Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas. May the peace of God fill you with joy in knowing you have been given a Savior. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord".

"You've Been Gifted"

What would happen if a group of people decided to try to bring back the Spirit of Christmas with 10,000 spontaneous acts of generosity in the month of December? I really had no idea when I had Lisa Kibler order 10,000 "You've Been Gifted" cards. The cards are pretty simple and just explain that at Hudson Community Chapel we believe the greatest gift ever given was Jesus and the gift we are giving now is just a reminder of the generosity of God. The idea was for everyone in church to take a couple of cards and move out into the community looking for people to give something to. It has been a blast to hear the stories that come back. I just received this...
"One of God's angels gifted me today. She didn't know how much it meant and
was needed. Please say thanks to your congregation and to the "angel" at
Walmart last Friday."

How cool! I have been receiving stuff like that all week. But I have also been receiving emails from the gifters and not just the giftees. How about these?

"Joe, just 'Gifted' a frail, sweet old woman at the grocery a few minutes
ago. What pleasure was in her face. I think that it took her the several
minutes walking to her car to digest what just happened. She walked back
in to bring her cart and thanked me more and gave the most precious hug
ever. This is so much fun, so very rewarding and the best Christmas gift
for me this year. I feel guilty for the joy that this brings me. I know I
am getting far more doing this than anyone is getting from the free gifts.
It is almost addicting. :)"

or

"Joe, I have traditionally had a difficult time around the holidays due to
what we as a culture have done with this most sacred celebration. I want
you to know I have not felt such joy in a long time. I have had sooo much
fun doing spontaneous and sometimes anonymous gifting acts. I have felt like
old Ebenezer on Christmas day....this has been one of my best Christmas's
ever."

or

"God really used the gifting to impact my family. My parents were stunned
when I asked the server for the check of the young couple across from us
in the restaurant. Church for my folks is more of a social place where they
have great friendships. I have witnessed to them for years about having a
relationship with Christ and being born-again and those cards opened up a
door to share God's truth with them. I had to hold back the tears in the
restaurant when I realized once again that His ways are not our ways and
He calls us to obedience."

One of the best was a text I received from a young man who is a server in a restaurant. He said a fellow server who happens to be a Muslim asked him if he attended Hudson Community Chapel. He said yes. She then told him that someone had picked up the check for another table and handed her the card to present since they wanted to be anonymous. She said she had never seen anything like that and thought it was awesome.

When I introduced the gifting cards I think I just wanted us all to get in the giving spirit. I thought it would bring some joy to those who were the recipients of spontaneous generosity. Leave it to God to soften the hearts of long time family members, make someone feel guilty for the joy she gets in giving, and create a curiosity in the heart of a Muslim about a God who would give His Son.

God is always surprising me. It is a great game God and I play. Whenever I think I have a good idea he takes it and changes it just enough so I realize whose idea it was in the first place. Don't miss out on what God is doing this season. Merry Christmas.

Two Pleasures

I was reading C.S.Lewis last night. That guy can write. He was writing about pleasure. There are at least a couple of different pleasures we enjoy. One is need pleasure. That is what we enjoy when we are really thirsty and someone hands us a cold glass of water. The other is appreciative pleasure. That is what happens when we are walking along perfectly content and then smell a wood fire coming from a chimney and we are struck with a simple and profound pleasure. I think when I am walking and the smoke of a chimney hits me I always smile. There is some kind of childhood yearning that wells up inside of me. Anyway, these are two kinds of pleasure. It made me think of my relationship with God. I think of the psalmist who writes,"As the deer pants for the water so my soul longeth after you, O Lord". I feel that way quite a bit. That is need and while my physical thirst can be slaked by a tall glass of water my longing for God will never be completely satisfied in this life or the next. I was made to be dependant on God. But my relationship with God needs to also include the other pleasure- the appreciative pleasure. I want to be captured by the beauty and power and glory of God. There must be times when I am walking and the pleasure of His Presence thrills me and even surprises me. So, I am not going to be content to just be a one pleasure guy. I think God knows I need Him. I want God to know that there is a deeper pleasure He gives me. Maybe it is what I see with my daughter and her new born son. Right now Liam needs her and that is all he feels. It is enough for her to be needed and she understands his need as love. But there will come a time when it will be nice when Liam does more than just need his Mom. It will be a time when he starts to run out the door and then stops and comes back and looks his mom in the eye and says," Thanks Mom. I love you and I think you are the most beautiful mom in the world". And my daughter's heart will melt. That is the way I want God to feel today as I turn around and tell Him not just how much I need Him but how I do love Him.

The Itch

Chlorine makes me itch. I have been swimming lately in order to mix up my work out some. On swim days I itch. One of the things that bugs me is I overscratch. I find that scratching an itch really feels good. It feels so good I continue to scratch and it is only when I quit scratching that I realize instead of an itch I now have pain. There are times when I know I am overscratching and I still do it. I do the same with eating sometimes. I am hungry so I eat but then eating feels so good I over eat. I am hoping you can relate and this isn't just a weird confession. Lately I have been wondering why. I think it is because I am not home yet. I mean the itch reminds me that something is not quite right here in this world. Don't get me wrong, right now my life is pretty great with my first grandchild and all. Did I mention I am a grandfather? So, life can be good and yet something is not quite right. It is an itch? And then even the scratching goes over the top and doesn't do the trick. There is an itch in my soul. I have a longing and if I try to scratch it with anything in this world my tendency is always to overscratch. I see it all around me. It can be people with their jobs or with money or with over the top vacations or parents way too much into their kids. Did I mention I am a grandfather? And there is the itch and the scratch and the reminder that I am not home. I was made for God and the itch in my soul will only go away when I am at last with the One for whom I was created. Until then I will be reminded with every itch of what my soul really longs for and will be grateful for a Savior who paid the price for me to find my way home.

Christmas Bringing Out the Child in Me

Christmas brings out the child in me. I guess when Christmas is at it's best it brings out the child in a lot of people. For me one of the most obvious times is when I actually buy a gift I think someone will really like. I walk around like I have a secret that is killing me. I long to give it right now...tonight. I feel like I am going to burst. So, I drop hints. There are times when I drop enough hints that I have practically described it. I guess I just can't wait for the reaction. But I wait for the fullness of time, the perfect time to give it to have maximum effect. If you have the perfect gift you really want to get the perfect reaction. I love to see the surprise, the joy, the love. It is all good to me. All this makes me wonder about God. I wonder if prophecy is just God's way of dropping hints because the gift is so good. There really are places where he pretty much describes what he is giving us. But he waited until the fullness of time, the perfect time. I think sometimes he waits for the same reaction I wait for. Every Christmas morning our family reads through the Luke 2 passage about the first great Christmas morning and then we move on to the giving and receiving of our presents for each other. I think I should wait for a few minutes and let the wonder of the Gift sink in a little more. This year I will turn my face up to heaven and tell God how amazing it all is just in case Christmas brings out the child in Him.

Remember

People forget. I don't mean we forget little things like where we put the car keys or if we fed the dog. I mean we forget big things. I read last week that a Walmart worker was trampled to death by Christmas shoppers hungry for bargains. The people complained mightily when the store was shut down because of the death. So, why were the people there again? Christmas shopping? How can we get so far away from what we are supposed to be about? I have been praying for a lot of married couples lately. They have forgotten as well. Those of us who are married stood at one time and vowed we would love in sickness and in health, for better or for worse. All of my vows were about what I promised to do as a husband. I made no demands on my wife. The whole purpose of marriage was for me to serve this one that God had given me. But slowly a marriage becomes more and more about what I get and not what I give. I am still waiting for the person who will come into my office and say how they want counseling because they are not loving for better or for worse like they promised. Every day I read some of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament. It seems that God is always calling us to remember. He tells me to remember what He has done, remember His love, remember the covenant, remember Him. I guess God knew that I am never more dangerous than when I forget. I doubt if I will ever trample anyone in a head long pursuit of the greatest bargain. I do know I have trampled those I love because I forgot the promises I made and the purpose of my marriage. I guess this is a call to remember the big things. Remember the God who loves you this Christmas, remember the people He has called you to love and serve. Remember.

Like It Was Yesterday

I just got home from visiting my daughter and new grandson. I sat and held the little guy as he slept all curled up on my chest. It seems like just yesterday I fell asleep with his mother curled up in the same way and about the same size. But it was not yesterday. It was 24 years ago. There is a certain poignancy with becoming a grandfather. Watching my children leave home has been my least favorite part of getting old. I don't mind getting up to go to the bathroom at night or forgetting where I left my keys or the gray hair that keeps popping up. But does age have to take away my children? And yet today I sat with my grandson and looked at my daughter sitting on the couch across from me and I felt a joy that wrapped itself around the sadness. My daughter glows with the beauty of a new mother. She has all the markings of being a great mom. She has had a great one to watch and learn from so it really should not be a surprise. I guess it still is though. I walk into her spotless apartment and think of how her room at home always looked like a clothes bomb had just gone off. I watch how she handles her baby and changes his diaper and wonder why it was so hard to get her to put away her dishes. And yet, here she is being a mom and she is already so good at it. Growing old is no picnic. I know I sound as if I am 100. I don't mean to but I do know that an empty nest puts me past the halfway point of this race. Anyway, growing old may not be a picnic but there are certain benefits. My daughter had to grow up and I had to give her away before she could give to me the joy that was mine today. I think of the sermon I gave last week. God gave His son away those many years ago. If God was to have the joy of holding you and me to his chest then there was no other way. So He gave and because He gave I get to lay my head on his chest and sleep as soundly as little Liam did today with me.

Pictures of Liam

Grandson Arrives

William (Liam) Aiden McGinley. I won't bore anyone with pictures or much of a story. Both mother and son are doing well. It is very strange to have your baby have a baby. For the people who like stats...20.5 inches and 7lbs 12 oz. Thanks for your prayers. I will write more when I understand what all this means a little better.

No Baby Yet

No baby yet. My daughter Rachel is expecting her first child and I am expecting my first grand child. We both sit and wait. This past Saturday night she was having contractions and I woke up Sunday morning with a feeling of great expectation. It is kind of like Christmas but only better. I think of what Christmas has become. Waking up looking forward to gifts wrapped up under a tree seems a distant second to waking up wondering if my daughter has brought forth a child that already has my heart in his little hand. I think this is what Christmas is supposed to feel like...exactly. Waking up realizing that the dream really has come true and the baby has arrived. A child has been born and your heart is already his. Only this child instead of being the one who I look forward to loving will be the One I have always longed to be loved by. I expect this to be a special Christmas. This Christmas a child will be born, a son will be given and all the other gifts will seem cheap and tacky in comparison. I have a feeling that is the way Christmas is supposed to be.

A Leash and the Law and the Love of God

As far as dogs go I think mine is pretty bright. Maybe not Ivy League smart but she would definitely be college bound. She rings a little bell to go outside, freaks out when we bring out the suitcases, and can play dead with the best of them. We were out walking the other day. Walking for her is one exquisite pleasure after another. If I ever get to the place where a walk gives me as much joy then I will absolutely have it made. When my dog is at home her invisible fence keeps her out of a lot of trouble. She runs parallel with trucks and barks her little brains out. But when we are out walking I think she gets a little confused. I had her on a leash and it struck me that whenever a truck would go by she would strain and try to get to the truck. My leash is one of those retractable things (great invention)and so whenever a truck was coming I would have to start the process to reel her in and out of danger. Now my dog had no idea I was getting her out of danger. She would look up at me and I was sure she was swearing at me under her breath. She will never know how kind I was to her. It got me thinking about the law of God. The psalmist says, "My delight is in the law of the Lord". Delight is a strong word. I don't know if I have ever looked at the law of the Lord and felt my heart leap. Maybe it is because I am more like my dog than I want to admit. If my dog really knew what I know about a truck traveling at 30 mph she would delight in the retractable leash and my effort to use it. So it is with God and me. I have been reading the Bible differently lately. I read and then I delight and I thank God that he recognizes trucks that I might want to chase. So today, I walk with my dog as my God walks with me. My dog may only delight in the walk but I will delight in the Lord who is at my side and won't let me leave his.

Veterans Day

The health club I go to is a kind of a subculture. There are the kick boxing women (who scare me a little), the serious middle aged guys (I count myself as one of them), the group that has spent way too much time away from the gym but are still fighting the good fight, and the old guys. The old guys exercise a little, talk, visit, exercise, steam, and talk some more. It seems like the health club is an important part of their social life. I have gotten to know them over the years. A few months ago I went to get the towel to wipe off the elliptical machine I had just brought to it's knees and Frank and John decided it was time for me to slow down and talk to them a bit. They were both slowly biking their way nowhere. I had been watching the HBO series Band of Brothers. Karen had given the set of DVDs to me as a gift. It is the true story of the Easy Company of the 506th. It traces their story from boot camp through D-Day to the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's mountain hide away). It is an astounding story. Anyway, I asked Frank and John if they had ever seen it. I was rambling about the episode I had just watched about Bastogne where Easy Company held off the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge until they were rescued by Patton's tank division. Frank said quietly,"Yeah, I know. I was there." He then proceeded to tell me he was in Patton's tank division that cut all the way up to Bastogne to relieve Easy Company. I stood there looking at an old man peddling slowly on a stationary bike and when I finally gathered myself I thanked him. All this time I had been going to my health club I have been rubbing shoulders with heroes. They don't look like heroes any more but they are. Frank had to be taken off the line for a month so they could save his feet from frostbite. Today, on this Veteran's Day I saw Frank in the locker room. I watched him from a distance, made sure I said hi and left thankful for men like Frank who did something more than 50 years ago that made it possible for me to go to a health club today. Today when you walk past a person in their 80's look at them long enough to catch their eye and pay your respects. The heroes are all around us and today is the day to notice.

The Election

I have a couple of thoughts about the election. People feel very strongly about elections and candidates and the impact on our country. I appreciate all of that. I have been thinking and this is what I think. No political party will usher in the Kingdom of God and no political party will usher out the Kingdom of God. The mandate for us as Christians remains the same through every political change. We are to be the salt and light. That does not fall to the government. The more we impact those around us the better. If you feel our country is sliding into the night then your light should burn all the brighter. If you feel our country is moving toward the light then it is a call to turn up the wattage and increase it all around. So, that is my first point. Let's never lose sight of what God has called us to be and do. The second point is that it is an extraordinarily wonderful thing that in a country founded in liberty but with the shackles of race based slavery that a black man has been elected to the highest office in the land. That means that light and salt has had an impact. I pray that this is a death blow to the racism and bigotry that has been a plague on our country since it's inception. I don't know anyone who thought this would happen in their lifetime. The United States of America continues to surprise people and sometimes in a very good way. So it was on Tuesday night and that alone was enough to make me thankful. Now, I want to commit to praying for our country and the leadership of our country. I also want to pray for the church of Jesus Christ. I pray our country will be everything God wants it to be. I pray that the church will be everything God wants it to be. Far and away the institution that will have the greatest impact if those prayers come true is the church.

Election Day

...ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE...

Hell and Celebrity Rehab

I watch a show called "Celebrity Rehab". I am not even going to try to justify it or say I was channel surfing and happened upon it. I watch the show ok? Wow, I am glad I got that off my chest. Anyway, the show is about celebrities who are in rehab trying to make it to sobriety. Their guide is Dr.Drew, who really does seem pretty gifted. I watch as these poor souls struggle to break free from their addictions. Some things, like alcohol and opiates result in a quick disintegration. The lives of these celebrities have completely come apart due to their addiction and they have destroyed nearly all relationships in the process. They are isolated and still craving the substance that has made them so lonely. They sometimes describe their condition as being in hell. I think in some ways they are right. God made us for Himself. Anything I put in His place is bound to be less than what I need there in my soul. I will demand more and more of it until it begins to make me come apart at the seams. The problem with most of our addictions is they are slow acting. The man with the job that keeps his mind whirling through the night doesn't realize his addiction. The woman who sits up and worries all the time about her children thinks of herself only as a good mom. But if I take these and extrapolate them out hundreds or even thousands of years what will be left of that person? I watch Celebrity Rehab and I see people who desperately need God. They are going to replace one habit with another. Cocaine for Cheetos. What then? Then I think of all the people who are addicted to the slow acting things like success and relationships and family. Hell is being dependant on something for life that cannot deliver. It is a substitute that cannot fill the hole. The result is the craving for salt by a man who is dying of thirst. I am so succeptible to this. I think it is good for all of us to check ourselves every once in while to make sure we have not slowly substituted something for God. When Jesus promises to never leave and never forsake us he is promising that he will always be enough even throughout all eternity. That is a promise that requires no rehab.

On Character and Clay

It seems like every election is the most important election of my lifetime. It actually may be true. The conditions of the world continue to grow more and more complex. The Judeo-Christian foundation of the country continues to deteriorate. The stakes are high indeed. I have been thinking about the pressures that are inherent in the highest office in the land. It must be enormous. I have also been thinking about character. I tend to see things in my mind and when I think of character I think of a clay suit. My character is like a clay suit that surrounds my soul. There are cracks I have noticed and then there are tiny cracks I have not yet discovered. Pressure expands the cracks. I know the pressure of leading a church like Hudson Community Chapel. I have no idea the pressure of being President. The sermon I gave this past weekend I commented that what one believes and how one behaves is always connected. That will be so for the next four years in the one we choose the lead the country. The pressures will also be tremendous and whatever character flaws there are will be exposed. I think it wiser to vote more for character than policy. I don't know who will win next week but I know we should start praying now. I will pray that the character of the man will be strong and even get stronger as the pressures grow.

Butterflies and the National Anthem

Last night I went to the last home soccer game for my daughter Becca. She is a senior so this was her last home game. It was an amazing game and she ended up scoring the winning goal which is always a great way to end a career. She is also the youngest of my three children so this was my last home athletic event period. I stood before the game with my baseball cap over my heart as the Star Spangled Banner was piped over the loud speakers. It struck me that for over two decades I have never heard the National Anthem without pre-game butterflies dancing around in my stomach. Every game I played and then every game my kids played I have been a little nervous. It actually made me very grateful. How amazing is it to live in a country where my memory link to the National Anthem is an athletic event. It is not linked to insurrection or fear or any of the countless other emotions that other National Anthems are connected to. In this wonderful country the last note of the Anthem is not followed by a gunshot but by a "Let's Play Ball." And so it has been my entire life. The election is now exactly two weeks away. Every four years emotions run high and there is talk of the imminent collapse of the country if the candidate of the opposing party gets elected. I have been all over the world. There are places where fear runs deep and strong at election time for very good reason. I am not saying that here in the United States it does not matter who you vote for. It does. But I also know that no matter who is elected on November 4th I won't be hiding in my basement on the 5th worried that death squads are coming. In December in every gym in America there will be dads listening to the Star Spangled Banner with their ball caps over their hearts hoping their child will be the hero. I had that experience last night and it was the beauty and the strength of this country that gave me the freedom and it made me not only proud of my daughter but proud of my country and thankful to God.

Do You Feel Lucky?

There is a scene in a movie I have watched where a character says,"I must be the most unlucky person in the world." The other character decides to educate him. The wise character says something like this,"You only say you are unlucky because you didn't realize how lucky you were yesterday. You thought yesterday you were just normal and now that things have taken a turn all of a sudden you feel unlucky. If today you are unlucky then every day up to this one you were very lucky so you should feel like you are a lucky person." I thought the scene was fascinating. Sometimes people come into my office and they think their life is very, very bad. They feel "unlucky". What they don't know is someone has just left my office that had a much worse situation. What is interesting to me is the attitudes people have. Most people think their attitude is a result of what is going on outside of them. After watching people for a long time I don't think that is the case. Attitudes seem to be based on expectations more than experiences. I sit with some people who are going through horrific experiences and yet they have an attitude laced with joy. Others fight the pull of bitterness and depression. I have been thinking more and more about the Gospel. It is the Gospel that helps me move everything in my life into the category of grace. If it is hell I deserve (and make no mistake, I do deserve it) then there isn't anything that can happen to me where I cannot say,"I had that coming." If it is grace I am given then there isn't a single good thing that happens where I cannot say,"Wow, I did not deserve that." I have to believe the Gospel is designed to change the way I experience every single thing in life. When I live by grace there isn't a day that goes by where I don't feel lucky.

Net Worth

The news this week has been all about the stock market. I read yesterday that Americans have lost several trillion dollars in net worth this past 2 weeks. The plunge has been breathtaking. I have been thinking of the term "net worth". I feel like God has been teaching me over and over the last several months that my worth needs to be placed in Him and Him alone. I tend to look for worth and value in all kinds of things. I don't feel preoccupied with my worth until I notice how much I compare myself with other people and how important what other people think is to me. Anyway, back to the market. I was thinking of how God must look at us and the closest I can get is how I look at my teenage daughter. Becca has a domain in our house that we have given over to her. It is her room. It is where she keeps her stuff and we let her keep her stuff however she wants as long as we can close her door. At times it looks like a clothes bomb went off sometime during the night in there. We provide the most important things in her life. All the stuff in her room is stuff she has accumulated over the last nearly 18 years. I was thinking what it would be like if something happened that reduced her stuff to less than half of what it is now. Maybe someone would come in with huge garbage bags and began to just load up a bunch of stuff indiscrimately. It would definitely cause Becca some pain. I on the other hand might look into her room and think it a good thing. Now if she wailed that her "net worth" had been reduced I would sit her down and look her in the eyes and say, "Oh, honey, all that stuff had nothing to do with your worth. Look me in the eyes and see the love I have for you. If your room is completely empty this love for you will not go away, it will not fade. You are mine, my princess, the apple of my eye and in the midst of your cleaned out room we will have a wonderful time just the two of us". So, as I have watched my room get cleaned out these last couple of weeks I have been sitting in a cleaned out room with the Lord of the universe and listened carefully about how He really feels about me. I can sit and wail as the garbage bags are hauled out of my room or I can run to my Father, the One who owns the whole house, and sit with him until I remember what my net worth is really based on.

Treasures You Know Not

Brittany plays soccer on my daughter's team. When my kids play sports I am vaguely aware of other people being in the stands. My wife is much more in tune with people than with the actual game although she watches the game. I on the other hand like to sit or stand by myself and watch. I don't multi-task especially at sporting events. Anyway, I could probably have picked Brittany's parents out of a line up but I had never talked to them really. I would do the polite nod and smile and then my face would return to the slightly concerned look of the too competitive father. Yesterday I was visiting my father in law in the hospital (he is doing much better and came home from the hospital today). We were talking when his doctor came in to check on him. It was Brittany's dad. He was very friendly and professional and obviously knew what he was doing. By the time he left I was feeling grateful my father in law was in such good hands. That night I went to the soccer game. I looked forward to seeing Brittany's dad just to say hello. I found it fascinating how quickly my feelings had changed toward him. I looked up at the stands and scanned the faces of the parents watching their daughters play. I wondered what each one did for a living or how each of our lives might touch each other away from the soccer field. I blunder through so much of life unaware of the gifts that crowd around me. I remember C.S.Lewis writing that a person, any person, is the most magnificent thing you will ever encounter outside of God Himself. Yesterday I found myself really seeing Dr. Chung for the first time. I was thankful for how God had gifted him and thought this treasure has been sitting next to me all year and I never even noticed. I guess I am inviting you to look around today. The person behind you at Starbucks may be the one who one day saves your life or you theirs. The world is full of jewels and they all have names even if you don't know them yet.

Jesus and my Father in Law

Early yesterday morning my father in law had a stroke. He was getting out of bed and discovered that his right side was paralyzed. We have spent the last 2 days running back and forth to the hospital and trying to figure out what it all means. He has recovered much of his feeling in his right side but they are keeping him in the hospital for a while. My father in law is one of my favorite people. It is not just that he raised my wife to be the wonderful person she is but 35 years ago he gave his life to Jesus and has become a really amazing person. I sat with him in ICU just the two of us. I asked him how he felt about having a stroke. It was one of those questions you don't often have the chance to ask. I was asking how he felt about growing old. I was asking not just how he felt about the possibility of dying but of dying like this with tiny explosions in his brain that would take life away little by little. It tells you something about my father in law that I felt free to ask him such a thing in the middle of ICU. He laughed his normal little laugh and then looked at me and said,"Well, you know me Joe. I like to be active. I really like to be active. But if God has other plans then He has other plans." And then he said, "I know what my first priority is. I want to impact these people." and he pointed to the nurses and aids walking around outside the room. My father in law admittedly didn't know God's long term plans for him but he could see His short term plans. He was saying that he didn't know about recovery or future strokes but he did know that right now he was in ICU and as far as he could tell it was as good a mission field as any. My father in law has a way with people. Everyone who has ever spent any time with him at all falls in love with him. It is a great trait to have. I think I saw at least some of the reason why. He never looks past them to the next thing. The people in his path are not obstacles to get by in order to get where he is going. They are their own destination and for them it feels absolutely wonderful. I have to believe that is the way people felt around Jesus. After 35 years of walking with Jesus my father in law is acting just like him. And right now the two of them are in ICU on a short term mission trip and the people in Akron City Hospital may never be the same.

On Foxes, Politicians, and the Financial Crisis

For the last two days I have been watching along with the rest of America the drama between Wall Street and Washington. Yesterday the financial market had the largest drop in U.S. history. Today the market enjoyed its largest gain. The vote in Washington was charged with partisanship. We are within 34 days of the election and everything is being used as a weapon against the opposition. The worse the news the stronger the weapon. Sometimes it seems like politicians like bad news more than good news. The housing crisis and the collapse of lending institutions are being wielded like battle axes. Everyone is looking to pin the blame on the other party. As I have listened I have found the whole thing fascinating. The foxes got into the hen house and everyone wants to blame someone for not watching. Whose job was it to watch the foxes, to protect the hens? Here is my question. Who exactly are the foxes and who are the hens? Are the executives of the lending institutions really just more evil, more greedy than all the rest of us? Are the politicians the ones who have no fox characteristics so they qualify to be the ones outraged by the foxes? The Bible seems to say we all have plenty of fox in us. The whole thing may have started with the best of motives. Everyone should be able to live in their own house and have a mortgage. But then the smell of hens pulled out the fox in just about everyone in the process including every politician. Now everyone is trying to act like a hen. I sit and watch TV and find myself looking down my long fox nose at all the greed in Wall Street until I get my latest statement and the whole neighborhood may hear me howl. I think we need to protect the hens but don't think for a minute that anyone is only a hen. We all have enough fox in us to do damage. It is why God sent a Savior. And he is the only one who was ever really safe to be in the hen house in the first place.

More Than A Game

I just talked to a soccer coach who coaches at a Christian school. The program is an excellent one and they are a pretty accomplished bunch. Anyway, we were talking about a great win they recently had against a rival school. He told me that the team decided instead of gathering after a game and forming a circle and praying together they would do something different. The players decided after shaking hands with their opponents they would circle back and pick out one opposing player to pray with. They go up to the player and say,"Hey, really good game. I know this will sound kind of strange but would it be ok if I just prayed with you?" I don't know what your high school athletic experience was like but this is stunning to me. The coach told me the response has been unbelievable. Every game brings him to tears and I can see why. It impacts how his team plays since they know at the end of the game they will be targeting someone to pray with. One player said the kid he asked said,"Do you mean like the Lord's Prayer or something?" And the student said,"No, not really. I just want to pray for you that God would be real in your life." And so he did. And I think God could hardly be happier. These are kids who play the game hard and well but in the end they know that it is more than just a game. There is something bigger going on. I was thinking how that would change the way we live. Would it change the way you drive if you knew you would be putting your arm around someone and asking if you could pray for them at the next rest stop. Would it change the way you do business or deal with a fellow employee? Anyway, the whole conversation inspired me. I am glad there are kids like that in the world. I am glad to know the story. This is the first time in a long time I have wanted to be more like a 17 year old than someone my age.

Leaks and the Law of God

We have a leak at the church that drives me crazy. Every time it rains hard I see the leak. I have asked about it but the problem is the place the water comes out is no where close to where the water comes in. I guess that is the nature of leaks. My son is in chiropractic school. The philosophy is kind of the same. You may feel the pain in your foot or your stomach but where the pain is coming out may not be where it is originating deep within. I was talking to a couple the other day. They are living together and are planning to get married. I told them about what the Bible says about having sex outside of the bounds of the promise, the covenant of marriage. As I have this conversation with couples, and it is pretty often, I watch their eyes to see if what I am saying is having any impact. Usually I am not encouraged. Part of the reason is they don't feel the pain there. They may not feel pain anywhere yet. But God doesn't make arbitrary laws. Disobeying God in any area of my life is like water coming through the roof of my house. It may take a while but sooner or later that water is going to start coming through. It probably won't be coming out the same place it came in. So it is with the lives of people. I see people nearly every day in my office and their lives are leaking like sieves. But as we talk I realize the water started coming in a long time ago. I guess this is just my call out to every one who is knowingly disobeying God. God's laws are like shingles that keep the water out. Start removing the shingles and it is just a matter of time before you will have buckets all over your house and the storm on the outside will be inside.

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop To Drink

We have a well at our house. That means the water that comes in runs through a softener before coming out the tap. I looked at the amount of softener I put in and decided it would be better for my family to not drink all that salt so we order our water from Distillata. Usually it comes like clockwork. This past week there was a glitch and instead of getting our water every two weeks they missed a delivery and didn't deliver for four. It was interesting how it impacted us. Our house became a little desert. We wandered around with rags on our heads and our lips cracked checking every day to see if the bottles had been delivered. It wasn't quite that bad but you understand. There was a time when all water was good water. When we drank out of the tap or out of a hose. But now with all the stuff we have found in water we have turned to purified water. I think it is probably a good thing. It seems we have done the exact opposite with spiritual things in our country. We used to get spiritual water only out of the Bible. It came out cold and pure. Now we look for spiritual advice from everyone from Oprah to the latest pseudo spiritual novel. I guess my advice for the day is to quit drinking out of every spiritual hose and let's get back to the stuff that came deep from the heart of God and was bottled before the foundation of the earth. In our spiritual world there really is water, water everywhere but so much of it contains the things that will eventually make us really sick. So today, go to your bookshelf and take out the Bible and imagine your dry lips wrapping around a bottle of ice cold purified water and let the God who loves you quench the thirst of your soul.

Sermons Hiding in the Tall Grass

Sermons are interesting animals. They knock around forming in my brain for at least a week. Then they come out multiple times over a weekend and then they sink back into the high grass waiting to pounce on me again when I least expect it. The way I prepare for a sermon is to research, pray, mull it over, and then write it down nearly word for word by Thursday. Then I need to hear it out loud to try to digest it myself so I preach it to myself three times before preaching it to others for the first time Saturday night. I preach it 3 more times on Sunday so all told I will hear my own sermon 7 times before I put the notes in a file but the echo of the truth keeps bouncing around for a while. Anyway, this past week the message was pretty clear. Boiled down to a sentence the truth of the day was,"Your worth is not determined by what you do or what you have but by what Jesus did for you." If this is true then everything that happens to you is used by God to change something in you so God can then work through you. Good stuff. It took me 30 minutes to say that and I heard it seven times thirty or nearly three and a half hours of that great truth of the Gospel. So, Monday I am leaving the office and I tell my assistant that I am going home to meet the cable guy since we have been having trouble with reception. Jim Colledge comes out of his office and asks if I am getting HD. I say,"No, I am not getting HD. I wouldn't do that." Since I am pretty sure Jim has HD I use the tone of my voice to express my disdain for the waste of money. I am such a piece of work. So, what I am saying is that after preaching 7 times about the wonder of my worth being in what Jesus did for me, on Monday I am trying to suck worth from not having HD television. I don't want to use this blog as catharsis or public confession, I just wanted to point out how I need the gospel to keep going deeper. If the gospel goes deep enough I won't keep using silly things to puff myself up and instead live in the wonder of the love of God purchased at a great price. I am telling this to all the rest of you who feel you are slow learners. There is no one slower than the one who preaches it seven times and forgets it Monday by 4pm. I am glad that sermons keep hiding in the tall grass in my life. I need them to keep hiding there so they can jump out at me time and again and bite me with grace.

On Rain, Lasagna, and God's Gifts

I am sitting here looking out my office window. It is streaked with rain. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was a deep blue, the temperature perfect, the sun shining until it finally winked as it slipped under the horizon in the evening. Why is it I describe yesterday as gorgeous and today I sit and look out my window and sigh? Better question- God had a completely blank canvas when He decided to create this world. Why did He decide to not just make seasons but also here in Ohio to make days so wildly different that they in themselves seem like seasons. God created us as the pinnacle of His creation. He created us with all kinds of needs, some we know and recognize and some we don't. The psalmist says,"God gives to His beloved in his sleep." That was his way of saying that God is giving to us all the time even when we don't recognize what he gives as a great gift. Last night I ate lasagna. It was leftover lasagna. Now with two of my three kids gone lasagna lasts longer than it used to. A little too long if you know what I mean. I hate to waste stuff but I have to say I was glad that last night we finished off the lasagna. I need some variation in my diet. God made me like that. That got me thinking about the rain. I was sitting here and wishing today was more like yesterday. But what if I really need the rain? What if I need the rain as much as the grass or the flowers? That of course led me down the road to other things I avoid or don't like. What if all my pain and discomfort are like little vitamins or brussel sprouts (wow, i really hate those things)? I guess as I sit looking out my rain streaked window I am thankful that there is a God in charge of everything who loves me more than I can imagine and knows more about what I really need than I ever will. So, today I am thankful for the rain and for a God who calls me His Beloved and gives to me in my sleep. Sleep well my friends even as the rain falls...especially as the rain falls.

Cruise Control All the Way to Change

This past week I drove up to Chicago to watch my nephew play football and celebrate his 18th birthday which included a manhood initiation. I love the manhood initiation thing. It is a more formal recognition of the movement from boyhood every man makes but here in America we don't know exactly when we do it. But that is for another blog. As I was driving up I was commenting to my Dad how amazing it was we could sit as if we were in a living room and be streaking across a highway up to Chicago. I had the cruise control on and we were just motoring along. Cruise control is a fantastic invention. Anyway, I realized I will do just about anything to not have to take my cruise control off. Someone would move into my lane and I would think,"Aw, Come on. Don't make me click off and reset!!". As if that was a really complicated process. It got me thinking. I recently heard a great definition of leadership. It was "Leadership is the art of introducing change at a rate people can tolerate." I like that. As we have grown as a church we have had the opportunity to introduce change. I have found that change is hard on people and as a leader that can be frustrating. This trip up to Chicago reminded me that I am no different than most people. I am resistant to change too. I like it when I have the cruise set just perfectly and it bugs the bejeebers out of me when I have to take the 5 seconds to reset it. Sometimes I have to push two separate buttons. Imagine!! It reminds me that I might be a leader but I am first a follower. The One who leads me introduces change to me and for me. Sometimes I am resistant. But there is a lot of changing to do if I am ever going to be like Jesus. From now on whenever I have to click off cruise control I am going to remind myself not to be so resistant to change. I will remind myself that I am a sheep and my Shepherd leads me to places I have not yet been. But He is leading me to the place I have always deep down wanted to go. My guess is He is doing the same thing with you. So, click off the cruise and tell Jesus you are ready to follow Him anywhere and let the changes begin.

The Race of Iron

There is an endurance race called simply "The Iron Man". The race includes a 2.4 mile swim in the ocean or a river, a 112 mile bike, and then a 26.2 mile run. The competition started in Hawaii but has now spread around. It is called the Iron Man because it is a test of will and one must have a will of iron to actually complete the race. Yesterday I watched as my son completed the race. Actually it was a family affair. Karen, my daughter Rachel and my son-in-law Will, and Becca all ran around yelling encouragement to him during the different stages. It was blazing hot in Louisville and so even the 12-13 miles we walked to get to the different places took a toll. When my daughter Becca saw that Jeremy was struggling in the marathon she took off to run and walk beside him for 14 miles. I watched as other families did the same for other runners. People held signs and cheered. There were 2000 volunteers who helped with aid stations and traffic control. It really was amazing. The last two miles Jeremy ran faster than the previous 24. He could sense the end and hear the cheers. And when he finally crossed the line the announcer yelled, "JEREMY COFFEY, YOU ARE AN IRON MAN". It was actually pretty emotional. It got me thinking about life and friends and the church. Life can be a struggle. In some ways you really don't know what kind of person you are until life gets hard. I watched after the race the way the ones who finished treated each other. There is a deep respect. They all know something about each other that has to be true. They know when someone has finished that race that there is a toughness and tenacity and a strength that demands respect and they gladly give it. It helps to have people around who are cheering. People who love you enough to want you to just keep going and putting one foot in front of the other when everything inside of you is screaming to stop. People who will cheer as you near the end of your journey. Many of you are like that for me. I want to be that for other people. But in the end there needs to be something inside of us that is willing to do the right thing. A desire to finish well that is stronger than the desire to take the easier way. What we do in the toughest of times tests our metal. Every man would like to know what he is made of. Yesterday my son Jeremy found out at least one ingredient that is in him in abundance...iron.

Looking Through a Key Hole

Well, John McCain has chosen his running mate. Soon we will know more about Sarah Palin than we ever wanted to know. We are already hearing about what she has not done. Soon, we will hear about everything she wished she hadn't done. Going into politics is like walking through customs at the airport. It may begin slowly but it could very easily progress to a full out cavity search. Sorry for that image. Jean Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher, wrote a short story that captured why he was an atheist. In the short story he was spying on someone through a key hole. He felt a thrill as he watched them in part because he was getting completely unfiltered information about them. Then he heard a noise and realized that someone was looking through a key hole at him. It was God. Sartre said if God exists then he gets completely unfiltered information about us. For Sartre that was the most horrifying thought ever. Many of us would never think about running for public office because it is just a taste of this. All of us like to present ourselves to people on our terms. If my unfiltered thoughts would somehow spew themselves into this blog it would be the last time I ever opened a computer. But we have a problem. We have a deep fear of people really knowing what is going on deep down inside of us. We filter our presentation of ourselves even to our closest friends. But we also have this terrible need to be loved. And love is only as powerful as true knowledge of a person. And here is the wonder. God does look through the key hole at my life. He has completely unfiltered information about me...and yet. And yet, God loves and that is the greatest mystery of all. That is why God's love is so much greater than we can imagine because God knows. He knows and he still loves. That may be something Sarah Palin may need to be reminded of before this is all over. It is something that is my joy to remind you of today.

On Protesters,Bumperstickers, and Being Thankful

I read this morning about 8 Americans who went over to China during the Olympics to protest the Chinese government and their treatment of Tibet. The eight were promptly arrested, jailed, interrogated, and it appears at least mildly tortured. I say mild, but I am sure it was terrible and yet when I read they have now been deported to the States and were still walking. I think mild since the government they were protesting has a record of interrogating people until they can't walk. I was thankful they were released and I don't know them or their passion so I am not sure if what I am going to say is accurate. Their actions struck me as naive. I think Americans get really used to America and we forget what an amazing place this is. The political season always bugs me. We have candidates trying to convince us of how terrible things are. The unemployment figures are always trotted out. I think if I was a candidate I would say, "Hey, if you have a job then vote for me." I figure on average that would land me in the neighborhood of a 95% landslide. Here in America we are free to rage about our sitting president. We can put bumper stickers on our cars saying not only what a lousy job we feel like he has done but we can even add personal insults. So, we get used to the amazing freedom and we run off to China because the opening ceremony looked so much like what America might do if we had an extra 5 or 6 hundred million people and we make up some pretty mild signs according to American standards. "Quit Messing With Tibet". We don't even add "You Bunch of Big Bullies". And before you know it we are in a tiny room filled with Chinese gentlemen who aren't at all like the ones we saw in the opening ceremony. I believe God loves the whole world and that if Jesus was an American there would be much he would want us to change. I get that. But today let's take a step back and be grateful for this nation that lets us complain as loudly as we want. A place where we can say how terrible it is that all of us don't have insurance for the best health care the world has ever known. A place where when we are sick and doctors can't make us better or we can't afford the doctor of our choice we can still walk into any one of the hundred of churches that dot our landscape and pray as long as we want to the God who decided 250 years ago to allow a country like this to be formed. And while we are on our knees, let's say thanks because no matter what the politicians tell us these next couple of months there is no place like home. I know 8 Americans who will say 'Amen' to that.

Don't Ride it Alone

As far back as I can remember I have been involved in athletics. I enjoyed the competition, the camaraderie of a team, and the feeling of mind and body working together. I think I may have become addicted to endorphines too. I think those are the chemicals released into the body during physical exertion. About 15 years ago I bought my first heart monitor. I loved that thing. I could ride my bike, target a heart rate and ride my little brains out. The heart rate monitor made it possible for me to work out as hard as I wanted to. I prided myself in being able to target a heart rate of say 172 and hold it there for an hour. I really thought I could ride as hard by myself as when I was riding with other people. I've been watching the Olympics the last couple of weeks. Like everyone else I have watched as one world record after another has fallen. What I have come to realize is no one breaks a record when they are working out by themselves. These athletes are the best in the world. They aren't broken down athletes turned preachers. And yet, they are only at their very best when they are running, riding, swimming with others. That got me thinking about being a Christian. Christians weren't made to live it alone. We were meant to be side by side with others running the same race. You not only make it less lonely for me, you make me better. Lately there seems to be an epidemic around me of lives exploding and marriages disintegrating. I think that happens in part because people head off with their heart monitor and think they can do just as well when they ride by themselves. Don't. You can't. The church is designed to be the group that rides with you, makes it safer, less lonely, and ends up spurring you on when you want to give up. All you loners out there, come on in and let's ride this one out together. One thing I have learned is that fellow riders are way better than a heart monitor.

Case Dismissed!

I just received this e-mail about Tom Randall this morning from his wife Karen.

Dear Friends,
I just got off the phone with Tom and the case was dismissed! WE are thanking the Lord for His goodness and His protection.
The story started with an accusation from an 11 year old boy that he had been kidnapped by Tom, Toto, and another Filipino man. The mother is a vendor in town and was widowed around 4 months ago and this is her youngest boy. Today when the boy was questioned very carefully by the District Attorney he told his story. But the mother began to cry during his testimony because she felt bad about how things were turning out. She didn't know about Sankey Samaritan Home, about Tom, or about how great a place Sankey really is. After more questioning the boy began to waiver in his answers and soon it was clear that he wasn't telling the truth.

The District Attorney was a lady around 40 years old. Our lawyer knew her and told Tom that we got "lucky" because this one is honest. And it turns out she really was. She refused to take the case before any other judge and threatened to investigate the policemen working on this case. She even told them she could get them reassigned...maybe even to Mindanao...which is like Siberia! So the good thing is that the case was dismissed but now the judge at the hearing, the mayor (we think he was in on it), and the policemen are mad. That can be dangerous for Tom so he is spending the night at our camp around 40 miles away. There are 24 hour guards there which makes us all feel better. Then on Friday night he will stay in a hotel in Manila and fly out Saturday morning as planned.

One of the things I wondered about was this woman and boy. We all knew the boy was lying but we still aren't sure if the story came from him or the policemen or even someone else. Our feeling is the boy and him mom were just being used. At one point in the hearing Toto very quietly asked the boy if Tom was the American who kidnapped him. He had to admit that Tom wasn't the one. That's when things began to fall apart. But the good news is that we think we can help this mom and boy. We are thinking she probably doesn't have any money to send him to school so we can do that for her. We'll see if they will accept that. We hope so.

I just can't tell you how much we have felt your prayers and your love for us. Thank you for standing with us through this. Please continue to pray. Some friends gave me Psalm 27 to read today. I've been hanging on it! Read it to see why!

Love, Karen

Time is Sneaky

By nature time is sneaky. Today I don't feel much different than I did yesterday. My guess is that I don't look remarkably different either. My children grew up very slowly or so it seemed. It would be months before they needed bigger shoes and when they were little each year we would measure them but day by day they hardly changed at all. Every once in a while time comes out of the closet, becomes visible, and we can mark it's movement. The pages of time seem to slip by but the chapters are clearly marked for those who have eyes to see. And a chapter hits with the force of many pages. This is the time of year when students go back to school. Each new grade is a small chapter. But some of my friends are taking kids to college for the first time and that is a chapter of many pages. It hits with great force. We are reminded that a lot of life has slipped by and like water under a bridge it is gone and some of our life is gone with it. I never noticed the last time I carried my daughter to bed or the last time my son held my hand. I remember clearly the day I drove away from their college and saw them standing and waving and then turning toward the dorm to start life without me. I write this because time is passing all of us today. You woke up and didn't look or feel much different but a page turned nonetheless. So today pay attention. Each minute, each relationship, every moment is a gift. Hug your kids, appreciate your friends, kiss your spouse, serve your God because time is sneaky.

A Request to Pray

This is an update to my blog from August 5th on Tom Randall and the Philippines, What Goes Around Comes Around. Tom just called me with an update. The governor did get involved and at first everyone apologized and backed down. But evidently the group of conspirators has regrouped and decided to roll the dice and take their chances even with the governor. Tom received word today that he has been subpoenaed and needs to appear in court in Lucena City, Philippines. He called to ask me to pray and let others know. He has been praying about whether or not he should go to the Philippines and felt this morning the Lord wanted him to go. He said,"Joe, I have never resisted the Lord when He asked me to do something. I'm not going to start with this. I just need you to pray with me." I do not doubt that he has never resisted the call. His life experiences stand as an amazing testimony. He has asked his friend Ben Crenshaw to help him line up someone from the State Department to assist him when he gets over there. Ben is good friends with President Bush so who knows what that will mean. Please pray for my friend as he walks into the belly of the beast so to speak. The team that went before and helped build all the schools and provide relief for the typhoon victims have done their part. The stage is set for God to do what God does best. Let's all pray for justice and righteousness to prevail and that God would do for Tom what He has done countless times before. According to the subpoena Tom needs to report to the courthouse on Thursday. He is planning to fly out this Sunday evening. I will keep you posted. Please remember to pray for Tom. Thanks

Make My Day

My wife Karen came home from Walmart and her eyes danced a little. She said she was standing in line and the cashier was an older gentleman who seemed like he was struggling some. She said he might have been in his 70's. He was African American. Checking out was taking longer than usual as he labored to get the system down. Karen said she just waited. When her turn came he looked her in the eye and said,"Thanks for being so patient. You didn't fidget or huff or say anything. You just stood there looking nice. People get so mad. They say bad things to me, call me names. But not you. You were great". Those who know my wife know that is no real surprise. But she looked at him and said," Well, someone has to watch out for you" and she smiled. The cashier looked at her and pointed toward the sky and said,"Someone is looking out for me and he sent me you." And when he said that he made my wife's eyes dance. And there it was. A man having a tough day and a stranger showing him just a little patience and it made both their days. So, today, be patient, be kind, be loving, the day you may be making is your own.

The Sound of the Hope of the World

In June my youngest daughter went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. She is my child who is the most interested in missions. She asked a couple of weeks ago if some of the kids who went on the trip could come over to our house for what they were calling the "Upper Room". I said, "Sure". So the other night they came. There were about 75 of them. They were like locusts. They ate everything we set out, drank everything, and then I am pretty sure I saw some teeth marks on the furniture. Anyway they ended up outside around our fire pit, all 75 of them. Two students had guitars and began to lead worship. They sang and prayed for almost 2 hours. Toward the end I opened my bedroom window so I could hear. I looked out on 75 high school students gathered around a fire with their eyes closed and swaying together as they sang. They were singing Amazing Grace. As I listened I got goose bumps because I realized I wasn't just listening to high school students singing. I was listening to the hope of the world. The world is always one generation from total collapse. Christianity is one generation from absolute extinction. Outside my bedroom window gathered a herd of teenagers who could have been out watching a movie or partying their brains out. Instead they stood under my window and sang "Amazing Grace". So, the hope of the world gathered in my backyard the other night and I was thankful. I wanted to wake my neighbors and let them know that the next 20 years were going to be OK. I wanted them to know they could sleep well. God was not done with us yet. The fire has been lit in the next generation and so all is well. But I realized they were already awake. I just hope they had their windows open so they could hear the words..."I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see." I don't know when I have felt so good about being up so late. Let them come and eat all I have as long as I can hear them sing as I lay in my bed and thank God that another generation has been lit and is burning bright.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Two years ago we sent a basketball team from Hudson Community Chapel to the Philippines with Tom Randall for a two week trip. My son was part of that team. They had an amazing time traveling around the Philippines playing basketball and telling people about the God who loves them so much He sent His Son to die for them. They arrived shortly after a typhoon had devastated the area. The people were responsive and needy. Some towns had been hit hard and schools had been demolished by the storm. The team gave extra money and Tom had some money given him from the States and they set about giving money to rebuild and help the people of this area in the name of Jesus. My son and the others on the trip talked about pulling up to towns completely wiped out by the storm and seeing Tom organize, purchase and then disperse rice so everyone could eat. To say it was memorable is a gross understatement. Anyone who has ever had the great privilege of being an answer to prayer and putting flesh on the love of God knows it is an experience you never forget and one you will always long to repeat. So it is with this small band of brothers who went over to play basketball and found themselves doing so much more. A week ago I received a call from Tom to pray. He had received word that he was formally charged with kidnapping in the Philippines. Tom has several orphanages in the Philippines and someone was claiming he had taken their child. A group of eight policemen had raided the one orphanage and delivered the warrant signed by a judge. Tom told me he thought it was an extortion scheme but it was well orchestrated and had some power behind it since it involved at least 8 police and a judge. Last night he called to tell me what had happened since we started praying. It seems the governor of the area had remembered what the basketball team had done for the towns in his district. The governor had asked for assistance from Manila but no help had come. Instead a group of American basketball players had traveled all over his region distributing rice and building schools. When he heard of the charges he called the mayor of the city where the charges were filed. He told the mayor he was getting personally involved to defend Tom. Now it looks like the 8 corrupt policemen and the judge are in some serious trouble. Tom breathed a sigh of relief with me on the phone and we both spoke in awe of a God who two years ago would begin to weave a blanket of protection for Tom when Tom thought he was just having a blast spreading the love of God in a way people could see and taste. So, today I encourage you to spread the love of God where you are. You never know if the love you spread will one day soon be the net that catches you and saves you from an enemy you cannot see but does not hold a candle to the God you serve.

100 Miles Has Me Thinking of Heaven

The Sports Impact ministry of our church got some of the serious bicycle riders together today to ride the 14 hills of the valley. It is very close to 100 miles up and down the hills leading in and out of the valley. I had to go. My wife and my daughter think I am crazy but I really love things like this. There are a few reasons. There is something immensely satisfying about doing something that is difficult to do. It is sheer joy to do something really difficult with some other people. There were around a dozen of us that gathered at the church at 7am this morning. Because we ride at different speeds we ended up breaking up into smaller teams. My team consisted of Leigh Atkins and Mark Gorman. We had a blast. There is something that happens between people when they suffer together even if it is self induced suffering. King Henry had it right when he said,"He who sheds his blood with me this day shall be my brother be he ever so vile. And gentlemen now abed in England shall think themselves accursed and hold their manhood cheap that they were not here to fight on St.Crispen"s Day." I think that quote is close. So, I love the challenge, I love the camaraderie and friendship that forms between fellow sufferers. But I also love one more thing. At the end of the ride when we are sitting around having a cold drink all the hardest parts of the ride are the things we laugh and joke about. That reminds me of what heaven will be. Someday I will sit around and laugh at the hardest things in this life because all sad things will become untrue. At the church right now we are about to do some great stuff with adding campuses and a student ministry building. It will be a challenge. I will be asking people to sacrifice. Through it we will experience some of what I experienced today and so I can't wait. Thanks for coming along for the ride and I will see you at the top of the hill and we will laugh together.

Living the Song

In the month of July I have vacationed with the family, biked several hundred miles with Tom Randall to raise money for orphans, led a marriage retreat for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and taken a long weekend with my wife and a couple of dear friends. It has been a great month but it has kept me away from the church for nearly the whole time. Today I went back to work. I was reminded of how much I love it. Walking back into the office and seeing staff members is like seeing old friends. I love the problems,the challenges, the stories of changing lives. I love working with people who are passionate about what they do. I love sitting with my Bible open and trying to figure out how to say what I feel like God is saying. I like getting hit with e-mails to pray for people and other e-mails reminding me that people are praying for me. I was reminded today that there is nothing in all the world quite like the church of Jesus Christ. It is not a place of perfect people, by a long shot. But it is a place that vibrates with grace and I love that. It is a place where the veil that separates our world from heaven is the thinnest. It is a place people come to and expect to hear the truth even if it is truth they would rather not hear right then. It is a place of unexpected acts of love that are so selfless that it takes my breath away. It can be a place of magnificent generosity. More than anything it is a place where people have found the truth that whatever mess they have made with their lives there is a God who loves them so that He has moved heaven and earth to get them back. It is a place of redemption and life. Out of all the things people get to do for a living I have to believe that the thing God has given me is the best and today I was reminded again how thankful I am to do what I get to do. I remember hearing a song that said "Love the things you do and do the things you love." I am living the song.

A Prayer God Answers Every Time

Yesterday I had a meeting with Paul Sartarelli. He is one of the co-pastors of The Chapel downtown. Whenever we have a meeting he has his assistant e-mail me to remind me of the meeting. Now, I have never missed an appointment with Paul so I assume it is just the way he does things. I have to admit that whenever I get a reminder like that I want to mumble like a little kid "Yeah, I know Mom. You don't have to remind me." During my time with God the last couple of mornings I have been impressed to ask God to help me not to avoid humiliation. I really hate humiliation and try as often as I can to stay in my areas of competence so I don't have to feel it...at all. Any way, for whatever reason I have been asking God to help me not run from humiliation because I think in the midst of humiliation is where I can meet our Lord. So, here is where it gets interesting. I had an appointment this morning. It was with someone I have known for a long time but we never had breakfast together. We made the appointment long distance when I was traveling in Minnesota. I put it in my Blackberry but didn't realize that I entered it when I was in the Central Time Zone. Long story short, I arrived at breakfast precisely one hour late. I hate that! I apologized and thought of how confident I had been just the day before when I received the reminder from Paul's assistant. I also remembered my prayer about humiliation and ended up thanking God for answering so quickly. Pride even in the smallest areas is amazingly fragile. Today I am not nearly as confident. I am thankful for reminders and I am a little closer to the One who was humiliated for me that I might be set free.

Stubborn Bushes and a Pang of Jealousy

Today is my day off. My wife asked me to help her around the yard. She wanted to transplant two bushes we had planted last year. I thought I could make quick work of it. I started to dig and 90 minutes later I was dragging the second bush to the new location. It was exhausting. I found it amazing how deep the roots had grown in a year. Roots are of course the key to how hard the plants were to dig up. This past year those plants have gone through some serous weather. They went through the bone chilling winter, a rain soaked Spring, and some serious summer storms. But throughout the year my two bushes have gotten what they really needed to grow. They received plenty of water and the nutrients in the soil were evidently exactly what the doctor ordered. Whatever was going on outside these bushes were all about sinking their roots as deep as they could. As sweat literally streamed off my body I was thinking about my own growth this past year. So many times I get side-tracked by what is going on all around me. I quit thinking about my roots. Like my bushes I think I have gone through some serious weather. Some of you have too no doubt. But I have also had everything I need to sink my roots deeper into God. As we close out summer I want to concentrate on growth. I want us all to ask God to help our roots to grow in such a way that a year from now we will be what Paul the Apostle called "steadfast and immovable." Because in all honesty, after only a year my bushes were very nearly steadfast and immovable. They made me jealous.

Surrounded By A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Yesterday I helped Tom Randall finish his historic bicycle ride from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River. We rode the last 50 miles in a Minnesota downpour and dipped our wheels in the mighty Mississippi. We rode to the Champions PGA tour event in Minneapolis. We rode around in a golf cart during the pro-am and saw a bunch of his friends. Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Hale Irwin, Don Pooley, Charles Coody, Gil Morgan,Tom Purtzer, Loren Roberts, Andy Bean, Jim Thorpe, and Peter Jacobsen to name a few. All of them great athletes in their own right. All of them amazed at what Tom had been able and willing to do. They laughed and hugged him and last night they threw a magnificent party with a cake in the shape of a bicycle. The last few days were harder for Tom then he expected. Yesterday in the rain we took turns encouraging each other. I told him the story of Nehemiah and how Nehemiah had been tempted to quit building the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah sent word down saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down." I yelled to Tom over the Minnesota wind,"You are like Nehemiah. You are doing a great work and you cannot quit now." When we were within sight of the Mississippi I couldn't hold him back. As he crossed the 2500 mile marker tears streaked his face. What possesses someone to ride 2500 miles, most of them while nursing two cracked ribs? There is something about Tom Randall that glows. Tom feels what we all should feel. He feels the pleasure of God. In the movie Chariots of Fire when Eric Liddle tried to explain to his sister why he loved to run he said,"Jenny, I know God made me for a purpose, to be a missionary in China. But He also made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure." As Tom dipped his wheel in the mighty Mississippi he felt the pleasure of God. The great thing is I was close enough to feel it too.

A New Friend, An Unlikely Beginning

My long time friend Tom Randall is biking 2500 miles from Astoria, Oregon to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tom has several orphanages in the Philippines. He didn't start this as a fundraiser but if you know anything about Tom you know that remarkable things happen in his life all the time. As of today the total he will raise is $860,000.00. OK, that is flat out amazing. I flew up to South Dakota to ride with him the last 400 miles or so to encourage him. This afternoon after a 100 mile ride we were sitting with one of the other riders on the trip. He seemed pretty surly and called me a Pansie for joining the ride for only four days. I laughed and agreed with him but I can't say it was the best way to start a conversation. At one point Tom got up and I kept talking to Robert. I ended up finding out he was a recent widower. As we talked he opened up and tears rolled down his cheeks. He saw me at dinner later and came up right away just to say hi and see how I was doing after the ride. It just reminded me that everyone has a story and it is so important to take the time to listen. It might be difficult at first but the people in your lives that are the most prickly have the hardest stories to tell and most need to tell them to someone. Jesus was always that person. Jesus listened to my story and earlier today He listened to Robert whether he realized it or not. Tonight I will pray for my new friend and his pain and that some day he will find out it was Jesus who listened to him today and recorded his tears and longs for him to be healed.

Footprints and Jesus

Today was the last day at the beach. It really is a remarkable place. All ages gather around the ageless sea. Little children splash in the shallow waters. Older kids played Bocce or volleyball. Parents sit and watch their children play. Those older still walk hand in hand along the shore. It was only a few years ago they played in the sand themselves. Now they walk and they look around at those who have not yet gotten old. There are few places where the generations gather and mingle the way they do at the beach. Maybe that is why I like it so. Today I sat and looked out at my own children who are now grown up themselves. Rachel and her husband splash and play knowing this time next year they will be anchored on the shore with their new born son. And I will sit with the other grandparents watching time march on. So, like every year as I watch vacation come to a close I resolve to enjoy the relationships that surround me for time is marching on. Here at the beach this is all too evident. There is also a reminder here at the beach that there are some things that seem to never change. The footprints in the sand are wiped away every day and every year. It is the ocean and the sand itself that seems to never change. In the fourteen years we have been coming here as a family the ocean and the beach look the same. And in fact they are virtually unchanged. Of course all of this has me thinking about Jesus. He is the One who does not change. I am growing older by the minute. Before I know it the small footprints I have made while on this earth will be gone and few will know I was ever here. And yet, there is One who does know I am here. There is the One who has walked beside me these quick years and cared about each and every step. One day all around me will change but that One. I will look back on my life and all the footprints I have ever made and they will lead right into the arms of this One who is my Beloved. G.K.Chesterton said one time that it was musings on Christmas Eve that finally led him to Jesus. He was looking at the stockings hung by the chimney and suddenly thought, "If my children have me to thank for putting candy in their stockings, have I no one to thank for putting two feet in mine." Footprints.

Talking to Jesus About the Ocean

The ocean is an amazing place. My family and I are on vacation. We have the great privilege of being at the beach for a week. This morning I was sitting just looking at the ocean. It is magnificent. It is mysterious, wildly beautiful, powerful, and faithful. The waves flow in and out in a rhythm that is as dependable as a clock. There is a chart of the tides on the refrigerator of our rental cottage and every day the ocean moves as the chart predicted. I sat and watched people play all around the ocean today. Some ran up and down, others sat and read, others simply walked close venturing in and out ankle deep. My family loves the waves. We don't just wade in waste deep. We run in past the place where our feet no longer touch to get to the big waves that we can ride. It is a blast. This morning as I was praying I was talking to Jesus about the ocean. I told him how much I liked it and how thankful I was to be here with my family. It occurred to me how much Jesus had made the ocean like Himself. Jesus is full of mystery, beauty, power, and faithful. People love just to be around Him. I want my family to approach Jesus just like we approach the ocean. I want us to run into Him. I don't want to walk near Him or just get ankle deep. I want to run in past where our feet can touch to the big waves. I want us all to experience the depth of the Presence of Jesus. I pray you will run in to Jesus today as well. There is nothing quite like riding a wave and feeling the power all around carrying you. So, paddle on out all you surfers and experience the wonder of Jesus.

Biking, Jesus and a New Friend

I was out riding my bike the other day. I was riding along a bike path during my lunch break. It is not too uncommon for me to see people from the church but I am cruising at around 20mph and I have a helmet and glasses on so while I may recognize them they rarely recognize me. So, I zoom past and just say to myself,"Hey, I know them". There is one place in my ride where I need to slow up to cross a neighborhood entrance. I slowed up and looked for cars and saw a lady from the church. I was riding slowly enough to recognize her and called her by name. She took a second and then recognized me and said,"Hi Joe". She said it in a way that made me come to a complete stop instead of racing on which is my habit especially at lunch. She was riding with another young woman. Sue introduced me to her friend and said,"We were just talking. My new friend here is Muslim but she has been going to church and thinking about Christianity. She just asked me if there was anyone in our church who used to be Muslim she might be able to talk to about becoming a Christian. And right then you rode up". And then she introduced me to her friend and said,"This is our pastor. See, I told you God was working in your life". Her friend laughed and said,"I am not even trying and these things keep happening. All I have done is open my heart up to Jesus". It was a very cool moment. I assured her that I could find someone and rode off smiling and shaking my head at how the God who created the cosmos out of nothing cares so much about 3 people riding bikes on a Wednesday afternoon. I went back to the church and told the story to the staff. Marshall Brandon laughed and told me that a good friend of his who was a former Muslim was coming to visit him Saturday and would be in church Sunday. God made that last move and I am pretty sure I heard Him say,"Check mate".

God, LeBron and the Big Head

There is a commercial where LeBron James has a neighbor who is taunting LeBron on his new riding lawn mower. At the end of the commercial LeBron is standing outside underneath a basketball hoop in his bathrobe with a coffee mug in his hand. The neighbor is dribbling up a storm and still taunting and then finally attempts a shot and LeBron smacks it into the bushes. LeBron does it all with an expression of sheer boredom. I preached this past Sunday. The church has grown to a pretty good size. Every once in a while someone will say,"I want you to know I am praying for you that you won't get a big head. I think pride would be a huge issue so I am praying for your protection". I appreciate that a lot. I was praying the other day and it struck me how outrageous it was to talk to God about my pride. I think it is a little like me playing basketball with LeBron and saying to him,"Hey, listen LeBron. I need you to help me not to get too proud about my game. I mean, take a look at this shot. It is SAAWEEEET". I have an inkling that the whole conversation would just confuse LeBron. He would think to himself,"what in the world about this guys game could he ever feel good about"? Anyway, it made me laugh while I was praying. I am pretty sure I heard God chuckling as well. Being a preacher means I am on the court with God sometimes. Any time He wants He can stand in His bathrobe and knock my shot into kingdom come. It would be a privilege to play basketball with LeBron or golf with Tiger Woods but the last thing it would do is feed into my pride. That is exactly the way I feel about preaching. I would never want to do it without God but having Him around is brutal on the pride thing. The good news is I am not alone. God hangs out where you work as well. So, no matter how well things seem to be going, remember the guy who created the solar system and felt like He was just getting warmed up is watching you, loving you, but could knock your shot into the bleachers anytime you start to feel too big for your britches.

Summer, Fudgesicles, and Jesus

It's officially summer. I know because I have found my frozen delight of the year. This year it is the fudgesicle. Fudgesicles are 80 calories of refreshing deliciousness. I am eating them like they are going out of style. Every summer it seems like I hit on something like this. There have been popsicles, icees, homemade slurpees. You name it, if it is frozen and sweet I have binged on it during the summer. I read somewhere recently that real appetites are different than artificial appetites. An appetite for something real doesn't seem like it is seasonal. I don't only thirst for water in the Spring (no pun intended). There is also something about a real appetite that allows for a feeling of contentment. I eat a fudgesicle and I begin walking over to the freezer before I have sucked the stick clean. Then after two more fudgesicles I am ready for something salty. It is a circus over here. Now you know why I exercise so much. Anyway, fudgesicles got me thinking about Jesus. My appetite for God is not seasonal and for that I am very thankful. After time with Jesus there is an experience of contentment. I don't bounce from sweet to salty. My appetite for the eternal runs deep within me and is satisfied only by a relationship with God Himself. The amazing thing is that God has made Himself available to me every day and every hour. My stash of fudgesicles is running low even as I write. But tomorrow morning God will be waiting for me in my quiet room and will give me as much of Himself as I can stand. So, I will fill up and walk out of that room content and knowing that the deepest hunger inside of me has been filled by that which is real. Fudgesicles are good but I was created for something a little more solid and so were you. This summer go ahead and treat yourself to some frozen delights but don't go a day without delighting yourself in the One who made you and offers to fill you up to the brim with what your soul really longs for....Himself.

Cycling, Church, and Hanging on a Wheel

My son Jeremy is home for a couple of weeks. One of my great joys is riding bikes with him. He is a marvelous athlete so when the two of us go out together to ride it is an amazingly great and difficult ride. I have blogged about biking before. There is a slip stream behind a cyclist that makes an enormous difference. Today Jeremy and I rode 37 miles at a demanding pace. We alternated being in front. After being in front for a mile I could hardly wait to slip in behind him and get some relief. Being in the slip stream means your front tire is about 6 inches from the rear tire of the one in front. If you drop farther than a couple of feet it is called "losing the wheel" and it means you are toast. If you and your partner were scooting along at say 25mph and you lost his wheel you would drop to about 20mph and still be working as hard as ever. To really rest would mean you would drop into the teens to catch your breath. You cannot lose the wheel of the rider in front of you. Today's ride made me think of the church. I think when people drop out of church it is like losing a wheel. They think it is not that bad at first but after a while it really takes a toll. There is no where in the Bible where it talks about a Christian being without a church. I think because it is so hard to try to do it alone. I guess what I am saying is church helps you stay close to people moving in the same direction. In fact if church is really working the way it should then you will have people around you who are stronger than you are and pulling you around and people counting on you that you are stronger than hugging your wheel. And so it is. Whatever you do, don't drop back, stay home or lose a wheel. You may never make it home.

On Parades, Jesus and Real Heroes

I am in Boston right now. Tom Randall, chaplain of the PGA Champions Tour, is riding a bicycle from Oregon to Minnesota and asked me to fill in for him at the players fellowship. There are around 100 golfers, wives, and caddies that gather for a Bible study and service since they are always playing golf on Sunday and can't go to a regular church. Last night I was in down town Boston and saw the remnants of the ticker tape parade in honor of the Celtics recent NBA championship. My daughter Becca left early this morning with 100 other 17 year olds to go to the Dominican Republic to minister to orphans. An entire city turned out and shouted and celebrated the accomplishment of a basketball team. They were able to put a round ball into a steel hoop more times than any other team this season. They got a parade. More than 100 teenagers are giving up their summer break to spend time loving and living with the poor and disenfranchised. They left at 4:30am this morning. As far as I know there was no parade nor will there be one when they come home. Not here, not now. I remember reading one time a theory of what Satan does best. The thing he does better than we realize is he switches price tags. We end up putting tremendous value on things that are pretty worthless and treat as worthless those things that are absolutely precious beyond compare. Someday God will show us the real value of all we have spent our time doing. My guess is that is when we will stand and cheer in a parade for the ones who did the really great things that went unnoticed. Today, look around. Keep your eyes peeled for the really valuable. My guess it is not going to be what you spent the most money on but on something Jesus would pay attention to. I am pretty sure Jesus was spending more time watching teenagers climb out of bed at 4:30am then the basketball players waving to the crowds as they cruised down Boylston Street yesterday.

Power to Take Down My Tree and Remake my World

Ever since we moved into our house 9 years ago we have had an ancient apple tree in the center of our backyard. Every other year it would shower our yard with apples. The deer in our neighborhood loved it and would gather in the dusk for the sweet treats late summer and early Fall. Three nights ago we came home around 10pm. It had been a stormy evening and we looked outside to see that our apple tree had split into 3 sections and lay sprawled on the ground mortally wounded. The next morning I went out to inspect what had happened. There was no sign of a lightening strike. The giant sections lay in silence, tiny little apples thrown around the tree like popcorn. I was struck by the power and the strength of the tree. It looked bigger and broader on the ground then when it was standing. Whatever took it out was strong? If not lightening then what? Had I missed the marauding band of elephants? I looked into the middle of the tree and saw the culprit. The very core of the tree had been eaten out. The enemy stronger than my ancient apple tree was tiny but the enemy was many. I thought about all the lessons to be learned. I could talk about how sin can rot a life from the inside even while the outside looks fine and productive. But I decided to think on the might of the tiny and the amazing amount the many can do over time. I am thinking of the body of Christ. So many of us living and working in the belly of the beast. Oh, what impact we can make working together. The vision of the church spreading out thousands strong, changing the world one neighborhood at a time has invaded my consciousness and will not let go. So, I look at my tree broken beyond repair and I think of the Gospel and the world and the church and I think of all God can do with little people like us. Glory! Now, someone lend me a chainsaw because I also see a load of firewood.

Diet Coke, Sin, and the Food I Really Need

I heard something about Diet Coke and I would suppose it is true for all things diet. If you are a huge Diet Coke fan then you should probably stop reading this now. Just step away from the computer. The thing I heard is that when a sugar substitute hits your system then your body begins to react as if sugar has hit the system. That means insulin is released in order to deal with the sugar. The insulin comes out screaming that sugar is on it's way but no real sugar shows up. So, you have a bunch of insulin hanging out twiddling their thumbs and wondering what's up. Insulin sends a message up to the brain to see if there is any food coming since the insulin has prepared for it so well. The brain decides the insulin is right...the insulin is always right by the way according to the brain and so the brain sends your arms and legs in search of food. And before you know it you are munching away on some sugary of fat filled snack the Diet Coke was supposed to help you avoid. If you want to get really messed up you start eating sugar free snacks and your brain will get together with your insulin and start a riot. So, I was thinking about sugar substitutes and sin. I think that is the way sin works inside of me. It starts out like it should be good. "I know, I will just indulge in a little envy or a little gossip or a little lust. It's just a little pick me up to get me through the afternoon". And I end up bloated and sick and wondering what in the world hit me. My spirit is designed for real food. My spirit will take and process real food and it may take longer to feel the impact but it will be health and vitality. Sin on the other hand tastes so sweet so fast but ends up making me empty or sending me to devour that which makes me sicker than a dog. So, I will remind myself of Isaiah 55 where God Himself cries out to me..
"Hey, you who are thirsty, come buy wine and milk without money and without cost
Why do you spend your money on what does not satisfy and your wages on what is not bread? Listen carefully to me and delight yourself in the abundance of fare".
Eat well today and refresh yourself with the true bread.

Truth Deep Like an Ocean, Strong in a Thimble

Truth, real truth is as deep as the ocean but strong enough that a thimble full can change you through and through. Last year I decided to start working on a doctorate. I enrolled in a Th.D program and I am pursuing a degree with an emphasis on apologetics(meaning defense of the faith). I have completed four classes so far. Each class requires me to read about 1800 pages and then write a 17-20 page paper. Most of the reading is pretty intense. I read this earlier today..."...many faith passages without an expressed object are open-ended, and must not be loaded with propositional or doctrinal content. Thus "faith" becomes the nonintellectual, transcendent form that achieves concrete expression in various intellectual forms that are necessarily tied to specific cultures". Yeah,ok, I think you are just showing off. Much of what I read sounds like that and today it made me thankful for things like the church picnic. I walked around the picnic talking to people who have had their lives changed by an understanding of the Gospel of Jesus. They understand that their life is a mess because of sin but God loves them enough to send Jesus and that has made all the difference. I guess I really appreciate that the greatest minds can spend entire lifetimes digging into the truth of the Bible and never get to the bottom. The book I am reading right now is 640 pages long and the guy who wrote it has a dozen more just like it. But it is also great that no one has to be that smart to understand the love of God and be changed. God has made it simple and complex. Understandable and unfathomable. How cool is that? So, for those of you who think these musings on my blog are the deepest thing you will encounter today, the Gospel is for you and God can change you with the truth you know into the image of His son. For those of you who read this blog like a cartoon then the Gospel is for you and is deeper than the deepest ocean and the greatest minds the world has ever produced have not found the end of it yet. Oh, and God can take you and your over-sized brain and make you more like Jesus. Now, I am sounding bitter so I will take my little snack size cranium back to the book and slog through another 20 pages. Don't forget to wake me up for dinner.