My Superstar

sunset over arkansas river

eve

DVCA

Check this out:

DEADLY VIPER PROMO TRAILER: LONG FORMAT:2 MIN from Deadly Viper on Vimeo.

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Are we a racist nation?

I read with interest a couple of articles about President Obama and the appearant amount of racism veiled as criticism. You can find the articles here and here. Today in class I lectured about Civil Rights and the history of struggle various groups have gone through to obtain a more equal footing in society. All of them owing some debt to the African Americans who laid so much at the alter of freedom in their efforts to end discrimination that had already been outlawed by the courts. I get really uncomfortable teaching this stuff. I’m white, male, middle class, middle age, everything that this average and majority about this nation. It is so easy for me to transpose my thoughts and my experiences to a broader public. I have no idea what it is like to be black and pulled over on “suspicion”. I have no idea what it is like to be Hispanic and scowled out because you speak a few words of Spanish. I have no idea what it is to be like a woman who is leered at simply because God created her with different proportions than men. (I do know what it is like to be Mennonite Brethren and have people assume that you drive a horse and buggy.)

What I do know? I’ve done all those things. I don’t think that it is because white men are inherently more evil or more prone to sin than other races (or genders). I believe that blacks, Hispanics, women and all others are just as susceptible to these thoughts and feelings as others. Jesus spoke pretty clearly to this: “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.” (Matthew 15:19 NLT) He was speaking to a group of religiously racist priests. People who made their living off making others feel “not worthy”. People who lived in a nation who prided themselves as being “chosen” and loved to rub it in the face of everyone else by completely shunning them or simply not recognizing them.

Are we a racist nation? Of course. Are we as racist as we have been in the past? No. Are we as racist as we will be in the future?

Well, that’s for us to decide, by the grace of God.

Jesus kept it real when describing the condition of the human heart. Fortunately he didn’t just leave it at that. A little later on Jesus was asked which commandment was most important when it comes to making oneself acceptable before God. His reply was twofold: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all you soul, and all you mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39 NLT) We can’t do one or the other. They are mutually fulfilling. Loving God requires loving others. Loving others only truly comes as we love God.

Here’s what’s hard for me as a Christian and an American. It seems that as we have become less “christian” we have become less “racist”. But again, I believe that if ever there is to be a Christian nation it exists in the body of the Church. Global. Not some class of ethnicity or descendants who deserve special recognition. Simply those messed up humans who have begun to grasp what the human heart is all about and have accepted the grace of Jesus Christ to love God and their neighbors.

Are we a racist nation?

Oh to be 17 again.

I am sure that if youtube had been around when I was a teen I’d have filled my days with creativity such as this. Rather than trying to figure out how many Doritos are in a bag. Or how many licks to the middle of a Tootsie Pop.

Anyhow.

Enjoy:

Cursed

It was a hot summer day. I don’t remember all the circumstances, but what I do remember was the feeling of hot rage boiling through my body as I slammed out of the kitchen into the garage. The door hadn’t taken a hard enough beating to assuage my anger so I swung at the next thing I saw. It happened to be the antennae on our green station wagon (yes I believe it also had faux wood grain as well). Sure enough. “Snap”. Then the clinking of thin metal on the cold concrete floor. Quickly, I snapped back to reality. I knew I was in trouble and it was my own fault.

It wasn’t the only time something like this has happened. Sure as I have matured my temper doesn’t flare quite like it did back in its heyday. But every once in a while it rears its head as a reminder of my own humanity. My own fallen nature. It makes me feel cursed.

The other day I came to a completely new understanding of curse. Genesis 3:14-19 God declares a series of curses based on the newly corrupted relationship between mankind, creation and God. What is of particular interest to me was the curse placed upon the serpent. (Now if your not familiar with the story God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden and told them they could enjoy everything in the garden except for the fruit of one particular tree. Along comes Satan in the form of a serpent and convinces Eve to eat the fruit who then turns to Adam, who was with her the whole time, and he takes a bite too.) This is what God said,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15 NLT)

I’ve always looked at this passage and thought to myself that the serpent really got off pretty easy. 1. I always assumed that the serpent was a snake so he was already accustomed to crawling on his belly anyhow. Apparently not the case. 2. It just seems natural to me that for the most part we as humans are scared of snakes and usually for good reason…they like to crawl and bite. But here’s the reality. This isn’t just a man vs snakes situation. This is a man vs. Satan deal. And the words God speaks are more than a curse they are a prophecy about how man and Satan would get along. Satan is a distraction. Satan is limited in his power. The evidence here suggests that Satan can wound us, but not mortally. Getting struck in the heel hurts (ask any mom the next time your at Wal-Mart), but it’s not life threatening. Furthermore, God states that the offspring of Eve (that’s us) would strike Satan in the head. Getting struck in the head is usually a life threatening situation. This has been fulfilled ultimately by Jesus!

The bottom line: We have been delivered from Satan. The victory is Jesus’ and he invites us to share in it.

What areas of your life do you feel cursed? How would that change if you KNEW that the curse had been broken?

Cat’s in the Cradle

Ran across this video this morning. I’d forgotten about it. My guess is that she is 4.

Yesterday she started 4th grade. 4TH GRADE!!! Man it flies so fast, but I’m loving every minute of it!

Hooked.

Went fishing for a little bit yesterday afternoon. It was a lot of fun as the fish were biting. Most of them would barely qualify as minnows. It was interesting to watch as I would pull my topwater fly in fish would inevitably come to the surface and take a bite. Sure enough I would set the hook and the game was on (for me). The fish would desperately do everything they could in their power to head back to deeper and safer water. But it was too late. Next thing they knew they were gasping for air on the bank of the pond as I would remove the hook from their mouth. Fortunately for them I let everyone of them go back to the water. No keepers. It wasn’t my intent. As far as I know all the fish survived despite their rude awakening.

It really got me thinking about us as humans and sin. We get “lured” away by enticing and seemingly innocent things. It could be a TV show or an innocent relationship, but then SNAP! Just like that we are hooked. What appeared to be innocent and ok at the time was really a trap or a deception. We think we can handle it or Satan places something in front of us and we get hooked. Next thing we know we are gasping for air as our lives are crumbling and tumbling all around us.

Jesus told us to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” We want to believe that we have what it takes to withstand any temptation. We want to believe that on our own we can avoid most if not all trouble in life. We want to believe that our struggles are the result of us being innocent victims of some cosmic tragedy. The reality is that we are the ones to blame. We are the ones who took the bait. We are the ones who got hooked and it is only by staying in the power of Jesus and His Spirit that keeps us safe from those lures.

What’s got you hooked? What lures do you fall for most?

Prayers and Incense

So what happens to our prayers? Revelation 5:8 says: “…the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” I’ve always thought that incense referred to the aroma produced by burning something. Not true. Incense is the material burned which in turns produces the aroma. So our prayers? They are a product that produces a holy and acceptable aroma to God as He sits on His throne. I wonder if they smell like patchouli or sandalwood or probably something way better than all those…
What do you think your prayers smell like?