conan O’Brien Show (the first, much better one) where I also saw Kelsey Grammar and more notably Max Weinberg.  I held a door open for Rosie Greer, I’ve been on The Today Show (well, in the crowd outside but still), I’ve been literally run into by Barry Manilow, I’ve had a conversation with Rosie O’Donnell, and I was personally introduced to Kathie Lee Gifford backstage after a performance.  And I’ll just throw in for free that Phyllis Diller once stepped on my mom’s foot.

Yep, clearly I am where I am in life because of these chance encounters with greatness.   Or not.

While it may be true that I have been just as affected by the aforementioned celebs as I would have been had I merely thought about them, there is a truth that I’ve been thinking about recently.  And it has much more to do with the real truth in the old saying “Its all in who you know.”

Take a gander at what Paul said to the church in Rome (8:16,17): “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

We usually only ever hear the word “heir” when we’re reading a will or we’re watching Antiques Roadshow and its immediately followed by “loom”.  It’s no wonder then that the depths of what is being said here is lost on our 21st century ears, enlightened as they may be.

The easiest way to understand the legal term “heir” is to use the term “entitled”.  Someone named heir is someone who is entitled to all that is laid out in the legal document.  This verse is telling us that if you are a “child of God”, then you are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”  Just before Paul wrote these words, he wrote about the concept of adoption; a fitting parallel to what God the Father has done through God the Son.

So, welcomed into the family of God as an adoptee is what puts us, His children in the position of heirs.  We now stand alongside Jesus Himself as beneficiaries of every blessing, every gift, every supply, everything that God can give and does give to His only Son, He now gives to every son and daughter that enters into His family.  Paul says further that we are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3)

“What’s the dif?”, you ask?  Well, I believe it is primarily one of attitude, perception, and ownership of all that we have in our adopted sonship/daughtership state in God’s family.

In my junior year of high school, our family decided to host a foreign exchange student.  So all the way from Holland, we welcomed “Wouter” into our home for an entire year.  I remember vividly picking him up from the airport, awkward first moments of silence, and that first morning at the breakfast table when he put unimaginable things together for breakfast, out of sheer ignorance of what he was and wasn’t supposed to eat together.  To this day, I still can’t forget that mashed potato sandwich.

But it didn’t take long before “Woody” (we couldn’t pronounce his real name) and I became fast friends.  We became truly like brothers in the same family.  We laughed, we wrestled, we shared secrets, we talked about girls, and we enjoyed sharing a room together for the year.  And just as vividly as I remember his first day in America, I remember his last.  I remember standing at that airport checkpoint, hugging him with tears literally pouring down my cheeks.  I remember standing there holding my brother, this brother I never had, for what seemed like an eternity.  We held each other and wept because of the deep sense of family that we had come to know in one another.  We cried and cried and we actually never said the word “goodbye” to each other.  We couldn’t bring ourselves to say it.

As strong as that bond was for the both of us (and I have never seen Woody again since that day), the bond of the Heavenly Father on those who call Him such would make my feelings for my exchange brother seem trite and silly.  We ARE all that He says we are.  We HAVE all that He says we have.  We WILL BE all that He says we will be. 

Just as God the Father embraces, prizes, touts, and honors God the Son, so He does for you His child. 

Now, what was it that you wanted to ask Him?

I’ve heard that most people are deathly afraid of public speaking.  I love it.  I find myself looking forward to the next time I get to communicate to a crowd.  As a kid, when other kids wanted to be firefighters, policemen, and astronauts, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian.  It’s true.

I recently had another opportunity to be in front of and speak to a large crowd.  As usual, I was in my element.  I hope that doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I suppose I can’t help it if it does.  I don’t mean it to be, it’s just that the more people I’m in front of, the more comfortable I am.  It’s weird, I know.

I got a comment from someone in the crowd the other day that he just couldn’t believe “how comfortable I seem up there.”  It’s true.  I love it.  And again, I’m not sure how this is coming across, but I feel like its something like a gift from God.  Its a gift I’m so thankful for, because it ignites my insides. 

What is it that makes you come alive inside?  What is the gift of God in your life?  What is your talent, your unique ability?  What is that thing that brings you joy simply because you recognize it comes straight from God’s hand?

My youngest son just walked in soaking wet from the belly down.  Not even seeming to notice (or hoping I wouldn’t) he said calmly, “Hey Dad, can I get my swimming suit on and go in the stream?”  We have a small stream behind our house that our kids love to play near and around, but hardly ever IN.  So, his request came as a bit of a surprise.

I asked, “Hey Hudson, did you go into the stream with your clothes on?”  (Playing dumb.)  The response came back, “Ummm….no.”  I pressed on, “Then how did you get all wet?”  “Ummmm…….I dunno…….Hey Dad, can I put my swimming suit on and go in the stream?”  Clearly we had quickly come full-circle on this conversation.

I said, “Hudson, you’re all wet.”  He looked at his clothes momentarily, raised his head to look at me and said, “That’s no problem.”

What is it about doing the wrong thing that messes up our thinking?  Since it’s terribly hard to accidentally do the wrong thing, most of the wrong things we do (like going into the stream with our clothes on) are thought out, even if the thinking starts and ends nanoseconds before the wrong thing is done.

But we know when we’ve “stepped in it”, don’t we?  We have that sense of “uh oh” and sometimes we have the crazy audacity to come to God the Father dripping wet and acting like we’re bone dry.  We sometimes completely skip over the step of talking with Him about why we’re dripping on the carpet and go right to making our requests.  We do that because confessing our sins to God isn’t very comfortable.  We rationalize our behavior with thoughts like, “God already knows what I’ve done wrong, so it really doesn’t need to be brought up or discussed.” and “God knew what I was going to do before I did it, and He already forgave me so I can just forget about it.”

But let’s allow God’s Word to speak here: 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The word “confess” is “homolageo” and means literally “to say the same”.  When we see sin in our lives, our confession is when we say the same thing about it that God says about it.  Essentially, confession is agreeing with God that a sin is a sin.  We don’t sugarcoat, we don’t gloss over, we don’t sweep under, we don’t dismiss.  We face it, and SAY THE SAME as God says about it.  Only then can we rightly partake of the forgiveness that is ours by the blood of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Our confession triggers His faithful response of justice—wait a minute here—justice?!?  The verse says that God is “faithful and JUST…”  Where in the world is the justice?  How do forgiveness and justice go together?  In human terms, forgiveness and justice don’t seem to be anywhere near each other.  You either forgive OR you dispense justice.  If you punch me in the face, I can either forgive you OR dispense justice by punching YOU in the face.  So, how can the concepts of justice AND forgiveness be found together in apparent harmony in this verse?

It’s because Jesus on the cross satisfied once and for all the justice of God’s holiness.  God’s holiness demanded a holy sacrifice.  Jesus was that supply.  Jesus was that sacrifice.  1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…”

So, when we confess (say the same as God about) our sins, the forgiveness (made possible by the satisified justice of God through Jesus on the cross) is applied to that sin and we are purified from all unrighteousness.  Now, if you read that verse again, you’ll read that God does “purify us from all unrighteousness.”  That means that every sin, every flaw, every decision we’ve made, every word we’ve said, and every thing we’ve done is purified by the hand of God.

But it all begins when we confess.  I know this may not be a pleasant illustration, but I’ve always felt that vomiting is a great illustration of confession.  You see, vomiting happens when your body rejects something that has been put into it; either by something you ate, or by virus.  Just like that, your spirit knows when something has entered that doesn’t belong there, that isn’t part of God’s will and plan for you.  And the only way to get rid of it is to confess, to vomit, to expel it from your life.  Have you ever noticed that you usually feel better after puking ?  When all of that virus, that food item, that whatever-it-is is gone, you have a sense of relief.

What sin are you holding in?  Are you coming before God in dripping wet clothes but pretending you’re dry?  Puke that thing out, call it what it is, and allow God to purify you from all unrighteousness.

It’s a word we use to describe being between there and here, or here and there, or now and later.  My blog has been in “limbo” for quite a while.  And as I relaunch this puppy, I’m making a few commitments to myself and to you, the readers (whom I love, even if it is just my Mom):

1. Positivitude:  Sometimes my heart gripes.  As a pastor who’s been around the block more than twice, I’ve found that my default setting can easily slip into thoughts like “why are people lame enough to choose ________ over coming to worship?”, “when is _________ going to get their act together and just turn it all over to God already?”, and “I think the teens I serve and lead couldn’t look more disinterested in Jesus than they do.”  So, I’m sincerely trying to bridle my mind and steer it in a direction that seeks and celebrates the good, the beautiful, the positive. 

2.  Interconnectability:  Another thing I’d love my blog to be is more interconnected with other quality blogs.  I want to point you to good places to read good things that cause you think good thoughts.  I think that’d be good.  And ever since that “Prayer of Jabez” craze swept through Christendom years ago, I don’t feel guilty about praying for “expanded territory”.   So, you can check out my “blogroll” to the right and click one of those.  I hope to grow that blogroll more, but only with what I consider “quality” blogs. If you know of a quality blog (even if its yours!) let me know in the comment section. I’ll check it out and if its makes the cut, I’ll add it to my blogroll.

3.  Relatability: I love to read comments people put on my blog posts.  And while its true that my #1 commentor is my own Dad, I’d love to read what YOU think about something I’ve written.  Did it help you? Did it enrage you?  Did it confuse you? Do you disagree?  Can you add to it?  Write your thoughts and tell me what YOU think!

So, here’s hoping that my state of limbo will end soon.  And that I’ll get back to a rhythm of posting and reap the benefits that come along with it!

I’ve been dealing with a jacked up back for the past 4 weeks or so.  Its been more than frustrating because normally I’m the picture of health.  “Fit as a fiddle” as they say.  But this weekend, I just couldn’t take it anymore.  So I got an appointment with the doc for Monday.  He did x-rays, ran some tests, yada yada, and gave me some drugs.  3 different pills.  One to relax the muscles, one to soothe the pain, and one just for fun I guess.

So, I’ve been doing better the last couple days, thanks to the meds and I actually began to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  That is, until I needed ketchup with my fries.

We were at McDonald’s for dinner last night and I’m the kind of guy who likes a bit of ketchup with his fries (though I prefer mayo, but that’s another story entirely), so I got up and walked my bad back self over to the ketchup dispenser, grabbed a small ketchup cup and pushed down on the lever that dispenses the ketchup. Well, there must have been an air pocket in the line because a couple seconds after it started coming out, it suddenly sputtered.  That sputter caused me to shutter (I know, real manly right?) and in that instant I jerked with fright and consequently tweeked my back again.

For the love of everything good and decent, I just wanted some ketchup!

It’s been said that “God is less often in the momentous and more often in the moment.”

I think that kicked the door to my stale blog in. It’s been way too long since I’ve written anything. And I think I just realized why: I’m waiting for the momentous, and missing the moments. Well, not anymore.

I’m writing today because quite honestly, I’m sick of not writing. This won’t be anything momentous; it’s a collection of moments from the past week or so. Feel free to bail.

I should say here that I’m planning on moving this blog. No offense to blogspot; we’ve been great partners and they’ve hosted me quite nicely for lo these many years. But I think it’s time to move on. I’m planning on going with a .com in the near future, as opposed to a blahblah.blahblah.com. We’ll see.

Months ago, one of the neighbor kids was in our front yard playing and kicked a soccer ball right at our front porch. The ball broke right through a piece of our railing spindles that go around our porch. It would have been less frustrating if I was told it happened instead of simply finding out myself. Then, the day after I finally get the spindles fixed, guess who was back in my front yard, and guess who had his soccer ball again, and guess who kicked it through the same spindles for a second time.

Guess who almost lost his cool and wanted to use the kid’s head as a soccer ball?

Well, apply that story to my youngest daughter’s eye. Yesterday a group of neighborhood kids were playing kickball in our backyard and Macy took a line drive right to her eye. She woke up this morning with a bit of a shiner. And just minutes ago, guess who walked in holding her OTHER eye?

Some times you’ve just got to laugh at the Law of Probability.
(And I love the fact that my yard is where the neighborhood comes to play kickball.)

In other news, I’m on day two of a long journey back to a healthy back. I’m on 3 meds. One of which has to be taken with another med, which means actually 4 meds are coursing through my veins. I’m typing most of this with my eyes closed so I can get some rest. These pills knock me out. When I went to the doctor yesterday, I’m fairly certain I was the only one without a walker. Made me feel young.

The other day at breakfast, my youngest son told us exactly how he’s going to react to his birthday presents. His birthday is 4 months away. I love that he’s already practicing his facial expressions and gratitude. I can learn a lot from that. Why wait to watch God work before being thankful that He does? And why wait until He asks before saying “Yes!” And why wait until Sunday to worship Him?

Last Sunday, I spoke to a room full of teenagers as we wrapped up a 3-week series called “Who is God?” Here’s how the weeks broke down:
Week 1: God is knowable and eternal.
Week 2: God is holy and just.
Week 3: God is loving and gracious.
Week 3 was my favorite message because it centered on the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15. It’s a mind-blowing story when you understand all the nuances and tidbits that are found in it. Even if you don’t, it’s an amazing picture of God’s faithfulness, patience, and grace.

I’ve also just read a book called “The Truth About You”. It’s not a Christian book per se, but it is one that I found quite interesting and one that I am enjoying cogitating on and applying to my own life. The author made the contention that strengths aren’t necessarily what you’re good at, and likewise weaknesses aren’t necessarily what you’re bad at either. Strengths are things that make you feel stronger, more alive, and joy-filled and by contrast weaknesses are things that make you feel drained, bored, and weak. I’m in the process (assigned) of carrying a small pocket-sized memo pad in my pocket and I’m writing down anything that I can clearly identify as a “strength”. These are things I look forward to before they happen, enjoy doing, and feel stronger after I’ve done them. Pretty interesting stuff so far.

Well, after reading this post, maybe I should stick with the momentous. This moment stuff is pretty lame.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

I haven’t written anything in a while and I’m very aware of that. I’ve been busy/without subject matter to write about, really. I vowed when I started this blog that I’d write when I had something to write about. That may have been the death nail for the blog as far as keeping consistent readers. After all, when I go to a blog and see it stale, I almost instantly drop it from my blog-reading radar. And so I’d certainly expect others to do the same to this one.

So, just a quick note to say that I know I’ve been lacking in the consistent writing department, that I’m sorry, and that I have several blog posts in the works. And here’s hoping that if you’re reading this, you’ll keep me on your list of blogs you enjoy reading. I really do plan on getting back into a rhythm. There’s been too much going on in my mind not to.

Thanks for visiting.

Jerry