The Journey

Like many of you, I am a part of the social media network and I enjoy connecting with old and new friends, especially through Facebook. I never really grasped the concept of Twitter, although it seems as if I signed up for it a long time ago, so I won’t be “tweeting” anytime soon. But, the one thing that I have noticed is that our conversations are no longer private. People tend to air their “dirty laundry” out in public these days and they don’t care who reads it or if it offends someone. For me, I’d prefer that people not see my Superman underwear hanging out on the clothes line.

But, the question is, do we really love the kingdom of God? We know of the ten commandments and most of us know them by heart but the Bible says that “we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23), which means that we are all in this together, we are the same, regardless of the pedestal that you or someone else has placed you on. Jesus tells us to love God with everything that is within us and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40). This comes down to a heart issue between us and God.

Valentines Day is right around the corner and all through the stores you will see candy shaped hearts, stuffed animals with hearts held in their arms, heart-shaped cards, and just an array of pink and purple decorations. The symbol of the heart is at the center of this holiday.

The heart is the most important organ in our bodies, without it we will die. Jesus said, “if you love me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15), “he who does not love Me does not keep my words” (John 14:24). These are very strong words but in essence Jesus is asking us, “do we really love the Kingdom of God?”  The heart is at the center of the Kingdom of God.

I believe that we spend too much time in gossip and slander and not enough time in reading our Bibles or praying. We spend too much time in other people’s business and not enough time in God’s business. We spend too much time noticing the speck in someone’s eye that we don’t notice the log sticking out of our own. Do you get the point? I don’t know about you but I’m tired of seeing God’s children being satan’s marionettes puppets. The Bible tells us to, “submit ourselves (our hearts) to the Lord, resist the devil (cut those strings) and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Do we really love the Kingdom of God?

I don’t know about you but everywhere I turn it seems as if people are going through some hard times. There are wars, rumors of wars, hate, a bad economy, sickness, disease, and people are losing their jobs and homes. The list goes on and on, doesn’t it? Around every corner you turn there seems to be, yet, another obstacle in the way, another mountain to climb, another river to forge. Perhaps you have asked the question that so many of us have asked, “When will I catch a break?” It’s a valid question that we can expect to be answered. Why? Because God will ALWAYS honor His Word!

The children of Israel always seem to bring encouragement to me. These were regular people, children of God like you and me, who experienced all sorts of joy and difficulties, and they certainly liked to complain! Sound like anyone you know? For years, these people had been in slavery to the Egyptians. They were beaten, forced to work in unreal conditions with impossible expectations, and to top it off, the king of Egypt ordered all of the newly born males to be killed as they were literally coming out of the womb. Enough was enough. The Israelites had finally reached their breaking point and they did what all of us do when the hard times come, they turned to God.

“Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So, God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and acknowledged them.” (Exodus 2: 23-25).

God heard their groaning and God remembered! It wasn’t that God had forgotten anything or that He was too busy, but I believe that He allowed the children of Israel to go through this season in order that they might finally come to a place of complete trust in Him. We have to be careful NOT to blame God for everything. Sometimes, it’s just life. The people of Israel did nothing to deserve the pain and punishment that they went through, but it happened and they, like us, said, “When will this be over. When will we catch a break. God, are you up there?”

Recently, I was laid off from my job of two years. This was my second layoff in the five years that I worked for this organization and my third total layoff in the past three years. When I look at my still unpaid school loans, credit card debt, car payment, doctor bills, etc. . .I, too, begin to feel that enough is enough. Is it wrong to feel that way? No. Is it wrong to just want to be in that “sweet spot” in life where you go to work feeling fulfilled and can pay your bills? No. Is it wrong to want the best for you and your family? No. In fact, God wants ALL of this for you and I. Trust me, I don’t understand why God allows certain things to happen and I don’t know why God keeps some of us in the potter’s hands longer than others. Bu, I have come to a place where I’m tired of trying to figure it out and maybe that’s exactly where I need to be. Maybe, just maybe, I haven’t fully given all of my cares and worries to God, or perhaps it’s just life. Who knows? Only God knows the “plans that He has for us.” (Jer. 29:11), and the reasons why.

There will come a time when the hard times will end. The bondage will be released, the Red Sea will part, and there will be rejoicing on the other side.

Until then, and I say this to encourage myself as much as I do you, take heart in knowing the following:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

And when you feel tired and read to quit:

“Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.” (Hebrews 10:36).

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1).

Currently, I’m “in transit” and sometimes I’m not sure what to do with the waiting. Let the song below be an encouragement to you as it has been to me.

Enjoy the journey!

My family and I LOVE Mario Kart, or should I say, we are ADDICTED to it. I’m not sure who to blame for the addiction but I do have to admit that I played this game quite often when it first came out on the Nintendo 64. Remember that one? I still remember my Commodore 64 computer with the floppy disks, but that’s another story.

My son, Ethan, who is 4, is actually really good at this game. Sarah, my wife, is stuck with two guys (kids) who always seem to team up on her each race. Secretly, I believe she is wishing that our next child will be a girl. But, we all know that boys rule!

As a Pastor, it’s in my blood to try to find some sort of meaning in just about anything and come up with a sermon that will bring that point across. Since I am between churches right now, this blog will have to serve as my platform.

Life is a lot like the Mario Kart world. First, you get to pick which car you drive and you can choose which character you will be. Second, you can pick your own teammates and even decide which course you will drive. What you don’t get to choose though is what happens to you along the way. Now, for some of you that haven’t played Mario Kart this blog will leave you scratching your head, or perhaps cause you to go out, buy a Wii and Mario Kart. If that happens, I should get some sort of royalty. But, for those of you that play the game, you’ll know what I mean.

You see, when you start this race you are pretty much even. No one has any unfair advantage and everyone has to fend for themselves (unless you do team racing). Each track is unique, just like the seasons of life. Some tracks are easy, some tracks are challenging, and some tracks are quite difficult. Each track offers its own set of challenges and you have to choose carefully how you navigate each one. At times, it can become so overwhelming that you simply choose to quit. What makes it worse is that you can acquire non-lethal weapons throughout the game. If you are in first place you can bet that you’ll probably end up with a harmless banana peel that you can leave for someone to slip on or if you are near the end of the pack you might get the bullet which will immediately transport you closer to the front. There are green turtle shells that you can use to ricochet off of targets, or the red turtle shells that seeks out its targets. You can use the mushrooms for turbo power, the lightening bolt to zap your opponents and make them shrink, or you can send the dreaded blue turtle shell to the front of the pack and take out the leader. It’s a fast paced game, full of obstacles, fun and frustration.

Yes, it is a Mario Kart world. Life can be that way some days, can’t it? You can start this journey off on the right foot and have everything going for you and in an instant you get hit from behind, spun around, zapped, or squished. It’s at that moment that you have to decide if you wan to continue racing or if you want to quit. There are no guarantees in the Mario Kart game that you will win if you keep racing, in fact, you will get hit, spun, zapped, and squished a few more times, but I can guarantee you that if you don’t quit in life you will be a winner (Just like Derek Redmond at the 92′ Olympics)

Everyone of us are either on an easy track, a challenging track, or on a difficult track, and throughout this journey we will take a ride on all three.

But, God give us a hope, a plan, and a future in Jeremiah 29:11. He tells us we are no longer condemned in Romans 8:12, He gives us eternal life in John 3:16, He tells us to give Him ALL of our burdens in Psalms 55:22, and Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

It’s a Mario Kart world, how will you finish?

Ah, football season is right around the corner and every guy, and even some ladies, are already gearing up for their fantasy football drafts. Would you believe that there is actually a sort of “fantasy football super bowl” in Vegas each year? It’s true. Those guys eat, sleep, and breathe fantasy football all year round. I thought I was hardcore by having 4-8 fantasy teams each year but these guys blow me out of the water!

Just like fantasy football, many real-life football games are won and lost in the 4th quarter. All of the training, film study, and hard work that goes into a season is really geared towards the 4th quarter. As a soccer player, I hated to run. I know it sounds a little ironic but I really didn’t like to run. Forrest Gump and I did not have that much in common because I could not “run like the wind blows.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I could run and hold my own but there were some guys who could just run all day long, and I hated them. . .kinda. It just came easy to them. But , nonetheless, we all trained for those final 5 minutes left in the match. Every sprint, jog, and run we did in practice paid off in those final few minutes if we gave it our all in practice.

I believe, if my research is correct, that the Miami Hurricanes were the team to begin the now famous holding up of four fingers at the end of the third quarter. The ‘Canes, to those of us who are fans, knew that in order to be the best you had to beat the best and for the majority of their games, they did. In fact, they hold the NCAA record for the most home wins which stands at 58. But, the crucial part of each game was the 4th quarter. It’s the part of the game when you’re the most tired. You either choose to give up, coast along and hope someone else makes a play, or you buckle up your chin strap and finish what you started.

Let me encourage you, from current and past experience, to let God finished what He started. It may hurt, it may take too long, and it may not make any sense, but God has a plan. Sometimes, I wish God would write them on the wall, or speak to me in an audible voice, but He speaks through His Word! In order to make it through the tough times, and the times in which life just seems to be standing still, you have to dig deeper. You don’t have to do anymore to prove yourself to God. He loves you how you are. But, the digging deeper requires a persistence that cannot be taught, but must be learned. My son likes to use the phrase, “this is taking forever”, and it usually involves either a road trip or the times when I pray with him, either way, he echoes what I want to say to God sometimes.

Thank God for all of the experiences, good and bad, that I have been through. It’s been training for this current journey and those same things have been training for your journey. It’s the 4th quarter, you’re tired, you might even be losing, but you have a choice to make, what will you do? Me? I HATE to lose!!

I’m a proud member of the 80’s “hairband club”. Yes, I’ll admit it. I used to look forward to the Headbangers Ball on MTV many years ago and even though I couldn’t understand some of the lyrics, I really enjoyed the bombastic, albeit somewhat cheesy songs, much to the horror of my mom who thought all of those guys were going to hell. Some probably did. But, there was (and I guess still is) a band called, Ratt. Yes, like the rodent. The title of one of their songs was, Lack of Communication and part of the song went like this (hum along if you know it):

Too many problems, the world can’t solve
Too many people, no-one wants to be involved
Keep rearranging, it’s all the same
Always saying, someone else is to blame
(Lack of communication, back off)
Look all around me, who’s standin’ tall
Hold tight, no-one’s gonna answer your call
(Lack of communication, back off)
Put up our boundaries, we build our walls
It’s alright, no-one’s gonna change us at all
(Lack of communication, back off)

As I have watched technology evolve over the past 10-20 years, I have come to notice that we have lost the art of true communication. Think about it. When was the last time that you picked up the phone or met someone face to face as your PRIMARY way of communicating? I am all for technology and I’m using part of it now through this blog. This is a great tool to use when you feel like sharing some thoughts that will hopefully encourage those around you. And, of course, it feeds the need in all of us to be heard. But, we are in danger of losing touch with real, relational communication if we can’t put down our cell phones for just a minute. From these tiny phones we can update our Facebook status, send a Twitter, text someone, send an email, or even blog. There are probably more ways and I’m just missing them.

I’m guilty of having relationships from a distance and not picking up the phone or knocking on someone’s door. I grew up in a very relational church where I was always with friends. Sadly, today, I can carry on in depth conversations through a text message, or an email, and never really feel like I’m communicating. There is no voice, no emotion, and no feeling. It’s very robotic.

I believe that our relationship with Jesus can also be the same. When is the last time we read the Bible without any “props”? There are some great writers out there but none of them can take the place of Jesus. Not a one. When was the last time that we hid from those around us just to have some time with Him? Elementary stuff, I know, but every football player that is in training camp has to go through the basic routines all over again, every season. It forms the foundation of what they do and how they do it, regardless of status.

Recently, I have come to a place in my life where I have been unsettled and unfulfilled. Waiting on God is very hard. I’ve also found that over the past three years of searching for a ministry position I have done more communicating with people (those in the know) than with Jesus. There is something wrong with that picture.

An old farmer in Delaware once told me that 85% of the worlds problems could be solved if we would just learn to communicate with each other. He’s old school and looks you in the eye. I’m challenging myself and I’ll challenge you to keep communicating by any means necessary but never let the art of face to face communication take a back seat to your Twitter account.

Recently, I was surfing through the TV channels and came across an anniversary special for the hit TV show, Happy Days. The show ran from 1974-1984, and encompassed the biggest part of my childhood and, as I watched, I began to have some very nostalgic and “fond(z)” memories (sorry, I had to do it) of that part of my life. I know that I’m going to sound old when I say this, but when I was a kid, life was just simpler. I guess that’s true for most kids. I didn’t have to worry about much of anything other than who was going to be the Cowboy and who would be the Indian. Or, how I could get the peas from the plate to the dog bowl without mom or dad noticing? Or, better yet, how could I go to plan B and move the peas from my plate to my brother’s plate, without him suspecting anything? I succeeded a few times! He would always get so mad at me because I would be the first to go back outside and play while he had to stay and finish “his” peas. He knew the truth, and so did I, but the truth didn’t set him free. Those were Happy Days!

In my neighborhood, we were all friends. There were no privacy fences and you could sleep with your doors unlocked. We didn’t need a sign that said we had a neighborhood watch. Summer evenings were filled with us kids playing in the streets while the parents would walk to the adjoining yard or across the street to visit one another. Occasionally, they would pull up some lawn chairs and watch us sandlot boys play whiffle ball in the field across the street from my house. I can remember one summer being what we would now call the “McGuire/Sosa” summer. Darren and I belted so many home runs (over the third telephone wire, across the street and past the tree in my yard) that we lost count. All we knew was that Hank Aaron didn’t hold the title any longer. Those were Happy Days.

They say that “all good things come to an end” and they certainly did on Allen Drive. My friend, Wayne, and his family moved away. I vividly remember the day that Darren’s dad pulled the family station wagon out of the driveway. I stood in the street and watched Darren wave goodbye as their car drove out of sight. When evening came, I went back and stood under the now lit street light, stared at Darren’s dark house, and missed my friend. Who would toss the football with me under this light? Who would help me steal the Christmas lights from the front lawns that year? Over the years, the next door neighbor’s, on both sides of us, moved away and an ugly home invaded OUR sandlot. Things changed, people packed up, and life moved on. Those were sad days.

Unfortunately, many people live in the memory of the past, good or bad. They are trapped by an endless amount of memory that keeps them frozen in time. Our evenings are filled with commercials that do their best used car salesman impersonations to get us to buy this magical pill that will take our depression away. They guarantee, Happy Days (albeit with a dose of vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, hallucinations, blurred vision, etc. . .) Yet, everyone one of us is looking to get back to the basics of life. And it’s funny that no matter how much things change, they still stay the same. We all long for laughter in the home, quiet evenings with our families, a solid church, family-friendly TV shows, whiffle ball in the sandlots, and the ability to reach over the fence and shake our neighbor’s hand.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Don’t long for the ‘good ole days’, for you don’t know whether they were any better than today.” So true! In the past three years, I have weathered some storms. I’ve been laid off twice, collected unemployment, worked as a substitute teacher, moved twice, and have encountered an enormous amount of closed doors, all while attempting to be the best Christian, husband, and father than I can be for my family. These are hard days.

But, do you want to know something? I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything in the world (okay, maybe some backstage passes to a Bon Jovi concert). In these same three years, God has provided every step of the way. He has provided food, shelter, clothing, and a loving family. He has provided encouraging friends, a school for Sarah to teach, and for Ethan to attend, a job for me, a newer car, and He even prompted someone to give us some money one Christmas when we didn’t have any. Yes, the circumstances have not changed. My job, is dull and boring, and doors continue to close and I’m anxious to move my family into our “sweet spot”. But, I was reminded of something the other day when I took our young adult group on a hike to Harper’s Ferry. Even though there were moments during the hike where it got a little tough, I still stopped to enjoy the journey, and I didn’t quit.

As I stood on top of the mountain, I could see where I began my journey and the view was worth it. I miss my childhood and my friends from the sandlot but I can’t live in that place, I had to move on and here I am, at the young age of 39, looking back on those “fond(z)”  memories (I had to do it again) and enjoy the ones that I’m making. And, should I also say, looking forward to the ones yet to have come. My prayer is the same for each of you!

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days. Thursday, Friday, Happy Days. Saturday, what a day! Yes, these truly are, Happy Days!

I like cheddar cheese. Actually, I lied, I love cheddar cheese. But, it can’t be plain cheddar cheese and it can’t just be sharp cheddar cheese, it has to be extra sharp. You can tell how good the extra sharp cheddar cheese will be when you cut into the block. If it cuts through and it seems fairly smooth then it probably isn’t going to be really good. But, if when you cut into it and it flakes and starts to fall apart, well, then you know you are on to something.

Our childhoods served as a smorgasbord of emotions, feelings, memories, and tastes. Somewhere along the line I acquired the taste for the sharpness of cheddar cheese. I can’t recall the time or the moment when I enjoyed my first bite but I’m pretty sure that my mom had something to do with it. She liked cheese, too. But, not just any brand. Her brand of choice was, Cracker Barrel, particularly the sharp white “Vermont” style. I can remember the fridge being stocked full of a few bars, which, of course, did not last long.Since the days of my childhood, mostly because I was on my own and could not afford Cracker Barrel, I had to try different brands of extra sharp cheddar cheese, none of which could compare to the original. I missed the sharpness of that cheese.

There is a story in the Bible that speaks to what happens when we lose our sharpness. It’s located in 2 Kings 6:1-7 and it goes like this:

¹ The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live.”
And he said, “Go.”

³ Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”
“I will,” Elisha replied. ⁴ And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. ⁵ As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axehead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

⁶ The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ⁷ “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

There are two things I want to point out in this passage:

1. You will become dull. Hopefully, your husband or your wife, or even your kids, won’t look at you and say this but the truth of the matter is that at some point we will become dull. It’s human nature to try to do things in our own power and to continue “working” for the Lord without taking care of yourself. It’s also just normal wear and tear. This is the reason that many pastors, including myself, have either ceased to be effective at some point in their careers, or will. Caring for an axehead is hard work. In order to keep the axehead sharp you have to acquire some steel wool to remove the rust, some sandpaper to sand away any scratches, then you have to place it in a vice grip while you grind away with a mill file, and then finally you have to sharpen the blade with a filing stone. All of those steps are abrasive, but necessary.

God has to do the same with us. He has to remove rust, heal wounds, tighten the grip, and rub us the wrong way.

2. “It was borrowed.” You and I cannot be someone else. We can’t borrow the sharpness of another person. It just doesn’t work. David could not wear the armor of King Saul no more than you and I can wear the armor of someone else. What worked for King Saul would not work for David, and vice versa. We work so hard trying to be someone else that we fail to allow God to use us for who we are.

I am personally in the midst of a very abrasive season, but I know it has a purpose to it. It hurts. But, God is working in my life and in my family to make us the “sharpest tool in the shed.” Why? Because He has much for us to do. I could just dismiss all of this and pretend that I’m not dull or pretend to be someone else but it’s never worked for me before.

I don’t want to sound too cheesy, but I don’t want to be sharp, I want to be extra sharp!!

I don’t know of anyone who does not have a scar on their body. Somewhere and at sometime we received our initiation. For some, it was more painful than others. But for all of us, we can vividly remember the time, the place, and the event in which we received our distinguished honor, at least most of them. For me, and perhaps like most of you, I received many of my scars when I was a child. Here are a few of them:

• When I was very little, I had a hernia operation. I was too young to remember it but I know it happened because I can see the scar.

• When I was a little older, I had another hernia operation and this one I remember because I walked around my neighborhood, pulled open my shorts and showed all of my friends. I thought it would be cool to show the scar and the stitches. My mom promptly halted my new profession of “flashing”.

• I grew up in a neighborhood where all of the front yards connected. There were no fences or other barriers and it made it easy for us to play football. One day, in particular, I remember running with the football and getting tackled on the neighbor’s front steps. I screamed out in pain when my shin hit the corner of the bottom step, leaving me with a huge gash and a ton of blood. To this day, I can still see the scar.

• Finally, my friend Wayne and I thought it would be fun to chase my little brother around the neighborhood with darts. REAL darts. We had decided that shooting each other with BB guns was for wimps and therefore, we looked for something more extreme. So, we chased my brother and threw darts at him. One time, however, as he raised his head up from behind some steps, the dart got stuck in his head. For a split second, there was silence, until the blood began to flow. I vividly remember my brother running and screaming back to our house. Let’s just say that my mom decided to place a scar on my rear end.

Jesus has scars, and like mine and yours, they tell a story. He can tell you what it felt like to be led to the whipping post and to have His back ripped open in the most gruesome of ways. Each lash, 39 in all, were for you and for me. The “cat of nine tails” was a devastating device that left life-long scars in his physical body. The crown of thorns that was embedded into His head left some scars. The sword pierced His side. The nails were driven into His feet and into His hands. They all left scars. He did it all for you and for me.  We typically don’t talk about this until around Easter season but it should be something that we remember all year-long.

We not only have physical scars but we have emotional scars as well. And most times, the emotional scars are far more painful than the physical ones. Just as Jesus endured the pain of the physical scars for you and for me, I believe that God allows us to endure the pain of some emotional scars so that we too can help bring healing and everlasting life to those around us. We have endured the scars of divorce, depression, disappointment, and death, the scars of infidelity, abuse, neglect, and family, and the scars of addiction.

Thomas, the doubting one, had to touch the scars on Jesus in order to believe. We need to touch those around us and allow them to touch us. So many people need to see the healing power of Jesus and they need to see it in us. Sitting beside you in church, at work, on the bus, on the subway, in your carpool, and even in your home, are those who need to see and to hear about the scars you have endured and to know that there is hope in the midst of the pain. God will give you the time, the place, the strength, and the courage to do it!

And by the way, keep your shorts on and don’t throw darts!