A group of ten executives representing some of the nation’s most successful companies stood across from ten inmates in one of the nation’s most dangerous prisons. The executives had volunteered to spend the weekend mentoring inmates for a prison entrepreneurship program led by Defy Ventures. Defy is a nonprofit that capitalizes on inmate’s expertise in running criminal organizations by teaching them how to “transform their hustles” into legitimate business enterprises and is one of the most successful prison programs in the nation dropping the recidivism rate from 76.6 percent to 3.2 percent among its graduates.

Standing ten feet apart from each other in two parallel rows, executives lined up shoulder to shoulder on one side, mirrored by the inmates standing across from them. The name of the game was “Step to the Line,” and everyone in the room answered the same questions at the same time. Those who answered yes stepped forward. Those who didn’t stayed in place.

If you had two parents who tucked you in at night and told you they loved you, step forward.

All of the executives stepped forward. None of the inmates did.

If you went to a school where you didn’t fear gang violence, and where you had up-to-date books and technology, step forward.

All of the executives stepped forward. None of the inmates did.

If you had breakfast every day before school and took a packed lunch with you to school, never going through your day on an empty stomach, step forward.

All of the executives stepped forward. None of the inmates did.

If you had more than fifty books in your home, step forward.

All of the executives stepped forward. None of the inmates did.

If you grew up with an immediate family member in prison, step forward.

None of the executives did. All of the inmates did.

If you lost a family member due to gun violence while you were a child, step forward.

None of the executives did. All of the inmates did.

If you were addicted to drugs before the age of twenty, step forward.

Two of the executives stepped forward. All of the inmates did.

 

We all come from diverse places in life shaped by unique experiences which gives us distinct perspectives. Far too often, we judge those that come from different places and have different experiences and perspectives than we do. Or worse yet, we turn a blind eye to those different places, experiences, and perspectives.

We don’t need Defy Ventures to conduct this experiment. This week do one (or all) of the following:

• Have a conversation with a co-worker or neighbor that looks, thinks, or acts differently than you and that you typically avoid conversations with.
• Take a field trip to an setting where you are the minority. Document your experience describing your emotions and your reactions.
• Make a lunch or coffee appointment with someone who comes from a different background than you. Ask questions about their life story and a life perspective that is different from yours.

 

(Defy Ventures story modified from The Third Optionby Miles McPherson)

Jesus makes it clear we don’t get to choose our neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). But we can choose how to neighbor. When Jesus began his ministry, he stood in the temple and proclaimed these words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). Jesus made it clear that empowering the poor was at the top of his list. We must care about those living in poverty because Jesus cared about those in poverty. If we don’t care for the poor, do we really even understand the gospel?

Charles Spurgeon identified three groups that miss the gospel when it comes to empowering the poor:

1. The Apathetic– The apathetic are not cruel and vicious people; they just don’t think about things that don’t affect them. But if one-half of our children didn’t live past their 8^thbirthday, or were dying from preventable diseases, we would be all out focused on fixing the problem. We have a gaping hole in the way we see the world. It’s not that we don’t care about the poor, we just don’t know about the poor.
2. The Self-Indulgent– The self-indulgent may care but they love personal comforts too much to actually sacrifice anything for anyone else. We don’t typically think of ourselves as being rich. We think of people who have far more than we do but when most people around the world think of the “rich” they picture us. But if we have clean water, sufficient food, clothes, a roof over our head, access to medicine and the ability to read a book we are incredibly wealthy relative to billions of people in the world.
3. The Procrastinators– The procrastinators know they are supposed to do good to the poor, but they never really do anything about it. If the love of God is in our hearts, then it is not possible for us to ignore the poor in the world. The gospel compels us to action on behalf of the poor.

I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty – of being apathetic, self-indulgent, and procrastinating. Where do you struggle most? Where can we jump out of those ruts today and empower the poor?

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need,

yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:17-18

 

 

 

 

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “church”? I bet you think of a building or an event. We typically refer to the church as an address where it meets or a time that it happens. Unfortunately, what comes to mind for most people when they think of church is such a far cry from the reality of what took place in the era when the church was born.

Jesus was actually the first one to use the term church…kind of. In Matthew 16:13-18, at Peter’s declaration of who Jesus is, He says of Peter, “and on this rock I will build my church.” Jesus called it – the church that is! The Greek word used there is ecclesia. Jesus borrowed that word from the world He lived in. It wasn’t a religious term and the disciples were more than likely very familiar with the word. It simply meant “a gathering of people called for a specific purpose.” The church is simply that. Over time, as buildings were built for the gathering, the German word kirche took the place for church and it referred to the building they met in.

But if we are going to be true to Jesus’ prophecy of the church, we must ask ourselves what the purpose of our gathering together is. Looking at Acts and the entirety of the New Testament (which was the early church), here is what I believe the purpose of the church is:

1. Worship

The early church gathered together regularly to hear teaching, sing songs, pray with one another, and share meals and Holy Communion. Yes, all of these things can be done in isolation, but the essence of the ecclesiais a gathering. We are called to come together regularly to celebrate Christ in our lives with these practices.

2. Community

The word we see in the New Testament is koinoniawhich means sharing life together. Jesus intends for us to be in relationships with others – to literally do life together. They say there are 59 “one another” statements in the New Testament. We are called to be about the “one another’s!”

3. Mission

Jesus never preached a message of “wait for them to come.” His message was always one of “go to them.” We are called out beyond the walls of any building or event to our “…Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Yes, it’s true that the “church” today is taking a backseat in our culture. Our lives are busy and it’s tempting to see church as just one more thing in our already overcrowded schedules. It’s no secret, regular weekly attendance in a church building is in a downward spiral. But perhaps that’s because we are looking at “church” as a building or an event? Is that what Jesus called?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget what the Constitution of the United States of American says…there’s no such thing as free speech. Here’s why:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat it’s fruits.

Proverbs 18:21

Have you ever eaten the fruit of your tongue? I know I have. Which story do I tell?

I was 20 years old. Amy and I were engaged to be married and we went to Dillard’s to make selections for our upcoming bridal shower. My future mother-in-law met us there and we made selections of everything from towels to place settings. I didn’t have much to say. What Amy liked, I was partial to. Until it came to the flatware. We were looking at the multitude of options when this one jumped out at me – as being unsightly! I believe I said something like this: “That is hideous. It’s gaudy. Who in the world would want to eat with something like that?” I made my point. That was not our selection and not what we eat with today.

However, later that evening, we were at a big family gathering at my future mother-in-law’s house. We set down to eat and guess what flatware was at each place setting on the table? You guessed it! Twenty-six years later, every time we eat at my in-laws I’m reminded of those careless words.

The writer of Proverbs reminds us that every time we open our mouth we have the opportunity to speak life or death. That’s it – only two options. We can speak blessing into and over the lives of others or we can speak curses into and over the life of others.

What kind words do you tend to speak the most? What do your conversations with your spouse sound like? With your children? How about at your work? Or about your church? How about your social media feeds?

Do your words bless those around you? Do they encourage and build others up (1 Thessalonians 5:11)? Or do they tear others down? Are they words of untruth, gossip, division, or negativity?

We don’t have the right to free speech, but we do have the right to use our words to bless others. Let’s do that!

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few days ago we commemorated the18^thanniversary of 9/11. Just like me, I’m sure you can remember the events of that day- where you were when you heard the news and what you did as the rest of the day played out. Even if you weren’t alive and didn’t personally experience that tragic day, you know the events. You’ve read it in a textbook and others have shared their story of that day with you. Sort of like how I am with the events that surrounded the attack on Pearl Harbor. I wasn’t alive to personally experience it, but I know the story because it’s been passed down to me generation after generation.

If you are a Texas Tech Red Raider football fan you are almost certainly like that with the unforgettable touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree in the 2008 game with the Texas Longhorns. Texas came into Lubbock ranked number one in the nation with hopes of playing in a national championship game and left…well, beaten and disappointed. Every Texas Tech fan tells that story –especially when things aren’t going so well –and so, even if you didn’t personally witness the miraculous throw and catch, you know the story well.

Yet there might be a story we arenot sharing so well…

…and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord

 or the work that he had done for Israel.Judges 2:10

Are we passing down a knowledge of and a love for God like we are other things? Do my kids know my story with God as much as they know my story of 9/11 or the Red Raiders? It’s my responsibility to make sure my family and the next generation knows the story of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words

that Icommand you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to

your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk

by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a

sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write

them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Here’s what we need to be about:

1. Sharing our story of faith in Christ

Our story of salvation is part of our family’s story of salvation. The more others hear our story of faith, the more likely they are to experience their own faith story. If we can’t share our story with our family, who can we share it with?

2. Taking every opportunity to point to Christ

We must look for teaching moments in every minute of every day. When we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise. God gives us opportunities each and every day that we can seize and use to point others toward Christ.

3. Showing Jesus by the way we live

The greatest enemy to real faith might well be our spiritual activities –  reading the Bible, praying, attending church, etc.  Those are all good things and we should be doing them. But if we are not living out faith in our everyday lives, others pick up on that. We can’t just post our faith on our walls, we must be living it in the halls.

What story are you sharing today? Everyone loves a good story. Let’s make sure we are sharing the most important one!

 

 

 

 

 

I was introduced to parliamentary procedure as a young lad in Future Farmers of America. We worked to learn Robert’s Rules of Order and then participated in contests in which we had to work through several professional scenarios using parliamentary procedure to arrive at pre-determined conclusions. I learned rules such as how to call a meeting to order, put a motion on the table, amend a motion, table a decision, call out a point of order, and most importantly how to adjourn a meeting. One of the rules I remember is called, “call the question”. It’s a time when anyone in the meeting can, with permission from the moderator, ask to end the debate and take a vote.

I’m not sure where Joshua learned Roberts Rules of Order but we see him exercise this “call the question” during his final challenge to the people.The book of Joshua tells how he led the people of Israel into the Promised Land and conquered it. Throughout the book Joshua urges the people to follow the Lord and worship him alone. Now in his final message to the people he recounts their story from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau; from the Red Sea and Jordan River; and the battles with the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, Jebusites and termites. Joshua ends his message with this call to worship the one true God…with a call to make a choice.

…choose this day whom you will serve…

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Without much thought it’s easy to respond as Joshua did, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” After all, it’s one of the most popular verses in all the Bible. We have it hanging on the walls of our homes and stuck on the bumpers of our cars. But is it merely hanging on our walls or are we living it in the halls? Is it simply stuck on our bumpers or is it fixed in every thump of our hearts?

It’s so easy to get caught up serving our work, our stuff, the pursuit of success, our kids and their activities, and the list goes on. So, it’s good practice to call the question: whom am I serving?  It’s really quite easy (though convicting) to determine the answer to that question. Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Where to I spend my time?
2. Where do I spend my talent (gifts and skills)?
3. Where do I spend my treasure (money)?

Be honest with these three questions and you have called the question.

 

 

 

Have you noticed how children are continually vying for their parent’s attention. Like when they are jumping off the side of the pool into the water and yell, “Watch me!” Perhaps when they are wanting to show off their latest trick and scream, “Look at me!”. Maybe when they are learning to ride a bike and the call out, “Watch me!” They want so desperately for their parents to take notice of them. And parents can’t fake it. Kid’s know if their parents aren’t really looking their way or just giving it lip service.

Are we often like that with God? Do we think that sometimes He is not really looking at us? That He has forgotten about us? We’ve heard the promises about how God never leaves us or ditches us. But is that just lip service? Is He really paying attention?

We never have to worry about vying for God’s attention…

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!

Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)

Can you imagine counting the grains of the sand on the beach? That’s how many times God thinks of you!

You don’t have to do a “10” off the diving board or master your latest talent. You can’t buy God’s faithful presence with your performance. In fact, You don’t deserve His presence and you can’t earn His presence. He is just with you!

God is with you because of one thing and one thing alone: His grace! As you look at your life, maybe it isn’t going as you expected. It isn’t progressing according to your schedule. You’re thinking, “The Lord must have forgotten about me. The Lord has abandoned me.”

That’s because we tend to interpret life by how it’s going at each given moment – by how it looks right now. And if it’s a little uncomfortable, if it’s a little difficult, it’s tempting to believe God has forgotten us. But God never forgets us. His thoughts about us “outnumber the grains of sand.” So, if you’re in that moment or that place of thinking God has forgotten you, think about the beach, and remember that’s how many times God is thinking about you!

 

 

Amy and I have two boys that are the joy of our lives. They keep us on our toes, but we wouldn’t trade them for anything. They are almost five years apart and between their births we suffered two miscarriages. Those times were devastating and we wrestled with the question, “Why?” And there were people who were willing to offer answers. They told us things like, “You know something must have been wrong with that baby.” Or “God needed that angel before you did.”

First of all, that’s just bad theology. Secondly, we didn’t find those answers comforting at all. In fact, they were kind of disturbing. Nothing against those that tried to answer our grief. They were very polite and well-meaning. They were just trying to help. And they thought the best way to help was to give us an answer as to why we were suffering. Because that is what we have been programmed to do.

Why? Because from the beginning, we have been wired to know the answer. When a child starts pre-kindergarten he or she is expected to know what color the crayon is when it is placed in front of them. As they get older they are expected to know the answer to multiplication facts and long division. And then the answer to history questions, science subjects, and matters of geography, social studies and government. In our culture, we are supposed to know how to fill in the blank.

But sometimes there is no answer. There are questions in life where the blank remains empty.

What are Amy and I supposed to say to our friends who lost their nineteen year old son and want to know why? How am I supposed to answer a couple struggling with infertility and wants to know why nothing is happening? What answer do I give to a family that has been praying for a prodigal for years with no return? How do we comfort those that are struggling with miscarriage like we did? With a pat answer we think will help?

Sometimes there is no answer. There are questions where the blank remains empty. When the best answer is, “I don’t know.” Can your faith handle that? Can you be content with not having the answer. Our programming tells us we must fill in the blank but if we knew all the answers would it really be called faith?

Check out the message in its entirety and let me know what you think.

 

 

A large crowd was gathered to watch the Great Blondin walk 160 feet across the tightrope stretched a quarter of a mile above the mighty Niagra Falls. Upon reaching the other side, the crowd’s applause was louder than the roar of the falls. A photographer there to cover the event saw the ease at with Blondin traversed the Falls and challenged him to do it again but pushing a wheelbarrow. So, Blondin did! And the photographer upped his challenge asking the Great Blondin to push the wheelbarrow across the tightrope but with someone riding in it. Blondin’s response to the photographer… “Hop in!” As far as the story goes, the photographer declined the proposition!

That’s how it is with our faith, isn’t it? We believe but with just enough doubt to refuse to jump in the wheelbarrow. It is one thing for us to say we believe in God. But occasionally our  minds reach the capacity of our limited understanding, our emotions are stretched to the point of uncertainty, or our beliefs are challenged beyond our willingness to follow and doubt creeps in.

When we walk down the long hallway of Christian faith, we find that we are not alone in our skepticism. Think of Noah, setting out to build a boat when it had never even rained from the sky. Think of Sarah, laughing at God’s promise to give her and Abraham a son in their advanced age. Think of Moses, the man who argued with a burning and talking bush, insisting God had the wrong guy. Think of every prophet listed in the Old Testament who had to say to themselves, “God, surely you don’t want me to tell your people that!” Think of Thomas who exclaimed, “Unless I see…I will never believe” (John 27). Think of all the apostles staring into the eyes of the resurrected Christ receiving the words of the Great Commission and…doubting (Matthew 28:17).

That’s a good group to be included in and assures us that doubt doesn’t disqualify our belief but instead gives us an opportunity to grow deeper in our faith. How so? Take a closer look at all of these characters and we see three things in common:

1. Each character acknowledged their doubt.

Sarah did. She laughed! Moses did. He argued. The prophets did. They often questioned God. Thomas did. He refused to believe until he saw for himself. Don’t run from your doubt. Be honest with yourself and others about it.

2. Each character pursued the answers.

Noah grabbed a hammer. Moses approached the burning bush. Abraham and Sarah must have had sex. Thomas placed his finger through the hole in Jesus’ hand. They were each willing to step into the wheelbarrow!

3. God showed up!

It rained. Isaac was born. The bush talked. The prophecies came true. Thomas believed. The disciples went to all nations. When we step into the wheelbarrow, God shows up!

So what do you say? Will you hop in?

 

 

 

Every devoted coffee drinker, noble connoisseur, or unremitting addict knows there is nothing like that first sip of coffee. That feeling you get when that first bit of scrumptious nectar touches the tongue. I am not an aficionado or a fanatic, but I do like to have a cup of coffee in the mornings. Okay, honestly, I like to have a little coffee with my cream and sugar! None the less, on summer mornings I love to sit outside with a cup of coffee (fixed just the way I like it) and my Bible – a little coffee and Jesus!

But there is something I have noticed. The last sip of coffee, while enjoyable, is not as intense as the first sip. The longer the coffee sits, the cooler it gets. The more I drink the more my taste buds grow dull to the flavor. And while it is still good, it’s just not as good as that first sip. I’m not arguing it’s not good to the last drop, I’m just making the case it’s not as good to the last drop.

Could that be how we feel about God? When we are first introduced to Him, have that initial taste, and begin our journey in relationship with Him, we sense God’s goodness everywhere. We sing without reservation, “God is so good: He’s so good to me.” But perhaps the longer we sit with God, the cooler our relationship gets. The longer we follow, the more dull our sense of His goodness grows. Circumstances mount, frustration abounds, evil intensifies and we begin to wonder, “Where is the goodness of God?”

God’s goodness never fails. It never ends. He is good to the very last drop. His goodness does not cool down or grow dull. Everything God does is for our good. Even in the worst of circumstances, frustrations and evil we can see God’s goodness if we take the time to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Perhaps you need to revisit that first sip this morning? Stop and ask God to show you His goodness. Pause and look around you and appreciate His goodness. Taste and see that the Lord is indeed good!