Life2gether

Yesterday my two girls were riding their bikes outside as I was changing my son’s diaper inside.  All of a sudden my oldest daughter entered the house with a sheepish look on her face.  She came to me and admitted that she had accidentally scratched the car with one of the handlebars on her bike.  I walked outside and headed toward my car, but she stopped me and said, “No, daddy, not our car, the one over there” (pointing to the neighbor’s car!).  My stomach dropped as I gave my daughter an angry look. 

We walked over there and sure enough, there it was — a pretty big scratch across the back of our next door neighbor’s little red car.  I looked around to see if anyone was watching us.  I know this sounds bad, but for a few seconds I actually contemplated whether or not I should say anything to our neighbor.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit had a little conference with me and nudged me to tell my daughter that she needed to come with me and knock on our neighbor’s door and tell them what happened.  She needed to confess what she had done.  It was hard.  Hard for me and hard for her to humble ourselves and walk up to their front door.  But we did.  And I was thankful for it.  Because after we apologized and explained everything to our neighbor, he took a look at his car and told us to not worry about it.  I assured him that we could pay him for what had happened but he insisted that it would be fine.  I was shocked.

As my daughter and I went back inside we had a good little talk.  I told her that I was glad she came to me right away when she had scratched the car.  I was glad she didn’t keep it to herself and try to cover it all up.  And I told her I was even more glad that she was willing to come with me and confess what she had done.  In the end, we talked about the kindness and grace of our neighbor.  We should have paid for that scratch in the car.  It was our fault.  My daughter knew right away where I was going with all this.  She said it’s kinda like God and how he gives us grace that we don’t deserve.  I nodded and said, “Exactly.”

All in all, it was a teachable moment and I was glad for it.  Besides learning about the need to fess up to what we’ve done and receive God’s grace, my daughter now knows to ride her bike far away from parked cars!

(HT: Jared Kennedy)

Many of you know that Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Dallas, Texas, was teaching and preaching around the world with big crowds and good money before God called him to shepherd a small (160 people) church in the suburbs. When he accepted the position many of his friends thought he had made a horrible mistake even going so far as to say that he was being disobedient and a bad steward of the gifts God had given him. So why did he do it? Here’s his answer (and I encourage you to read slowly):

The truth is I didn’t become the pastor of a church in a Dallas suburb because I had a grand vision for growing a dynamic, life-transforming, church-planting, gospel-preaching, God-centered church.  I took the position because after a great deal of conversation, prayer, and fasting, my wife and I felt it was the direction God, through the Holy Spirit, was leading us.

I came to The Village because I thought that by doing so I would get to see more of Him, experience more of Him, sense more of Him, see more of me die and more of my flesh perish.  I came to The Village because I wanted the old man in me to lose more power.  Christ is the great end that I am after.  He is why. (Catalyst GroupZine, Vol. 5).

I tear up as I think about how God answered his prayer in ways he would have never imagined.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen so many cinderella teams make it this deep into the NCCA tournament.  But that’s what March Madness is all about, right!  There’s nothing like seeing the little, no-name programs like Northern Iowa (my alma mater!) defeat the traditional, mighty powers like Kansas.  But all this “madness” got me thinking.  Why do we love the underdog?  Why do we love rooting for the little guy?  I think it’s because we see ourselves in the story of these cinderella teams.  We identify with the “Davids” because we are weak in and of ourselves.  Not many of us are naturally gifted to do great things.  But all of us want to be a part of doing something great. 

Ironically, this is God’s pattern for showing His greatness.  “He chooses the foolish things in the world to shame the wise; he chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong; what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Cor. 1:26-28).  God takes delight in choosing the weak things of the world to show His strength.  He loves choosing the small things to show forth his greatness and power. 

We see this in Scripture, don’t we?  God chose little Israel.  God chose little Moses.  God chose little Gideon.  And God chose little David.  We could go on and on to show how God chose the “underdogs” to carry out his plan.  But why did God choose them?  Answer: “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:29).  To say it positively, God did it so that we would be humbled.  That we would know that His glory is seen most powerfully in humility. 

The greatest picture of glory seen in humility is Jesus.  Jesus was the ultimate underdog.  He came as a tiny baby from the little town of Bethlehem.  He worked in obscurity as a humble carpenter.  He grew to be a poor man despised by the world and betrayed by his friends.  And he died a humble death on a cross.  But there was victory.  Victory and glory seen through humility.

I love the line from one song that says, “Who would’ve thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?”  That lamb is our Victor.  That’s our Champion.  The lamb who was slain.  The Savior who came out of nowhere to defeat the greatest opponent ever-sin and death.  And we will spend eternity in awe of this humble, crucified King.

So, why do we love the underdog?  Because we follow the One who lived humbly, suffered greatly, and died horribly, but now reigns in victory.

I’m sure you’ve been there as a parent.  You’ve told your child what to do and she won’t budge.  She wants control.  She wants what she wants and won’t let go. 

I was in that place last night.  We were at a stand still.  Just me and my oldest daughter.  But instead of getting angry and demanding that she obey me, I realized that I needed to help her see what was going on in her heart.  After talking to her about it for awhile, she didn’t seem to understand.  In fact, she told me that I was the one who didn’t understand her — which was probably true!  By the grace of God, I stayed calm as she grew more and more emotional.  Finally, I thought it was best to leave her on her bed as I went to pray and ask God for wisdom. 

Of all things, he led me to pick up a ball laying on the carpet right outside her bedroom door.  I looked at it and I thought, “God, would you help me and my daughter to understand what’s going on here?  I don’t know what to do.”  Then, I just opened the door with the ball in my hand believing that he would come through as I sat next to my girl on her bed.  I showed her the ball and said, “Emie, this ball represents what Emie wants.”  And so I gave it to her and told her to hold it close to her chest.  I explained to her that there are many things that she wants, but she can’t always have what she wants.  She needs to let go and let her daddy help her with these choices.  I looked at her and said, “Emie, this is hard, isn’t it?  It’s hard to let go of the control.  It’s hard to let go of the ball.  We want to hold onto it, don’t we?”  Then I told her that I’m the same way.  I want what I want and I don’t want anybody taking that away. 

At this point she seemed confused and asked a great question.  But Daddy, “You always get what you want.  You always have the ball.  How come I don’t get to do what I want, like you do?”  I paused for a moment then looked at her and said, “Emie, God gave you a Daddy who loves you and wants to help you understand what it is you really want.  And as you keep growing up you will be able to make more choices on your own.  But I want to tell you something.  If you keep holding onto what you want you will end up sad and frustrated.  But if you are willing to let go and trust Daddy you will be happy.  You know why?  Because as you willingly give me the ball, we’ll meet in the middle (I put the ball between us) and you’ll see that what I want for you is really what you want too.  Do you know why?  Because we’re actually both taking what we want and lifting it up to God and asking him what He wants.  (We lifted up the ball together).  You see, Emie, we’re giving up control and letting him have the ball.” 

Emie smiled.  By God’s grace I think it clicked.  We hugged and asked God to help us let go and give up our control.  Emie loved the little activity and asked if she could write about it in her journal.  This is part of what she wrote (she gave me permission!) in her own words:

Emie’s Journal Entry — March 15, 2010

Ball repersents: What I want

If I kept holding on to what Emie wants I would get sad but if I say here you go Daddy and give him what Emie wants then it’s like we stick together with what Emie wants and we be happy and God is happy too.

2nd Grade, page 26.

Well said, Emie.  Little did you know that you’re the one teaching me to let go and trust God.

This story of a father’s love for his disabled son made me weep and return to the cross.

(HT: Z)

As a pastor for children and families, sometimes it’s hard to see if you’re really making a difference.  But once in awhile God gives you a little glimpse.

On Tuesday I met with an 8 year old boy in my office.  He had been eager to set up a time to talk with me.  I always enjoy talking with kids and their parents and leaving them with a prayer and a piece of candy from Pastor Doug.  But little did I know that on this particular day, I would be the one who was handed the greater gift.

After a few minutes, his mom finally coaxed him to say what he had come to talk to me about.  So sitting there with a big smile on his face, this little boy looked right at me and said, “I want to be a Children’s Pastor when I grow up!”  I smiled big.  In fact, I’m sure it was bigger than the smile on his face.  Then I asked him WHY he wanted to be a Children’s Pastor.  And his simple answer was basically this: “I love God.  I like kids.  And I want to teach them.”  Cool.  How great is that, huh?!  Needless to say I was happy.  But thankfully God showed me this was also a golden opportunity. 

Instead of thinking so much about his future dreams (sounds funny to say it that way!) that obviously could change, I’m focusing on the present.  So, with his mom and dad’s blessing, we’ve decided to set up a discipleship time twice a month to get together and talk about how to grow in our understanding of the gospel.  I look forward to these conversations and the HOMEwork assignments that follow.  And I thank God for this little glimpse of the gospel at work in children.

See why at my wife’s blog.

Last night I asked one simple question that opened the doorway to closer community with a few people in our church.  All I asked was, “What’s your faith story?” and the Holy Spirit led us into joyful humility and awe at the redeeming work of Christ on our behalf.  It was a sweet time remembering the grace of God in each of our lives.

It got me thinking, as followers of Christ we need to share our stories more often.  Why?  Not only does it build community, it strengthens our faith in a God who can do the impossible.  He is not restrained by our sinful rebellion.  He is sovereign.  He can save.  And he can do it in a multitude of ways.  No one is beyond the reach of God’s saving grace.  We need to remind ourselves of that as we pray and seek the salvation of our friends and family members.

And perhaps most of all, we need to share our stories because our stories help us to see that the gospel is alive.  It carries us and lifts us even now.  It awakens us and amazes us today.  We never get used to the gospel.  Indeed, Christ is our ever-present Savior who is acting on our behalf and shaping our stories until that final day when our journey comes to an end (or should I say beginning) in heaven.

This is one of my favorite events: short track speed skating.  Amazing how they train!  Made me think of the verses in 1 Cor. 9:25:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.