Author: Dave Burchett

One of my many failed careers was as a disk jockey at 1350 Radio…WCHI in Chillicothe, Ohio (Motto: How did we get these call letters instead of a Chicago station?). I remember having to the run the weekly test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Remember that annoying little jewel?

Obnoxious sound effect.
Obnoxious sound effect.

“This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.”

I was always tempted to say that “had this been an actual emergency I will be in my car headed south” but I restrained myself. I had already gotten a little slap from the FCC when I took a toss for the mandatory station ID and dropped this clever little quip.

“It’s the white building on Eastern Avenue with the huge tower behind it…now back to you.”  I found out at a very young age that government agencies are humorless.

I never took the Emergency Broadcast System seriously because, like most human beings, I never thought anything would happen. It is much the same with the Emergency Faith Test System. This week I have had a test of the EFTS. My family received the kind of news this week that causes you to activate the Emergency Faith Test System. I have written often that we misrepresent the journey if we intimate that everything will be smooth sailing when you follow Jesus. The following is from “Bring’em Back Alive”. 

Jesus is not a money back guarantee for perfect health, prosperity and non-stop giddiness.  There are no guarantees of smooth sailing when we commit in faith to follow Jesus. Correction. Jesus did offer a guarantee concerning trouble in our lives. He guaranteed we would experience it. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matt 6:34 In talking about the immature believer Jesus said, “But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” Matt 13:21 Or as the always eloquent Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a game plan until they get hit in the mouth.”  And that is where our spiritual “sparring” partners often let us down. We don’t prepare new Christians for the inevitable spiritual punch in the mouth that is coming from life, from the enemy and, sadly, sometimes from each other.

 I also think the church can mislead recent and seeking believers when we inform them to just “give their troubles to Jesus.” What we neglected to tell them from the eternal life fine print is that Jesus might have given or allowed those very troubles to shape their character and need for Him.  We conveniently forget to mention that from those troubles God will develop maturity and depth to our
faith and there is much to be mined from those difficulties. NBA basketball star Alonzo Mourning had a wonderful quote when facing a career ending illness, “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” When we suddenly face adversity we discover if our faith stands up the challenge. Does this faith work when the skies turn dark and the seas are rough?
 
Former UCLA football coach Pepper Rogers was a proponent of a type of complicated offense called the wishbone. When the team struggled, the alumni demanded that he change the system. “The wishbone,” Rogers said, “is like Christianity. If you believe in it only till something goes wrong, you don’t believe in it in the first place.”   

In many ways we are like that alumni group when we question the system when trouble comes our way. We have two uncomfortable options to consider when we respond like that. Either we don’t actually believe the promises of Jesus or we don’t know what promises He made to us in the Bible. So what should we communicate about our faith? How about letting our Lord sell the message? He never promised a trouble free romp through the world.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jn 16:33

 What an incredible promise! The enemy has diverted us to a message that is far less fulfilling. Joni and I have activated the Emergency Faith System. And unlike my cynical response from the old broadcast days, I know this system works. God has proved faithful before and He has not changed.

I have been around Christians who could open a travel agency for guilt trips. That is not my desire with today’s post. But if you opt to take a guilt trip because of these thoughts I should pack my spiritual bags and join you on the journey.

Yesterday dawned with your humble correspondant feeling a bit low in spirits. Work has taken me away from church for a couple of weeks. My schedule has been mentally and physically taxing. I woke up feeling like hammered dog doo (sorry, couldn’t think of the medical term). The woe is me voice was gathering volume as I picked up the Sunday paper. There in the Dallas Morning News was a story that caused me to take a sharp detour off of Pity Parkway. This headline put my little problems into sharp perspective.

Afghan man could be executed for converting to Christianity

Here is the story from the Dallas paper.

An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday. The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country’s Islamic laws. Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.

During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said. Afghanistan’s constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death. “We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law,” the judge said. “It is an attack on Islam. … The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty.” The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said the case was the first of its kind in Afghanistan. He said that he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman changed his religion back to Islam, but the defendant refused.

Those last four words sent me to the  bathroom mirror to look at a man who generally does not have a clue what a bad day looks like.

…but the defendant refused.

Wow. Would I have that kind of courage to stand up for Jesus? I recently wrote an article called Time to Post and Run.  It dealt with the difficult topic of whether we sometimes choose to remain victims when we have been spiritually wounded. I am not making any judgements for you. I just know that the decision of Abdul Rahman humbled me. My brother in Christ made a stand for Christ that may cost him his life. I was worried about a tough schedule and few speed bumps on my journey. Paul realized his weakness was really his strength. That is what I must cling to in my stumbling, bumbling journey.

I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 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.  2 Cor 12  NIV

Pray for our brother Abdul. I suspect that about 99.9 percent of those who read this today can pause and be grateful that we likely won’t ever have to make a decision like Abdul. But if I do have to make such a decision I pray that I will have written the truth of His Word across my heart.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.    Psalm 62:1-2 NIV

Today is a bit of deja vu for me. I am in the middle of my real job which is television sports directing at a basketball tournament site. I look at the credentials of my fellow bloggers on Crosswalk and I have to chuckle. Perhaps they won’t notice that my bio is filled with items like, “Dave is a member of Sam’s Club.” The deja vu moment came from the realization that it was during this very March madness women’s basketball tournament that I got the inspiration for what would become my extremely modestly selling book, “Bring’em Back Alive“. Here is an excerpt from the introduction.

My spiritual insights generally aren’t revealed during television broadcasts of women’s basketball. I suspect that hardly makes me unique. But inspiration came clearly and forcefully during a telecast of an NCAA Women’s basketball tournament game from Boulder, Colorado.

Let me set the stage for you. I am a television sports director. I call the camera shots that dictate what you see on your screen at home. Yes, I am the faceless guy you yell at to see this shot or that reaction. On this night an undermanned (or should I say underpersoned?) Louisiana State University women’s team was battling Colorado. And battling was the right word since LSU was down to only seven players who were dressed to play in the game. Five key players sat injured on the bench in civilian clothes. That was the background for my spiritual revelation.

I selected some shots of the tired players on the court. “LSU has fought gamely”, the announcers reported. “With only seven players on the active roster.” I took a shot of the five players in street clothes. “But when these five talented contributors are nursed back to health and you add a group of skilled recruits…LSU is going to be a powerful force next year.”  Then it hit me. We don’t follow that simple principle in the church. When we have injured and wounded players it is often too easy to ignore them and simply concentrate on recruiting new ones. I have watched dear friends walk away from my church “team” and I realized that my life and the body life of my church would never be quite the same. We lose the value of experience and depth that healing those wounded Christians would bring. I have wondered if we throw the term “church family” around a bit too loosely because I surely would pursue and attempt to heal a member of my genetic family that wanders away.

Do the math on my basketball example. If LSU returns seven players plus heals the five injured and brings in five recruits they have seventeen to choose from. If they discard the wounded they have only twelve players to enter the battle. How much talent and ability have we removed from the church by not aggressively seeking to find and heal our wounded lambs? And we must not ignore the uncomfortable fact that many injured lambs sit near us every Sunday. They have not wandered off physically but they have left us emotionally and are therefore rendered ineffective for the Kingdom.

That was written about four years ago. The volume of emails and notes that I get tells me we still have an enormous problem with our “injured” saints. I pray that the Holy Spirit will give us the heart to seek them and help restore wounded saints to the team. We need them. The body of Christ needs every single family member to be fully healthy.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son  into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  I John 4

Am I suffering from March “madness” to dream and believe this can really happen?

Today a brief email from youngest son generated a lot of memories and a few tears. Brett has taken his spring break from Baylor University to join his fraternity friends on a mission trip to do some volunteer work at a Christian camp. I found an email from him this morning with a little post script that brought unexpected precipitation in the orb area.  A little background is in order. Brett had a big sister that he never knew. Katie was born with a terminal birth defect and died when Brett was just a baby. Yet he is aware of  the amazing impact of Katie’s short life. She would have been twenty-one this month. Her story is detailed in When Bad Christians Happen to Good People and you can read the first part of story online. Here is Brett’s note.

P.S.  Katie’s life affected a lot of people tonight when I shared her story after a guy was struggling with seeing God’s purpose for everything.  It also made me realize how valuable her life has been in sharing God’s word.  Think about the speeches you have given about her and the amount of people that have read about her in your books.  God works in amazing ways.

As I reflected on Brett’s note I remembered an article I had written about a man who has a very different view of lives like Katie’s. In December the Dallas Morning News ran an op-ed feature called ‘10 ideas on the way out’. Here are excerpts from that post.

The subtitle of ’10 ideas on the way out’ confidently proclaimed that by 2040 many of the things we take for granted will no longer exist. I quickly scanned the list to see if major league baseball’s designated hitter would be an idea that would not endure. Sadly, that did not make the list. The list was a mixture of intriquing and frightening. According to these experts monogamy will be a quaint ideal from a less enlightened era and it will no longer be the norm. I am glad I will be dead before my wife finds that out. Another predicts the demise of the British Monarchy. But the one that rocked my world was seeing the number one item on the list was an article on the sanctity of life penned by a man named Peter Singer. I believe he is one of the most dangerous people on the planet. That seems like a pretty bold statement because he is a rather average looking academician at Princeton University. He is ironically the Chairman of the Ethics Department at Princeton and his ideas are widely accepted by those with bigger brains than you and me.

Let me quote some of Mr. Singer’s predictions for the future about the sanctity of life. My thoughts are italicized.

“During the next 35 years, the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse under pressure from scientific, technological and demographic developments. By 2040, (here comes a good part) it may be may be that only a rump of hard-core, know-nothing religious fundamentalists will defend the view that every human life, from conception to death, is sacrosanct.”

Since there is a good chance I will have checked out by 2040 I am considering forming a secret organization to maintain the “rump” of hard-core, know-nothing religious fundamentalists. Let me know if you would like to be a charter member of the “Rumps of the Know-Nothings”. For Monty Python fans we will be the knights who say no, not ni. But in all seriousness, it is dismaying for Mr.Singer to dismiss all who believe in the sanctity of life as know nothings. I believe that Peter Singer knows a lot. I just believe he is wrong. Could he not extend at least that much courtesy to me and the other rumps? Continuing with Mr. Singer’s piece…

“When the traditional ethic of the sanctity of human life is proved indefensible at both the beginning and end of life, a new ethic will replace it. It will recognize that the concept of a person is distinct from that of a member of the species Homo sapiens, and that it is personhood, not species membership, that is most significant in determining when it is wrong to end a life.”

Who determines “personhood”? If it is always in the hands of the family you can get very different views. If it is in the hands of the government I shudder. Does a doctor determine “personhood”? I have had a very personal stake in this debate. Surprisingly, so does Peter Singer. More on that in a moment. Singer makes an interesting concession that may be the future argument about the beginning of life.

“We will understand that even if the life of a human organism (note the terminology) begins at conception, the life of a person – that is, at minimum, a being with some level of self-awareness – does not begin so early.”

My cynical side reacts that if we took out everyone without a level of self-awareness we would thin the herd significantly. But the tacit admission (sort of) that there is no other logical point except conception for the beginning of life is interesting. The argument now becomes the elusive point at which the “organism” achieves “personhood”. And that is a frightening judgement to make apart from some standard.

Now for the personal side of the argument. Twenty years ago a daughter was born into our family. Katie was born with a birth defect that caused an absence of brain development. By Mr.Singer’s standards she was not a “person” because she could not achieve a level of self-awareness. According to Mr.Singer Katie should have been aborted or euthanized after birth (yes, he has advocated that for some) because she had no potential for personhood. But the fourteen month life of Katie was an amazing blessing for our family. In retrospect I shudder at the prospect of aborting her life. Yet it might have seemed the right thing to do in the emotion of the moment. Katie’s inspiring story is told in full in When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. But my reaction to Katie’s life is just the emotional response of a religious rump…right? Let’s see what happens when Mr.Singer had to apply his theories to real life.

Peter Singer’s mother is suffering from Alzeiheimers. By his own definition she no longer has the measure of self-awareness that defines personhood. So how has Mr.Singer responded? Like a person who deep in his being believes in the dignity of life. He has poured thousands of dollars into her care when there can be no return for the greater good of society. That money would be far better spent on those who have societal value and not just, as Mr. Singer described, possessing species membership. This is money wasted in Singer’s ultilitarian worldview.

Peter Singer addressed the dilemma. “I think this has made me see how the issues of someone with these kinds of problems are really very difficult. Perhaps it is more difficult than I thought before, because it’s different when it’s your mother.” Now it is personal and Singer’s ideas don’t work. Peter Singer’s mother has value and deserves to be cared for until her last natural breath. Our daughter had value and deserved the same. That is my worldview. I can live with mine.

Yesterday I happened to look at the blog odometer and noticed I had already passed the century mark for posting these humble ramblings. I thought it would be interesting, instructive, and perhaps frightening to sort through the stats and see which articles resonated most with you. So here are the people’s choice for the top five posts.

Number 5     Forgive? I don’t wanna.

I was amazed at the response to this one. There is a fundamental lack of understanding among many about what forgiveness looks like from a biblical point of view. For example…

“I cannot agree with the concept that Christian leaders are exempt from accountability or are in some way authorized to break laws, to damage lives and then say the victim must forgive, as a Christian, you must forgive. The idea of Christians being victimized and told to forgive makes me sick.”

I never said that Christian leaders are exempt from accountability. In fact the top two posts will revolve around that very issue. Here is an excerpt from the forgiveness article.

I think I am going to start posting a warning label so the Spiritual Hall Monitors will be alerted to the fact that my blog may contain humor or, according to some, attempted humor. With this warning they can avoid encountering humor, satire, and sarcasm that might trigger an allergic reaction for the sullen saints.

Warning: The following post may contain humor. This blog was produced in a program where irony and satire are processed. May contain sarcasm fragments.

I think that singer Chris Rice may understand my plan to post the humor/satire warning. Rice is a wonderful song writer. My IPod features many of his songs and his lyrics resonate with me. I could have written the song Clumsy (if I had any musical talent)

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

But recently the Spiritual Hall Monitors finally got the best of Chris Rice. Let me explain. Fifteen years ago Rice wrote a silly song wondering what would happen if cartoon characters got saved. I guess because I am a Bad Christian I didn’t take the premise real seriously. My lack of spiritual depth caused me to presume the song was fanciful satire. But some actually took the premise of imaginary characters without souls getting saved seriously. And somehow they had access to the internet and even to transportation. Finally Rice had enough of people debating the theological ramifications of Fred Flintstone endorsing the faith. Others wondered if Astro the Jetson’s dog should be praising the Lord. I wish I was kidding. This appeared at a called TheyWill Know Us By Our T-Shirts (love that title)

“Apparently, it’s (Rice’s song Cartoons) supposed to illustrate that Christians can have fun too. Is it just me, or does it seem sacrilegious to have Astro from The Jetsons sing hallelujah (ra-ra-ru-jah, to be exact)? I thought worship was about reverence toward God. I just dislike the entire thing. I’m even more disgusted with the cult following surrounding this song. I don’t usually advocate censorship, but if someone wanted to organize a CD burning party for this song, I’d bring the beer. That all sounds very harsh. I know some people love the song and think it’s just a clean, fun song that Christians can listen too. I just wonder when turning faith in God into a nursery rhyme was ever healthy for anyone involved.”

Comments. Spreading the message that Christians can have fun would not be a bad thing. As for Astro…well I was most blessed that he had been saved. I love that dog.

Even though his sin nature seems to be prevailing in the photo it is wonderful that Astro is in the family. If you listen to Chris Rice’s entire body of work you will see that his lyrics demonstrate great reverence to God. I thought the idea of having a kegger at a CD burning party was a mature and godly response to the song. My biggest disagreement with this blog is his use of adverbs and adjectives. 

“That’s one of my major concerns with the Christian subculture. All we do is pander to the lowest common denominator. We never push forward. We never ask real questions. Maybe I should be thanking Chris Rice. Maybe he’s showed us that constantly pandering does not edify the church but in fact forces us to devolve until we’re speaking in cartoon voices. I don’t want to speak ill of Chris Rice, a man I have never met. I just wish to point out one of the many reasons I believe Christian music is irrelevant and in many cases detrimental.”

All Christians do not pander to the lowest common denominator. Many are pushing forward and asking very real questions. Using words like “all” and “never” do not advance the dialog. I think using this little ditty as an example of pandering is more than an over reaction. I think I will need to see the rest of the reasons that he believes that Christian music is irrelevant or this case gets thrown out of court.

“Bad Christian”subscriber Randy (last name withheld to protect his waning reputation) sent me the following obituary that was recently posted at Chris Rice’s website. My comments are italicized.

CARTOONS

After 15 wonderful years of trouble-making and laughter, the beloved song about cartoons has finally been laid to rest. Well, actually just retired from live performances.

THE BIRTH

I wrote it about 15 years ago, as a joke. I threw it together in about 10 minutes and only intended it to be heard by a few people. It was a skit for a junior high youth group in a small church in Tennessee. Before singing it, I explained to them, in a light-hearted manner, that it’s weird how we try to make Christian versions of everything. Then I said, “I’m sure someone will try to do that with popular cartoons one day. Here’s what I mean…” I then launched into the cartoon song for the first time. The kids laughed really hard. The youth minister, Robin, asked me to sing it for the whole church, so I sang it again. They laughed really hard too. So the next week, I sang it for another group of students. Yeah, they laughed too. And before I knew it, I was singing Cartoons at a lot of camps. About 8 years later, after hearing me sing the song for a group of college students, my record label insisted that I record the song on my 2nd CD. I resisted strongly, having never intended for such a silly song to be made popular.

THE COMPROMISE

I reluctantly agreed to record the song only if it could be a hidden track, and it would not be acknowledged in print on the CD booklet. My hope was that it would go unnoticed. I was naieve.

Here is where it gets really weird. People listened to this silly little song and somehow got offended by it’s theology! We are talking about cartoon characters here.

Breathe slowly.

Again.

They are less real than pro wrestling. It is obviously a good natured satire. What is wrong with a few of you people? (notice careful use of descriptive word)

MET WITH OPPOSITION

The song was immediately met with a sudden uproar by fans who disagreed with the song and its theology. Hundreds approached me and wrote to me to voice their opposition to the song.

I would not be inclined to believe this if I hadn’t written a book called When Bad Christians Happen to Good People and this blog. But I have learned how seriously some readers take everything. I have had people write scathing rebukes to me because they disagreed with one thing I said out of two hundred plus pages. 

Chris Rice is so authentic about his journey. Even if you hate this song how about looking at his entire body of work and I think you will quickly see what this song is. A simple little skit for a junior high group that developed legs. But the Spiritual Hall Monitors let Chris know what he had done wrong.

Some of their reasons were:

1) Hallelujah is a Hebrew word that means Praise the Lord, so I was misusing the Lords name by changing the phrase, and using it in such a flippant and silly way. Okay. Let me get a sense of your indignation. You are offended because cartoon characters are saying Hallelujah as their cartoon character would say it? You should be grateful Yosemite Sam wasn’t at the meetin’ you flop eared varmits!
2) By not letting Beavis and that other guy get saved, I was giving the wrong message to people, that God only loved certain types of people. It was just a humorous…sighhhh…never mind.
3) I should not refer to Beavis and “that other guy” in a Christian song, for “obvious reasons.” Why? Because Christians can’t say butt? Crap, I said butt! 
4) I should not refer to the Smurfs in a Christian song, because they do magic, and are therefore demonic.  The first basic concept that I agreed with but not because they are demonic. I think the song should not refer to Smurfs because it might cause that song to stick in my mind all day.

Night after night, while singing this song in concerts, I spot people with their arms folded across their chests, making it clear they do not approve of the song. Right next to them there are fans singing along with their eyes closed and their hands raised, as if we were singing How Great Thou Art. Neither was my intended reaction. It has left me baffled and amused…we humans are funny! That is very kind Chris.

TAKING BACK THE REMOTE

Then in a bold move in November 2004, after hinting at it for several years to my live audiences, the day of retirement finally came. Little by little, fans have been discovering that I no longer perform the song live. I am met with many Thank yous as well as many (believe it or not) angry fans who demand that I (and my band) keep performing it. After every show, as I sit to sign autographs and talk to people, I hear one fan explain in a very spiritual tone why the Cartoon song is so important, and only seconds later another fan corrects my theology and suggests that I stop performing the song. Both cite ‘Biblical’ reasons. Thats the nature of public work. Its really true–you can’t please everybody!I want to do excellent work. I want to reach a wide range of people. I have heard all sides of the reasoning for and against the Cartoon song–literally thousands of times.Well, when you cant please everybody, you just have to check your own motives for purity, and then follow your own heart, and hope people will try to understand. So, I have laid the song to rest. You can still hear it on the radio quite a bit, just not in live concerts anymore.

I have actually considered having one of Chris Rice’s songs sung at my funeral. No, it won’t be Fred Flintstone singing Yabadabadooya, he’s gone!
I am considering having Rice’s Untitled Hymn performed at my memorial.

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace,
and laugh on Glory’s side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live

Those words demonstrate the depth and heart of Chris Rice. Cartoons is just a silly little song. Look at his entire body of work before you cast your verdict. 

There is a game show on NBC that is generating some interest called Deal or No Deal. I am not a big fan of the show but it did generate a little spiritual analogy. Let’s suppose that some thirty-six years ago Jesus had come to me in person and offered the following deal.

Jesus: “So here is My deal for you. I will forgive you of your sins and relieve you of the guilt and fear that they have burdened you with. I will give you the assurance of eternity spent with me. I will be there throughout your life to teach, console, strengthen and bless. Just ask me and I will provide.”
Me: “Wow.” (I wasn’t much of a wordsmith at sixteen)
Jesus: “By the way, I know that your relationship with me will lead you to a beautiful and Godly woman who will be the love of your life and who will help you become the person you want to become. You will have three wonderful sons who will all grow up to be Godly men. You will have troubles and some tragedy but I will help you through and I will use those trials for good in your life and the lives of others. So Dave, will you accept the deal?”
Me: “Is this a joke? Sure I will.”
 
It just seems too good to be true. But it has been true in my life. If you read When Bad Christians Happen to Good People you know that Joni and I have not lived a life free of heartache. You can read the first chapter online to get an idea. But despite some difficult times it is a deal I would agree even more quickly (if possible) now.

But let’s add a layer of complexity to my imagined time with Christ. When He asks if I will accept His deal I have a question.

Me: “That sounds a little too good to be true. I have done nothing and you are offering all of this for me. Are there any requirements?”
 Jesus smiles and says, “Well, there a couple of things.”
“Ah hah!” I reply smugly. “I knew it was too good. What’s the catch?”
I picture Jesus looking at me with that gentle hint of a smile and saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.”
I wait.
Silence.
“That’s it?” I ask incredulously.
He nods.
“You will give me all of those things and that is all you expect?”

He nods again and speaks. “It won’t be easy. You will be hurt. There will be some people that will be tough to love. I will ask you to forgive and love them. In fact, you must forgive and love them because of what I have done for you.”
I consider His words. “For all that you have done for me that would seem to be the least I can do.”
I picture Him looking at me with a pensive and almost sad expression. “You would think my son. You would think.”