Charisa Stories

Author: Dave Burchett

  • And Then She Opened Her Mouth To Sing…

    Need a lift today? Here is a story that is worth your time. Susan Boyle is a 47 year old church volunteer from West Lothian, Scotland. She decided to be a contestant on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. When Boyle walked out on the stage nearly everyone assumed she was one of the delusional dreamers that provide comic relief and even cruel sport for Simon Cowell and the other judges. Susan is a frumpy spinster who admits she “has never been kissed”. She lives alone with her pet cat Pebbles. You would not give her a second glance if you saw her in public.

    She announced that she wanted a career in the mold of musical theater star Elaine Paige.  The audience snickered. It would have been like me announcing I wanted to be a defensive lineman in the National Football League. You would look at my scrawny upper body and chuckle or feel a little sorry for me. Susan Boyle looked that unlikely. Then she began to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. Check out the video of Susan Boyle auditioning for the show on April 11th.

    Boyle is the youngest of nine children. She suffered oxygen deprivation during birth that resulted in learning disabilities. Not surprisingnly her classmates teased her because of the classroom struggles and her appearance. She stopped her pursuit of singing to look after her sick mother who died in 2007. Her performance on Britain’s Got Talent was the first time Boyle had sung after her mother’s death.

    When I listened to Boyle’s performance I was uplifted. My eyes grew misty. But a little later I felt sad. Sad because I wonder how many gifted people I marginalize because they don’t fit my “profile”.

    I wondered how often we make the same mistake in the body of Christ that the show judges made in their initial judgment of Susan Boyle. We look at the outward appearance and make our decision. You don’t look the part. You don’t fit my preconceived notion. We are looking for someone better looking or more outgoing or more engaging. You could tell from the judges sideways glances that they had already made their judgement about this unassuming woman.

    And then she opened her mouth to sing.

    God has given all of us a vital role in the body of Christ. Lord, forgive me that I have judged your people before I took the time to see how you have gifted them to serve You. Paul realized that every part of the body is vital.

    The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.  Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12, NLT)

    Later in the passage Paul summarizes his analogy.

    If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

    It is so easy to value the wrong things. So natural to gravitate toward the funny and the attractive. I am guilty. I am sure that God has put people like Susan Boyle in my midst and I looked right past them to someone that is more in my image. I pray that I will be sensitive through His Holy Spirit to look for the gifts and talent in every part of the body of Christ. You will never know how God has gifted one of His Children by simply judging their appearance. Straight-shooter and toe-stomper James says it this way:

    My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?  (James 2, NLT)

    Feel free to be direct, James. But I need to hear that straightforward truth.  I pray that I can begin to see the body of Christ and those He puts in my path as God sees them. Valuable. Worthy. Precious in His sight. I am humbled by Susan Boyle today. And blessed by her.

  • The Legacy Of A Great Man

    April 15th is not my favorite day of the year. Traditional tax day is never fun for a guy who is organizationally challenged. My idea of being prepared is having everything in one box. But I was heartened to find that April 15th is a great day for baseball fans. 

    Jackie Robinson made his major league debut at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on that date in 1947. It was a historic and significant day for baseball but maybe more so for our country. You can argue that the American civil rights movement was ignited when Robinson came to bat in Dodger Blue. The journey for Robinson was difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst. 

    Many Dodgers players, mostly Southerners led by Dixie Walker, threatened to walk if forced to play with a black player. That ended when Dodger management let them know in no uncertain terms that they could keep walking to the unemployment line. I often write about the pain that is caused by “bad” or thoughtless Christians. Can you imagine the pain that Robinson felt to have his teammates reject him for only one reason?  

    But one teammate reacted in a way that I wish all serious and thoughtful Christians would emulate. Team captain Pee Wee Reese was an unlikely ally for Robinson. He was born in segregated Louisville, Kentucky, and the odds were that Reese would be a part of the boycott against a black player. But the diminutive Pee Wee Reese proved to be a giant of a man one day in Cincinnati. During infield practice the Redleg players were screaming at Jackie with all of the usual hateful epithets. And then the venom was distributed to Reese. They were yelling things at him like “How can you play with this (epithet)?”, as Jackie stood uncomfortably at first base. Pee Wee went over to him and put his arm around him and smiled. A silence fell over the Reds dugout and the fans witnessing this amazing act of grace, Jackie smiled back. 

    At Reese’s funeral, Joe Black, another Major League Baseball black pioneer, said: “Pee Wee helped make my boyhood dream come true to play in the Majors, the World Series. When Pee Wee reached out to Jackie, all of us in the Negro League smiled and said it was the first time that a White guy had accepted us. When I finally got up to Brooklyn, I went to Pee Wee and said, ‘Black people love you. When you touched Jackie, you touched all of us.’ With Pee Wee, it was No. 1 on his uniform and No. 1 in our hearts.”  

    Robinson later wrote this sentiment to Reese in a book inscription. 

    “Pee Wee whether you are willing to admit what you being just a great guy meant (a great deal) to my career, I want you to know how much I feel it meant. May I take this opportunity to say a great big thanks and I sincerely hope all things you want in life be yours.”  

    We need a lot more Pee Wee Reese’s in the body of Christ. We need men and women who are willing to step up for others when it may not be the best action for personal gain. We need men who are brave enough to look hatred and bigotry in the eye and call it by its name. April 15th was a day that demonstrated the greatness of two men. We need men who have the courage to emulate both Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese in our walk with Jesus. The Apostle Paul had some good advice to accomplish that goal. 

    Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

        Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. Gal 6  Msg 

    I want to be willing to stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. As I meditate on the gift of grace and redemption I received through the Cross I wonder how I can do anything else.

  • Clumsy

    The iPod Devotional series continues with a tune called Clumsy. It is written and performed by one of my favorites, Chris Rice You can find the song on the CD Deep Enough to Dream. How interesting that the third song in the shuffle series is my anthem for my Christian journey. ESPN’s Chris Berman signature line for a football blooper is “rumbling, stumbling, fumbling”. That would have been how I described my Christian walk until I found this song. Here are the lyrics from Chris Rice that I could have written if I had any musical talent or ability to write lyrics. Those are the only two obstacles that kept me from writing this song. 

    You think I’d have it down by now
    Been practicin’ for thirty years
    I should have walked a thousand miles
    So what am I still doin’ here
    Reachin’ out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit
    I slip and fall and I knock my halo loose
    Somebody tell me what’s a boy supposed to do?

    I have been practicin’ for 39 years. So I should be a couple of hundred miles farther than Chris Rice. And I have the exact same frustrations. What am I still doing here? Why do I keep reachin’ out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit? The lyrics continue…

    I get so clumsy
    I get so foolish
    I get so stupid
    And then I feel so useless

    To quote Bill Murray in Stripes…”and then depression set in”. This is not a new issue. Paul wrestled with the same problem as he addressed the church in Rome.

    • It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.  Romans 7  NLT

    But there is good news to be mined in our stumbling, bumbling, clumsy journey. Somehow God’s amazing grace patiently moves in our lives through all of this clumsiness.

    But You’re sayin’ You love me
    And You’re still gonna hold me
    And that You wanna be near me
    ‘Cause You’re makin’ me holy
    You’re still makin’ me holy, yeah

    As I look back over three decades I see frustrating missteps. But I also see subtle and real growth in many areas of my life. I am better than I used to be and not nearly as holy as I desire to be. Chris Rice unveils the key to stumbling your way into His presence someday.

    From where I stand
    Your holiness is up so high I can never reach it
    My only hope is to fall on Jesus

    That is so simple and yet so difficult for us to live. Paul had some real encouragement immediately following the bleak picture he painted above.

    • So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power[a] of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

    No matter how clumsy or foolish or stupid I might be in my attempts to follow Jesus there is exceedingly good news. If I fall on Jesus and follow the Spirit there is no condemnation. And I no longer feel so useless.

  • New Blog

    I have started a new blog at World Magazine’s weblog. The weekly article will address following Jesus in the real world.

    Here is the link if you are interested.

    Following Jesus In The Real World

    By the way, that is also the link if you are not interested.

    Blessings and abounding grace,

    Dave

  • After The Last Tear Falls

    (For the next 3 weeks or so I am going to be working on the re-release of “When Bad Christians Happen To Good People”. So I hope you will forgive me and be patient as I re-release the iPod Devotional series while I am working on that project. If you are not patient you may end up in the new edition. Thanks. And blessings.)

    Today the shuffle landed on one of my favorite Christian artists. A couple of years ago  Andrew Peterson was not even on my playlist radar. Youngest son Brett suggested I should check out Peterson after he had performed at a chapel service at Baylor University. Andrew Peterson quickly moved to my top-rated playlist. The iPod shuffle today landed on a haunting and beautiful song called “After the Last Tear Falls”. Andrew Peterson has filled part of the void that I felt when Rich Mullins was tragically killed several years ago. His ability to use the power of music to portray truth is reminiscent of Mullins. Here are some lyrics from today’s song.

    After the last tear falls
    After the last secrets told
    After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
    After the last child starves
    And the last girl walks the boulevard
    After the last year that’s just too hard

    There is love
    Love, love, love
    There is love
    Love, love, love
    There is love

    Andrew Peterson gives me a powerful reminder that in this fallen world, full of sin and pain, there is a love that can save me. He recognizes that trouble will not escape followers of Jesus. In the midst of our cancer journey Joni and I felt His love. That love and grace should be my focus as I navigate this crazy and confusing world.

    After the last disgrace
    After the last lie to save some face
    After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
    After the last dirty politician
    After the last meal down at the mission
    After the last lonely night in prison

    There is love
    Love, love, love
    There is love
    Love, love, love
    There is love

    Satan tells me there can be no love from a God that allows such pain. The truth is that I am God’s hands and feet to reach out to a wounded world. If everyone who has claimed the name of Christ got serious about doing something tangible we would make a real difference. Would such a concerted effort eliminate all pain and suffering? Of course not. But the body of Christ could make an incredible difference by practicing sacrificial living, giving and service. There is love. We need to reflect that love. The body of Christ needs to focus on what unites us instead of what divides us. I am sick of the petty crap (nonsense for spiritual hall monitors) that derails us from loving one another.

    And in the end, the end is
    Oceans and oceans
    Of love and love again
    We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
    Were caught in the palms
    Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
    And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales

    Andrew Peterson’s message is powerful. Someday we will see how God worked in the ugly fallenness of this planet to accomplish His purpose. I once heard a pastor say that he expected to spend the early part of eternity walking around heaven making comments like these.

    “Oh, I get it now.’
    “Now I see how God was working.”
    “I understand why that happened now.”

    In the end, there is love. Sometimes I fear my actions don’t reflect that I really believe that with complete certainty. That is why I am grateful for the trials. David wrote these words in Psalm 18.

    The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
          he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (NLT)

    The good times are fun. But only the hard times slowly mold me a very tiny bit more like His image. In those really hard times I truly realize that there is love. And that love is always available. Brokenness causes me to quit trusting in me and start trusting in God. And then something amazing happens.

    Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philipians 4, NLT)

    Amen.

  • We Live In A Good Friday World But…

    As Easter approaches I remembered an article in USA Today titled We are Easter People. I think it is worth a second look and here is a portion of the piece written by Diane Cameron.

    One of the lowest points in my life occurred years ago when I was living in Washington, D.C., at Easter time. My older sister had recently died and both of my brothers were seriously ill; my best friend was leaving town, and on top of that I was questioning my work. In my journal that April I wrote, “Am I depressed?” When I read those pages now I laugh and shake my head. “Depressed?” That I even had to ask. In that long year I thought I’d never laugh again, just as I thought I’d never again feel love, the joy of easy friendship, or the satisfaction of good work.

    I went to church that Easter out of both habit and desperation. I had grown up in a church-going family. It was what we did. And so to honor the family that I was losing I went. Easter after all, is the centerpiece for Christians, honoring and recalling Christ’s triumph over death.

    I chose a big downtown church for Easter services — one with hundreds in the congregation — not daring to visit a smaller church where I might have to speak to people or be embarrassed by my own tears. I wanted the paradoxical safety and anonymity of being in a crowd.

    The minister that Easter Sunday said many things that I don’t remember, but one sentence has stayed with me all these years. He said, “We live in a Good Friday world.”

    That I understood. A Good Friday world is a world full of suffering, questioning, unfairness, trouble, mistakes, hurts, losses and grief. Good Friday in the Christian faith is the day Christians commemorate Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. So that certainly made sense to me at that difficult time in my life.

    “But,” he continued, “We are Easter people.” Those words stopped me cold. I was stunned to be reminded that painful morning that there was something other than what I was feeling.

    Wow. What an amazing message as we head into the Easter week. We do live in a Good Friday world. How easy it is to stop right there,  just short of healing,  not realizing the hope of resurrection. The story of Easter week did not stop on Friday. The hope of this season is all about Sunday. Tony Campolo writes about a life changing sermon he heard in his book It’s Friday but Sunday’s Comin’. (Note to spiritual cyber hall monitors…I know Mr.Campolo is controversial. Just enjoy this illustration, take a deep breath, and move away from the keyboard). Campolo writes about hearing a wise African-American pastor preach about the events of Easter week.

    For an hour and a half he preached one line over and over again…”It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’!” He started his sermon real softly by saying, “It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the tree. But that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin’!” One of the Deacons yelled, “Preach, brother, Preach!” It was all the encouragement he needed.

    He came on louder as he said, “It was Friday and Mary was cryin’ her eyes out. The disciples were runnin’ in every direction, like sheep without a shepherd, but that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin!”

    The preacher kept going. He picked up the volume still more and shouted, “It was Friday. The cynics were lookin’ at the world and sayin’ `As things have been so shall they be. You can’t change anything in this world; you can’t change anything. But those cynics don’t know that it was only Friday. Sunday’s comin’! It was Friday, and on Friday those forces that oppress the poor and make the poor to suffer were in control. But that was Friday! Sunday’s comin’!  

    It was Friday, and on Friday Pilate thought he had washed his hands of a lot of trouble. The Pharisees were struttin’ around, laughin’ and pokin’ each other in the ribs. They thought they were back in charge of things. But they didn’t know it was only Friday! Sunday’s comin’!

    Campolo continues, “He kept on working that one phrase for a half hour, then an hour, then an hour and a quarter, then an hour and a half. Over and over he came at us, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin!” By the time he had come to the end of the message…He had me and everybody else so worked up that I don’t think any of us could have stood it much longer. At the end of his message he just yelled at the top of his lungs, `It’s FRIDAY!’ and all 500 of us in that church yelled back with one accord, `SUNDAY’S COMIN’!”

    A lot of people who stumble across this site might be in the middle of what seems to be an interminable Friday. It is hard to accept suffering and illness. Relationships that hurt us make Friday seem like it will never end. The trials of living on a fallen planet will make this seem like a Friday world at times during the journey. Three years ago Joni’s diagnosis of cancer put us into a Friday state of mind. But we trusted that Sunday’s comin’! As we told our wonderful sons, if your faith doesn’t work at times like this it is of little value for the rest of the time. And it does work. We have been blessed with healing for now but we have the greater hope of the resurrection of Jesus as we continue. We trust in a God that has been faithful to strengthen us for the battle, work through us for His glory and teach us to be dependent on Him.

    I believe the message of this week. Sunday’s comin’. And I believe that with all of my heart and soul. Paul wrote in Romans…

    I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”   (Romans 1,  NIV)

    I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I fact I am excited about the Gospel. Even though I may be living in a Good Friday world today I am convinced that Sunday’s comin’!

  • Slow Fade

    (For the next 4 weeks or so I am going to be working on the re-release of “When Bad Christians Happen To Good People”. So I hope you will forgive me and be patient as I re-release the iPod Devotional series while I am working on that project. I only get a few original thoughts a week and my publisher wants me to direct those to their project. Thanks. And blessings.)

    Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that I am a big fan of the group Casting Crowns. I love their CD “The Altar and the Door”.  I hoped it would be as good as their previous efforts. I was not disappointed. Today’s song in the iPod Devotional series is a song from that CD called “Slow Fade”. The lyrics struck a chord with my heart:

    It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
    It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
    Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
    When you give yourself away
    People never crumble in a day
    It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade

    I don’t become overweight in a day. I didn’t get out of shape in a day. And I do not become spiritually lifeless in a day. It is a slow fade. Sometimes the spiritual fade is the hardest to see. Having troubling buttoning the jeans pretty clearly reveals the dietary issues. Puffing after a flight of stairs is a good sign of conditioning lapses. But the spiritual fade can be easy to overlook. C.S.Lewis wrote in the Screwtape Letters that “the safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

    How can I avoid the slow fade? One way is making sure my road has signposts and milestones. Those signposts and milestones are found in God’s Word and I must keep them in my sight daily. Avoiding spending time in His Word is the surest way to begin my personal slow fade. The Gospel of John presents one signpost to monitor the slow fade.

    “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15, NLT)

    Jesus is saying that He is the true vine and if I am joined to Him I will produce fruit. It does not say I might produce fruit. It does not say I could produce fruit if my circumstances are right. Doesn’t say I will occasionally bear fruit. Jesus says that if I remain in Him I will produce fruit. A gardener knows that a vine may not produce for a season because of disease or bad conditions. But if that vine continues to be barren it is worthless and must be removed.

    How do you produce the fruit that Jesus is describing? If I was speaking Christianeze I would say that you must abide in Jesus. I would wager (with a promise to tithe on all winnings) that the majority of churchgoers could not give a cogent definition of what it means to abide. The simplest explanation I have heard is that our relationship with Christ is an unbroken connection. It is not a one-time or yearly or monthly or even weekly synchronization with Jesus. It is a daily and even moment by moment awareness of our connection to Christ. That connection to Him allows the fruit of the spirit to be a part of who I am. Paul describes what can be ours in his letter to the Galatians.

    But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

    By remaining in an unbroken connection with Christ we can begin to take on His character and produce that kind of fruit. And realizing that the only way to produce this fruit is being connected to Christ can help stop the slow fade.

    The lyrics of the song Slow Fade contain another valuable truth. We are always closer to the slow fade than we realize and we are not as strong as we imagine.

    The journey from your mind to your hands
    Is shorter than you’re thinking
    Be careful if you think you stand
    You just might be sinking

    I have experienced the slow fade more times than I would like to admit. But what I am learning is that Jesus is not standing with arms crossed shaking his head at my weakness. He is waiting for me to return to that fruitful connection. His grace abounds when I am connected. His grace abounds when I am not. I am learning to remind myself that I am a new creation in Christ. The old things are gone and dead. I can, as my friends at Truefaced so eloquently say, mature and grow into what is already true about me. I am righteous because of Christ and nothing else.

    I do not crumble in a day. If (make that when) it happens again it will not be in a day. And Jesus has provided a way that I do not need to suffer the slow fade. My role is to stay connected by trusting God to love me and love others through me.