Push and Shove

Every day I tell myself "today I will work out", "today I will get things done" and every night I tell myself "tomorrow".

My problem isn't with desire, it's with drive. It's the difference between planning a long journey and actually stepping out the door. Sometimes we need a push.

As both a soldier and police officer I practiced room clearing drills. You've probably seen these in movies where a SWAT team lines up, almost on top of each other, just outside a door. Then they bust in one right after another. You know what never happens in those scenes, no one ever stops until they're all the way inside.

You see one of the keys of this tactic is that everyone must move together and all the way to their point. If you stop too soon you put yourself and your team members in danger. This is what drives them. One of the team cannot stand in the hallway while the others go in nor can they block their path. They all go in, and they all go in together.

Whatever it is you're trying to accomplish it will work better with a team. Find a group of people with the same desires and you will become each others drive.

What is your desire? Who is on your team?

Wave your flag

I was an avid vexillologist before Sheldon Cooper made it cool. My wife insist that it is an extremely dorky and boring interest. But she doesn't see the intricate use of symbology and design that come together to brilliantly represent a group of people.

On of my greatest honor in the Army was the brief time that I carried my platoon's guidon in basic training. This was a position of honor. To have some perspective on what this meant consider the movie Glory. In it the reluctant hero of Trip (Denzel Washington) is offered the honor of carrying his unit's colors (the Union Flag). He refuses saying that he isn't fighting for anyone else but himself. 

Therein lies the key to the guidon or color bearer. For centuries battlefield commanders had no way of controlling their men once the battle began. Drums, trumpets, and other audible commands could become useless in the clamor of combat. But on simple tactic was effective, the banner. Each unit would have it's own banner that would be readily recognizable to everyone on the field. During the battle the commander would be able to easily identify where each of his units were by simply locating the respective banner. But more importantly a soldier dazed in the fog of war need only to look up and find his colors to know where he need be.

For that reason it was vital that the standard bearer be the most brave of soldiers. They could not waver or falter under pressure for if they did their fleeing colors would trail a host of retreating soldiers behind. It is also important to remember that these soldiers were often nearly defenseless themselves. Simply imagine trying to hold a flag pole while holding anything else let alone wielding some kind of weapon. And they were the enemies primary target, cut them down and leave their unit lost in confusion.

And this is why Trip refused to carry the colors. He did not want to lead, he only wanted to kill as many "rebs" as he could. But in the end as Trip see his unit's colors fall to the ground and they are left demoralized and paralyzed by fear it is he who rushes forward and rallies his troops to charge on, only to be cut down himself.

But what about us? Are we willing to be the standard bearers? It's more than being willing to say "I am a Christian". It is saying "Brothers and Sisters follow me". All the while knowing that the enemy will be aiming the might of his arsenal at you. But still you pick up that banner and charge the hill.

And for those we follow, the leaders of the church, are they willing to carry the colors of our faith? Are they like Trip in the first who only wanted to do what was best for him? Or are they like him in his final moments, holding that flag high even as they are struck down?

In the end I only carried my platoon's guidon for two days. I was stripped of that honor because after dinner one evening I was not the first one out of the dinning facility. I was not late, I was not the last one, I simply was not first. If I was not first I could not lead. No less should we ask of the leaders of our faith.

What does a Christian look like?

I went to a small Bible college for one semester. It was an interesting experience. The school had a lot of very specific rules, some seemingly arbitrary  One such rule was pertaining to students' appearance. For the boys their hair could only be a certain length, no facial hair was allowed, nor shorts in the classroom, no piercings of any kind and of course no tattoos.

The school said this was so that student's would portray a positive image in the community while the students retorted that even Jesus had long hair and a beard. Of course the school's idea of  what a good well-respected Christian looked like was based on the worldview that the faculty and staff held. This was the same worldview as my dad who still wears a suit and tie to church every Sunday. But these students were largely from churches where to congregation (and sometimes pastors) came dressed in t-shirts, jeans, and sandals, with long hair, goatees, and tattoos and piercings galore.

Of course both of these groups can be just as committed to God, they can each served and worship Him as fully and as actively as each other. And they can both be as lukewarm and self-serving, they can both be just as lost and wandering as the other.

So there is no Christian dress code. No uniform or style. But I can tell you what a true Christian really looks like.

Their eyes look like God's. Seeing the heavenly, not the earthly

Their mouths will speak only love.

Their hands will be worn from toiling at God's work.

Their arms will be open and welcoming others with love.

Their feet will be dirty from walking the path with their brothers and sisters.

What does a Christian look like to you?

How do you look?

Hunger Pangs

What is the longest you have ever gone without eating? My church youth group did a few 24 hour fasts when I was in high school. I know there were some training exercises in the army that left me without food for a while. But none of that compares to someone who is starving.

To most Americans hunger and starvation are unfathomable, we view them as problems that other parts of the world face. We do not see the the nearly 15% of Americans (including 16 million children) who are not sure where their next meal will come from.

If I am hungry I can go to the kitchen and get some food. If I don't like what we have I can get in my car and drive to the store and select from thousands of choices of affordable foods. I do not know hunger.

But Jesus tells us we do not live by bread alone, that we need the Word of God just as much as we need earthly food. Yet so often we do not get fed what we need to survive. Few of us have gone more than 24 hours without earthly food but how long have we gone without the Bread of Life?

I know that my soul has starved in seasons of my life. I have been malnourished or lived only on spiritual junk food. My spirit was unfed.

But even then I often did not know hunger. Starvation was still a problem on the other side of the world. One of the devil's greatest tricks is to convince us that we're full when we are starving, to let us wither away all the while thinking we are fine.

Now I pray for hunger pangs. I pray to be ravenous for God's Word. He is all around me and if I am hungry for more there are churches, music, books, and thousands of other choices of ways to be feed. I do not need to know hunger, but pray for an insatiable appetite.

On the third day...

Amazing works of God and man

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities‑his eternal power and divine nature‑have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

Dance Lessons

We've all heard that we need faith like a child. That we need to be willing to give our full measure of belief. But is there another side to childlike faith what we've been missing out on.

Tell a child good news and they will believe, but they will do more than that. They will dance and yell and run around. A childlike faith is not only one that is eager to believe but it is a faith that simply cannot be held in.

When is the last time your faith made you dance?

World Wide Love

We're told time and again in the Bible to love our neighbors. And we all know that our neighbors aren't just those who live next door to us, but all the people in our lives.

But in the communication age what does even that mean?

Are our neighbors our Facebook friends? Are our neighbors others who comment on a story online? Are our neighbors bloggers and tweeters we have never met? Are our neighbors a family on the other side of the world devestated by disaster and in need of help or a group of people on the other side of the state spewing hate and damnation?

Yes.

Our neighbors look, and sound, a lot less like us than they may have 20 years ago. As technology makes our world smaller it makes our neighborhood larger. So how do we show love to all of them?

Renaissance Children

Much of Christianity focuses on rebirth.

Jesus was born a human birth, we are born-again. The disciples left the lives the had built. They were not children they were men who had spent their lives carving out a future for themselves then they had to start all over as they began a new life following Jesus.

Time and again we're presented with someone who starts over and begins anew. Often this is for their better such as Paul or Moses or their reborn into a life of suffering like Cain.

Rebirth is a profound notion. This is more than the idea that every day is a chance to get it right. Rebirth implies starting over, you begin again naked and confused. You have to be willing to give it all up and start over.

You have to come back into the world with nothing, completely dependent on your Heavenly Father.

A Deeper Forest

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god. - Aristotle

It has been a few years since I have gone camping. That may be in large part due to my wife and I's differing views on what camping is. To me it involves a rain poncho, some string, and some bottles of water. To my wife it involves a cabin, several changes of clothes, and a McDonald's within driving distance.

The difference is in the reasons we go; she goes to relax and experience nature, I go to test and perhaps find myself.

We need society, we need community. We are social creatures, we're not designed to make it all on our own. But we often see, as our greatest test, the ability to do that for which we were not designed. We want to know who we are once removed from our societal roles, are we beasts or are we gods? Do we concur the savage wilderness or do we become wild savages?

Even Jesus was no stranger to this. The beginning of His ministry on earth He went into the wild and there He was tested. He subjected Himself to the most basic of human tests and passed. But the very next thing He did was find some friends. He did not stay in the wilderness, He built a community.

The wilderness has its place but it is not meant to be our home.

What is your wilderness, have you lingered too long there?

Bottle of Faith

What does it mean to have Faith? Can we prove what we believe?

Pick up a bottle of Pepsi, or Coke I don't really care but there is a bottle of Pepsi next to me so I'm going to keep talking about Pepsi.

We know that it says Pepsi on the side because we can read, we understand the language in which it is written. The word Pepsi is fact.

But what is inside that bottle? We believe it to be Pepsi because our prior experience tells us that what is inside. We trust the that the facts on the outside reveal a truth on the inside.

So it is with our Faith. We can all read the Bible and point to what it says. But believing the truth that lies inside those words is what makes our Faith. We can only prove what is inside by partaking of it and we can only prove it to others by sharing.

King's X

While I've always enjoyed King's X's music they were never one of my favorite bands. But they have always had my respect. They really changed my opinion of what it meant to be a Christian musician. Yes they rocked and looked like characters from Shadowrun, but there was something maybe even more important. I liked them long before I knew they were Christian. I first really became aware of them on the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack, not at youth group. They never seemed concerned with labels, or what section of the record store you'd be able to find them in, or if the Christian bookstores would even carry them. They didn't let any of that change their message or their art. A message perhaps all of us could use no matter what we create.

And if you've never heard Dogman you're truly missing out on one of the all-time great hard rock songs.

What Could I Find Beyond The Light?

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Or loose the chords of Orion?
Can you lead for a constellation in its season?
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
Do you know the ordinances of heaven

or fix their rule over the earth?

Job 38:31-33

A Prayer, A Promise, A Praise

When I thought about writing today's post on God answering prayers I thought of listing examples of prayers answered in my own life. But besides the fact that that list would take too long, I would surely miss some things that I never knew He did. And honestly that would not exactly be the most enthralling post you've ever  read.

So instead I decided to tell you about some prayers that God will answer for me. These are the things I am currently praying for. And since God promised many, many, many, many. many times and then some that He would answer our prayers I will go ahead and call Him on those promises and count these as answered.

• I was recently laid-off from work. It has been a month since I last worked and I need a job soon before our savings dry up.
• We just found out that we're expecting our second child. The first pregnancy wasn't easy and this one's off to a rocky start. 

Those are my two "big" prayers right now. But they are so much better because I know God will come through, He's already told me so and He has never let me down yet. I'll let you know when those promises take effect, but until then I'll keep praising Him for the answer He'll give.

What about you? What are you praising God for? What prayers of yours is He promising to answer?

Finding Faith

Faith is a funny thing; some times we lose it, other times it's the only thing we're left with

We've all misplaced our faith, usually in someone we love.

But then we find it again in the strangest places: in a word with a stranger, in a book or in a song, we find in in the places we have been and in the places we wish to go.

I have faith. I have faith in tomorrow. I have faith that tomorrow will be better than today. And if it is not I have faith in the next day.

Faithfully and Faith-filled the Faith keeps me.

Ashes to....

I wish I could say that launching this new blog at the start of Lent was a carefully thought out plan. That this blog would be some kind of Lenten act of service. But that just isn't the truth. The truth is that I finally got some kind of handle on what this blog would be about and even got a bit of writing done for it. I knew that I could spend months fine tuning and perfecting it, but it would never be perfect. So I figured it was time to step out and just get it started.

And that is important because in a large sense that is what this blog is about. It is about taking steps on a journey. We can pick our destination, we can pack our bags, we can buy our tickets, we can even kiss our loved ones goodbye. But until we step out the door, until we put leather to bricks our journey has not begun.

So I pick up my walking stick and head out the door. I will stumble over root and rock along the way. I may even lose my way from time to time. The wind may be in my face, the sun nowhere to be found. But with a good pair of boots and an eye to the horizon I will take another step.