The winner in the Anthropogenic Global Warming debate is the conservationist lifestyle (but I am a little more worried about the losers than the winners.)
A poll by the New York Times about fuel taxes implies that Americans are somewhat welcoming to the idea of higher fuel taxes if (and a mostly BIG "if") those dollars go directly to investment in sustainable reasonable fuel alternatives. In other words, the population is willing to consume less and pay more in hopes that they will dodge the doom of a global meltdown. This reminds me of press that seemed to come out at about the time the IPCC and another gentleman won the Nobel prize for their AGW movie and research.
In fact, recall when the IPCC co-won the Nobel prize and the UN that supported it started to more vocally promote carbon taxes as the key solutions, other long time conservationists starting to jump ship from the "global warming" momentum. To date they treat anthropogenic global warming (AGW) like the noisy slightly slow cousin who keeps stirring up the right interest, just not quite in the right direction. I am going to agree with that. I love the idea of promoting conservation through responsible moderation. I however hate it that AGW gets to run wild in the streets dumping its pseudo-science everywhere, fearing-mongering the population into redistribution of wealth through taxation. It's a fundraiser powered by fear that doesn't result in fixing anything.
Well, the first benefactor of these get-financial-redistribution-quick schemes is none other than the individual who was the co-winner of that Nobel Prize, Al Gore.
Some of you might recall that soon after the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" came out it was revealed that Al Gore's Tennesee home consumes 20 times the power as compared to the average American home. His response... I (Al Gore) invest in carbon offsets.
Now regardless of what you are I think about carbon offsets, maybe that is still admirable. At best, carbon offsets are ensuring that while you personally waste, you are paying to ensure that someone else doesn't (or rather bears the burden of maximizing their conservation so you don't have to.) At worst, ideologically, carbon taxes and cap-and-trade and buying offsets equals giving people the right to buy an increase in pollution. ie. "I am beating up the planet, but at the same time I am making donations into the DON'T BEAT UP THE PLANET fund, so we're good, right?"
I wish this story ended there! Recently, it has come to my attention that Al Gore actually buys his offsets from General Investment Management. The problem: Al Gore co-founded General Investment Management (GIM)!
So, do the math. His movie, his prize, his company, and if the laws and taxes are all successful, then his profits!? So his offsets are really an investment in an offset resource company that will make him more money?
For one, you have to admit that this is questionable at best. At worst, he is fear-mongering for cash! And so all of the "settled science" claims, his unwillingness to debate with reputable scientists who would like to discuss the science behind AGW just simply buy time as our government is swindled into forcing American companies to buy his GIM company services because we got into bed with the UN to redistribute wealth across the planet.
The most horrible part of all of that: none of it stops or slows down the "big problem" that is carbon emitions (remembering that just about everything on this planet is carbon-based ... they are setting up a tax plan for the most abundant element in the known universe). Why are we pursuing it? Good question.
But regardless, people intuitively know the right answer to this wrong question. The answer is personal responsibility to own a more conservationist lifestyle. There is no good reason to waste resources or over consume (step one should be changing the advertising monster that roams the planet psychologically demanding that we replace our perfectly good funiture and kitchen appliances with more stylish ones, just because) and so while people are still mostly confused about the science and reality of AGW, they are really hoping for answers that lead to Christian values like "intentional awareness of moderation." The funny thing about that NYTimes poll on rising fuel costs: less than half of the people who said they would be fine with rising fuel costs if it would help said they would continue to be OK with it if the revenue didn't reall help better the situation.
I am hopeful that the world pays attention and learns moderation and reasonable conservative living. I am however afraid that it might be at the expense of allowing a myth to continue and worse yet promote a secondary agenda at the expense of the planet. If you think that the myth is mostly harmless, read this review that anticipates something more like global bankruptcy if we follow through with this and other UN-based redistribution of wealth initiatives.
A few last videos to review:
Showing posts with label Christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Broken
Why are we so survival-of-the-fittest? We imagine and pretend with each other that we are an enlightened people. I am not saying there isn’t a light. There clearly is a light. Pretending there isn’t a light is half the problem. What I am saying is that proximity or conversation about the light is not the same as having it. We shape and form our theorems for life after our limited experiences imagining that we are giving to ourselves and others a Martin Luther-like-truth that will “set us free” but our broken half-truth has a shelf life of about 20 minutes. We think of clever ways to say things that mean nothing and make no real difference.
The tell-tale sign that we are not enlightened is that we hide our pain. Why is that so tell-tale? Because we are afraid that these “enlightened people” will throw the weaker version of ourselves under the buss “if they only knew.” The trouble is that it is just true. So what do we do? We do the worst thing possible. We form our own leper camps where all of the other similarly broken people come together to tell each other that we are not broken or that the non-broken people are just bastards for judging us. Let me disrobe the king’s new clothes on that one! We are all broken. There are no un-broken people judging us. We are our own worse critiques and we know we are broken. Getting around other broken people is still totally survival-of-the-fittest. Why? Because we want to secretly compare ourselves with the worst in others and say “see, I am not that bad.” And even this statement has a sliding scale of meaning. We could mean “See, we all suck therefore on a curve if we all suck then we all must be doing OK,” or we mean “Compared to the degree that you suck, I don’t look so bad.” You know what? There is no curve to brokenness. You are either broken or you are not, and everyone is broken.
So what about the light then? I will tell you about the light. Have you ever broken a bone? Imagine if you had convinced yourself you were OK and kept using that bone. I did this. I was in High School and I was catching a football and I broke my finger. My first reaction was, “Oh my gosh! I broke my finger. HELP!” My next reaction was classic, “MAN UP!” and so I grabbed the goofy broken finger and pull it further out of socket and tried to pop it back in. A few days later when the pain was unbearable, I went to the doctor and found out that my little self-adjusting fix had ruined a tendon in my finger. I wasn’t enlightened. The “answer” was not “within me all along.” If ever there was an answer in me it was my first response to the situation… “HELP!” To this day it affects my ability to play musical instruments. Sadly I have learned to live with it. When I play, I don’t have the hand strength to play really long without that hand going numb. Whenever it gets cold outside my finger aches. I will forever pay for my foolish self deception and classic ignorance in thinking I could do this on my own or fix the mess I was in.
We all tend to play a role in our demise. More importantly we play a role in our recovery. But you know what… recovery sucks too. Why? Think of a burn victim who fell asleep with a cigarette. Over the months of recovery as their body is replacing the destroyed skin, repairing nerves and the bandages are being replaced that person is going through unimaginable pain. Burning to death would suck. Recovery sucks too. What is worse? Who cares? Do you really want to live a life that keeps putting you to bed with cigarettes?
I think it is time to kill the survivalists inside us. You know that if you are honest you would last about 24 hours at best lost in the woods. The survivalist mentality is like a couch-potato telling other spectators how that last play should have been run. It is complete fiction. You are not a coach. You are not a quarterback. You are not a running back. You are not a doctor. And if you are then you know that you are simply qualified to “try,” brave enough to “try.” If you are, then maybe you are actually acknowledging that brokenness needs healing and not left to turn green and kill us slowly.
Like the burn victim at the hospital, we need a team of doctor surrounding us, helping us out. Gathering around us other burn victim who are all falling asleep with cigarettes is foolish. We are only in survival mode at best.
Enough is enough! Identifying the fact that you are broken is step one. Step two is getting help. Do me a favor. If you are like me and you have a bookshelf, then find all of your self-help books and rip out three quarters of the pages. What is left is a generous approximation of the value of all of your books put together. You were not meant to do this alone. Let me say that again. If you are trying to fix yourself on your own, then know beyond all hope that your plan will fail. Remember the last time you tried to fix some addiction or obsession you have on your own? Smoking, drinking, pornography, lust, OSD, etc. Go ahead and give up. It will be your best next step.
When I was younger I had a friend who had a lot of pain from his relationship with his dad. It was poring over into all of his relationships. He was so angry at his father and at what he was becoming as a result of his emotionally abused history. But he was a smart guy. He started to see how he was self destructing in the rest of his life. He acknowledged that he was broken and now causing his own pain. After praying together and talking together I felt like Jesus gave me some insight into both events in his past as well as perspectives he was carrying. One intense night, we dedicated ourselves to going to war over his life. He wanted it back and was ready to do whatever it took to get out from under the crushing pressure of his brokenness. Sometimes we have to get that desperate. This is because of the self-protecting nature of our truly unenlightened current reality.
We held a funeral that night. After hours and hours of sharing his pain with me, crying and yelling, punching at the air, laying on the floor and weeping, we eventually found ourselves in my backyard. I pointed at this spot on the ground and said, “Dude, your old self is buried right there, in the ground. That isn’t you anymore. It’s time to say a few words over your old self and put it to rest. But you don’t have to be nice.” I started us off, “Well, you moron. I am so glad you are dead. There is nothing more in life I want for my friend. I hate you and love that you are gone. Good Bye!” He started out, “You suck. You are week and I am glad you are gone. I want nothing to do with you.” By the end he had picked up any stone he could find and started pummeling his old-self grave! By the end he felt free from needing to be that version of himself. I shared a few thoughts with him, “Now you have a choice. From here on out you can be what you want to be, the best version of yourself. And if you decide to go back and dig up that rotting corpse you can. You can throw that smelling decomposing corpse on your shoulders and carry it around again, but that will be your choice. You are not subject to that ‘thing’ anymore. And if you do ever find yourself in that position then just go bury it again, immediately! That is not you anymore.”
I truly hate the world we live in right now that wants to hide our brokenness, or worse pretend it isn’t brokenness, or throw each other under the buss when we reveal our brokenness. I just want to be real. Not a jaded “we are all broken” kind-of-real that doesn’t take a single real step toward getting out from under the mess. I am talking about a “real” that is really ready to face the issues. If you are hurting, then come with me to the hospital. I think I am done convincing people that they need the hospital. I am fine with telling them where it is (i.e. get into a real church if your church isn’t more like a real hospital. Jesus and his people will help you. If you church is a club, then feel free to enjoy the club, just don’t replace the hospital with a club when what you really need is a hospital. If your church ignors brokenness or leaves you simply and acknowledging that “everyone is broken” but doesn’t do anything about it, here is some advice: stop wasting time and get a new church.)
It is time to face the fact that we need the light. We need Jesus. What he has been offering for 2000 years is needed more than ever. We are just goofy people that like to smoke and fall asleep with our cigarettes. We know it hurts us. We know we hurt others. We risk getting burned and when we do, we hide our burns. These risks are a waste! The costs are too high! We are too busy basking in our ability to break ourselves and others.
The tell-tale sign that we are not enlightened is that we hide our pain. Why is that so tell-tale? Because we are afraid that these “enlightened people” will throw the weaker version of ourselves under the buss “if they only knew.” The trouble is that it is just true. So what do we do? We do the worst thing possible. We form our own leper camps where all of the other similarly broken people come together to tell each other that we are not broken or that the non-broken people are just bastards for judging us. Let me disrobe the king’s new clothes on that one! We are all broken. There are no un-broken people judging us. We are our own worse critiques and we know we are broken. Getting around other broken people is still totally survival-of-the-fittest. Why? Because we want to secretly compare ourselves with the worst in others and say “see, I am not that bad.” And even this statement has a sliding scale of meaning. We could mean “See, we all suck therefore on a curve if we all suck then we all must be doing OK,” or we mean “Compared to the degree that you suck, I don’t look so bad.” You know what? There is no curve to brokenness. You are either broken or you are not, and everyone is broken.
So what about the light then? I will tell you about the light. Have you ever broken a bone? Imagine if you had convinced yourself you were OK and kept using that bone. I did this. I was in High School and I was catching a football and I broke my finger. My first reaction was, “Oh my gosh! I broke my finger. HELP!” My next reaction was classic, “MAN UP!” and so I grabbed the goofy broken finger and pull it further out of socket and tried to pop it back in. A few days later when the pain was unbearable, I went to the doctor and found out that my little self-adjusting fix had ruined a tendon in my finger. I wasn’t enlightened. The “answer” was not “within me all along.” If ever there was an answer in me it was my first response to the situation… “HELP!” To this day it affects my ability to play musical instruments. Sadly I have learned to live with it. When I play, I don’t have the hand strength to play really long without that hand going numb. Whenever it gets cold outside my finger aches. I will forever pay for my foolish self deception and classic ignorance in thinking I could do this on my own or fix the mess I was in.
We all tend to play a role in our demise. More importantly we play a role in our recovery. But you know what… recovery sucks too. Why? Think of a burn victim who fell asleep with a cigarette. Over the months of recovery as their body is replacing the destroyed skin, repairing nerves and the bandages are being replaced that person is going through unimaginable pain. Burning to death would suck. Recovery sucks too. What is worse? Who cares? Do you really want to live a life that keeps putting you to bed with cigarettes?
I think it is time to kill the survivalists inside us. You know that if you are honest you would last about 24 hours at best lost in the woods. The survivalist mentality is like a couch-potato telling other spectators how that last play should have been run. It is complete fiction. You are not a coach. You are not a quarterback. You are not a running back. You are not a doctor. And if you are then you know that you are simply qualified to “try,” brave enough to “try.” If you are, then maybe you are actually acknowledging that brokenness needs healing and not left to turn green and kill us slowly.
Like the burn victim at the hospital, we need a team of doctor surrounding us, helping us out. Gathering around us other burn victim who are all falling asleep with cigarettes is foolish. We are only in survival mode at best.
Enough is enough! Identifying the fact that you are broken is step one. Step two is getting help. Do me a favor. If you are like me and you have a bookshelf, then find all of your self-help books and rip out three quarters of the pages. What is left is a generous approximation of the value of all of your books put together. You were not meant to do this alone. Let me say that again. If you are trying to fix yourself on your own, then know beyond all hope that your plan will fail. Remember the last time you tried to fix some addiction or obsession you have on your own? Smoking, drinking, pornography, lust, OSD, etc. Go ahead and give up. It will be your best next step.
When I was younger I had a friend who had a lot of pain from his relationship with his dad. It was poring over into all of his relationships. He was so angry at his father and at what he was becoming as a result of his emotionally abused history. But he was a smart guy. He started to see how he was self destructing in the rest of his life. He acknowledged that he was broken and now causing his own pain. After praying together and talking together I felt like Jesus gave me some insight into both events in his past as well as perspectives he was carrying. One intense night, we dedicated ourselves to going to war over his life. He wanted it back and was ready to do whatever it took to get out from under the crushing pressure of his brokenness. Sometimes we have to get that desperate. This is because of the self-protecting nature of our truly unenlightened current reality.
We held a funeral that night. After hours and hours of sharing his pain with me, crying and yelling, punching at the air, laying on the floor and weeping, we eventually found ourselves in my backyard. I pointed at this spot on the ground and said, “Dude, your old self is buried right there, in the ground. That isn’t you anymore. It’s time to say a few words over your old self and put it to rest. But you don’t have to be nice.” I started us off, “Well, you moron. I am so glad you are dead. There is nothing more in life I want for my friend. I hate you and love that you are gone. Good Bye!” He started out, “You suck. You are week and I am glad you are gone. I want nothing to do with you.” By the end he had picked up any stone he could find and started pummeling his old-self grave! By the end he felt free from needing to be that version of himself. I shared a few thoughts with him, “Now you have a choice. From here on out you can be what you want to be, the best version of yourself. And if you decide to go back and dig up that rotting corpse you can. You can throw that smelling decomposing corpse on your shoulders and carry it around again, but that will be your choice. You are not subject to that ‘thing’ anymore. And if you do ever find yourself in that position then just go bury it again, immediately! That is not you anymore.”
I truly hate the world we live in right now that wants to hide our brokenness, or worse pretend it isn’t brokenness, or throw each other under the buss when we reveal our brokenness. I just want to be real. Not a jaded “we are all broken” kind-of-real that doesn’t take a single real step toward getting out from under the mess. I am talking about a “real” that is really ready to face the issues. If you are hurting, then come with me to the hospital. I think I am done convincing people that they need the hospital. I am fine with telling them where it is (i.e. get into a real church if your church isn’t more like a real hospital. Jesus and his people will help you. If you church is a club, then feel free to enjoy the club, just don’t replace the hospital with a club when what you really need is a hospital. If your church ignors brokenness or leaves you simply and acknowledging that “everyone is broken” but doesn’t do anything about it, here is some advice: stop wasting time and get a new church.)
It is time to face the fact that we need the light. We need Jesus. What he has been offering for 2000 years is needed more than ever. We are just goofy people that like to smoke and fall asleep with our cigarettes. We know it hurts us. We know we hurt others. We risk getting burned and when we do, we hide our burns. These risks are a waste! The costs are too high! We are too busy basking in our ability to break ourselves and others.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Christian Reality TV
ABC News has taken notice. On Sunday night they showed a news piece about two Christian reality-tv shows that are happy to make use of the medium but in a counter-cultural manner:
The Uprising:
http://www.steelroots.com/theuprising/
Revolve:
http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com/revolve
On the show they talked with "cast members" about how even though they are willing to be real about heavy issues and conflict that they feel that people will benefit from shows that do not focus on rejection or disappointment but rather decisions and conflict resolution that is influenced by the reality of their faith.
So, in the spectrum of reality-tv, less "Roadrules" and more "Extreme Home Makeover" or "Biggest looser."
As a complete aside, I had no idea that Christian Hosoi had become a born-again Christian. I recall him skating when I was younger, pulling McTwists on a vert ramp with his long hair flowing in the wind. I recall him being pretty dramatic, into drugs and at one point running from the law. He even invented the move the "Christ air" which maybe got me praying for him originally. But it appears that durring prison and not too long ago he got saved. I remember praying for him as a kid. I was never a skater, but I loved their skills and their style and had a good handful of friends who were living that life. I remember thinking as a kid there is nothing so raw as people litterally sitting on a curb and talking about real life.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Trading Up
There are plenty of opportunities in life where we have to make a trade. The hope is always that we end up with the good end of the deal. Not too long ago I bought a new car. In fact, while I have owned six cars in my life, none of them until the car I now own have been new. I am now on my seventh car and this car is new.
I remember the day I showed up at the dealership to buy the car. I had visited once before and sort of knew the car I was going for. Having had the car I was driving for years, I was completely aware of what I wanted from a car mostly because of what I was not getting out of my current vehicle. The bottom line was that while my current car was old, it was the car I owned and I was ready to part with it to trade up. No doubt people do not typically trade down, right? Sometimes, however, you do see this, but that was definitely not the case when it came to me.
This is life, I am convinced. We have some equity in the situation we find ourselves in, and surely we do not want to start from scratch in life. We want to trade up. But not unlike my car, it was far harder to bite the bullet and suddenly go into a little debt to trade up. I owned my car. The seat conformed to me! I knew exactly what was wrong with the car and likely when it would break down next! “Do I really want to trade at all?”, was the question. But it really isn't the right question. The real question is, “Can I get away with trading up?” Sometimes you have to get so tired of your situation that you are ready to go into a little debt to suddenly find yourself in a whole better situation. But it is sometimes difficult to break the momentum of what is known, to embrace what is not known.
Let me tell you about the best deal on the planet. I kid you not, even with the current financial situation that we all find ourselves in, you aren't going to want to pass up this deal. The debt is far less valuable than the deal you get in the end. Here is that deal:
Jeremiah 31:13
The young women will rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together, for I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrows.
Mostly people who don't spend much time with the Bible would likely be fairly well surprised to find that the Bible is filled with these sort of statements. This is God basically saying to people that they will be so excited about the joy that comes into their lives as a result of trading in their sorrows that the natural response will be to start dancing simply because they are happy. Not dancing to perform. Not a broadway show dancing, but more like a flock of 13 year old girls all giggly and jumping up and down when they get together and having not done so in at least a few hours. God is basically saying he will make us excited like 13 year old girls! Secure in my masculinity, I can say with all honesty, that is a good thing. That is pretty darned happy!
Here is the thing though: Like nearly all of the other statements like this in the Bible, God is really going for a trade. It isn't enough to want the joy. He wants your sorrow. Isn't that crazy? There is only one way to give up your sorrow. You have to trade it in. Sorrow is like a gas-guzzling car. The more you drive it, the more fuel it demands. The more fuel you invest in it, the harder it is to give up that investment and trade in. We invite the creator of our sorrow (ourselves or some friend or enemy) to ride along in our sorrow, but this is never good. They don't respect the investment we've made in this ride and their riding along only makes things more costly to us. The bottom line is that we have to unload this sorrow and the only way is to trade it in!
So how do you trade in your sorrow? Well, if you've recently traded in a car (in the last ten years) and were paying attention, the trade goes something like this. You and the dealer walk around the car and as well look inside. Your car is painfully on display. As the dealer walks around it, they point out blemishes and dents, scratches and missing parts. They sit in the seats and start fiddling with things that you fear will fall out or off or apart. The dealer does this for a reason. They want you to see everything that diminishes the value of the vehicle. After this fiasco, the deal begins. The offer is extended.
God isn't quite like this. Well, God is, but not for the same reasons. It ends up that God cares more about you than the car, in the end. At each blemish or dent, scratch or missing part, God knows there is a story. As the dealer, God stops and asks, “Tell me about this dent here?” God won't accept the short version of the story. If you are going to get the deal, then you have to revisit the whole ugly story with God. But rather than diminishing you, God says “That was a horrible wreck. I am so sorry you went through that. Now, tell me about this dent over here?”
You talk your way through each dent, each scratch, every missing part is inventoried and each story is listened to patiently. This is the deal. God wants to know and expose each piece of invested equity. God wants to know who hit you and who you hit.
At the end of the examination, God first tells you what you already know. The car is nearly totaled; God thinks it is a miracle that you are still on the road! But the thing is, God knows this financier and you are about to get the deal of the century. As you could have imagined, Jesus is the financier. He is standing there with a check made out in the amount of the new car. You don't have to pay a thing! Jesus is fully prepared to foot the bill. But there is a debt that you still endure as the result of this amazing deal. You have to let Jesus show you how to drive this new car. He will show you it's power, it's handling, every feature and how they work. He will ride along and show you not only how to make a safe left turn, but just when to make it. And soon, you will be driving it and he is like OnStar! Easier than hitting a button on the dash, you can get directions, help when you can't find the keys from time to time, as well as the fuel when yours runs out.
So here is the next challenge: If you are not used to making the trade, the first one is always the biggest one. And the older your car, the harder it is. Don't worry. From one traveler to another, it is totally worth it. Here is what you do:
The thing about the human heart is that unless you've made the trade, then you are carrying around plenty of old and new sorrow. The act of trading it in results in joy. So pick one sorrow and start to walk around the situation with God.
If you are anything like me, then many of my dents (not all of them) are the result of my poor driving. So after I walk around the situation, I have to get humble and end up saying, “I am a pretty crappy driver. Sorry about that. I want to be a better driver. I don't want to keep driving a car that is all dented up. It sucks.” And each and every time in response to your humility God says, “Well, yeah, you can be a pretty crappy driver. And in this situation, this dent was pretty much your fault / the fault of your poor driving. But I totally care about your driving and your ride and I want to see you become a great driver, for your sake and for the sake of others! So, I forgive you for your crazy impatient nutty driving. Let's take a drive together and I will show you how to handle this situation in the future. I can make you a pretty darned good driver and that will get pretty fun for you, you know? So let's do this deal. Give me this sorrow, and I will give you some joy in trade.”
And... BAM... you are into a new car, just like that. And dude... what a deal! I promise you that you will want to take the time to do more trading with God. And after all is said and done, you will have a garage filled with gladness. But just promise yourself to remember that each time you find that your garage contains a sad old rust-bucket, that you will go make the trade. Don't lie to yourself and say that the “character” of that old-piece-of-crap makes you who you are, or that you can't imagine parting with it after so many years (clinging to some old sorrow.) That is not who you are!... It is only holding you back!... You have to let it go and trade it in!...Why in the world would you keep driving around in that crazy old gas-hog at this point!? Right?
Disclaimer: God is not a car dealer. I acknowledge that sometimes the reputation of car dealers as a stereotype doesn't evoke good feelings. Sometimes when we think of car dealer we think of a sneaky, shifty guy in a leisure suite swindling and being swindled. The fact of the matter is that God will not swindle you, nor can you swindle God. The equity in the deal is your real sorrows... you can't fake humility or repentance if you contributed to your own sorrows. You have to be real... but it is worth it. The trade is totally inequitable IN YOUR FAVOR!
I remember the day I showed up at the dealership to buy the car. I had visited once before and sort of knew the car I was going for. Having had the car I was driving for years, I was completely aware of what I wanted from a car mostly because of what I was not getting out of my current vehicle. The bottom line was that while my current car was old, it was the car I owned and I was ready to part with it to trade up. No doubt people do not typically trade down, right? Sometimes, however, you do see this, but that was definitely not the case when it came to me.
This is life, I am convinced. We have some equity in the situation we find ourselves in, and surely we do not want to start from scratch in life. We want to trade up. But not unlike my car, it was far harder to bite the bullet and suddenly go into a little debt to trade up. I owned my car. The seat conformed to me! I knew exactly what was wrong with the car and likely when it would break down next! “Do I really want to trade at all?”, was the question. But it really isn't the right question. The real question is, “Can I get away with trading up?” Sometimes you have to get so tired of your situation that you are ready to go into a little debt to suddenly find yourself in a whole better situation. But it is sometimes difficult to break the momentum of what is known, to embrace what is not known.
Let me tell you about the best deal on the planet. I kid you not, even with the current financial situation that we all find ourselves in, you aren't going to want to pass up this deal. The debt is far less valuable than the deal you get in the end. Here is that deal:
Jeremiah 31:13
The young women will rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together, for I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrows.
Mostly people who don't spend much time with the Bible would likely be fairly well surprised to find that the Bible is filled with these sort of statements. This is God basically saying to people that they will be so excited about the joy that comes into their lives as a result of trading in their sorrows that the natural response will be to start dancing simply because they are happy. Not dancing to perform. Not a broadway show dancing, but more like a flock of 13 year old girls all giggly and jumping up and down when they get together and having not done so in at least a few hours. God is basically saying he will make us excited like 13 year old girls! Secure in my masculinity, I can say with all honesty, that is a good thing. That is pretty darned happy!
Here is the thing though: Like nearly all of the other statements like this in the Bible, God is really going for a trade. It isn't enough to want the joy. He wants your sorrow. Isn't that crazy? There is only one way to give up your sorrow. You have to trade it in. Sorrow is like a gas-guzzling car. The more you drive it, the more fuel it demands. The more fuel you invest in it, the harder it is to give up that investment and trade in. We invite the creator of our sorrow (ourselves or some friend or enemy) to ride along in our sorrow, but this is never good. They don't respect the investment we've made in this ride and their riding along only makes things more costly to us. The bottom line is that we have to unload this sorrow and the only way is to trade it in!
So how do you trade in your sorrow? Well, if you've recently traded in a car (in the last ten years) and were paying attention, the trade goes something like this. You and the dealer walk around the car and as well look inside. Your car is painfully on display. As the dealer walks around it, they point out blemishes and dents, scratches and missing parts. They sit in the seats and start fiddling with things that you fear will fall out or off or apart. The dealer does this for a reason. They want you to see everything that diminishes the value of the vehicle. After this fiasco, the deal begins. The offer is extended.
God isn't quite like this. Well, God is, but not for the same reasons. It ends up that God cares more about you than the car, in the end. At each blemish or dent, scratch or missing part, God knows there is a story. As the dealer, God stops and asks, “Tell me about this dent here?” God won't accept the short version of the story. If you are going to get the deal, then you have to revisit the whole ugly story with God. But rather than diminishing you, God says “That was a horrible wreck. I am so sorry you went through that. Now, tell me about this dent over here?”
You talk your way through each dent, each scratch, every missing part is inventoried and each story is listened to patiently. This is the deal. God wants to know and expose each piece of invested equity. God wants to know who hit you and who you hit.
At the end of the examination, God first tells you what you already know. The car is nearly totaled; God thinks it is a miracle that you are still on the road! But the thing is, God knows this financier and you are about to get the deal of the century. As you could have imagined, Jesus is the financier. He is standing there with a check made out in the amount of the new car. You don't have to pay a thing! Jesus is fully prepared to foot the bill. But there is a debt that you still endure as the result of this amazing deal. You have to let Jesus show you how to drive this new car. He will show you it's power, it's handling, every feature and how they work. He will ride along and show you not only how to make a safe left turn, but just when to make it. And soon, you will be driving it and he is like OnStar! Easier than hitting a button on the dash, you can get directions, help when you can't find the keys from time to time, as well as the fuel when yours runs out.
So here is the next challenge: If you are not used to making the trade, the first one is always the biggest one. And the older your car, the harder it is. Don't worry. From one traveler to another, it is totally worth it. Here is what you do:
The thing about the human heart is that unless you've made the trade, then you are carrying around plenty of old and new sorrow. The act of trading it in results in joy. So pick one sorrow and start to walk around the situation with God.
If you are anything like me, then many of my dents (not all of them) are the result of my poor driving. So after I walk around the situation, I have to get humble and end up saying, “I am a pretty crappy driver. Sorry about that. I want to be a better driver. I don't want to keep driving a car that is all dented up. It sucks.” And each and every time in response to your humility God says, “Well, yeah, you can be a pretty crappy driver. And in this situation, this dent was pretty much your fault / the fault of your poor driving. But I totally care about your driving and your ride and I want to see you become a great driver, for your sake and for the sake of others! So, I forgive you for your crazy impatient nutty driving. Let's take a drive together and I will show you how to handle this situation in the future. I can make you a pretty darned good driver and that will get pretty fun for you, you know? So let's do this deal. Give me this sorrow, and I will give you some joy in trade.”
And... BAM... you are into a new car, just like that. And dude... what a deal! I promise you that you will want to take the time to do more trading with God. And after all is said and done, you will have a garage filled with gladness. But just promise yourself to remember that each time you find that your garage contains a sad old rust-bucket, that you will go make the trade. Don't lie to yourself and say that the “character” of that old-piece-of-crap makes you who you are, or that you can't imagine parting with it after so many years (clinging to some old sorrow.) That is not who you are!... It is only holding you back!... You have to let it go and trade it in!...Why in the world would you keep driving around in that crazy old gas-hog at this point!? Right?
Disclaimer: God is not a car dealer. I acknowledge that sometimes the reputation of car dealers as a stereotype doesn't evoke good feelings. Sometimes when we think of car dealer we think of a sneaky, shifty guy in a leisure suite swindling and being swindled. The fact of the matter is that God will not swindle you, nor can you swindle God. The equity in the deal is your real sorrows... you can't fake humility or repentance if you contributed to your own sorrows. You have to be real... but it is worth it. The trade is totally inequitable IN YOUR FAVOR!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Why Worship?
For some of us, we go to church every week and participate in what the western world calls worship. To some, worship is the attendance at a weekly church gathering, the worship service. In the most general sense, worship service then means a meeting devoted to God and God’s Kingdom. And that devotion amounting to an hour or more of time then equals worship. To others, worship is the act of singing, but even this might seem odd to many who don’t attend church meetings regularly.
The only time the non-church goer sings to people in regular life would be at either a birthday party or mockingly at the fans of some opposing team sitting on the other side of some sports venue. Now, go back a generation or two and men would “croon” swooning love-songs to their ladies. Any and all of this is, well, to a degree worshipful singing, even if it is a bit plain, expected or antithetical. So why do churches continue to sing worshipful songs to God if society has lost the knack for this way of expressing oneself? I am going to propose that it is not lost, nor is the act of singing the actual worship element within the church-related worship experience. Hang on to get my meaning...
I am going to throw down a Bible verse here which I will take the liberty to transliterate into a modern context (bare with me):
Romans 12, 1-2. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Now the Steve version:
OK. People, in light of the fact that due to the mercy of God on a daily basis and in an effort to remind ourselves of that mercy in the face of some not-so-merciful world circumstances, dedicate your whole self to the idea and act of uniquely being aware that you are and can be a blessing back to God. In doing this you are remembering God’s mercy and your very life will become the spiritual definition of worship. Again dedicate yourself to being aware that you can be an actual blessing to God in life in practical ways, but do this by altering your typical life-rut by rebooting your head out of your mundane view of the way things are and will be. Only by making the view fresh and new, seeing life through God’s perspective will you then be able to see the difference between what God wants for you, which is good, pleasing to you and perfect for you, contrasting that with all of the other typical crap that makes the rut that is your life if you just keep grinding forward without relating to God in practical ways and on His terms.
IN OTHER WORDS: God would prefer our “worship”… our “happy birthday” song in celebration of His mercy be in the form of living a grateful life dedicated to being a living blessing to God, so that we can dodge the crap of life and see the difference between the crap and the good stuff God would want for us.
In a sense it seems God is saying that our lives, if lived as an act of worship toward Him, on His terms, will result in getting a clearer view so we can grab on to His best for us. The act of living worship becomes this revolving door of blessing. First, He is merciful, THEN we remember by living grateful transformed lives that become the definition of worship, NEXT He in turn helps us walk into more blessings, and THEN we live more worship, ect. (on and on)
The singing part is just amazing. Being a musician, I have bumped into wacky facts about music over the years. In the context of my thoughts on worship here, I thought I would share one. Most people may not be aware that it is far easier to memorize musical lyrics than it is to memorize the spoken word. Why? Because something about music opens up our long term memory. In other words, when we sing about (1) how merciful and great God is toward us, or (2) sing to Him about our dedication toward being a blessing, or (3) to one another to remember amazing things about God or about God’s character, we are actually assigning those thoughts to our long term memory. I can say honestly that I learned a few songs as a kid that I would give anything to forget (maybe you know what I am talking about… to this day I find the song “Hang down your head Tom Dooley” completely depressing), but the long term nature of music ensures that once it goes in, it is far easier to access later when we need it. And in all of heaven and earth, if ever there was a time to learn or remember about the mercy and faithfulness of God on nearly a daily basis, this is that time.
So, in a sense, the singing part is really more for us than it is for God. It helps us remember like that Bible verse says. The real worship is in the remembering. But let me encourage you further…
Do you remember how awesome you are? OK that is a silly question. Of course you do, but it is nice to hear isn’t it? It is also nice to remember it when you are needing to be awesome and not a jerk or a bump on a log. Remembering attributes is generic praise, and generic praise is also a kind of worship. Better yet is specific praise…
Do you remember that time we went to the moon and bought icecream cones and sat in a crator telling each other jokes all afternoon? Oh, that wasn’t you? My bad. Likewise, it is far better to “remember” your own real memories. Don’t always let someone elses song become your song. That is fine too, but like the Psalmist says, let your song be “new every morning.” Each day is filled with cool little situations we can sit back and chat with God about at the end of the day…
“… and remember when Chris told that stupid joke and the two of us laughed for about ten minutes. God, thanks for making laughter. I totally needed that.” The thing is that our lives are all cluttered with crap to the degree that we don’t even see the neat little stuff that God places in our paths everyday. We step on or over them all of the time mostly because we don’t see them. Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of stuff in life to get cranky about and maybe we should let ourselves get upset about that stuff. BUT… not at the expense of losing our vision for the good stuff God intends for us. That totally isn't worth it, is it? It ought to be OK to get pissed about bad stuff AND get thankful for the good stuff. Worship opens us up to the good stuff, changes our minds, clears our vision, changes our perspective and helps to remind us that God is at work around us and toward us.
If you are not used to talking with God about the good stuff, then here is a simple exercise for you:
After work today, well before you go to bed, sit down in that rut you have worn into your favorite chair or bed or couch. Get comfortable, but not so comfortable that you fall asleep. Now, just begin to review the day. If the first few times you do this only crap come to mind (i.e. "And God, my boss totally pissed me off today. He doesn't see how hard I work. He only ever mentions the mistakes. I don't want to hate my job but today I am seriously close!") well, that is totally OK! Here is where the Bible is pretty cool. In another scripture it says "cast your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you!" In other words, until you finally hit that groove of getting a renewed and transformed vision of the world around you, he is ready to take on the burden of what is on your heart and mind. Do this for at least 14 days. At first, take only a minimum of 5 minutes to do this. I promise you.... it will make a difference! I am offering a moneyback guarantee! But wait... there is more! If you can't hit that groove, then find someone who can. They will likely be willing to help you see God's mercy in your life! This is important stuff.
The only time the non-church goer sings to people in regular life would be at either a birthday party or mockingly at the fans of some opposing team sitting on the other side of some sports venue. Now, go back a generation or two and men would “croon” swooning love-songs to their ladies. Any and all of this is, well, to a degree worshipful singing, even if it is a bit plain, expected or antithetical. So why do churches continue to sing worshipful songs to God if society has lost the knack for this way of expressing oneself? I am going to propose that it is not lost, nor is the act of singing the actual worship element within the church-related worship experience. Hang on to get my meaning...
I am going to throw down a Bible verse here which I will take the liberty to transliterate into a modern context (bare with me):
Romans 12, 1-2. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Now the Steve version:
OK. People, in light of the fact that due to the mercy of God on a daily basis and in an effort to remind ourselves of that mercy in the face of some not-so-merciful world circumstances, dedicate your whole self to the idea and act of uniquely being aware that you are and can be a blessing back to God. In doing this you are remembering God’s mercy and your very life will become the spiritual definition of worship. Again dedicate yourself to being aware that you can be an actual blessing to God in life in practical ways, but do this by altering your typical life-rut by rebooting your head out of your mundane view of the way things are and will be. Only by making the view fresh and new, seeing life through God’s perspective will you then be able to see the difference between what God wants for you, which is good, pleasing to you and perfect for you, contrasting that with all of the other typical crap that makes the rut that is your life if you just keep grinding forward without relating to God in practical ways and on His terms.
IN OTHER WORDS: God would prefer our “worship”… our “happy birthday” song in celebration of His mercy be in the form of living a grateful life dedicated to being a living blessing to God, so that we can dodge the crap of life and see the difference between the crap and the good stuff God would want for us.
In a sense it seems God is saying that our lives, if lived as an act of worship toward Him, on His terms, will result in getting a clearer view so we can grab on to His best for us. The act of living worship becomes this revolving door of blessing. First, He is merciful, THEN we remember by living grateful transformed lives that become the definition of worship, NEXT He in turn helps us walk into more blessings, and THEN we live more worship, ect. (on and on)
The singing part is just amazing. Being a musician, I have bumped into wacky facts about music over the years. In the context of my thoughts on worship here, I thought I would share one. Most people may not be aware that it is far easier to memorize musical lyrics than it is to memorize the spoken word. Why? Because something about music opens up our long term memory. In other words, when we sing about (1) how merciful and great God is toward us, or (2) sing to Him about our dedication toward being a blessing, or (3) to one another to remember amazing things about God or about God’s character, we are actually assigning those thoughts to our long term memory. I can say honestly that I learned a few songs as a kid that I would give anything to forget (maybe you know what I am talking about… to this day I find the song “Hang down your head Tom Dooley” completely depressing), but the long term nature of music ensures that once it goes in, it is far easier to access later when we need it. And in all of heaven and earth, if ever there was a time to learn or remember about the mercy and faithfulness of God on nearly a daily basis, this is that time.
So, in a sense, the singing part is really more for us than it is for God. It helps us remember like that Bible verse says. The real worship is in the remembering. But let me encourage you further…
Do you remember how awesome you are? OK that is a silly question. Of course you do, but it is nice to hear isn’t it? It is also nice to remember it when you are needing to be awesome and not a jerk or a bump on a log. Remembering attributes is generic praise, and generic praise is also a kind of worship. Better yet is specific praise…
Do you remember that time we went to the moon and bought icecream cones and sat in a crator telling each other jokes all afternoon? Oh, that wasn’t you? My bad. Likewise, it is far better to “remember” your own real memories. Don’t always let someone elses song become your song. That is fine too, but like the Psalmist says, let your song be “new every morning.” Each day is filled with cool little situations we can sit back and chat with God about at the end of the day…
“… and remember when Chris told that stupid joke and the two of us laughed for about ten minutes. God, thanks for making laughter. I totally needed that.” The thing is that our lives are all cluttered with crap to the degree that we don’t even see the neat little stuff that God places in our paths everyday. We step on or over them all of the time mostly because we don’t see them. Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of stuff in life to get cranky about and maybe we should let ourselves get upset about that stuff. BUT… not at the expense of losing our vision for the good stuff God intends for us. That totally isn't worth it, is it? It ought to be OK to get pissed about bad stuff AND get thankful for the good stuff. Worship opens us up to the good stuff, changes our minds, clears our vision, changes our perspective and helps to remind us that God is at work around us and toward us.
If you are not used to talking with God about the good stuff, then here is a simple exercise for you:
After work today, well before you go to bed, sit down in that rut you have worn into your favorite chair or bed or couch. Get comfortable, but not so comfortable that you fall asleep. Now, just begin to review the day. If the first few times you do this only crap come to mind (i.e. "And God, my boss totally pissed me off today. He doesn't see how hard I work. He only ever mentions the mistakes. I don't want to hate my job but today I am seriously close!") well, that is totally OK! Here is where the Bible is pretty cool. In another scripture it says "cast your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you!" In other words, until you finally hit that groove of getting a renewed and transformed vision of the world around you, he is ready to take on the burden of what is on your heart and mind. Do this for at least 14 days. At first, take only a minimum of 5 minutes to do this. I promise you.... it will make a difference! I am offering a moneyback guarantee! But wait... there is more! If you can't hit that groove, then find someone who can. They will likely be willing to help you see God's mercy in your life! This is important stuff.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Call - Washington, DC, Aug-16-2008 Recap Video
A day in the sun praying for Washington, DC, at The Call, on August 16, 2008. It was a beautiful day of being with friends, old and new, with the Lord and praying over the city and the country.
Cool, cool!
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