Stumbling About for Truth

Okay, so track along with me ... I was listening to the radio a few mornings ago while walking and someone on a podcast I was listening to mentioned a publication named, "Repeat the Sounding Joy."   It got me to thinking... "Repeat the sounding joy ... Repeat the sounding joy ... I was thinking about how that would fit with one of the movements of Advent that I wanted to write about. I thought about the fourth, and final week's movement, "Joy," but that was too easy! And I can never make anything easy! So I kept thinking about it and soon, my thoughts evolved to: "Repeat after me ... Repeat after me ... " That might be a good theme for the first week! Repeat after me: Hope does not disappoint. How many times have you had to learn something over and over again? Has anyone ever told you after you've failed, "Okay [your name here], repeat after me..." As I write that, I am thinking of my wife, who is teacher. She has probably sent many...

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Don't you know a new day is coming? That all hope is not lost? For one man, apparently all hope WAS lost. I received a call from a friend this morning and was informed that one of her friends had passed away. The situation sounded like it was possibly a suicide. My friend was shaken and upset as she had just spoken to her friend. I didn't know her friend, but any time I hear of someone taking their own life, it unsettles me as well and leaves me with a sense of regret for them and their families. They've chosen to miss out on so much without even realizing it. I also couldn't help but think of the few times I had thought about suicide in the distant past and how much I would have missed had I gone through with it. I was a 20-something who thought his life was over. I had lost all hope. Now, as a 40-something with a marriage of 18 years to a woman I love dearly, 3 kids that I wouldn't trade for anything, a meaningful career with an organization that helps others ...

Don't you know you have to be willing to suffer to grow in maturity? When you ask the really hard questions of people, silence usually ensues - even those who seem to be further down the path in their walk with Christ. Why? Because they quickly realize they may need to not only change their long-held views, but they may actually have to step out of their comfort zone and do something they don't want to do. Or if they're less than polite, they take you to task for calling something they've said into question, then roundly dismiss you (while wiping their brow in relief). The downright obstinate folks usually take their leave of absence uttering a few obscenities as they leave because they know they might have to deal with you again if they don't. All three categories need to consider the deeper, harder questions of the faith for that's the only way to grow and mature. On my own home front, I inhabit all three categories above all too regularly as well as...

Don't you know that happiness is not the point? It can't be. Why? Because happiness changes with circumstances. What (or who) you are happy with today, can, and probably will, change tomorrow. You've heard the old saying, "Don't like the weather in Texas? Wait a few minutes and it'll change." That's what it's like with happiness. Happy at the moment? Wait a minute, it'll change. Something will happen that you won't like. Heck I'm not even talking about a drastic change that takes you from exuberance to despair. Even going from say, the happiness of finding an unexpected $20 in your jeans while doing the laundry to the realizing you have 3 more loads to do, can be a real bummer and create a sense of boredom and monotony that is anything but happy. On an even tougher level, that boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse you're expecting to make you happy for the rest of your life? Not going to happen. Not on the level we usually expect. ...

Don't you know that life is fleeting – here one minute, swept away the next? I was visiting the local TV station's website to read about a storm system due to arrive in my area after 10 this morning. The page I was reading was set up as a live blog page, with reporters updating the situation as needed. The first update at the top of the page read like this: 7:30 a.m.: The fatal Forest Hill accident and the wreck in Dallas near Mountain Creek Parkway and I-20 mentioned in the update about an hour ago have both been cleared. Just like that, a fatal accident and it's remains (pun intended) are cleared away and life goes on for the majority of us. If I weren't writing this, I doubt I would even remember reading that line. It reminded me that we THINK we'll be here later today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year… but the truth is, we don't know what the future holds for us. Now I could insert a bunch of platitudes about WHO holds the future, living ...

Don't you know that love is the foundation of everything we are in Christ? Paul called it clothing every other virtue we are to practice as Christians in love (Colossians 3). I call it hard to do! I have been avoiding posting this one for awhile. I just didn't want to deal with the fact that I don't love others very well. But that doesn't lessen the truth of what Paul called us to do in Colossians. And while grace pardons, it does not excuse bad behavior. It actually demands we make right whatever we've messed up! God's grace came at the great and awful price of His Son's life. That mere fact screams out that we not hide behind the grace that was provided through such a sacrifice, but to take seriously our responsibility to love others no matter where they are at and to seek forgiveness when we fail. It's not an option in light of the forgiveness we stand in as redeemed children of God. So as a chief sinner, in the worst tradition of Paul in 1 Timot...

Don't you know that truth matters? In everything? Some think it's okay to tell little white lies. Some think it's okay to omit details - thereby not telling the whole truth. The problem is, when you allow for a little fibbing, you end up lying a lot. Sliding scales of truth-telling ends up being any but truth-telling. I think maybe that's because our society - made up of us - you and I - have a hard time dealing with truth. Why is that? Maybe because it's sometimes easier to just fudge the truth a little to avoid the hassle of having to tell the whole, unvarnished truth. Or maybe you are pretending you're protecting someone by not being truthful. Other times it may because it's uncomfortable to live in the unyielding light of the truth. I recently watched an episode of "My 600lb Life." It's a series of reality-based shows documenting a year in the life of a person's battle to lose hundreds of pounds in a year. Most of them I have see...

Don't you know that bad behavior has consequences? The Bible in Galatians refers to it as reaping what you sow (Galatians 6:7). The terms are related to planting (sowing) and harvesting (reaping the results of your sowing). So if you plant corn seed in your garden in the spring , you get corn in the fall. Of course, it takes a lot of nurturing of that garden in order to reap the benefits of sowing. The corn reaped in the fall is the natural consequence of the corn seed that was sown the prior spring. You can probably see where I am going spiritually. There are natural consequences spiritually as well. If you sow (plant) an angry thought (seed) against someone, then nurture that anger over time, you'll likely end up doing something stupid like telling that person "just what you think of them" and hurting them. That's the reaping of the anger you sowed. That's the resulting sin of your anger. Or maybe posting something demeaning to another on a social media...

Don't you know that when I fail, when I act horribly, strike out in anger at someone or goad them into their own fit of anger, that I am exhibiting the very reason I need Christ? It's not an excuse for my poor behavior. It's reality. For everyone one of us. Don't believe me? Show me a person who says it's not true and I'll show you the very same person who grades sin on a sliding scale. Interestingly, it always slides in favor of their pet bad behaviors! So when you see my good works or my bad behavior - and I do indeed strive to always make them good works as opposed to the bad behavior - know that I am not saved by them, but in spite of them. And know that there are always consequences to them for me in spite of my relationship with Christ.

For a truly sickening story of inhumanity, click here . of course, there are those who will say this has been going on for along time (see WWII Germany for examples) - that they are not surprised nor shocked. They should be though. We should never become desensitized to the awfulness of this kind of brutality against others.

I am reading "What's With Paul and Women?" by Jon Zens. He is advocating for women to be free from male domination and free to perform all tasks in church that they are gifted for. In the midst of reading that and following his argument, I ran across a short section on who really has authority in God's Kingdom. As is true with the rest of his book concerning women's roles in the church, his view of authority flies in the face of what we think of when we think about how churches are set up and who assumes authority. Running across this section is somewhat ironic in light of a facebook post I authored earlier today that read: "If any religious leader ever tries to claim any kind of spiritual authority over you, put that person out of your life. You have but one Person to give account to and that is God Himself." The reason I say it's ironice is listen to what Mr. Zens says on page 69 of his book: "We must remember that our Lord taught us that in h...

Am I willing to imitate Jesus by hanging out with "scum"? Do I live with the conviction that sinful people aren't scum at all to Jesus, but rather those to whom he and his followers (including me!) have been sent? For more from this challenging essay at The High Calling blog, go here .

I sometimes wonder if Heaven’s walls are pitted with holes left by Jesus’ head as he watches how we try to be his Body on Earth. The more I learn about my faith the more I realise that I am getting it wrong, taking it too far or not taking it far enough. One example that I’ve been thinking about recently is the way we talk about Jesus hanging out with prostitutes. As a speaker and mentor, I’ve talked about this a lot as well as hearing many other speakers and pastors do the same. And we all seem to emphasise the same thing: How amazing it is that God with skin on would spend time with someone who sells their body for money. It’s amazing to me how I can be so right and so wrong at the same time. If the writer of this got your attention, read the rest of his essay here .

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It was my son, Chris' birthday on Saturday and we traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to watch the season opener game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Utah State Aggies. We have some friends that live in the area that have tailgate parties at every home game and we were fortunate enough to be able to join them again as we did last season 3 times. Chris is a rabid OU fan and we had great seats for this game - 3 rows up from the field in the home end zone. Both he and I made some memories there and I don't think either of us will forget that game and what it felt like to be so close to the action. When DeMarco Murray broke open down the left sideline for one of his touchdowns (63 yards on this one) he was running right at us. It was awesome! Chris was going wild! It was well worth the extra funds we spent to get the seats. There was another blessing though that will make this trip memorable. My wife Trudy and other son Zachary came with us to the Norman, but were not planning on goi...

A few years ago I posted a story about Kim Phuc, the little Vietnamese girl pictured in the now famous photo running down the road after being Napalmed in Vietnam. The naked girl in the video is Ms. Phuc. Here is some video of the same event. The consequences of war are harsh and unforgiving even to innocent children. BTW: Here is a video of Kim telling her story. Here is another one of forgiveness.

"Well Hi Jesus! How are you?" "Fine, fine. I am blessed," Jesus said. "So what do you think? How are we doing? We have worked hard, made shrewd investments, taken care of ourselves... I mean... pretty good huh?" Jesus said, "Yes. Yes. Very impressive. You have done quite well for yourselves. You are a great country. I have admired you from afar."