In the footsteps of Mary and Joseph

It seems a simple story of an obvious choice but is it? Was it a no brainer for Mary to say, "I am the Lords servant," in response to the news that she was to be the birth mother of the Savior? Was it a no brainer that Joseph would act in the seemingly obvious manner as to take Mary as his wife even though what was conceived in her was not of him?

We can read the stories flat having heard them a number of times as if the characters were fictional. They weren't though. Have you ever watched a movie and then at the end the slogan"Based on a true story" rolls across the screen. Do you remember how that one line moves you deeply as you realize that what you just heard really happened. It changes everything.

Hear these words and allow them to settles deep in your heart, "A true story."

Mary and Joseph's responses were not obvious. As a matter of fact, if we were completely honest we might not choose to respond as they did. Here is the realization if we allow ourselves a moment of vulnerability. What is obvious on the back side looking back is never obvious in the moment.

Mary was between 13 and 15 years old. She was betrothed to a wonderful man, every woman's dream. That dream was at jeopardy. Weddings were a week long celebration in Jewish tradition. They were a lot bigger deal then we make them here in America and we make them a pretty big deal. Mary's future would be completely altered from what she had been imagining as every girl at a young age. Mary did have a choice.

Joseph was a "righteous man" that in the Jewish community had a "title", just as someone would be given of pride like, "merit of honor recipient." That place of honor was on the line. He had every right by Jewish law and tradition to separate from her publicly, but because of his love and respect for Mary had in mind to divorce her quietly. His rights to the marriage bed, something a man dreams of since a boy, he would have to surrender for the first 10 months of their union per command of the angel. Obvious choice?

What I have realized is that for most of us, myself included, what seems an obvious choice in the moment of decision making, never is. What allowed Mary and Joseph to respond as they did was the very reason God had chosen them to be the parents of Jesus. They had the hearts of a servant. There were different words for servant they used. The one Mary chose in response above was "slave." It is a whole other level of serving when one surrenders every right of their own to that of another.

What I have also noticed is that what we call servant often isn't what Mary and Joseph considered servant. We tend to be servant hearted in a worship service when the pastor is speaking about servanthood. "I'll go on that missions trip." Then when we get home and all the circumstances of our life present themselves, our passion to serve is diminished.

Following in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph is a surrender of all our own rights despite the circumstances. I have watched as people serve in worship or children's ministry, or other areas of the church because it was fun for them and rewarding at that time. That motivation to serve will always be tested. When it is the resolve of our heart is always revealed.

Another way it is tested is in our own moments of crisis or extreme joy. I have been to hospitals to visit those sick who no one else has visited. I have also been in peoples homes in what should have been times of great joy to see no one else standing there but myself. The hard reality is that your investment into others is evidenced by the clouds of witnesses or lack of.

Look at the clouds of witnesses around Mary and Joseph now. Icons of the Christmas story because of their investment into God's vision and his mission to a world despite the circumstances. Living the Christmas story really is about investment. Who's lives are you investing in?

God Hung a Star (Part 2)

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2: 1-2

I wonder if my move toward Jesus is not a move toward dependence but toward independence. Could this be exactly what happened to the followers of God in the long period of time between the last prophetic word to the birth of Jesus?

The scripture tells of the story of the Magi coming from the east. When Herod heard the reports of a King of the Jews being born in Bethlehem he was "disturbed". But he wasn't the only one. No, "all of Jerusalem" with him was disturbed too. Wouldn't you think that the response of Jerusalem to the coming Messiah would be one of great joy? But that was not the case. Instead they were disturbed.

What caused this response in God's people? What if it was a contentment to live just a sliver of life. They had gotten there before. When in captivity for multiple generations under the rule of the Egyptians the Israelites, God's people, learned a life that really had little to no hope, peace, or destiny. They settled for a smaller existence.

What if in our lives we sometimes do the same? It's as if I need God only enough to get to a point where I feel that I don't need him anymore. This is also what the world see's us as Christians doing and even the Gospel we might preach. Get Jesus so you can get you life together. What if it was because we cease to live out of a dependent relationship with Jesus when we're not hurting. Do we really realize what good times are for? Are they for enjoyment and basking in the wonders of what God is doing in our lives. Yes. But is that only what they are for? No. They are for an increase of dependency so that you can be a vessel of hope to others. It actually requires an increased dependency on Christ to be Christ to others. When your hurting you turn the complete focus to yourself. The best thing is that God's majesty allows it as he ministers to our needs. But the purpose of our healing and wholeness is to be that same vessel of grace to others.

The trap is to never turn those moments of self-focus back to others. When we don't, we live in a perpetual cycle of me. When life becomes only about me I don't experience real life. I only experience a sliver of it. What God is always doing in our lives is hanging stars. He hangs them as a sign of life that allows us in both the good times and bad times to become increasingly dependent on him for life. Dependency then is life. Life to us and then life from us.

Let's live the Christmas story. Dependency that gives and brings life.

God Hung a Star (Part 1)

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2: 1-1

God doesn't leave us with no means for faith. He always hangs a star!

Have you ever been in a place where you felt so far from God. Seemed like forever since you last really "tasted and seen that God is good." We can feel that way when our lives circumstance seem to turn for the worst. Our sin can often place us in that same place of distance from God's presence. I remember being in college and feeling this deeply. I was studying for ministry but having no sense of God in my life. It rose to the level of desperation only to be met by disappointment when is seemed like God had abandoned me.

The Magi were from the far east. They were not close to Jerusalem. They were distant from it, yet God hung a star. To the Magi it would have been the perfect way to get their attention. They were stargazers and thus were always looking to the starts. But, they were not Jews. They were not of God's chosen people, yet he hung a star for them to see.

The truth is that God is always hanging stars to announce his presence. When we are literally far away as the Magi were or our hearts are, he hangs stars. It is knowing where to look for them that becomes key. The Magi were always looking up. Are we. In that season of life in college I realized I had been looking down not up. Looking down is focused only on the next step and fretting if there will be solid ground when you place your next foot forward. It is a real place to be. There are seasons of life that come to us all that feels like were walking a tight rope with danger lurking on both sides. Desperate to not fall our eyes stay locked on the rope of our circumstances praying for some sort of balance that allows us to take the next step.

What is most impressive to me is not the tightrope walkers but the tight rope walkers who do it blindfold. Now that is daring. So is faith. It is super daring. An ability to walk the tightrope of life with our eyes not down but instead up to the stars. It is the scripture that says, "Since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit." Faith is trusting the spirit to the stepping with a focus on the stars.

Here is the promise of God. If you trust your stepping to the Spirit and look up, he will always have hung a star as evidence of his presence. God doesn't leave us with no means for faith. He always hangs a star!

Do as I do: The life of a Martyr

Born to Die!

I wonder when Jesus realized the purpose of his birth was for death? There are very few stories of when Jesus was a child but the one we do have is when he went into the synagogue and began to teach and speak with teachers of the law there and found they were very impressed by his understanding of scripture. Was it in his understanding of the scripture that he realized he was the Messiah, the one who the prophet Isaiah spoke about that would come and give his life as a ransom for many?

Or was it when he was older, around 30, when he realized that his journey was something else and decided to be baptized by John the Baptist. Was it upon stepping into the water as the dove descended, the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God from heaven saying "this is my son in whom I am well pleased"? Was it the voice of God that revealed to Jesus that his birth was for death?

Or was it later, following his baptism, when Jesus went up to the mountain where he was tempted by the devil? Was it upon his denial of the devil's offers that he decided to follow God? And in that following God, coming down the mountain to began his public ministry did he realize that calling on his life was for death in order that we could have life?

Or was it the first time Jesus mentioned the coming of his death and began to speak about the time when he would not be there any longer? Remember when he first began to speak about his death? It was Peter, the guy who never got it right, that got it right for the first time when Jesus asked, "who do you say I am?" Remember, Peter's response, "You are the Messiah." Was it then upon Jesus answer to Peter, "this was not revealed to you by man but by my father in heaven," that Jesus realized his purpose?

What it must have felt like for Jesus to know he was born to be a martyr. Is there any life in knowing that your sole purpose was for death? Could that give hope or just steal it? The evidence of the answer to that question is in his life; his living. His life would suggest that from an early age he began to understand that there was something special and unique about the calling on his life to fulfill the purposes of God. That calling seemed to give Jesus life; so much life in fact that flocks of people chose to pursue him. They chose to be around him and to sacrifice their work, their life, and everything just to be near him. What they experienced when they were with him was life. That life Jesus had that flowed out of his soul came from God, his father, and the fulfillment of his purposes. Jesus was born to die and he was okay with it. No, he wasn't just okay with it. He was passionate about it. It gave him life.

I wonder what stirs our passion to give of ourselves beyond what's comfortable and beyond what's convenient this Christmas? I wonder what it looks like to give sacrificially of or whole life this season. I wonder if we would be okay with that? I wonder if we could pursue it with passion and experience life because of it this Christmas? Would you begin to pray even now of what it may look like to follow after Christ in sacrificing yourself that others might experience Christmas this season?

The Power of Words

Words are everything! With words, according to scripture, we can build up and encourage to faith or tear apart a persons soul. With words the earth was formed and given purpose and meaning. With words dreams are envisioned, communicated, and created. We think in words, speak with words, and live out words. Words really do paint worlds.

Last night I tried to communicate a dream. It was shot out of the sky like a flung pigeon on a shotgun range. Dust was all that formed out of the words I used. Why. I used the wrong words. While the words perfectly communicated the picture that was powerfully clear in my soul they painted a completely different image in the hearts and minds of that room. Why? Because for different people, and without you knowing it, words can be loaded.

Words have memory for people. Certain words have been experienced in certain ways by people in their past that is forever connected to that cluster of consonants and vowels. They can carry fear, or hurt, and even delight. They are loaded. They are triggers that can ignite emotional responses and paint their own picture.

Scripture actually says to speak the truth in love. It is one of the most misinterpreted scriptures in the bible. Most using it as justification to let out their anger and frustration on others. Rather, a proper interpretation of this passage is to speak truth in the best possible way that a person would receive it in love. It's about the other person when you speak love, not you. Making truth only about you is a big mistake. After all Jesus didn't die on the cross just to save you.

What I failed to do was to consider the people I was communicating the dream to and the context of which I was in. After all communication is again less about you and more about the person/s you are speaking to. This requires sensitivity you don't have, knowledge you don't possess, and motive that is others focused. The only place I have found to acquire such things is at the feet of Jesus. Had I considered prayer in that moment the picture was becoming clearly misunderstood, the outcome could have been different. I failed to communicate my heart and it was only my fault.

So realize the power your words have to paint worlds, and subsequently, to destroy them. Also realize the grace that exists in Christ to scrap that painting and start again.

Learning from the Anthony Trial

In a 3 year long, high profile case like this, emotions are a certain. It is amazing how our emotions can grip our hearts and even lead our minds and actions if we let them. I awoke today with a heaviness on me. After considering where that heaviness arose from, God revealed much of its source. Believe it or not, it arose from yesterday's coverage of the Casey Anthony trial and the verdict.

My kids go to the school feet from where they found the body of little Callie Anthony. We drive past that site every day. As much as you try to guard your kids they have ears and very attuned ones. It was the topic of many discussions with them over the course of the last 3 years. It's proximity to us has had me attuned to the proceedings of this case. But none like I was yesterday. Somehow I found myself trapped by the coverage of this final chapter in this 3 year long saga.

This climaxed last night when barely 7 hours after the verdict was read "Not Guilty," 48 hours did a full one hour long episode of the case as an "Unsolved Mystery." This had me stunned and perplexed more than the 2:15pm verdict reading. What is the word God was wanting to speak underneath this frenzy of media fire.

It wasn't until this morning it hit me. Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

The trap of the enemy is to monopolize your hearts energy on things dark and not of light. When he can get us fixated on darkness it taps our humanity on the shoulder and un-cages our sin nature. The darkness swallows our heart and confuses our thinking and feeling until what is produces now is unholy and unrighteous. Our thoughts words and actions follow suite to what our mind is fixated on and before we know it we are on an unmanned train racing toward populated areas. That hurt, frustration and fear are then unleashed on everyone around us.

Who is most susceptible are our kids. Remember those attuned ears I mentioned earlier. They are all too eager to get on board whatever train their parents are on. They long for connectedness to whatever has our hearts. It is shameful to admit to ourselves that what has our hearts too often is not those qualities of Philippians 4.

Monitor your heart. Measure it's volume of peace. Peace is what guard our hearts and minds. If you find yourself short on it lately, turn off the T.V. pick up your bible and be reminded of what God's dream for you is.

The World Needs The Church

I was wrestling with the passage of scripture from Acts 8:14-17. Why did the Holy Spirit not come on the new believing Samaritan Christians when Philip baptized them? As I sat long enough with it the simplicity of the answer was whispered to me by the Spirit humbling me in gratefulness that my wisdom is shadowed by God's.

Simply said, because the world doesn't need Philip or Phillip (me). It needs the church, the body of Christ. The only single man that ever walked the planet the World needed was Jesus. He was also the only man that had all the gifts of the spirit. Philip was an excellent evangelist. The power of Christ was all over him. The miracles he performed had people leaving the magician in Simon, and now following Christ. Simon the magician contended that the source of his power was himself. Philip made not such claim. The source of the power he wielded was Christ's. This is why the scripture say's that Philip baptized the Samaritans in the "name of Christ."

But these were a fleeting people. Like the crowd that followed Christ around the lake for another meal for their stomach, these Samaritans would have been distracted by the next best thing. You ever been that way?

The call on Philips life was evangelism. He had an amazing gift for calling peoples attention away from the things they followed hard after and looking toward Christ. He, however, did not have all the gifts of the spirit nor was called to try to function out of gifts he did not have. The blessing to Philip and the Samaritans was the apostles in Jerusalem. They knew Philip. They knew his gifts. They knew what his gifts were not. So when hearing how the "Samaritans had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria."

Peter and Johns gifts came along side the gifts of Philip and a movement began that swept through Samaria and beyond as the power of the spirit was released into peoples lives.

You are not God's gift to this world. I am not God's gift to this world. Jesus was God's gift to this world and so was his bride the church. Together, the power of the spirit is released into peoples lives as we live out the mission of Christ, "To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the son, and the holy spirit. And teaching them to obey all I have commanded." Matthew 28: 19-20

Turning Fear

I'd be lying if I said I was fearless. Truth is fear is a regular part of my life. You could call that weak or you could call that strong. You'd be wrong though if you said that fear is weakness. Everyone of us faces fearful moments. Every hero of the Bible did. What made them brave men and women was not their lack of fear. It was what they did with that fear. For a moment surrender your movie fantasy picture of bravery and consider this.

Fear is an emotion that grips us all. What causes some to be crippled by it and other to be moved by it found in 1 Peter 1:13. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self-controled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." Fear begins in the mind and then captures the heart. There is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of God's people. Those that are crippled by it allow the battle raging in their mind to make it to their heart before they intercept it with God's truth. The truth is found also in 1 Peter 1:13. It is in the fraze, "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you."

The brave catch the fear while it still exists in their minds and inject faith. Faith is believing that the hope we have is in the grace to be given when we choose to walk in that faith. In each moment grace is waiting to be released to us by a loving God as we choose obedience. When grace enters, it replaces fear with passion. It is the hope as you see God's power released as you fully pursue him and his will. And that grace is free upon our willingness to choose it and walk into it. Walking into grace is walking into the fear. Fear is not removed before we choose but as we choose. Passion is not released before we choose but as we choose!

When your willing to walk into your fear you discover a God there waiting for you. Then when your fear comes face to face with his grace you discover gifts you didn't know you had, strengths that are now released, and a calling that gives you life. There is the passion. There is the hope. Are you willing to walk into it?