Month: January 2010

I have been on both sides of the money thing. And I can tell you without reservation and snobbery free that money is unrelated to happiness. Happiness is seeing my wife at the end of a long day. Enjoying dinner with my wonderful sons (and daughter in laws). Laughing with friends. Being greeted by a Labrador Retriever that thinks I am the greatest human being.

Ever.

Happiness is watching a baby toddle. A child smile. An elderly couple look at one another with that look that only decades can develop. Happiness is seeing the sun rise and hearing the birds welcome that sight. Happiness is connecting with the one who made me. That is what I was created for and my happiness is found in the simplest things of life. There is joy all around us. I choose to look for those things. Happiness is often a choice. Yet life happens and happiness can be a bit harder to choose.

In his letter to the church at Corinth Paul made the amazing statement that “I am overwhelmed with joy despite all our troubles.” (2 Cor 7:4, The Message)

Where does that attitude come from? I can guarantee it doesn’t come from money. Money cannot buy happiness. Because we can “rent” what appears to be happiness for a season our culture confuses money with real happiness.

Thomas Wolfe reached the same conclusion as King Solomon in Ecclesiastes. Wolfe wrote that “Man was born to live, to suffer, and to die, and what befalls him is a tragic lot. There is no denying this in the final end. But we must deny it along the way.”

Mr. Wolfe is a brilliant writer and man. But he stopped a bit short of truth in my opinion. Man is born to live. A fallen world will produce suffering for all of us along the way. Dying is a pretty safe assumption. And tragedy does befalls most of us. I don’t deny a thing that Wolfe said except that we must deny those things. I choose to embrace life. I accept suffering because I am in relationship with a God who understands suffering and offers comfort that is inexplicable. I have looked tragedy in the face and found peace.

Paul wrote these amazing words to the church in Corinth. He asked God to remove an affliction. And then he received this insight.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (I Corinthians 12, NIV)

His grace is sufficient. And that makes me happy every day no matter what that day might bring.

We have been watching a miracle of God’s healing grace in the lives of some dear friends. It made me think of a favorite go to song during difficult parts of the journey. The song, Bless the Broken Road, became a hit for the group Selah. Here are some of the lyrics.

I set out on a narrow way, many years ago
Hoping I would find true love, along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two, wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn’t see how every sign, pointed straight to you

It is so interesting to look back over the landscape of over three decades of this journey with Jesus. I can see God’s hand in so many events and even heartbreak in my life. My early church experience was a broken road of legalistic and judgmental Christians who crushed the spirit of a young and fumbling Christian. That experience became the basis of my books. I have found many friends who have shared my journey. C.S. Lewis once said that “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, “What! You too? I thought I was the only one!” Sadly, many of us bear the wounds of dealing with imperfect people in the dysfunctional little gathering we call church. Still, God has blessed that broken road.

The broken road for me included the devastating death of a beloved nephew thirty-four years ago. At that point I was a crossroads in my faith. Turn my back on God or get serious in my pursuit of Him. Along the broken road God brought a man named Wendel Deyo into my life (Wendel now heads up a retreat center in Southern Ohio) . His life challenged me and he helped me stay on the narrow way. That relationship led to my association with Athletes in Action. And while on staff with AIA I met the lovely future Mrs.Burchett. And again, God blessed the broken road.

Every long lost dream, led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way, into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
Yes He did

It is hard to imagine life without Joni. Her cancer forced me to realize the possibility of that. Now that she is a four year survivor I am grateful but I pray I will never again take her for granted.

I think about the years I spent, just passin’ through
I’d like to have the time I lost, and give it back to you

I remember with great sadness the years I spent working too much, taking my bride for granted, telling her that the schedule would soon “ease up”. But it rarely did. I really wish I had that time back. I would give it to her in a heartbeat. If I could say one thing to young couples and parents it would be to make time for your mate and your children. It took me too long to realize the truth that our schedule reflects our priorities. But somehow Joni hung with me. She had traveled her own broken road.

But you just smile and take my hand, you’ve been there you understand
It’s all part of a grander plan, that is comin’ true

Every long lost dream, led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way, into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

The journey is not easy. Never will be. One of the big mistakes we make in sharing our faith is making it seem like all troubles are over when you embrace Christianity. That is not in the contract. We will still have problems and heartaches and even tragedies. But God will bless the broken road. King David wrote these words while escaping down a broken road…

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
       he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.  Psalm 34:18

C.S. Lewis also said that no one ever told him that grief felt so much like fear. Don’t be afraid to continue down the broken road. God will meet you there.

I read with sadness a story about erstwhile singer/actress Heidi Montag. She admitted that she’s “obsessed with plastic surgery” after undergoing 10 procedures in one day. Seriously? Only ten makes you obsessed?

The 23-year-old discussed the 10 procedures in a People cover story interview in the magazine’s January 25 issue. “No one is perfect. But I am obsessed with plastic surgery and with maintaining my looks,” she told People.

Montag shared these confusing statements with ABC’s Good Morning America. “I think that I do look like myself, I just think that I’m a different, improved version of myself.” Despite the plastic surgery, Montag insisted that her “main message is that beauty is really within.” I would suggest that her actions suggest that she doesn’t believe that at all.

“I’m in the limelight, I’m in a different industry, and I have to do things that are going to make me happy at the end of the day,” she explained on the Good Morning America show.

Older fogeys like your humble rambler know that plastic surgery is the last thing that will make you happy at the end of the day. But our culture certainly sends that message. I wrote in an earlier article that a disproportionate number of women who have posed in Playboy magazine have died tragically before the age of 50. Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides — all have claimed the lives of Playmates. I came across a comment from a photographer for the magazine.

“It’s sad how many girls we’ve lost,” said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s.

“It’s a curse to be beautiful,” Gowland said.

No, Mr.Gowland, it is a gift to be beautiful. The curse is young women being exploited for their beauty by self-centered men. The curse is believing that your significance and value is found in being a object of lust for selfish men. The curse is sin.

I know, I know. I sound like such an old fogey. I have no issues with beautiful women. I married one. But there is real danger for men and women to obsess on looks alone. Pornography has become a significant and real problem in our culture. It is a problem for far too many Christian men. When I was a young man you had to go to some seedy, disgusting place to get pornography. Today I am ten seconds or less away from the whatever I want to download. In the interest of full disclosure I was a regular consumer of the aforementioned magazine many years ago. I regret every cent I spent and every moment I invested in devaluing those women. As men who are serious about following Jesus we must hold one another accountable to not contribute to this demeaning industry. I bought the rationalization for awhile that this magazine was “classier” and had “good articles”. What a load of bovine excrement that argument was in retrospect. I know that many women see no issue in being a “model” for these magazines. That doesn’t change my responsibility to view them as souls created in the image of God for His Glory and not objects for my desires.

Jesus knew how men are wired.  He knew that we cannot play with the fire of lust without eventually getting burned. Countless marriages have been ruined by this pernicious industry. Intimacy has been impacted because of unrealistic expectations. Countless women have been exploited and damaged. And that brings us back to the real curse. Sin.

Let’s call it by it’s name.

There is a cure. Paul prescribes the cure to this curse in his letter to the church at Rome.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.  Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.  For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.  So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

No, it is not a curse to be beautiful. Or smart. Or talented. Or athletic. It is a curse to define yourself only by a temporal asset. You were created to be in fellowship with your Creator. Find that relationship and then beauty, intelligence, and talents become gifts to be used for God’s glory. Let’s review Paul’s incredible claim from above.

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Sin is the curse. You can check out the cure here. 

Recently I wrote a story about a saintly woman named Billye Casey. I called her my hero because I learned so much by simply watching her walk with Jesus. Yesterday she finished her journey and went home to heaven. It struck me as no surprise that she died at 8:30 in the morning on a Sunday. She always (I mean always) made it to church to worship. Instead of struggling to make it to church to worship with all of us Billye got to worship in glory. That is an upgrade of unfathomable proportions. If you missed the article on Billye I hope you will read it now. She will be missed. But don’t make the mistake of saying we “lost” Billye Casey yesterday. We know exactly where she is. Later, sweet lady, later.

As I have grown older I learned that heroes will usually let you down. I admired political leaders only to be sorely disappointed by their actions. I  placed some spiritual leaders in high esteem only to be wounded by their actions. The recent revelations about Tiger Woods has revived the debate about whether celebrities should be viewed as heroes or role models at all. The reality is that they will always be role models to some extent. But I hope that parents will start to point out to their children that the real heroes in our lives don’t fly private jets and live in seaside villas. The real heroes in our lives serve in the military and unselfishly risk their lives to protect my freedom and yours. The real heroes put on a police or fireman uniform and go into dangerous situations with little fanfare. The real heroes teach school in difficult neighborhoods. The real heroes minister in tough inner cities or prisons.

Sometimes a hero comes unexpectedly into your life and it can be easy to miss. I had that experience last week at church. A hero came through the door. Her name is Billye. She has been a ray of sunshine in our little church since it began five years ago. We have watched sadly as she went from participating in three-legged sack races just five years ago to not being able to walk today. A debilitating condition has robbed her of strength and speech. But every week she dresses in her finest (almost always sporting a jaunty hat) and makes it to church to worship her God and be with her spiritual family.

Recently her condition worsened and Billye’s pain increased. There was some question about her even making it to the New Year. I was talking about her declining health with my buddy Duke when I noticed his eyes light up. Even as we discussed Billye I turned and saw her wheeling in to church all dressed up and smiling a weak but contented smile. Billye was where she wanted to be. In church to worship her God and be with her family. She is my hero. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for her and her family to get Billye all prettied up and to church. But she did it. So the next time I wake up with a hang nail or headache and rationalize not going to church I am going to think about my hero. And I am going to get off my hindquarters and get going.

Billye has lived the words of Paul to the Roman church.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5, NLT)

I often quote my late friend John Weber who offered this insight. “God doesn’t call us to be spectacular. He just calls us to be faithful”.

Billye is a great example of that wisdom. All she was doing last Sunday was being faithful. How God used it was spectacular.

I am blessed by the incredible response by churches and Christian ministries across America to the suffering souls in Haiti. But sadly a big part of the media coverage is focusing on some remarks by television commentator Pat Robertson. Mr. Robertson speculated on why Haiti has suffered so much over the years. He believes that the country sold their soul to gain freedom from the French and that their nation is cursed because of that pact with the devil.

I will not resort to the kind of comments I am reading elsewhere about Pat Robertson. I do think his timing was terrible. Our entire focus as followers of Christ should be aid and prayer for our brothers and sisters in that country. To be fair, Robertson said that he prayed that out of this disaster a spiritual renewal would take place in Haiti. Still, I wonder how anyone can say definitively why suffering takes place.

The Old Testament offers an interesting story about a place that was more degenerate than any place in ancient history. But God was willing to show compassion even to a city as overwhelmingly wicked as Sodom.

“For the sake of only ten, I won’t destroy the city.”  (Genesis 18, The Message)

I don’t know if Haiti can be mentioned in the same breath as Sodom and Gomorrah. And how about the prophet Jonah? He wanted judgment on Ninevah and ran away instead of taking the message of repentance and redemption to a city that he wanted judged. Jonah was ticked off that his personal revenge might be thwarted.

I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!  (Jonah 4, The Message) 

So here is my unsought advice to all of us. Get out of the prophet business. In the Old Testament the prophets had a high standard.

“But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven’t commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.”  (Deut 18, The Message)

Now that is a strong deterrent to shooting from the hip. You could not follow up a false prophecy with a big smile and a proclamation of “just kidding”! 

Here is my concern when comments like this attract media attention. Pat Robertson becomes the face of Christianity to many people. I certainly hope he did not mean to have that happen. When I try to use my meager skills to point people toward Jesus things like this come up. What about that Pat Robertson guy? Do you believe the things that he says? Is that the God you are representing? Do you think God is punishing Haiti? My answer is that I simply don’t know and I don’t think Pat Robertson does either.

I don’t have a big agenda. I want to introduce people to Jesus. Trying to assign blame for a natural disaster does not help me model the saving grace of the Lord Jesus to people who are desperate for hope.

Unfortunately in our soundbite news cycle high profile “spokesmen” become the face of Christianity. I want the face of Christianity to be Jesus. And I want His followers to be the humble hands and feet of God to love, heal and restore the aching souls in Haiti.

The bold proclamations of faith by college football stars like Florida’s Tim Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’s Colt McCoy have generated a lot of buzz along predictable party lines. People of faith cheer on their testimonies while others resent that faith is being “forced” down their throats. Passionate editorials have been written about the eye-black messages that Tim Tebow and others wear during games. If you are unaware, Tebow would pick a Bible verse and write it onto the eye-black he wore for the game.

One of Tim Tebow’s Eye-Black Bible Verses

Indignant journalists railed about the inappropriate use of the pristine amateur platform of collegiate sports while the university pockets millions by plastering corporate logos all over that same player’s body. Hmmmm. Seemed like much ado about not much to me. I usually get a few responses on this topic that go something like this.

How would you like it if an atheist put a message on his eye-black. Huh? How would you like that? And what would you think if a player of another faith put his message on his face?

My response is simple. I wouldn’t care. The message doesn’t matter as much as the messenger. And that brings me to the point of today’s humble ramblings. In the days leading up to the BCS National Championship game an organization called I Am Second ran commercials featuring Texas Longhorn QB Colt McCoy. In the spot McCoy credited God for being the man he has become. Colt noted that he played the game for God and that he was successful because of Jesus Christ.

And I remember thinking that Colt McCoy was putting a lot of pressure on himself. What if he had a bad game or threw an interception that lost the game? How would he handle the sarcastic comments and questions? Where was Jesus on that play? Didn’t God see the safety underneath? I know how mean people can be. Was it really fair to put that on a young man?

What actually happened was even worse than my imagined concerns. Five plays into the game McCoy was hurt on a very routine looking play. His arm went totally numb. Underneath the Rose Bowl stands McCoy tried to throw some short passes to his dad. Each one fluttered off target. As his dad hugged him Colt McCoy wept in bitter disappointment. I watched with sadness as he returned to the sidelines. I am not a Texas fan. In fact I grew weary of watching him light up my adopted Baylor Bears. But I hate to see a big game impacted by injuries. I wondered how McCoy must be feeling. I wondered if he was mad at God. After all he had tried to use his talent and opportunity to tell people about his faith. Why did this happen? Then I remembered the theme of the campaign. I am second. 

After the game McCoy was interviewed and he was asked about how it felt to have to watch from the sidelines. He composed himself for what seemed like a very long time and then spoke with a maturity that belied his age. He talked about his love for the game, his teammates and his profound disappointment for not being out there with them. He congratulated Alabama. And then he validated the message of the commercial that was so easy to make weeks earlier when everything was going well. Now McCoy was being tested about who was really first. He passed the test.

“I always give God the glory. I never question why things happen the way they do. God is in control of my life and I know that, if nothing else, I am standing on the Rock.”

I have respected how this small town athlete succeeded on the big stage of Big 12 football. But I have never had more respect for Colt McCoy than after a game in which he took only five snaps. He lived his words. I don’t know what the future holds for Colt McCoy. I wish him well. I hope his NFL dream works out. But I am confident that Colt McCoy will handle whatever life throws at him. Because he learned at a very young age a truth that took me far longer to understand. I am second.

Domino’s Pizza has been creating quite a buzz by running television commercials that trash their product. The spots confess that many consumers thought their crust tasted like “cardboard” and the sauce like “ketchup”. The company had encouraged feedback from the public and they were stung by their honesty and/or meanness. Their reaction was to get defensive and hidden and childish. No wait…that was Congress. By stark contrast the Domino’s leadership decided to make changes in the recipe and be completely honest about the process. Experts have weighed in about how dangerous it is to trash your own product. That this kind of honesty is doomed to fail. They trot out the disaster of New Coke as a comparison. But I love the new campaign. Covering up what is obvious to many seems like a much worse strategy. I will try the new recipe soon and my sampling will be entirely because of this campaigns refreshing candidness.

I remembered a similarly bold admission that took place in the Dallas area a little over a year ago. It came from, of all places, a local church and the text was stunning in it’s raw honesty.

“We followed trends when we should have followed Jesus. We told others how to live but did not listen ourselves. We live in the land of plenty, denying ourselves nothing, while ignoring our neighbors who actually have nothing. We sat on the sidelines doing nothing while AIDS ravaged Africa. We were wrong; we’re sorry. Please forgive us.”

That was a powerful and sobering admission. I was shocked. And I was greatly encouraged by the courage and the humility needed to admit such an embarrassing message to the public. Since I loved the ad I am sure Springcreek Church in Garland, Texas got a lot of criticism. I don’t think like most of the herd. For example, I opened my first book When Bad Christians Happen To Good People with these words.

I must begin with some words of disclosure. I am a hypocrite. I can be arrogant and selfish. I have been known to stretch, conceal, or slightly massage the truth. I am sometimes inconsiderate and insecure. I struggle with lust and impure thoughts. My ego often rages out of control, and I battle foolish pride. I can be lazy and foolhardy with my time. I get angry, petty, and ill tempered. I am sarcastic and cynical.

I am a Christian.

Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. If there is one theme about our faith that should be communicated, it is that we all fall short of the goal spelled out in Christ’s teachings. Author Max Lucado has a wonderful line. He says that God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. So all of us believers are somewhere on that continuum of where we started and where God wants us to be. But that realization seems to penetrate our thinking only sporadically. In fact, there are those among us who will call me a counterfeit since I admit to such unflattering traits. They will write and tell me that if I had their brand of faith I would be above any of these sins all of the time. I believe they would be wrong.

Obviously a “bad Christian” like me was intrigued to hear how Springcreek Church explained their very public confession. Senior Pastor Keith Stewart wrote this in an open letter on the church website.

No one is perfect. No one lives sin-free. You blow it. I blow it. And the church does, too. I’m sure that you (like me) have, on more than one occasion, had to make something right by apologizing. So why is it so rare to hear a church apologize? The truth is, an apology from the church should not “stand out.” It should not make the community sit up and take notice. But it does, precisely because that the church rarely does what it tells others to do.

I had the same thought that you may have entertained. Is this Godly or a gimmick? Pastor Stewart began his open letter with this Scripture.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (1 John 1, NIV)

I would love to go to a church that can confess with humility and grace that they have erred. I trust that Pastor Stewart’s heart is sincere and his congregation shares his authenticity. I am careful about when I write in absolutes but one thing I have found is that truly Godly people always demonstrate humility. From reading the comments at the church website I am struck by the humility of Pastor Keith Stewart.

I hope to have a followup this week with the Springcreek leadership to see how they feel the advertisement worked in the community and especially in their own church body.

I am convinced that the community will believe your words if you create an environment of grace. A place where people can walk in flawed and hurting and be accepted for who they are and where they are. A place where they don’t have to wear a mask to be accepted. That is when, in my humble opinion, the community will believe your words. I pray that many of us will follow your example both personally and corporately.