Easter is Pass-over

Happy Holy Week. A bit of history about Easter to start our week off:

The date picked to celebrate the celebration of Jesus’ empty tomb doesn’t have the best of histories. The Easter holiday was picked to align the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ with the pagan festival celebrating the Greek fertility goddess, Eostre (or Estre). It’s from the same word origin that we get the words estrogen and Easter. After the cold of winter and amid the spring of new life, the ancient Greeks would honor Eostre with a spring festival. As Spring arrived, trees budded, flowers bloomed, and the animals returned from their winter naps, the Greeks would throw extravagant feasts for Eostre in the belief that anything less would risk the loss of Spring the following year.
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Lie #20: Don’t do anything until you hear from God.

Perhaps this isn’t a lie. Perhaps it’s good advice, but at times in my life I’ve found myself at forks in the road without clear overwhelming direction from God. We glamorize moments of being spoken to by God, and they do make good stories. They fill the Old Testament, but most of our stories won’t be dotted by Moses-on-the-mountain-moments. And that’s the point of spiritual maturity, growing in wisdom and discernment, that we are capable of making decisions. Making a decision without the booming voice of God isn’t wrong, but I’ll admit I’d prefer a booming voice over having to implement faith and decision making in my life.

So when there’s a fork in the road we evaluate our motives and our goals and our hopes. We make sure we aren’t moving forward in an agenda for the kingdom of self rather than the Kingdom of God. There simply comes a time in life when we can pray no longer, we can stall no further, and we have to make a decision. I try to do this with open hands.

Tags: lies, spiritual growth

The Lesson of the Four Showers

There are four showers in my life. I’ll start with the one furthest from my home.

The First Shower:
My in-laws own a lovely place in Orlando. Kristy and I stay in the guest room with a bathroom across the hall where there’s a tub with a shower head. I pull the curtain closed, turn the water on, and hop in the tub immediately feeling the scorching water on my feet. I try to sneak up the side near the shower curtain, stretching to reach the temperature controls. A nudge is a thousand degress. I prance back and forth like a frightened child.

The Second Shower:
Granny owns a cabin on Lake Alatoona, just north of Atlanta. We go up there most weekends throughout the summer. The guest bathroom is tiny with a slender shower stall. There’s no where to hide, and the pressure is intense, like you don’t have to use soap. The dirt flies off with the top layer of your skin.

The Third Shower:
The showers at the YMCA are not great. There are ten of them, and I haven’t found a single one with good temperature or pressure. Some of the shower heads are spastic and have their own agendas. The whole experience forces quick showers.

The Fourth Shower:
We finished a master bathroom and walk-closet on the back of our house in the fall. Our new shower is a big walk-in with one wall being frameless glass with a glass door. The other walls and the floor are tiled. There is a bench to rest on and a nook for all of our shampoo bottles. The temperature is perfect, and the presssure enjoyable. The controls are easy, and the showers are joy.

The Shower Lesson:
Life is like this, a variety of temperatures and pressures. We are forced into these places, not always choosing them or desiring them. But we are there and need to shower. We have to learn to adjust and maneuver with the temperatures and pressures that are among us. And then when we find ourselves back in that sweet shower we are thankful for the moment.

Peeing and Texting

Kristy and I saw Crazy Heart last Friday night. After the movie I walked into the bathroom, and there standing at a urinal was a thirty-something year old man peeing and texting. I know Oprah has her push to make texting and driving illegal, but surely something needs to be done about peeing and texting. We have to draw the line somewhere.

I quit texting and driving a few months ago. It’s just not worth it. Kristy and I made a pact. Even today, a stupid college kid almost slammed into the back of my truck. I saw him in my review mirror flying down the lane. I was completely stopped in rush hour traffic. He wasn’t, and he was coming quickly. He had his head cocked to the right and a little down. I could barely make out his thumb moving rapidly on his little black phone. He looked up just as I braced for impact. There was a screech. He stopped in time.
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Tags: consumerism, culture

Lie #19: Saying yes to God means you’re going to Africa.

Continuing our one question interview my friend Suzanne Akins weighs in on the q. Suzanne lives in the coastal town of Brunswick, Georgia, with her husband and their 4 kids under the age of five. Suzanne blogs about life and mothering here. Her thoughts on our question are below:

“What lies do you hear floating around churches that worries you?”

Lie: Say Yes to God. Get sent to Africa.

I walked into the campus ministry I had always attended and headed straight to the water fountain. See, that’s always my plan when I’m in an uncomfortable location: Walk proud, walk confident, and walk straight to the water fountain. Then, if no one talks to me, I don’t feel dumb. I had purpose. I was thirsty. Right?

It shouldn’t have been an uncomfortable location for me since I had gone there every week for at least the past two years. But it was. There were Christians there. Real good ones. Real deep ones. Real intense ones. Me? Yeah, I was a Christian, but I wouldn’t put myself anywhere near the caliber of those people. I just showed up to hear good teaching, to listen to great music, to see some friends (if they could get me away from the water fountain). But those people. They heard from Jesus. Like daily. Especially the pastor.
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Tags: lies

My Kids and a Needed Rest

My wife, Kristy, got a new camera for her 30th birthday. So, I introduce my kids, Josie in her boots and Thomas taking a rest.

Saturday we decided to drive out from the city and take a hike. On the way we got lost. Kristy and I almost strangled each other, but we eventually got there. We reconciled and hugged and began down the trail. About a quarter of a mile down the trail a pasture appeared on our right. We parked our stroller and let Josie out to run around.

There was no concrete or buildings or noise. I couldn’t hear traffic or people. I couldn’t hear busyness or stress. We just walked through the field, content to be, hearing nothing that we might hear something.

We need places like this, places to be still. So I ask, where is yours?

Tags: culture, spiritual growth

The Oscars and Our Friends

It’s midnight. The Academy Awards just finished, and I just turned off my television. I didn’t used to watch the Academy Awards, or the Grammy’s for that matter, but I’ve found them strangely inspiring for the last few years. I love seeing people have their dreams come true and get to do what they love.

For me the highlights were the recipients of best actor and actress:

Best Actor went to Jeff Bridges. It was a celebration for a life well lived – 33 years of marriage, 3 children, and forty or more years of show business.

Best Actress went to Sandra Bullock, who I’ve had a crush on since she drove the bus in the movie Speed. I love that when her name was called she was truly surprised, and she honored her fellow nominees with sincere words. Most people forget the competition once the race is over.

But my favorite part of the show is the method by which they introduce the nominees. They have colleagues, friends, give short speeches that are both genuine, personal, and ultimately honoring. There are few things greater than a friend honoring another friend. It’s greater than any gold statue.

Tags: culture

Lie #18: What Lie Worries You?

Continuing our perriodic one question interviews I asked my friend Becky Turner, who works with pregnant teens in Houston, the question, “What lie floating around the church worries you?”

Her response is below:

The lie: If you hear of a need, you are called to fill it.

As the two women walked into evening worship, one looked frazzled and exhausted – definitely not the countenance one would expect on the Sabbath.

Jessica, are you ok? Why the downcast face?

Oh, Karen, 3 year old choir this afternoon was crazy. My ears are ringing from the decibel level of the kids’ singing and my knees hurt from sitting in the baby-bear chairs.

Jessica, you barely liked your kids when they were three – why in the world are you doing preschool choir?
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Tags: church, lies

Lie #17: Thanking God after a tennis victory is always a great witness.

Well, we are slowly building a little community on this blog. Y’all are showing up and reading, which I love. Feel free to leave comments, but no pressure there. I don’t like pressure for participation, never have. I have a horrible memory of being forced to do karaoke at a church event.

I just finished tennis great, Andre Agassi’s, autobiography, Open. I grew up playing tennis and idolizing the guy, so I was addicted to the pages for a few days.

At one point Agassi is writing about playing Michael Chang, who in Agassi’s opinion, has developed a bad habit. › Continue reading

Tags: culture, lies