Were they worse sinners?

Personal News
My family had a WONDERFUL Christmas vacation to my parents' place in beautiful Pella, IA. It was very restful and filled with lots of laughter, and none of us wanted to leave last night. That's the way it should be, I think...

Personal Thoughts
Last week I heard that Hurricane Katrina was voted the top news story of 2005. I recalled that shortly after the hurricane, I was having a conversation on the phone with a lady who believed that God used Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for their Mardis Gras celebrations and homosexuality-embracing culture. I was so saddened to hear her opinion.

I was reminded of that conversation this morning as I was reading in my Bible and came across this passage (I was reading in the NET Bible so I will use that translation here):

Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He answered them, ?Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!? (Luke 13:1-5)

Whether it was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, last year's tsunami, or the school board election in Dover, PA this past November, many people have been making judgements and claiming those judgments to be from God.

But as I read Jesus' words, I'm struck by the fact that Jesus didn't want me pointing fingers at those who were victims of these events. He was teaching me to look at myself. I must repent. I must turn from my sinful ways. We are all sinners who deserve the same fate (Romans 3:23). It is only through Christ that we can find forgiveness. And as we experience his grace and compassion expressed through the cross, my prayer is that you and I will be people of grace and compassion as well, inviting others to repent with us.

So when an event happens and you hear the news, what's your first response after the shock? Judgement? Or personal reflection?

Wouldn't Angel Food Cake be a better choice?

So if someone was going to make a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day, should they be allowed to use Devil's Food?

A Generous Christmas

Here's a beautiful true story that tells of God's provision and blessing. The story is about generosity, a subject I am interested in and want to see captured by all people. And Christmas, the season we celebrate God's generous and indescribable gift of Jesus, is a perfect time for a story such as this one.

But there's something that bothers me a little about the story. Actually it's not the story that bothers me - but the reaction some people might have from it. I fear that some young adults might read an article such as the one I've just linked to and think "so if I just give generously to others - God will give me more!"

I've heard this mentality before. It seems just as selfish to me as the non-generous attitude so prevalent in our culture. The only reason we give is so that we can get more. And if we didn't get something in return, then we wouldn't give in the first place. That doesn't seem truly generous to me.

What makes the mentioned story so beautiful is that the couple didn't expect anything in return. They felt God's urge to be generous to another family, and they were obedient. They struggled with their own emotions, but eventually knew this was the right thing to do. They didn't do it expecting or demanding that God pay them back so generously.

May you capture a truly generous heart - that you will give without thought of getting. May you seek to be used by God as a blessing in the lives of others by being generous to them. And may you walk to the mailbox without expecting a "reimbursement" check.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

Traveling for Christmas

I just got this story via email from a friend, and I thought I'd pass it along since many of you will be traveling for Christmas and New Year's. While the story is probably not true as with most email forwards (but a check with Snopes, HoaxBusters, and Truth or Fiction turned up nothing), the message is still the same. Please drive safe and smart!

Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone. Fourth time in as many months. How could a guy get caught so often?

When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over, but only partially. Let the cop worry about the potential traffic hazard. Maybe some other car will tweak his backside with a mirror. The cop was stepping out of his car, the big pad in hand.

Bob? Bob from Church? Jack sunk farther into his trench coat. This was worse than the coming ticket. A cop catching a guy from his own church. A guy who happened to be a little eager to get home after a long day at the office. A guy he was about to play golf with tomorrow.

Jumping out of the car, he approached a man he saw every Sunday, a man he'd never seen in uniform.

"Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you like this."

"Hello, Jack." No smile.

"Guess you caught me red-handed in a rush to see my wife and kids."

"Yeah, I guess." Bob seemed uncertain. Good. "I've seen some long days at the office lately. I'm afraid I bent the rules a bit -just this once."

Jack toed at a pebble on the pavement. "Diane said something about roast beef and potatoes tonight. Know what I mean?" "I know what you mean. I also know that you have a reputation in our precinct " Ouch. This was not going in the right direction. Time to change tactics.

"What'd you clock me at?"

"Seventy. Would you sit back in your car please?"

"Now wait a minute here, Bob. I checked as soon as saw you. I was barely nudging 65." The lie seemed to come easier with every ticket.

"Please, Jack, in the car"

Flustered, Jack hunched himself through the still-open door. Slamming it shut, he stared at the dashboard. He was in no rush to open the window.

The minutes ticked by. Bob scribbled away on the pad.

Why hadn't he asked for a driver's license?

Whatever the reason, it would be a month of Sundays before Jack ever sat near this cop again. A tap on the door jerked his head to the left. There was Bob, a folded paper in hand Jack rolled down the window a mere two inches, just enough room for Bob to pass him the slip.

"Thanks." Jack could not quite keep the sneer out of his voice.

Bob returned to his police car without a word. Jack watched his retreat in the mirror. Jack unfolded the sheet of paper. How much was this one going to cost?

Wait a minute. What was this? Some kind of joke?

Certainly not a ticket. Jack began to read:

"Dear Jack, Once upon a time I had a daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed it- a speeding driver. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his daughters, all three of them. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven before I can ever hug her again.

A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now. Pray for me. And be careful, Jack, my son is all I have left."

"Bob"

Jack turned around in time to see Bob's car pull away and head down the road. Jack watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.

Treating all people equally this Christmas

I just read this story from a friend of mine (Tony) who currently pastors a church in the Quad Cities:

The church I pastored in Des Moines let the women's group handle [baby showers]. A couple of them decided that they would never have a shower for the child of an unwed mother. One of our young ladies, near the end of her pregnancy, was finally engaged, and the women refused to consider her for a shower.

About two weeks later, they came to me with the bright idea of using Christmas as a chance to restock the nursery with new baby toys, and they wanted to advertize it as a "Baby Shower in honor of the Baby Jesus." I told them no and forbade them from doing it. I told them that he was the child of an engaged but unwed mother who was not marrying the child's father. It took them about 20 minutes to finally get it, and they still wouldn't give this other gal a shower, so I unilaterally ended baby showers at the church until all babies were treated equally.

While I love Tony's response, stories like this make me sad. The Bible makes it clear that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)and yet we (as "Christ followers") won't follow Jesus' example and "die for" (i.e. help) others because we don't deem them worthy of aid. This should not be! What an embarassment to God that his children would behave like this!

So let me ask you:

Are you consistent in your treatment of people?

Do you inwardly judge people based on how they dress?

Do you think differently of someone after you've learned where they work?

Do you treat someone differently after hearing about mistakes they made in their past?

Are you treating all people fairly?

"My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others?" James 2:1 (NLT)

Humility

I was skimming the Nov./Dec. issue of Preaching magazine (it's been buried on my desk for a over a month, and I need to pass it on to the other pastors I share the subscription with!) and came across this portion of an interview with Thom Rainer:

Preaching: If you were a pastor today and you'd just read [your] book [Breakout Churches], where would you go from here?

Rainer: Knowing how I pastored, I probably would fire me right away! But that's not the question. I realize that my dominant spiritual gift in my previous four pastorates was stupidity and so I would tell them to get another pastor. I'm glad I got demoted to academia. It worked out well."

While Rainer's self-deprecation made me laugh, I saw the humility in the midst of the humor. Thom was saying that the church was not about him as the pastor, it was about God and what God wanted to do through the church. And if the church could be more effective with a different pastor, then a different pastor should be found, even if it meant Thom was "demoted".

This same attitude is what helped me realize it was okay to start Watershed. When I was more concerned about seeing God use Watershed to reach young adults in Cedar Rapids than as a platform for me to use my spiritual gift of teaching, I knew it was okay to proceed and that it would probably work (if it was about me, it would have quickly failed - I can say that with honesty!).

Are you living your life with humility like Thom Rainer? It doesn't take self-deprecating humor to reveal it or even to fake it. But honestly ask yourself - am I more concerned about God's reputation than about my own?

A pagan Christmas?

I've often heard that Christians adopted the pagan winter solstice festival as the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and many of the practices of the pagan festivals were incorporated into our Christmas traditions (like Christmas trees). That hasn't bothered me too much throughout life because what matters to me is that Christ came.

But Gene Vieth seems to believe that this "pagan Christmas" is a myth. According to this article, Christmas actually started first, and pagans later tried to adopt the holiday as their own. Veith even gives some reasoning as to why Dec. 25th was picked as Jesus' birthday.

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it gets me thinking (and wishing I had more time to research it!).

Merry Chr...er, Happy Holidays

My wife and I did some Christmas shopping yesterday. As we walked into Sears to look for a 36" Quick Clamp (sorry, Dad, they were out - looks like we'll have to get you something else on your list), there were 2 prominent black and white 8 1/2 x 11 signs on the entrance to the store. They simply said "Merry Christmas".

I laughed and caught my wife up on the controversy: Several people noticed that Sears and Target and other stores lacked the word "Christmas" in any of their advertising. I guess the pendulum swung back the other way at the Cedar Rapids Sears stores.

The whole controversy reminded me of this image my friend Leo recently emailed me. Hope you get a laugh out of it too!

Indebted Young Adults

A friend, after reading my last post about the legacies of different generations, sent me an MSN article saying that while the young adult generation may not be fully following in the footsteps of their parents' generation, they are following and going further than their parents in one area: DEBT.

School loans are a big focus of the article, but they also talk about credit cards, which I want to focus on for this blog post. Now, I am not anti-credit card. I have 4 in my wallet right now. But one is a check card, another is a business check card (for my small website company), the third is a Discover card, and the last a MasterCard. My wife and I use the check cards for day-to-day purchases (I rarely carry cash anymore). But the Discover and MasterCard we only use to purchase things for church to get reimbursed on or things that we know we can pay for when the bill comes. We never carry a balance over.

You see, my wife and I view all that we own as coming from and belonging to God. That means my income, my house, even the food we eat together as a family is God's, and my role is to handle His money in the way I think He wants it to be handled. And I struggle with the idea that God would want me using His money to pay credit card interest. And so we don't carry a balance.

You do not need to live your financial life exactly as we do, but I am thankful that I don't have credit card loans hanging over my head. If you are a young adult with a lot of loans, I would encourage you to ruthlessly eliminate your debts, especially high-interest-rate credit card debt. That might mean some sacrifice - no movies, cheap ice cream, sharing a house with LOTS of people to keep housing payments low, carpooling (or riding your bike). But the freedom you will experience and the ability to use those funds to give to things that are in line with the heart of God is wonderful.

If you need some help in this area, I'd suggest starting with Crown Financial Ministries. Another resource you might look into is Dave Ramsey who's featured in the young adult magazine Relevant each month.

Boomer or Buster Legacy?

I just saw this story on young adults from ABC News. According to the Associated Press, young adults admire boomers, but they are more than ready to forge their own legacy.

What legacy are you leaving?