Holiday? Fun?

I go through a cycle every year that seems to be happening earlier and earlier. When I was a child growing up I always looked forward to the holiday season as every child probably does, but as I have gotten older I have become less and less excited. At times I have to admit that I even question the point of the madness.

I can remember going on vacation to the mountains as a child and was surprised to find out that many mountain towns celebrate Christmas in the summer because nobody can get around in the winter due to the snow and winter weather. I am afraid that is the direction our culture is headed in but it's not so families can celebrate before the bad weather hits. Unfortunately it's no longer about the birth of our Messiah as it is about the healing of our economy.

I'm pretty sure Jesus was referring to people when he said he came to heal the sick, help the blind see and help the lame walk. Instead in America we use the Christmas season to boost sales, increase morale and sell diamonds. I can remember when the Christmas decorations didn't come out until after Thanksgiving but lately I have noticed that they come out earlier every year, and this year I started seeing decorations right after halloween.

Am I the only that is bothered by this? Today I had to honestly ask myself if I was part of the problem or the solution. I don't have a solution and if buying a bottle of perfume for my wife makes me part of the problem then I guess I am, but through it all I have noticed one undeniable truth. Music about Jesus becomes mainstream for at least one month every year.

I can't pick any other time of the year when I hear Jesus' name spoken so much either by his followers or by his haters. Personally, I think Christmas songs are a little bit lame. They all seem so somber and mellow when they are about the birth of the Savior of humanity. To me that warrants a bit more kick drum or wailing guitar. All of this ranting leads me to the point of this blog. Jesus is bigger than our holiday traditions, shopping sprees, overprices sweaters and Lexus sales.

As much as our culture tries to make Christmas about the latest fashion or gadget, Jesus will always make it about Him. The message of love, peace and forgiveness always seems to shine a little brighter during the holiday season. Relationships seem to be mended a little easier and families seem to be drawn closer together and for that I say thank-you to my Savior.

Happy birthday Jesus. You are worth all of the hype.

God, this hurts but I have hope.....

I have decided that I don't like running much. Oh sure, if I'm snatching an old lady's purse I might be inclined to flee the scene or something like that. (disclaimer: I have never snatched an old lady's purse nor do I plan to.) A few weeks ago my wife and I ran a 5k race that benefits a cause that is close to our hearts, and since I hate running I didn't train at all for the race. To be more specific, running for me is when I sprint across the hot sand with my surfboard under my arm so I don't burn my feet.

The last time I ran more than a quarter of a mile was at the 4th of July 5k ,which I also didn't train for, but none the less, there I was. I do much better when I run these things with the help of an iPod blasting loud music in my ears because the sound of my breathing really scares me. I sound like an overweight wildabeast running from a lion. This particular morning I had no loud music so there I was with nothing but my trusty watch letting me know many minutes I had until my untimely demise.

There was a point on the course where I came around a bend and saw the tents at the finish line. Once I saw the tents I got this renewed energy because I had a goal. If I sprinted for the remainder of the race I would be done with it sooner so I took off. I was running with my friend Eric who is one of those crazy people that runs for pleasure and even he was astonished at my sudden burst of energy. I crossed the finish line dry heaving and went over to a grassy area to puke. (By the way, I finished the race in 25:30 or so but I don't know exactly because I was a little distracted.)

I relive this horrifying memory because sometimes I think life is like that race. It is difficult, painful and sometimes involves puking, but one day it will end. I am a Christian, but I am also human and therefore I get weighed down by the burdens of life and sometimes praying doesn't seem to work. I try to draw closer to God but I can't see past my hardships. Just as seeing a glimpse of the finish line complete with the Cliff Bar samples and the orange slices gives me the strength to press on, seeing a glimpse of heaven does the same thing for my race though life.

The Apostle John writes this of heaven in the book of Revelation (21:3:7) "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'

He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, ' Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.'

He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.'"

To me these words bring comfort because one day I won't live in a world that is decaying, that is filled with pain, death and darkness. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me (John 14:2) and the day I cross the finish line of life I will receive the greatest reward of all.

Faith like a leaf blower?

I don't understand the purpose of leaf blowers. They make a lot of noise, they smell bad and just blow leaves and trash from point a to point b and kick up a whole lot of dust in the process. They blow air people! The wind will undue all of your effort anyway. To me leaf blowers are as pointless as bottled water.

I know of many Christians who live their lives like a leaf blower. They have the power to effect change but use it to move things from point a to point b. Sure, on the surface everything they do looks really clean and orderly but it will only last until the wind of life shifts direction or at best they appear to be making difference.

Personally, I think Jesus calls us to something much bigger. When I was a child I was awakened by my parents frantically yelling for me and my sister to get into the basement. Because a tornado was coming. When the storm passed we drove into town to assess the damage. We didn't get hit too bad but in town there were huge trees that were uprooted and debris everywhere. That wasn't even a tornado, just an 80 mph "straight wind" but it reminds me of the life that Jesus calls me to.

The Apostle James says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 'But some will say, you have faith, I have deeds'. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." To me, that is living life like a hurricane! Lately I have been spending more time with Jesus. You might even say I am on a spiritual quest to get as close to His will for my life as I possibly can but it is a little bittersweet at times.

The closer I draw to the heart of Christ I see how much He cares for people and when I look around my community, my nation and my world I see so much suffering, pain, hunger and depravity and it makes me wonder if Jesus looks at what we have done with the message of love that He entrusted His people with and is pleased. I hate that I have become so complacent in my faith that I have become a little leaf blower when God has called me to something so much bigger, so much more powerful.

At this time I don't have a plan of action. I don't know what I am going to do to make an impact on this world but I am going to spend some time figuring out what it is. I want to see the power of God unleashed on my city like a hurricane. I pray for the day when there isn't such a great divide between demographics. When the people that have extra give to those who have nothing. Strong winds have the power to level everything in their path and I wish God would do that to our society.

If every Christian joined forces and tapped into Christ's heart for humanity and really lived life as if Jesus rose from the dead, imagine how beautiful the damage path would be!

God, I'm in awe of you.

I kidnapped my wife Saturday. I came back from surfing and held her up at flowerpoint while she was still in her pjs. She tried to fight back but I jammed the bouquet of flowers in her face and forced her to get ready for an adventure. I guess it was one of those things that you had to witness first hand to really appreciate.

Once she was finally ready to go I drove her to an unknown location. It was a place of extreme beauty know as The Huntington. It was founded in the early 1900s and now has a bunch of gardens representing many different countries and regions of the world. Among them is the Japanese and Chinese gardens, a jungle, Australian garden, desert garden and a Lily pond.

Our goal for the day was to spend the afternoon enjoying God's creation. Armed with only a #2 pencil and a sketch pad we strategically set out to tackle the various gardens. While visiting each garden we picked one plant or animal to draw in our sketch pads. While doing this exercise I came to one very humbling and convicting conclusion.

I don't spend enough time being in awe of God. He is detailed and creative enough to make each one of these plants unique not only to their specific location on the globe, but also within their own species. As I was looking at all this beauty around me I realized that God is so magnificent and powerful that He was never created, instead He has always been there. I was humbled by the mere thought of God creating each color, texture and detail. The color pink didn't exist until God decided that He needed it. Neither did the color green or blue or red.

When I stopped to be in awe of God I realized that He is worthy of my complete and utmost devotion and if what I read about Him in the Bible is true then how I spend my time and energy should also reflect Him. My faith should be stronger than it is, my understanding of His purposes should be deeper and my love for others should be greater. In short, I shouldn't read stories about the early apostles and think that nobody lives like that anymore. I should be looking for ways to live as radical as they did.

As I left The Huntington I felt so small and insignificant. I didn't want to do anything unless it brought glory to the One who created it all. If God is who he says he is then I can't help but point the masses to Him. Others need to know who created the beauty that surrounds them.

24

Have you seen the tv show 24? I have to confess that I haven't seen more than one or two episodes but I get the gist of the show. Each episode is one hour in the life of the main character as he tries to save the world. That guy has some crazy time management skills! It is hard not to look at Jack Bauer and feel a little inferior. If he can save the world in 24 hours season after season how can I possibly compete with that?

I guess I am glad my life isn't captured on film. I admit that I would probably be the first to switch the channel, but I wonder if God would tune in. Every day I have 24 hours given to me by God to ultimately use how I wish. I spend about 6 1/2 of those hours sleeping, another 11 working, 1-2 eating and the rest seem to slip by while I am spending quality time with my wife. Not every day looks like that but on the average I would say that's pretty close and therefore I have to ask myself where God fits into my schedule.

One of my biggest fears in life is that I will lay in bed and look back on all of the events of the day and find nothing that brought glory to my Father. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to bury the commandments in their hearts, teach them to their children, talk about them with their family and friends, tie them as symbols on their hands, bind them on their foreheads and write them on their doorframes and their gates. God gave the Israelites this command to they would remember Him always, to include Him in everything they did and so they would never forget Him.

When I look at the 24 hours that I am given, do I remember to include God as much as I should? If I stop what I am doing to read my Bible and pray for an hour a day does that bring glory to God? I'm sure it does but when I read that Deuteronomy passage I can't help but feel convicted because I don't feel like I give God enough space in my day. I understand that I need to sleep, eat, work, spend time with my wife and brush my cat, but I should include God in everything and be conciously aware of how He might want to use me to point people towards Him, but how?

Wednesday I invited my friend Chase to paddle out for a sunset surf with me and a guy paddles over to me and asked for some advice because he is just learning. In between waves I started a conversation with this guy hoping God would open a door for me to share the Gospel with him. When him and his friend were leaving I ran out of the water to formally introduce myself and get their names. The guy that asked for advice is Alex and his friend is Justin. Those guys continued to be on my heart for the next couple days and I was wondering if I was ever going to seem them again. Was that it or did God have a bigger plan?

This morning I woke up to go for a surf and for some reason I didn't really feel like it which is very strange for me. About noon I suddenly decided that I wanted to go surf and for some reason I didn't go to my usual spot and as I was walking down the beach I recognized Justin. I said hello and we talked for a few minutes and after I paddled out I saw Alex. I said hello and talked to him for a few minutes and then the current separated us but when I got out I saw Alex again on the beach looking at the waves and he asked me if the waves were good for learning. I looked at the horrible, inconsistent, unforgiving waves and just shook my head. I knew God cares about this person and was using me in some way so I told Alex to meet me at the donut shop on the corner of 6th and PCH in the morning and I would take him with me to some good waves. Maybe he will show up and maybe he won't but God knows and has a plan.

I guess what I am trying to say is that giving God my life means that I remember him and His purposes and ask Him to use me in every minute of those 24 hours. If I take Jesus' statement about loving God and loving people (Luke 10:27) seriously then I need to look for ways that I can be used to glorify God and to make a kingdom impact. My 24 hours may not be caught on film but I can still change the world.

"Surprise me please, God. I'm waiting"

I have been doing this pastor thing for a few years now and I have to admit that I get discouraged when I see the moral decay that is happening around me. I know the decay will get worse before Jesus can come back and it is all in God's timing, but it's still discouraging. As a pastor, how do I lead people through this minefield? I get so burdened by my calling sometimes and just wish that God would take it all away. Mind you that isn't very often, actually it has only happened a couple of times, but when it does God always puts someone in my path that lets me know He is still in control.

As you know I have been doing a series titled God's Extreme Makeover. We have spent the last few weeks talking about how God cares more about the hearts and intentions of humanity more than He cares about fashion and keeping up with the latest trends. As a way to wrap up the series I wanted to interview Katie Brewster who is the reining Miss Huntington Beach. She also placed in the top 12 in the Miss California pageant and in the process won the evening gown part of the competition.

I have know Katie for a few years now and was really curious about how a humble girl that loves Jesus views fashion, beauty and the role a Christian plays in a world of image. Due to unforeseen circumstances the night she was to come our conversation ended up being pretty loose and unscripted and I think that is exactly how God wanted.

There are two things that I will take away from my conversation with her. The first is that she got criticized by people in the pageant scene because she feels the most confident in herself when she isn't wearing any makeup and doesn't have her hair molded to perfection. Crazy huh?An 18 year old Orange County beauty pageant winner that feels the most beautiful when she doesn't paint over the beautiful canvas that God designed her to be. I think that is something all girls should take notice of.

The second thing I will take away from her is something she said that made everyone in the room laugh, but was said with such raw honest sincerity that it encouraged me in such a way that I know it had too have been orchestrated by God. She said that she is so addicted to God right now that he is like crack and it immediately made me think about all the drug addicts that I have met and how they can't see beyond their next hit and how they prioritize their life just so they can get another fix.

I connected with that statement because that is a place that I find myself in right now. About 3 weeks before this interview I found myself in a spiritual desert. I was just going through the motions of being a Christian but here lately I have been craving God again and it feels so good to be addicted to something that's more powerful than any created thing. So powerful in fact that it created all living things.

So thank-you Katie for sharing a part of your life with us. God used you to show me that He is still alive and working in a generation that seems to have forgotten who He is and for giving me a big dose of encouragement along the way.

God's Extreme Makeover: Timeline of Greatness

I have been doing this series called God's Extreme Makeover. In my last post I made the claim that if God is genuinely working through us and we have truly experienced His extreme makeover then the result should be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control a.k.a. the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). I didn't say that we needed to be master's of all these things but overall I would say we should continually strive to get better at them. For example, I am still an impatient person, but I pray that I am better than I was a week ago and I pray that I will be better next week.

That is all well and good but I need an example of someone who has done it, that has genuinely spent time with Jesus and had an extreme makeover. Have you ever taken a good look at the life of Simon Peter, one of the original 12 disciples? He is often the subject of endless ridicule and often used as an example of what not to do when in the presence of Jesus but I think he is more like you and me than any one of us wants to admit. Last week during my message I did a timeline of Peter's life. It is quite remarkable that he went from being a Jewish fishermen to one of the foundational characters in the early Christian movement. (If you have never read it I would suggest you crack open one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and take a look. The last chapter of John is the most powerful to me).

Peter had an extreme makeover for sure. Spending time with Jesus is the only way his transformation could have been possible. Peter started out being impatient, brash and proud but his life didn't end that way and that is encouraging for me but it also sets a challenge before me as well. Spending time with Jesus just as Peter did is what it takes for this extreme makeover to happen in my life. It goes beyond a daily "quiet time" and requires a true commitment to follow Christ with everything in my being. I don't think it was wrong for Peter to tell Jesus that he would never abandon him (Matthew 26:33), I think it was just premature because God hadn't finished the makeover yet. If you follow Peter's life to the end you see that he eventually died for the Messiah that he loved.

That is a challenge that I hope all of us can rise to. Life gets hard and busy but we can never abandon the one relationship that truly matters and that is our relationship with Jesus Christ. Giving our lives over to him is the only way an extreme makeover will ever happen.

Just another farmers market?

Have you ever gone to the farmer's market? I'm talking about the good farmer's markets that specialize in organic fruits and vegetables. I think they have one guy who's only responsibility for 8 hours a day is to sort out all of the bad fruit so that only the freshest, ripest and most appealing fruit remains. Even though I have never met that guy I still appreciate him. I think when Paul wrote about the fruits of the Spirit in his letter to the church of Galatia he was kind of thinking along these same lines.

He said the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. It pains me to think of how many Christians come up way short on living out these virtues. When I contrast my life to that of the Christ, or even Paul, I feel very convicted.

Last night I was leaving church and there was a slow person in front of me. I couldn't stand being behind them so I had to speed around them but as soon as I did I had to wait at the light for 2 minutes, then I pulled into the nearest drive thru to get some food and i swear the person in front of me ordered half of a cow because their order took so long. Not even an hour after giving a 30 minute message on the fruits of the Spirit I still find myself struggling with not having enough patience. That is the one thing that I am really bad at, but I could improve on all of them for sure.

I finished the message last night with the question: "What would your family, school, community and world look like if everyone worked every day to get better at these virtues?"

I can think of nothing that would be that amazing!! It is hard to imagine a world with no war because everyone is a peace, or no addiction because everyone has self-control, or no depression because everyone has joy.

I thank Paul for writing these things down for me, for giving me a small little checklist to work on because sometimes trying to be Christ-like can get a little bit overwhelming. When I try to live by Christ's example I feel so inadequate but when I have 9 things that I can work on daily it gives me a shred of hope. It is my prayer this week that I would be a piece of fruit that a person would like to put in their fruit salad, that I can improve in all of these areas and let Christ shine thru me.