Os Guinness shares a story of three different umpires having a discussion about balls and strikes. Umpire One states, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way they are.” Umpire Two claims, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way I see it.” And Umpire Three argues, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing till I call them.”

Which umpire is correct?

There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way they are.

Umpire One is stating that balls and strikes are facts. There is such a thing as a ball and as a strike and the umpire’s job is to identify which one it is. If the umpire calls a ball a strike (or vice versa), then he or she is in error.

There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way I see it.

Umpire Two introduces us to relativism – the notion that ideas and views are relative to differences in perception. There is no universal or absolute truth according to relativism, rather truth is as each person sees it. Umpire Two is claiming that there’s no objectivity to calling balls and strikes but only his perception of them.

There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing till I call them.

Umpire Three pushes relativism even deeper. It is not just that truth is relative to one’s own perception but one can conceive his or her own truth. Truth is not discovered but created. Umpire Three is arguing that balls and strikes don’t even exist until he calls them.

Which umpire is correct?

Truth is under attack. The notion that there is objective, verifiable, fixed, and defined truth is obsolete today. And the very idea of anything being “absolute” is under attack. The enemy works to undermine truth and sow seeds of confusion. The Bible tells us he is a liar and does not stand on truth (John 8:44). He wants you to believe fake news. Lies and deception are the tricks of his trade.

When God appears before Moses and sends him to Pharaoh to free His people, God instructs Moses to say “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) sent him. “I am who I am” is not “I am whoever you want me to be.” We are not called to see truth the way we perceive it (Umpire Two) or make up our own truth (Umpire Three) but to know the truth (Umpire One).

…you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32

 

 

Just the other day, Amy and I were out walking when we ran across a whopping pine tree. The tree caught my attention because of its immensity, but that’s not the only reason. There were pine cones sprawled across the ground. The ones that are normally found at the foot of a pine tree. The ones that add a charming woodland touch around any home at Christmas time. As I looked up the tree, I saw some more of the same scaled, brown cones that mimicked the ones lying on the ground but had yet to fall off the tree. Then I noticed that there were other cones on the tree. But these were different. I had never seen these kind used as decorative ornaments around a house at Christmas or any other season. They had the same scales but they had not separated like the ones on the ground or the other ones on the tree. And they were green not brown! They were new pine cones and were the same but different than the full-grown ones that had already fallen to the ground. The same pine tree accommodated both mature and immature pine cones at the same time.

That’s a perfect representation of the church. It’s the same church that hosts both mature and immature members at the same time! Those that have been on the journey for a while and those that are new to the path are intended to live and grow together as part of the same family.

I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years, been in the church longer than that, and a preacher for 15 years and I have to say that’s not what I have always observed. Instead, here are some observations I’ve seen:

From those who are farther along in their growth…

I find it peculiar that we correlate being around the church for a long time with maturity. Growing old and growing up are not the same thing. If I understand this correctly, it takes a female pine cone up to two years to reach full maturity while the male pine cone only takes months to reach full maturity (contrary to human nature, I know). Each person matures in God’s time. Yet, rather than cheering on each baby step, we tend to impose artificial deadlines on assumed milestones. Instead of celebrating other’s accomplishments, we tend to boast about our own. Rather than labor to meet the needs of others, we hustle to have our own met. We should be leading by example and witness, instead we disparage by our judgment and criticism. Those on the tree who are farther along should be encouraging and building up those who are not as far along, but that doesn’t always happen.

So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (The Message)

From those who are in the beginning of the journey…

All fruit ripens. Some sooner and some later. But it all matures. It’s an irreversible law of creation. But sometimes we like to settle in and get comfortable. We get cozy sitting on the branch but not absorbing all that it has to give us. We refuse to stretch ourselves in places where God can speak to us. We reject wisdom and guidance. And we get stuck. We can’t stay in the same place forever. We have a saying at Aldersgate Church: “It’s okay to not be okay, but it’s not okay to stay that way.” There’s room for our hurts, habits and hang-ups, but we can’t continue to live there. We must push on toward maturity.

So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ.

Hebrews 6:1 (The Message)

 

 

I walked up to the counter for my customary Tuesday morning order. Before I could say anything, the barista interposed, “Good morning! Tall medium roast with room at the top?” I quipped back, “Please, with lots of room the top!”

Ah, yes, room at the top. You know, for the most important ingredients – the cream and sugar. I’m one of those that likes to have a little coffee with the good stuff. Today, the barista worked her magic and got it just right. But sometimes there’s not enough room at the top. The coffee takes up too much room for the good stuff. And that’s a problem.

Does that describe your life? I know it does mine sometimes. Not enough room for the good stuff.  We live life filled to the brim with no room for anything extra. We do as much as we can and spend as much as we can until we have no time, money, or energy to spare. The urgent becomes the important. The mundane crowds out the exceptional. Unlike the pages of a book, the shoulders on a highway, and room for the good stuff in a coffee cup, there is no margin in our lives.

In his book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Richard Swenson, M.D. describes margin like this:

Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed

beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies

or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion,

the space between breathing freely and suffocating.

Margin is not something that just happens. We have to fight for it. On those occasions when I order my coffee and there’s not enough room at the top for the good stuff, I have to let go of a little of the coffee.

What do you need to let go of today? How will you fight for margin? How will you leave room at the top?

 

I recently read the story of Ernest Shackleton’s failed mission to be the first explorer to cross Antarctica. Shackleton was a British explorer who’s plan was to sail as far south as he could and then walk a hundred or so miles across the South Pole. Unfortunately his ship got caught and crushed in polar ice several hundred miles from its destination. For more than a year Shackleton’s crew fought to stay alive on the ice in subzero temperatures. But afterwards they reported the worst thing was not the subzero temperatures but the darkness. The sun goes down in mid-May and doesn’t come back up until mid-August in the South Pole. The crew reported there is no desolation so devastating as the polar night – darkness all the time.

Some of you know what it is like to live in that darkness. The devastating darkness of depression. It may be situational or it could be persistent. Regardless, it’s crushing darkness.

You’re not alone. Jeremiah (Lamentations 3:1), David (Psalm 31:9-10), Hannah (1 Samuel 1:7), and Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-18) all struggled with depression. Charles Spurgeon, believed by many to be the greatest preacher to ever live, once said in a sermon, “I have spent more days shut up in depression than probably anybody else here.” And the wife of Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, professed to having to hide all the knives in their house for fear he would injure himself during his bouts of depression. Christ followers are not immune to depression.

God has a promise for you! Nehemiah 8:10 declares “…the joy of the Lord is my strength.” How in the world does one find joy in the throws of such darkness?  With all respect and sensitivity, please allow me to share a few suggestions.

Open Your Eyes

Look for places of joy in your life. Yes, they may be hard to find, but they are there. Margaret Feinberg chronicles her journey with cancer in her book, Fight Back with Joy. She speaks of creating a “joy wall.” She literally fashioned a wall where she hung pictures, objects, and reminders of things that brought her joy and she made it a daily habit of focusing on that wall as a reminder of the joy of the Lord. How might you construct a joy wall?

Open Your Ears

In Elijah’s story (1 Kings 19:1-18) he spends 40 days and nights in the wilderness of darkness. As he lies in a cave there is a violent wind that passes by, an earthquake that rumbles, and a fire that consumes, but God isn’t present in any of those things. He shows up in a small, gentle whisper. Sometimes we listen for God in the spectacular and He wants to speak in the mundane. We are waiting for the booming voice and miss the whisper. Where might God be speaking to you?

Open Your Arms

In Fight Back with Joy, Margaret Feinberg shares of a habit she developed delivering red balloons to all the patients at the chemotherapy treatment center. On her darkest days, when that was the last thing she felt like doing while receiving her own chemo treatments, she realized that giving joy away brought herself joy. In our darkest times when we have trouble finding joy, we can often find it by opening our arms and giving it away to someone else.

Check out the full sermon!