I am not sure if this creepy or not, but I love people watching. I love watching what is so important to people and how they react when those important things are challenged or threatened. The mall is the best place to people watch. There are plenty of "important" things for people to pursue and their facial expressions, body language and to a much lesser extent, their own words write the story of that pursuit. It is quite hilarious and at times really discouraging to see human depravity at it's finest.
However now, being a church planter/pastor/older creepy guy, I find the local coffee shop to be a much appreciated and richer place to watch people go about the "important" things in their lives. The coffee shop is much less
out loud and much more introspective, which is fine with me, because I get to create their inner monologue.
Unfortunately, today, their was a young woman who decided to not have a silent inner monologue, but in a tragic decision, decided to let everyone in the coffee shop know what she was thinking. It started when she walked in. She was wearing a green shirt that simply said
"Treehugger" across the front. (Ryan's internal monologue insight #1:"Sister tree's aren't the only things getting hugged by that tight shirt right now." ) She proceeds to walk up to the
counter loudly talking to her friend about "What this area really needs is...". I can't honestly tell you anything after that, because I have been conditioned by Fox News, talk radio and a history of a legalistic church to shut down upon hearing those words.
She orders her Chai tea with non-fat organic creamer and a twig from a holly bush and sits at the table next to me and begins to include all the coffee shop in the conversation she is having with her friend. The topic? I have no idea. I'm not sure there was a common thread to any of the conversation. It began with a story about seeing an ad for free massages. (Ryan's internal monologue #2: "If you see an ad for a "Free Massage" and you think, "What a great idea! I can't wait to partake of this soothing activity from a total stranger at their house out of earshot of anyone outside the house who could help me if the masseuse decides to tenderize your head with a sledgehammer", then you deserve to die a grizzly death I guess.) The girl then continued telling the story about going to the address of the ad and finding a couple who gave massages (Ryan's internal monologue #3 - All I can think of is this: Will Ferrell Hot Tub Lovers) and had lots of cats. (R I M #4 - Of course they did.)
As if this weren't enough, in the same sentence, without a break, this conversation turns to the geological make up of the mountains of Western Massachusetts. I am not kidding. There was no cheesy transition like, "Speaking of relaxing activities, I was studying the geology of the mountains of Western Massachusetts the other day to relax from a long day of being exposed to the soul stealing entities of electricity and indoor plumbing, and you will never guess what I found out, they are mining those mountains for Pixie Stix!". Nothing like that. It was as if someone just pushed the button to change the channel on the conversation in mid sentence. Free massages from a flyer one minute and Historical Geology the next.
However, the most random and telling thing happened after the tight-shirted treehugger's (R I M #5 - I don't say "treehugger" in a Fox News/Rush Limbaugh derogatory way. I refer more to the self-labeling and circulation challenging t-shirt) friend left the coffee shop and she was left alone. As they were settling into their table, the tree hugger stood up quickly and announced that she needed sugar in her organic, chai, rosebud flavored tea. However, as she stood up, she glanced at her friend, saw that there was something wrong and then sat back down just as quickly and said, "Silly me, I am drinking chai, you don't need sugar for chai." The conversation about the massage and the rocks then took place and about 20 minutes later, the tree huggers friend left the coffee shop. As soon as the door closed, the tree hugger went over to the condiments table and dumped sugar into her tea, drank two sips and poured it out.
When we first arrived in Western MA, we were introduced to the culture by a variety of sources. A couple of women who had just recently graduated from Mount Holyoke College took us around campus and explained how it is common for women to arrive on campus and change their identity a full 180 degrees just to fit in. These changes usually take many forms and some much more drastic than what I saw this morning, but it was a great reminder of who we are ministering to. And it also was a blast to watch.
This happened. Jesus happened. Jesus paid the debt that was and is owed. He satisfied the wrath of God forever. All of God’s wrath was poured out at the cross. Just listen to these verses:
I Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
I John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
I John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
To sum up all of these verses again, God didn’t change. He is a Holy God who still demands a sacrifice for transgressions against Him and mistrust in His character. However, this is a Holy price that we are incapable of paying. In fact, Paul says that the law, the Old Testament rules and regulations by which Israel lived and which Jesus fulfilled were given to prove we are incapable.
Enter Jesus. All of history is HIS Story of redemption. All history is His Story of rescue and propitiation, taking on what He wasn’t guilty of to pay the high price of the guilty, which includes me, you, everyone of us who have ever lived the Bible says.
But wait a second. When we examine Achan, you have to point out that he really Sinned, with a capital “S”. This was a big deal. 1.8 million dollars? From God non the less. That is a big time crime. Granted. It was a big deal.
But are we really any different than Achan. Look at what Achan took from God: His gold and silver.
Who is responsible for providing for you? Who gives good gifts to His children and provides for their every need? Biblically, all of our life and everything in it is God’s. He deserves it all. Do we withhold even a portion of it? Do we take from His “first fruits” to do the things we think we want and need because be believe if we don’t we will not be taken care of? Do we date and do relationships the way we want because doing the way God wants is too constricting and not nearly as fun? All of these steal from Him. All of these are acts of worship of us. In each case, we tell God we are better god than He is. That is no different than what Achan has done.
What about that “goodly Babylonish garment”? Wearing or even owning this Babylonian robe would have given Achan or anyone who owned it status, great status. For a Jew to have it and wear it around would have been saying, “Look what I have now! Look what I did! I defeated the Babylonians!” It is saying, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Simply, Achan’s sin is the foundational sin of all other sins I believe, pride. Achan, like us wanted this garment to wear and gain status with whoever would recognize it and admire it and in turn, admire him for having it. Babylonian garments are not quite as chic as they used to be, but many other things certainly are. Certain technology, the right car, clothing, style or look and even the right cause to support all serve as pride boosters for us. We cloak ourselves in these things to gain favor from others. We gain status by owning them and using them. Again, we are no different than Achan.
Some of you may be hearing this and saying, sure I do those things, but I do these other things to make up for it. I am saving the planet or I treat others with respect at all times or I even read my Bible a lot. The Bible calls this philosophy religion. Jesus doesn’t think to highly of it and Paul call your own “earned righteousness”, a bloody tampon. (Take it up with Paul.)
We cannot earn our way back to God. Achan could not “do” anything to satisfy God’s righteous wrath. He sinned against God. Done deal. He was doomed. He couldn’t take it back, give it back, say he was sorry in a real sincere tone, wax the Ark of the Covenant and be OK. Being right with God doesn’t work that way.
Only through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ can we be right with Jesus. Only through what this bread and this cup signify is true life found. On the night before Jesus was brutally murdered as the last and only complete sacrifice, He took bread like this and said, “This is my body, given for you.” He is pointing to being that sacrifice for us that we cannot pay. Also that night, He took the cup and prayed over it and said, “This is my blood of the covenant poured out for many…” He again pointed to this being a covenant between His Father and us. This covenant like the covenant Dan talked about last week has God’s roles and our roles spelled out.God’s role; to come, live a perfect life, die a horrible death, raise from that death on the third day and then give us forgiveness and life from our past sins, current sins and future sins. Our role: Believe, follow, and allow His light to shine in us for His glory and our perfect good.
For many of you today, accepting this gift of salvation and no longer being responsible for the curse and penalty of your sin is as simple as praying to God and asking His forgiveness and accepting this grace. Remember when Joshua told Achan to “give glory to the God of Israel and give praise..”? This is what you have a chance to do this morning. Pray this to Jesus. Tell Him you have sinned and need His rescue now. Then, step out this morning and partake in this communion. There is nothing magical about this bread or this juice (It was probably bought at Big Y and their aren’t many magical things there.), however, what it represents is supernatural. Jesus did die for your sins and is offering you salvation this morning.
For those of you who have been rearranging your flesh to do the good things and stay away from the bad things in hopes of earning enough God points to be OK, repent of your religion. Pray that Jesus would forgive you for being self-reliant and for not submitting yourself to Him. Come and take this communion and remember that the cross only gives us freedom to live, love and worship.
For those of you who are living in this grace and mercy now, let this again remind us of the greatness of our Savior King. Respond to this message again in a fresh way by going crazy as you sing to your Savior this morning. Take the words to these songs and put deep inside of you and let them explode out as you sing. Worship out loud this morning for the glory of our King Jesus.
We all share in Achan’s sin. We are all guilty of the same pride that he had which God took issue with, however, we are now offered the love of a Savior Who has loved and rescued us from our own death.
This is the rather long manuscript from my sermon I was blessed to preach at MERCYhouse last Sunday. Thanks Robert for the opportunity!
Get Real: Joshua Chapter 7
For those of you who don’t know me, I am Ryan McCullah and I am the planting pastor of Valley Church, a church that is a church plant from MERCYhouse and part of the 2020 Vision.
We are currently hosting 3 House Churches in the South Hadley and Holyoke area right now and our Leadership Team is meeting weekly to pray and prepare for our official launch in April. It has been an amazing year here at
MERCYhouse and I anticipate the launch with an equal amount of excitement and sadness because we know we will not be able to see many of you on a weekly basis like we get to now. However, we are clear about what God is doing and we believe He is using us to speak to the dry bones of the Pioneer Valley like God asked Ezekiel to in the book of Ezekiel.
We have been studying this amazing book of Joshua for 8 weeks now and I hope that you have been as encouraged, blessed and challenged as I have by this amazing book and the messages that Robert and last week Dan have brought from this book. I hope to continue representing this text authentically and in a way that will continue to encourage, bless and challenge.
I have been in ministry now for 13 years and one of the most difficult parts of teaching the Bible is dealing with scripture like we will find in Joshua Chapter 7. Before we begin, let’s pray and read the scripture.
Last week, Dan taught on the miraculous events surrounding the fall of the great walled city of Jericho. God provided the victory through some very specific means and had very specific desires about how the city was to be left after it’s defeat. Like Dan said last week, God knew His role and commanded that Jericho be fully destroyed and it’s gold, silver and other vessels of bronze and iron be taken into the treasury of the Lord. He expected the Israel to know it’s role and obey. However, we will see this week that this didn’t happen.
After Jericho was defeated, Joshua set his sights on the small nearby city of Ai. Ai was a much smaller and less fortified area than Jericho, but sat up much higher in elevation than Jericho, which was believed to be some 750 below sea level. This is kind of like conquering the mainline United States, but falling in defeat to the state of Hawaii. (Don’t laugh, those coconuts and pineapples hurt if you get hurt with them. You have to be trained to know how to defend yourself against passion fruit.) However, when we compare and contrast the attack of Jericho with the attack at Ai, we see a few things emerge.
First, nowhere do we see God tell Joshua to attack Ai. Neither do they ask God whether they should or not. This seems to be a result of a Jericho victory hangover. It seems as if these are quite the over confident actions. In fact, Joshua only sends a small group of 3,000 men to attack Ai.
Second, notice how Chapter 7 begins. “But the people of Israel broke faith…”. The whole nation was is in the path of God’s anger. We see that the perpetrator of these actions that have caused God’s anger is one man, Achan.
God rightly commanded that the whole city of Jericho be burned and the gold, silver and vessels of bronze and iron be brought into the treasury of the Lord. This was a common practice when a land was defeated to take the “spoils” of the first city and put them within the treasury of the Lord. Basically, this was a war chest of all the gold, silver and precious items from the first fallen city of every land. These items were brought together and everyone recognized that they were set apart for the Lord. They were the Lord’s. The items or spoils from the rest of the cities of the conquered lands were then given to the people. We later find out that Achan had stolen some of the spoils and hid them in his tent. It was one man’s actions; however, the whole nation is culpable and must suffer the consequences. They collectively are all guilty of breaking the covenant they made with God.
They then suffer by experiencing an embarrassing defeat at Ai. They suffer by not moving fully into the promise of what God had promised them.
They suffered by not being OK with God.
Joshua came mourning before God and asking why this happened. God spoke very clearly when He said that the reason for this defeat was that sin had come to people of God. Sin was the problem. Sin needed to be dealt with.
God then commanded Joshua to lead. He commanded Joshua to gather all the people. God was ready to hunt the one who broke faith in regard to the devoted things of Jericho. In Chapter 6, God told Joshua to tell the people to stay way from the things of Jericho that were described as “devoted things for destruction”. These things included everything inside the walls of Jericho including the “spoils of war”: gold, precious treasures, fine garments and other valuables of this immense walled city.
So why was God so concerned with His people staying away from these things? Because, God describes them as objects of destruction. Because they are objects of destruction! They destroy! Hurt! Bad! Danger Will Robinson, Danger! I believe it is the same reason I was angry recently, when I found my youngest daughter Kiah wielding a large kitchen knife trying to get into her birthday presents after I had told her no. Why was I angry? Am I a control freak who hates the thought of my youngest daughter having fun and enjoying her birthday presents? No. I am a father who hates the thought of my daughter bringing me 3 severed fingers covered in blood saying, “Look what I did Daddy!”
So how did God deal with this sin? He had the people consecrate themselves, which included separating themselves out from one another, washing their clothes and abstaining from sexual relations for a period of time. He then had everyone wake up early in the morning, gather in their tribes and then God performed the most terrifying game of pick’em in history. (Not only is getting picked last in this game embarrassing, but it is life threatening. Kind of like “Duck, Duck, Dead”) He narrowed down the peoples by clans and then by individual families until Achan had been identified as the culprit.
Joshua then approaches Achan and asks him to “give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise…”. Interesting wording there. But we will come back to that.
Achan comes clean and tells Joshua that he took a beautiful cloak from Shinar, 200 shekles (80 lbs) of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekles (20 lbs). A side note here, to put this in perspective, this amount of gold and silver actually adds up to roughly the amount of wages a common worker would earn in a lifetime. (Median income in MA – about $60,000 a year – 30 years – $1.8 million)
The amount is not the offense necessarily, even though it is immense, the real issue is Who he stole from. Let’s examine this for second. You see, this is not an 8th commandment issue (Thou shalt not steal), it is really a first commandment issue (You shall have no other God’s before Me.) Achan is really questioning God’s character by taking these for himself. He is literally saying that God will not take care of him well enough, so he has to take from God to take care of himself. Achan is saying that he is a better god than God. See how this offends God? See how questioning His goodness could be an issue?
God was so offended by Achan’s sin that He brings swift and permanent judgment on Achan. Joshua sends men to dig up the tainted treasure and bring it back and lays it before God, Achan and the people to all see. Once there, Joshua and the men gathered everything of Achan’s; his livestock, the gold and silver, the tent he lived in and even his family. Then, they stoned Achan and his family and lit the remaining things on fire.
As shocking as that is, this next part may be even more shocking. This action of violence and vengeance actually satisfied God’s wrath. The chapter ends by saying, “Then the Lord turned from his burning anger.”
What?! This violence and vengeance satisfied God? That is so out of kilter with the God that we hear about all the time right? This simply doesn’t fit! How can this be? This seems like a totally different God than the one we see in the New Testament right? If this is truly Who God is, then He will not fit in here in Western MA. He is way too intense for this place. This sounds like such a different God than the one we see Robert talk about each week. Is it that it’s me? Is it that Ryan drew the short straw and only represents Vengeance-God and Robert gets to teach about, post counseling, “on His meds” God? What is so different? What has changed?!!!!
I was honored to preach at MERCYhouse on 8/16/09 on I John 5:6-12. Here is the manuscript of that sermon. I hope it is used to glorify Christ.
I John 5:6-12
It seems as if we have spent a lot of time hearing from this dude, the Apostle John. We studied his account of the life, death and glorious resurrection of his best friend Jesus. We saw as he told stories that no other account told and really gave insights that were very unique about the God/Man, Jesus.
All summer, we have been tracking as this same John has been writing and telling of how this love of Jesus practically plays out in our lives. I think now would be a good time to reassess what we know of John.
Remember, John and his brother James were apostles, disciples and followers of Jesus. It is believed that this same John wrote the Gospel of John, I, II & III John as well as the book of Revelations. However, to really know what happened to John as a person as he followed Christ, we have to look at a story about John that he conveniently left out of his Gospel account (and I think you will see why).
In Matthew 20:20-28 we see James and John accompany their mom to see Jesus. The purpose of this visit is to ask Jesus a very important question. John’s whole family, it appears, is very interested in being seen as so important that one day, John and James will be able to sit one at the right hand and one at the left hand of Jesus. Being able to follow Jesus gave John the opportunity to see what power and ability there would be in the future if they continued to follow Jesus. This opportunity was very inviting and worth the chance to approach Jesus to see if they qualified. So the question really has to be what does John hope to be defined as by doing this? It seems that early on, John wanted to be defined or known as important and needed. He had his Mom ask for him to sit at Jesus right hand. This signified a place of power, honor and trust.
However, as John wrote his Gospel, which is dated later than all the other Gospels, we see that he defined himself in a totally different way. In John 21:7 we see John describe himself this way, “That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter…” (Emphasis added) Do you see it? When John wrote his account of his best friend Jesus and he mentioned himself here, John refers to himself, defines himself and calls himself nothing more than the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. Something happened from the beginning of Jesus ministry to the end of his life that John witnessed which moved John to desire to be defined in a wholly different way.
I think we will get a glimpse into what John witnessed to change his stripes when we look at what he wrote in I John 5:6-12.
This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
John continues in verse 6 building on the trustworthiness of Christ for our faith. In verses 4&5, he reminds us that faith in Jesus Christ can only overcome the world. Beginning here in verse 6, we see John begin to lay what I call the “rebar” portion of I John.
Rebar or reinforcing bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures. It is usually formed from carbon steel, and is given ridges for better mechanical anchoring into the concrete. It can also be described as reinforcement or reinforcing steel.
Here, we see John reinforce this whole chapter in which he has over and over again encouraged us to love one another, know that we are children of God, walk in the light and overcome the world. In verse 6, he lays out that there is a message, a testimony in which God, Himself, is communicating a foundational truth.John lays out that truth by first reminding us that Jesus came by both water and blood.
We understand the blood part pretty well. Jesus came as a human, full of breath and blood and poured out that blood as a literal sacrifice for the propitiation of our sin. He had to come by blood in order to shed it for us.
So what does the water mean? Some commentary study on these verses brings you to see that what is probably referred to here, is the baptism of Jesus. So what made that such a big deal? Well, look at Matthew3:13-17.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus presents Himself to John the Baptist to go through a public act that was being used to show the cleansing that was to come. By offering himself to be baptized, Jesus is endorsing John’s ministry and identifying with sinful people he came to save through his substitutionary life and death.
(Kierkegaard’s Parable Video).
This event was one of the events in scripture where we see each member of the Trinity together. Jesus is lowering Himself to serve and be served, therein glorifying the Father by this act of submission. God the Father peaks down from heaven and yells, “That’s my Boy!” and sends the Spirit, which John says is the Truth, to rest on Jesus to affirm Who He truly Is.
Do you see it there? Do you see the testimony that is given in this event? If you don’t, John is about to spell it out for you.
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has born concerning his Son.
John makes the point that if we receive the testimony of man, then how much more should we receive the testimony of God. We often accept the accounts and testimonies of people and weight them against their character. John, rightly, says that sense it is in our nature to trust according to character, then how trustworthy is the testimony of God and His Spirit about Jesus?
What are the consequences of not believing this testimony? Unbelief is actually a question of God’s character. It is offensive and provoking to God directly to His face when we do not believe Him. It is the original sin of the garden. Adam and Eve both questioned the character of God and went against how He was loving them.
MERCYhouse, it is beyond simply saying or thinking that we believe God. It is living in that love. James rightly says that faith without the works to back up that faith is futile. Faith in the testimony and character of God, without the life lived out to show His love isn’t really faith. You see, when we live knowing and trusting God, we become part of the testimony. John says that here. He says we have the “testimony within himself.”So MERCYhouse, do we believe the testimony of God more than we believe the testimony of men? Do we have the testimony within us? Do you individually believe God’s testimony above the testimony of man or woman or even yourself? What about beyond what we see, sense, fear, feel or want?
And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
So here is the payoff. This is the big picture, the main point, what it is all about. This is God’s testimony – He gave us eternal life in His Son Jesus. Whoever accepts Christ, His grace and mercy, which are capable of forgiving us of all unrighteousness, we begin to live. We then are given life.
A few years back, I was watching one of the many disaster movies that came out and found myself enjoying it more than most. Toward the end of this movie, Armageddon, there was this scene that I want to show you now that I think communicates a bit of what John is talking about here.
Armageddon Clip
(I couldn't get this clip to load. But it is the clip at the end where they draw straws and Affleck draws the short straw and Bruce Willis pulls his oxygen hose and throws him back in the elevator.)
I love this clip because it shows an amazing picture of sacrifice. In one of his few movies roles that actually doesn’t make me want to vomit into my hat, Ben Affleck shows what true worship actually looks like. After Bruce Willis pulls Affleck’s oxygen hose and shoves him into the elevator and Affleck realizes the sacrifice that has been made, he responds to this love that is shown by crying out to Willis that he loved him.
This clip, however, is really flawed when we measure it against the love and sacrifice that Christ showed for us. To be more accurate, the movie would have to depict these men somehow creating a giant asteroid, launching it from space toward earth willfully and then coming back to earth to deal with the consequences of the collision, which they have no ability, desire or capacity to deal with. (Somehow, I can’t see that being a Hollywood Summer Blockbuster.) However, the picture of someone who did not draw the short straw taking our place and paying the price we could not pay is accurate and does echo the great sacrifice of Christ.
We have no capacity for life. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are dead in our trespasses and sin. Paul calls us still born. We are in need of rescue and John points out clearly here that Jesus is our Rescuer. Life does not exist outside of Jesus Christ.
So what is standing between you and Him today? No matter what it is, He is bigger. He has paid for you when you couldn’t. So what is your response today? What is your heart bursting to do, sing, or cry out today? Live authentically today in the light of Our King.
This time 13 years ago, I was in my office of University Heights Baptist Church. I wasn't preparing a Bible Study or putting the finishing touches on going to camp. I was getting into my tux and enjoying the time with my friends who were about to stand beside me on stage as I waited for my soon to be bride to walk down the aisle of UHBC.
So much has changed in those 13 years: 3 kids, 11 different jobs, 13 different houses, 9 different towns and nearly 40 more lbs (for me, not her). However, one thing has remained. God has continued to bless me beyond what I deserve by allowing me to be loved by, respond to, lead and care for Christie Beavers McCullah. If you know her, you know how amazing she is.
As I right this, she is asleep on the couch across the room from me. Why is she asleep? Well, we are staying with our amazing friends Will and Rachelle Joyce. They have two fantastic young boys, Jackson(4) and Thomas Ryan(2) (that's right, Thomas RYAN), and Rachelle is pregnant with Boy #3 (I am hoping for Eugene) . Well, a couple of days ago, Thomas Ryan developed a pretty rough cough. It has made him not feel well and sleep difficult. Last night, after Rachelle had served in the Kids area of her church, driven us all around St. Louis, prepared our meals for us and generally been an amazing host, she crashed around 10 PM. Around 3 AM, Thomas Ryan woke up with his cough and decided that it was time to play, so he went into the room where the girls were sleeping and began to ask them "What doing?". Christie heard him get up and went in to see if she could get him back to sleep. It took a while, but Christie eventually rocked him back to sleep. Christie wasn't going to say anything about it this morning, but the girls loved the fact that they had a cute late night visitor and told Rachelle. Rachelle was shocked to hear the news of her son paying social visits last night and asked Christie, "Why didn't you wake me?" Rachelle and everyone who knows Christie knows the answer to this question. Christie loves and serves because she is aware of how loved she is by Jesus. She simply gives because so much has been given to her. As her husband, I often have to tell her she can't give anymore at times. But that is how she is wired.
One thing has changed in these 13 years. I love her more now than I did when we said "I do" 13 years ago. I really never understood what that meant or that it was even possible to grow in your love of someone. Infatuation and the feelings of early love are intense, but it is true that deep, abiding love does grow. As my body grows in places it shouldn't and my jokes and nuances become less "cute", God has replaced our capacities to love and serve one another with super natural abilities to love one another.
I now recognize that loving Christie is my first act of worship of Jesus. Her protection, welfare, success, capacity for joy and provision are my pleasure to take care of and Jesus is glorified when I love her as He loved His Church.
Thank you all, as our community, for loving us, praying for us and supporting us. Your accountability and love are a vital part of our marriage working. Thank you and we love you all!
Most importantly, thank you Jesus for blessing me with my Bride, Christie and for the amazing blessing that was set in motion on August 3, 1996.
About a week ago, we arrived in Eastern Oklahoma. As we arrived, I was again reminded of how similar the landscape of Eastern Oklahoma and Western Massachusetts really is. They are both beautiful!
When we arrived, we went to my grandparents house to show them what was happening in MA. It was great to see them and let them know what God was doing. The girls spent the time mourning the upcoming separation from their Poppie, my dad and their Grandma Joanne. The time finally came to leave and their was much sadness. Part of being called to do what we do means being away from people that we love dearly. It is not always easy, but we know what we are called to do. Please pray for our girls to continue to listen to the Spirit as He communicates His will for our lives and gives peace to deal with the consequences of that calling.
The girls spirits were lifted when they arrived at their Nana's house though. It was great to see the girls continue this time of joy on this trip by seeing their Nana and Grandpa Ed. We have been with my mom for about a week now and it has been great! They have loved swimming, playing, watching movies and hanging out with Nana. It has also been great hosting many of our friends who live around here as well. Our friends Matt & Cara Yakel and their kids Keagan and Kate came over and hung out one night and we swam & BBQ'd. It was great to see all of them again. It is wonderful to be with people that pray for and support us throughout the year. We were able to hang out and swim and laugh, a lot. It is always fun to be around these friends.
Sunday, the 19th, we traveled to Dewitt, AR to speak to FBC, Dewitt. My good friend Lindsay Robinson is getting married on the 25th and I am officiating the wedding, so it was great to join her and her fiance that weekend. It was also a blessing to be introduced to her pastor at FBC, Kelly Jones and his family. As you can probably tell by this picture, Kelly is very funny and we had a great time together. Kelly was kind enough to open up his pulpit and allow me to present our ministry and speak Sunday morning. The podcast for the sermon I preached is found here: FBC, Dewitt Podcast. Thanks so much Kelly & FBC Dewitt!!
When we got back to Eastern, OK, we reconnected with the girls who had a great time that weekend with their cousins and other family. On Monday night, we swam and grilled out and had a great time. However, at dinner that night, Kenzie mentioned that she thought that she swallowed something sharp that was hurting her throat. Knowing that she has asthma, we thought that it might be something to do with her gag reflex, but as she continued to complain about it, we sensed something was pretty wrong. Luckily, my cousin Russell, who is a respiratory therapist, was eating with us and looked into her throat. He suggested we go to the ER because he saw something "shiny". I looked to confirm what he saw and sure enough, there was something there. We loaded her up and went to the ER. On our way there, I called my friend Matt Duke, who is a registered nurse, and got his opinion on the situation. Within 20 minutes, Matt shows up at the ER to sit with us and see what he could do. However, as Kenzie got more and more nervous, Christie suggested bringing Matt in and having him explain to Kenzie what is going to happen. This seemed to calm her quite a bit. Matt also stayed back with us and helped in some of the more difficult moments of the procedures we had to go through. After finally getting her sedated enough to look into her throat, the doctors pulled a bristle out of her throat from the brush that I had used to clean the grill with. It was such a fluke thing that caused her such great pain. It was really crazy. I tried to take a picture of what it looks like in comparison to a quarter. It is blurry, but it will give you some idea of what it looks like and how long it was.
There were some really scary moments obviously, but there were also some almost funny moments as well. They gave Kenzie Catamine to calm down so they could calm her down and get the other sedative in her. Basically, Catamine is a derivative of PCP, so Kenzie was high as a kite. She reverted back to believing she was in the pool and held her breath and moved her hand back and forth like she was swimming. It was quite funny to see her enjoying herself on that ER bed with all of the lines, monitor cords and oxygen lines coming from her. This of course was interspersed with her yelling (very slowly) in terror "MMMOOOMMMYYYY!!"
I really am not sure I could have made it without my freind Matt there. He and I got to know each other when we were college at Carl Albert State College (Chuck Albert). We both were relatively new in our life in Christ and found great community and accountability together. Much of the work that we do in the Mancave in MA now is based on the life and friendship in Christ that Matt. myself and our other friends shared. When we in college and I was studying jounalism, I often made fun (lovingly of course) of Matt's pursuit of being a nurse. I even convinced him to get his new Bible imprinted with the name "Nursey Boy". However, as I watched how God had created Matt to help people like he does, it was obvious that Matt was obeying the leading of the Spirit. We would often have discussions when he was early in his career as a nurse and I was a new Youth Minister that if I had a bad day, a parent may be upset, but if he had a bad day, people died. Matt was always quick to remind me that there were eternal consequences in what I did with people, he only helped keep them from those eternal consequences for as long as possible. I say all of this to say it was amazing to have a skilled nurse and professional like Matt there Monday night. However, it was better to have a friend like Matt there.
Thank you everyone who was praying for her and for us. Matt's wife Angie kept everyone updated on Twitter about what was happening and I had many people ask about how Kenzie was doing and tell me they were praying for her and us. Thank you all!!!
Will Rogers once quipped, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it'll change." July 3rd was 103 degrees. July 5th was near 90 degrees. This video was July 4th, around 4 PM. What a blast!
Christie cut in line in front of all of these children to ride the Segue at the Oklahoma Science Museum. I thought the only thing they would have at the Oklahoma Science Museum would be a bucket of Anthrax, "One of the most dangerous chemicals known to man!" No, they had rocket boosters, and big fun wooden tree houses and a "Science Live" Show where a college student "blowed up" a lot of stuff and made jokes about maiming little kids. It really was a great time here are some other pics. The full set should be on my Facebook soon.
We left Ft. Worth on the 29th of June and headed for Oklahoma. It was neat having the girls cheer when they crossed the Oklahoma boarder, even though they have collectively only lived in Oklahoma for 4 years between the 3 of them. We moved to Richmond when Maddie was 3 and Kenzie was 1. Mikiah has never known Oklahoma as home, but each of them know Oklahoma to be a special place because of the special people that live here. This trip so far has been a trip full of those special people that we have known for a while and new special people that we are blessed to now know and call friends.
In Ft. Worth, we met up with Christie's old roomate, Kim Vanderbeek Malone and her two precious twin sons. We sat and ate ice cream in the food court of a mall and then let Christie catch up while we took the kids to the pet store downstairs. The visit was far too short, but it certainly was better than the Facebook messages that we had been exchanging. Nothing can replace a hug and a good laugh with an old friend. There is no Facebook App for that.
The kids were excited to see their Poppie and Grandma JoAnne in Ft. Worth. They loaded up our suitcases and brought us back to Newcastle/Blanchard/who-knows-where Oklahoma where we have been ever since. It has been great to hang out, enjoy catching up and resting. The girls have enjoyed watching the birds each morning and swimming. We had a big fireworks display planned for Saturday, the 4th, but the amazing Oklahoma weather reared it's ugly head and a storm passed through that afternoon and the house we were at lost power. It rained so much that the family members that had parked on the lawn, found themselves stuck in the mud when they got ready to leave. I put on my redneck hat, went and got my Dad's truck and pulled the van out of the mud. The ManCave and Fortress of Manitude would be proud.
We took one day and went to Stillwater to give the girls what called the "Mommy & Daddy College Days Tour". Kenzie and Kiah slept through it and I think Maddie realized that if she didn't at least look interested, she wouldn't get any ice cream at Marble Slab. (That's my girl!) We got to hang out with Christie's brother and his wife Megan that night. She is a Vet student at OSU and she showed us around where she works and some of the things she is studying. It was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast. We of course started the afternoon with cheese fries from Joes and ended the evening with pizza from Hideaway. It was great seeing Christie's brother Micheal. He is a great guy with a huge heart who loves to help those in need. Megan is a blast to be around and so ridiculously talented that I shutter to think what she could do if she had the time to only focus on her artwork.
Sunday, the 5th, we were blessed to share what God was doing with two churches. Sunday morning, we were able to join Surrey Hills Baptist Church and share what their support had been used to do. Surrey Hills was actually the first church we visited last summer when we initially began to approach churches about support. They responded in a wonderful way and supported our ministry financially and in prayer all year long. It was great to revisit them and let them know where there money was going and how it was being used for the Kingdom.
That night, we truly were blessed to see that God is truly going before us when we met with the folks at First Baptist Church, Sulphur. To understand how far back God has been working on this, you would need to understand our College group that we were a part of at University Heights Baptist Church in Stillwater, OK. Our fearless leader of that College Group was none other than Robert Krumrey, the pastor of MERCYhouse. One of our many friends in that group was Misty Franklin. She was originally from Sulphur and was very involved in the International Student ministry. We stayed in contact with Misty and later caught up with her when we lived in Richmond. She heard that we were moving to join Robert in MA and began praying for us and supporting us. In the Spring, we were planning our trip back to the area and Misty contacted us about her home church being interested in hearing about what God is doing. This allowed us to be there on the 5th and experience what God was doing in Sulphur! There was a great Spirit in that church and believe it or not, it was there even though they sang (gasp!) hymns played on a piano! (Sarcasm implied) At the endo the night, we saw where God was sending FBC, Sulphur and how they had a heart to support church planting. What a blessing!
The grandparents were sweet enough to take the girls to the zoo on Monday and Christie and I got to sleep in and take the day off. We ate at our favorite Japanese Steakhouse in the area and went to Mardel's the Christian Culture Superstore. Christie and I spent the day just walking, looking and being together it was great!
I have to admit, through everything though, the highlight has been seeing our neice Karlee. She was born in September and we had never been able to see her until we arrived on this trip. We have played with her and girls are loving getting to know her. She is quickly stealing our hearts. Had I not already seen that God can bring beautiful daughters from an ogre like me, I would have never believe that this precious little girl belongs to an ogre like my brother.
PS. This is a picture of me ground and pounding my brother. He thought because I was a little older and fatter that he could take me. Bad idea. Shortly after this, I forced him to say, "I'm a little sissy boy who eats my own boogers." like I did back in the day. Good times.
Oh what fun it is to tour when it is 105 degrees! We have had a great time on the "Fun"raising tour so far.
Tuesday, June 23rd, we flew into Houston and were picked up by our great family friends the Craigs. We knew the Craigs back when we were in Yukon, OK. They were a tremendous family who helped, encouraged and loved on us as we were served there in Yukon. Bob and Vera along with their grown kids, Josh and Katherine, have continued to love us and support us as we have moved to Richmond and now onto Massachusetts.
The Craigs showed us around Houston and we had a great time. The highlight (according to me) was the Houston Space Center. Growing up, I dreamed of being an astronaut and loved watching the Space Shuttle take off. I also loved hearing the stories and watching the films of the all of the Apollo missions that were launched in the 60's & 70's. So the Space Center was a dream. On top of all of that, there was a George Lucas exhibit on display at the Space Center. You seriously could not tell the difference between me and the kids most of the day. I was constatnly yelling. "Oh look at this!" or "Do you know what this is?!" It was amazing.
We got to see many of the original props from the movies including the original R2D2 and C3PO, hand written script for Star Wars and the costume of Indiana Jones. It was so cool to experience this with family and good friends.
However, the coolest part had to be seeing the rocket that launched the Appollo missions. It was huge! It really is hard to explain and these pictures do not do it justice. This massive rocket was an amazing scientific acheivement of a different time in American History. It truly was a blessing to see this thing.
The trip has had some work in it as well. On Saturday, we drove to Sulphur, LA where we connected up with our old friends the Taylors. Bobby is the pastor of Life Church in Sulphur. He was Christie's Youth Pastor back in the day when hair bangs resembled Venus Flytraps. It was great to see him and his family after many years and see what Life Church was all about. I presented what God was doing in all of their 3 services and it was a blessing to talk with many members of Life after the services.
Many talked about the statistics I presented of the lost state of Massachusetts, but the work of the Spirit that we see at MERCYhouse. It was very encouraging to hear the kind words of the Life Churh people and have them pray about supporting our ministry in the Pioneer Valley.
It was also encouraging to see what a mission minded church they are. This picture shows where they as a church are going this year on short term mission trips. It was amazing to hear how many of these short term trips led to sending individuals, couples and families off to the uttermost parts of the world to serve in a full time capacity. Bobby is responsible for setting this direction and passion in Life Church. It was a blessing to see. Stay tuned for Report 2 - Newcastle, Ok, Surrey Hills, Sulphur, Ok this time and the 4th of July!
PS. Check out more pics from our trip on my Facebook page!
Gallup released a new set of data this morning that you can find here. It shows the state of the US and each of the individual states in regard to their religious affiliation and emphasis. It is pretty brand new data, but there are some real interesting things to take from the study though.
4 of the 5 least religious states are New England States.
My state, Massachusetts is tied for the 3rd least religious state. (One would have think that if some Catholics were pushed about their "practice" of faith, whether this number would fall or not. However, if Baptists in Oklahoma and Texas were pushed about their faith as well, those numbers might also fall.)
When looking at the religious "pockets" in the US, New England is by far the least religious and largest pocket.
So what does all this mean? Well, I initially would like to say that I am really encouraged and have a different spin on what I see. One could look at this and say what a tragedy that New England is not religious. However, I think being described as religious is a lot like being described as being warm. If you are warm because you are snuggled on the couch in your favorite blanket, great. If you are warm because you have been set on fire, not so great.
Just like we have to find out what it means to be warm, we must find out what it means to be religious. Does it mean that people go to church more often? Does it mean that people pray and meet the needs of their neighbors? Does it mean they voted for the clean cut worship leader on American Idol and not the Glam rock gay guy?
What does it mean? Will this info simply continue to create a gap between these parts of America that Fox News and CNN love to widen? Will the religious look in judgment at the crazy liberals and pray like the Pharisee in Luke 18 in thanks that we are not like them?
I hope not. I hope it means that there is genuine faith in Jesus and lives lived for the gospel in these most religious parts. I also hope that the honesty of New England is seen as a confession of where we are and a realization of what God can do here. In fact, I have so much hope that God is working in this, I have wagered my life on it.
Baptist get them saved Presbyterians get them educated Methodist get them organized Episcopalians introduce them to High Society and Baptist get them saved.
Dr. John Hannah, Church History Conference, Omaha, Nebraska
I first started a blog on my old MySpace account (remember MySpace?) and I had a few that were worth bringing forward to this blog, so here goes. This is from March 26, 2006. Enjoy, or not.
I was cleaning out my office the other day when my wife walked into the room with a bothered look on her face. This usually means that one of the children has lodged a something in an orifice that they cannot dislodge or that we are out of Miracle Whip. (Dear God, please don't let it be the Miracle Whip.!) On this day however she proceeded to tell me that our neighbor boy was in our back yard adjusting a protective cup in front of our girls. My initial reaction, as it often is, was to think of ways to adjust him so he would no longer need the protective cup because he was doing that in front of my girls; however after careful consideration of facts such as our neighbor boy is young and not meaning anything harmful by his actions and that it is not nearly worth the effort to run the boy down, I decided to let this infraction slide by. The next day, when I was talking to our neighbor, the mother of the boy, she told me about the situation and the discussion they had to have with their son about adjusting the protection plan in front of the girls. She also told me that apparently the local little league has just begun to issue protective cups to all the boys who play summer baseball. Apparently the protection was handed out at the first practice and the first "drill" was to have the boys put them on, run around and get used to wearing them.
The sights and sounds of that practice had to be something like this:
(Coach calls the boys around him over by the home team on deck circle.)
Coach: OK boys, settle down. I have something that I need to hand out to all of you. Now everyone gets one, so don't knock each other over trying to get to these like you did with the ice cream sandwiches. I still have a blood stain from Kevin's nose on my favorite "Git R Done" t-shirt. My wife has washed it 3 times and it will never be same, so let's try to be a little more civil with this one. Before I pass them out, I need to explain a little about this piece.., (Coach snickers).., er, piece of equipment. You see boys this is a very special thing that will protect some very special things. Well boys there's no use beating around the .., uh.., I'll get right to the point. The county little league commission felt that everyone who plays Little League this year has to wear one of these. (Pulls out protective cup like he is David Blaine).
(Kids gasp at the sight until a little boy in the middle of the ball-capped mass raises his hand)
Coach: Yes Kevin.
Kevin: Why do we have to wear a plastic turtle shell when we play? I thought we were the Devil Rays this year.
Coach: Kevin, we are the Devil Rays and it's not a plastic turtle shell. It's a protective cup.
(Kevin raises his hand again.)
Coach (with resigned frustration): Yes, Kevin.
Kevin: Coach, why do we need that special kind of cup when we have the ones that say "Shoney's on them? Besides, that one had holes in it. Won't the Gatorade run out?
Coach: Kevin, it's not that kind of cup. It is for protection, not drinking. This goes down your pants and fits in the front part of your underwear. (Pause as boys giggle) Do you see. It protects.., you. It will keep you from getting too hurt if a ball pops up and hit's you between the legs.
(Giggling subsides as boys and men alike cringe in imaginary pain)
(Hands automatically raise everywhere)
Coach: OK boys. One at a time, yes Tim. (Passes box around for boys to get cup)
Tim: So your saying that when we put these on we won't be able to feel when we get hit in the wee-wee?
Coach: That's right you won't feel it regardless of whether you get hit in the wee-wee or the paw-paws. You should be OK. That's the point.
(Kids begin squirming and standing, soon yelling ensues)
Various kids screaming:
(As one kicks the other in the crotch) Hey it is true! I hardly felt that! Let me try! (Kicks the other kid) Wow! I'm never taking this off! I can go into my big sister's room anytime I want now!
(As one kid chases Kevin with a bat) Come on Kevin stay still. You heard them say it's not gonna hurt. Let me hit you in the crotch with the bat. Quite running you big sissy.
(Coach stand waving his arms and yelling.)Coach: Boys! Boys! Sit down! Calm down! Boys quite throwing baseballs at your crotches. Here, give me all the baseballs. OH!! (Coach doubles over in pain) (In high pitched voice) Boys, they don't make the coaches wear them, so please don't throw things at Coaches' crotch. (Coach clears throat and stands up. Looks over the still squirming boys and motions to the one bowlegged boy still standing up.)
Coach: Hey Dale, can you help Jimmy get that cup turned around. I think he has it on upside down.
Jimmy: Coach how do you know it is on upside down?
Coach: Well Jimmy, you look like you just got off Secretariat. That's how.
I'm guessing the first "drill" went something like that. Listen, I played baseball and I was a boy. I guess I missed the Johns Hopkins study on baseball injuries to the "pawpaw" region. It's not that I had a problem with this, but I felt I had to pretend that I didn't even know where my "pawpaw" region was until my honeymoon night. I cannot imagine as a Little Leaguer having to deal with such pressure. I mean isn't it enough to carry your father's hopes of success, fame and fortune on your 8 year old shoulders. Now to put on top of that the pressure to measure, manipulate and execute the use of the protective cup properly? It is almost too much to handle. Oh well, at least we're not women. Can you imagine a coach trying to explain those issues? I know. It makes my head hurt as well.
