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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.

In all sincerity, we want to change that. The church in America has a serious credibility problem. Those outside the church look at us and often don’t see anything that even remotely resembles Jesus. Instead they see judgment, hypocrisy, and very little compassion. They hear our words, but don’t see a lifestyle that aligns with those words.

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.

 

 

Growing up in Southern Ohio I had my share of heroes. Most of them were sports heroes like Ohio State basketball player Jerry Lucas and Cleveland Brown’s running back Jim Brown. My baseball hero was not named Mantle or Mays or Musial. My baseball hero was a rather average Cincinnati Reds player named Gordy Coleman.

I am not sure why I picked him. Maybe because he played first base and that is where I played. But I lived and died with Gordy’s daily efforts. Since he was not a star player on most days I died a little.

As I grew 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.

This series was well received last year. Some would call this a repeat but I prefer to think of it as environmentally friendly blog recycling with no carbon offsets required.

Merry Christmas!  Dave

As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. For the internet hall monitors who love to send anonymous and snarky comments I understand that the celebrated date of Christ’s birth is likely off a bit. But since this is when we celebrate we will go with the date assigned.

Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. The last post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas.  By the way, there is a plaque that is available in catalogs this year with the title “What if They Had Been 3 Wise Women?” Here is the conclusion….

They would have asked directions.
 Brought practical gifts
 Made a casserole
 Cleaned the stable
‘ Changed the baby
 And there would be peace on earth.

Alert readers from the last article remember that the first gift was gold. That is always a lovely gift. But now it gets a little tougher.

Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. (Matthew 2:11, The Message)

The second gift brought out of the luggage by the Magi was frankincense. Frankincense is a very costly and fragrant incense. It is a gum distilled from a tree found in the Middle East. It is a white resin or gum, and is obtained by slitting the bark of the “Arbor Thurisfrom”, allowing the gum to flow out (there will be a test). The word actually means “whiteness”, referring to the white colored juice which flows out of the wound in the tree. This gum hardens for three months, and is gathered at the end of the summer, and sold in the form of “tears”, or clumps of hardened resin. Frankincense is highly fragrant when burned, and was, therefore, used in worship, where it was burned as a pleasant offering to God. It is interesting to note that this sweet smelling resin comes as the result of the tree’s woundedness and pain. It is cut open and bleeds to give us the sweet smelling scent. The spiritual parallel is interesting. When we can worship God in the midst of our sorrow, our brokenness, then it is a sweet smelling offering to our Lord.

King David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17 )

Much emphasis in worship today is on “celebration”. No time for agonizing and tears, only for shouts of joy and victory. While joyful praise is acceptable and pleasing to God, tears, like frankincense resin, oozing out of our hurts, broken hearts, and tears of repentance are especially pleasing – a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Anyone can dance and shout when blessings are flowing, and everything is going their way. But true worship happens when we must overcome feelings of self-pity, fear and doubt. So how can we offer a pleasing aroma to God?

How about giving Jesus the gift of belief for His birthday? You believe that Jesus is the Son of God…that He came to earth as a little baby over 2,000 years ago. That he lived a Holy life and died on a cross as perfect sacrifice for my sin and your sin. I would guess that most of the people who stumble onto this blog believe that. But what I am talking about is really believing God in every circumstance.

Think about giving the gift of really believing in Jesus for every need this coming year. Completely trusting who God says He is and who God says you are when you put your trust in Christ. Completely believing that you are a new person and not the same old person reworked. Completely believing that this new identity in Christ gives you power to live and power to not sin.

Believing that you are an amazing one of a kind creation whom God has placed where you are and with gifts that can be uniquely used where you are in your journey.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are-no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. (Matthew 5:5 The Message)

Later in the gospel of Matthew we find this…If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. (Matthew 23:12, The Message)

I believe that comparison is one of Satan’s primary strategies to cause despair. You are wonderfully made by the Creator of the Universe and you are valuable. Michelangelo made a nearly perfect sculpture of David. The statue’s muscular tension is precisely rendered down to the muscle contraction on his forehead as David is poised to go into battle. It is perhaps the most important sculpture in the world and it was carved from one large block of marble. Why is that unique? Two other artists rejected the block of marble because of imperfections. Michelangelo saw the beauty in that block of marble that others did not. Jesus sees the beauty in you that others might not. Can you believe in a Jesus that can take you, even if you feel like a rejected block of marble, and then lovingly chip away until you become a beautiful work of art? Can you give Jesus the gift of believing that He is really there with you…as your Good Shepherd…ready to bind up your wounds and lead you to still waters.

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.” (John 10:11-18, The Message)

The Good Shepherd had the choice and chose to give us the marvelous gift of laying down His life and then taking it up again. Believing Him…really believing Him…would make a lovely gift to Jesus on His birthday.

This series was well received last year. You may view this as a repeat. I prefer to think of it as re-gifting.

Blessings and Merry Christmas!   

Dave

We are fast approaching the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife.

He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him.

Barry continues his thoughtful treatise…

So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We know from the Bible that the Wise Men showed up in Bethlehem and gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold,frankincense, and myrrh. Now Gold is always a nice gift, but frankincense and myrrh – at least according to my dictionary – are gum resins.

 Barry asks the vital question…

Who gives gum resins to a baby? The answer is…Men. The three wise men…being men, didn’t even start shopping for gifts until the last minute, when most of the stores in the greater Bethlehem area were closed for Christmas Eve. The only place still open was Big Stu’s House of Myrrh.

Even though Barry’s interpretation of the Gospels might be a little suspect…I do think he is correct about the difficulty in finding the right gift to give to Jesus on his birthday.

On December 24th or 25th most of us will exchange gifts on Jesus’s birthday. Suppose you had a big party for me to celebrate my humble birthday this April. All of my close friends and acquaintances show up and you all start exchanging gifts on my birthday. But there is nothing for me. Oh, someone might mention my name now and then. But I just sit and I sit and I watch others open gifts. Then someone mentions how grateful they are for Dave’s birthday so we could all be together. I become hopeful. But then someone else yells that the refreshments are ready so everyone rolls into the kitchen and I am left sitting there….no gifts on my birthday. I wonder if we don’t do that exact thing to Jesus. We have reason for the season signs and all of that. But it is so easy to get all caught up and not even think of a gift for the guest of honor at our Christmas celebrations. 
  
So what can you give the Lord of the Universe? If you think your mother-in-law is tough to buy for what do buy for the Saviour who has everything? Believe it or not…I decided to go back to the Three Wise Men and see if there was more to their gifts than first appears. What is the story behind these gum resin gifts? What is up with the gifts presented by the Magi? The simplest meaning is that these men brought items which, in their experience, represented the greatest worth. All of these gifts were rare, precious and expensive. Whatever else we may learn from this story, we know that they gave their best in honor to the One they believed to be the King, the Messiah. It’s interesting that we don’t know the names of the Magi but we know what they gave. We don’t know where they came from but we know that they worshipped the  Christ child.
                      
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshipped him.

The first important point is that the Magi did not visit the Baby Jesus at the stable so our Nativity scene on the mantle is chock full of Biblical errors. They showed up at the house and it is clear that the gifts were a part of their worship. They bowed down before Him, and they offered Him gifts. What an amazing spirit that must have surrounded that child that caused men of importance, wealth and education to fall down before Him!

The miracle of God becoming man… He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.
Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB)

The first gift mentioned is gold.

Gold was the usual offering presented to kings by their subjects, or those wanting to pay respect. Gold has always held extremely high value – as long ago as 2,500 BC, gold was especially prized, and used as a medium of exchange. Even today when investments get shaky you start hearing about buying gold as a hedge against economic downturns. The value of gold seems to be a constant in our civilization. In both the Old Testament Tabernacle and the Temple, gold was used plentifully and was clearly associated with worship.

So should we give Jesus gold on His birthday? Most of us have a rather limited supply of gold. I am going to suggest that we give Jesus a commodity that is as valuable in today’s culture as gold was in the time of the Magi. That commodity of great value is time. When I think of gifts that we can give to Jesus…is there anything more precious than our time? 

When you love someone you want to spend time with them. If you say you love your wife but you go several days or weeks without talking to her she might be suspicious. When we say we love our children but we can’t work them into the schedule they begin to have doubts. When a young couple falls in love they want to spend every moment together. When they are apart they think of each other. As Percy Sledge famously sang that when a man loves a woman he can’t keep his mind on nothing else.

So we say we love Jesus. But we probably have little difficulty thinking of something else. We tell others that He is the center of our universe…but we can’t carve out the time to spend with Jesus to develop that relationship. I am confessing here that I have been guilty of this far too often in my journey with Jesus. My lips confess my commitment to Him but my time with Him reveals my true priorities. The uncomfortable truth for me as a husband…as a father…and as a follower of Christ is that my calendar reveals my heart. I make time for the things that are most important to me.

Gift suggestion number one for Jesus on His birthday…give Him a little time. Sit down with Him…talk to Him…enjoy His company.

And join us tomorrow for another last minute gift idea for Jesus. Perhaps it is not that hard to give something to Christ this Christmas. 

Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from earlier. How does a blog become a classic?

1) It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want
2) You have no time to write today

So enjoy a classic from Christmas past…

One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions.

While listening to  “Away in a Manger” at a recent Christmas program my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song.

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric or is lowing a more spiritual and reverent cow sound? And then the most important question came to mind. What is wrong with me?

I can’t answer the last question but I can help with the others. Lowing is defined at dictionary.com as “the characteristic sound uttered by cattle; a moo”.  

So little baby Jesus was awakened by the characteristic sound uttered by a cow. That would not have flowed well in the lyric so I understand using lowing. The next part of the lyric is disturbing to those of us who are parents. If any of the babies who grew up in our household were awakened by cattle lowing they would be squalling (the characteristic sound uttered by a ticked off baby; a scream).  During the course of my intrepid investigating I discovered that this verse was not original to the song. It was added in the early 1900’s by a Methodist minister named John T. McFarland for a children’s program. While verse three is not a part of the original Christmas carol canon it does create an image of Jesus that we need to rethink.

I remember as a child singing “Away in a Manger” and picturing the baby Jesus with this beatific smile on his face and a little halo hovering over his head. In my imagination the animals were swaying and singing like the campfire scene from the movie “Three Amigos”.  I pictured Mary and Joseph as awed spectators as the baby Jesus acknowledged the shepherds and welcomed them to his place (remember…the earlier lyrics told us he didn’t have a crib). My images of the baby Jesus were indeed childish. But I wonder if we don’t carry a little of that flawed perspective about the “Baby Jesus” into our adult Christian journey (like Ricky Bobby in the movie Talladega Nights…you bad Christians know what I am talking about).

This Christmas why not take a little time to think about the implications of the incarnation. That nice little theological word is used to denote when the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and became both fully God and fully man. C.S. Lewis called the incarnation “the Grand Miracle.” He wrote: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation…. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…. It was the central event in the history of the Earth–the very thing that the whole story has been about” (from Miracles, chapter 14).

By a miracle that passes human comprehension, the Creator entered his creation, the Eternal entered time, God became human–in order to die and rise again for the salvation of all people. “He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still … (to) the womb … down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him” (Miracles, C.S. Lewis).

Take a moment to meditate on the mystery of that. Fully God and fully man. I am sure the little Lord Jesus would have had the normal response to being awakened by any cow noise…lowing or other. His swaddling clothes had to be changed just like any baby. Chuck Swindoll described Him as diety in diapers.

How does that affect me this Christmas? Because God became flesh I can relate to a Savior that understands the frailties of my flesh. Because the Creator understands His creation I can be sure that God understands my pain, frustration and loneliness. It is difficult for me to relate to an invisible God. That is the miracle of God becoming man. I can relate to Jesus because He has walked in my sandals. Joni and I were always appreciative and blessed when people expressed love and care while she was battling breast cancer. But when a breast cancer survivor expressed that love it connected on a different level. They had been there, felt the fear, fought the tiring battle and traveled the long road. That is the sovereign genius of the incarnation. We can relate to God in flesh in a way that is different. When I suffer I know that Jesus understands. He has been there. When I am lonely or feeling betrayed I can know (in my finite ability) that He understands. When I am joyful and laughing He understands. By becoming like me I can believe that Jesus can empathize with me on a different level. Because I know He gets it then I also get it. God loves me and Jesus has my back.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.   (I John 2)

Jesus became our advocate and our path to salvation when He arrived on earth. The miracle in the manger was not Jesus ignoring stupid cows. The miracle was God becoming flesh.

As I watched the news this morning I marveled at the maturity of our elected representatives. A t-shirt from the good folks at despair.com came to mind.

THE TIME FOR ACTION IS PAST.
Now is the time for senseless bickering.

So I went in search of something a little more uplifting. And I found it. It was a story about Faith. Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that faith is a regular topic of discussion here. This time faith is the name of one of God’s creatures. The Associated Press tells the story. 

Born without front legs to a junkyard dog around Christmas 2002, Faith the puppy was rejected and abused by her mother. She was rescued by Reuben Stringfellow, now an Army E-4 specialist, who had been asked to bury other puppies in the litter.

“Can we fix her? Stringfellow, then 17, asked his mom. “No, but maybe we can help her,” she said.

So Reuben turned Faith over to his mother, English professor Jude Stringfellow. At first the family had to carry Faith to keep her off her chest and chin. But with peanut butter and practice, Faith learned to walk on her two hind legs.

Today Faith is a brisk, upright walker. When she runs, every so often she adds a hop or skip to her step, but she stumbles less often than most humans. Since her first step in 2003 has made dozens of appearances every year, including stops at veterans’ hospitals across the country to cheer injured soldiers. That mission is special for Stringfellow, whose son left Iraq in September and is stationed at Fort Wainwright in Alaska. He is scheduled to get out of the Army and head home on January 1st.

For many, Faith brings a powerful message about overcoming adversity. “Faith has shown me that different is beautiful, that it is not the body you are in but the soul that you have,” Jill Salomon of Montreal, Canada, wrote on Faith’s Web site.

That sense of hope is especially important for Faith’s visits to Army bases. Last weekend she headed to Washington state, where she met with as many as 5,000 soldiers at McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis. Some of the soldiers were headed to war, some were coming back.

“She just walks around barking and laughing and excited to see them all,” Jude Stringfellow said. “There is a lot of crying, pointing and surprise. From those who have lost friends or limbs, there can be silence. Some will shake my hand and thank me, some will pat her on the head. There is a lot of quiet, heartfelt, really deep emotion.”

Faith never fails to bring a smile to a soldier’s face, said Patrick Mcghee, general manager at Fort Lewis. “To see the children interact with Faith is simply priceless,” he said.

I thought about the decision to adopt this dog that could never be “normal”. They had no idea when the decision was made that Faith would learn to walk upright and have such an impact. They just wanted to help her.

I wonder how many gifted people I marginalize because they don’t fit my “profile” or because they don’t fit my “normal”. I turn away because I determine I can’t fix them. But God isn’t asking me to fix them. He is just asking me to help.

My nature is to look at a person’s outward appearance and make my decision. You don’t look the part. You don’t fit my preconceived notion. I am looking for someone better looking or more outgoing or more engaging. 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 in my midst that I could help 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. A two-legged dog is cheering up soldiers and inspiring people all over the world. I am going to try to remember Jude Stringfellow’s insight as I head into the New Year. I don’t need to fix other people. I just need to be willing to help.