Jesus, the Best Expression of God

Last night at the dinner table my 3 year old little girl looked at me and said, “Jesus is the Son of God.” She sort of knows what that means. She knows what a son is to a father, and she knows and experiences some of the attributes of God. But the question did hit me: what does that mean? What does “Jesus is the Son of God” mean?

So I thought about it for a day.

Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to: Jesus is the best expression God could create of himself in the physical world.

If you want to know what God is like you can read man’s thoughts about God and get some ideas. Or you can read about the grace and love of Jesus.

The Conversation at the End of the Hall

A couple of weeks ago I, and some other church leaders, prayed for a lady who has a brain tumor. We prayed our first desire, for her physical healing, but we also prayed the humble prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, “not my will but yours be done.”

It’s coming for us all, this end. We’re more frail than we think and more fragile than we ever imagined. We will each have this conversation at the end of the hallway. No one is exempt. Our days our limited. And the conversation awaits us. There’s no where to turn, only one end. Don’t let this create despair. Let it create motivation. Care not for the frivolous and live today – enjoy the life you’ve been given.

The Bound Will and “Other People”

Christians do not do more good in this world for the same reasons atheists or Hindus don’t – the will within them is bound. The idea of the bondage of the will speaks of the enslavement all people have to the nasty selfish force within. As natural as it is to breath is our concern for ourselves over other people. It’s not that people, any sort of person for that matter, can’t do kind and good things. No person is completely bad. But every person, even in the kindest of us, has slivers of bad in them.

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Paul Zahl – The Darkness is not Dark

“The crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday means that dark is not dark if God is there. Dark is dark in the absence of God. But in the presence of God, darkness becomes light, just as a tragic loss in everyday life becomes bearable if someone is there to love you through it.”

- Paul Zahl (Grace in Practice, p.42)

“…even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:12

Off to Guatemala

This morning I, and 23 others, board a plan to Guatemala. We’ll build houses for widows, give shoes to the needy, and swing in hammocks by the lake.

[More posts coming in a week or two.]

Love and Creativity

Grace creates inspiration. We are set free, minds and dreams emancipated from judgment and expectation. Creativity thrives in freedom and dies in conditions. It’s why most creatives are free-thinking folks with little concern for norms and rules. They know the creativity within them is dependent upon their hearts having room to roam and be. But I don’t think inspiration is just for artists. Inspiration is life-fuel. If we lack inspiration for our lives, or those around us, we need only to remind ourselves of the story of being loved when we didn’t deserve it. (Hint: “While we were still sinners Christ died for us…”) When you know you are loved you are set free.

Book Update and Living in the Present

So, I signed with Tyndale House, and now a fury of emails and tasks have been released. Last weekend my friend and seasoned writer, Jim Reimann, spent three days haunched over his computer correcting my horrendous grammer and punctuation. I then spent the following three nights revising the entire manuscript before turning it in last week [long exhale here].

Now, Tyndale’s editors are working with it, before it comes back to me for one last approval. Meanwhile, we are forming our marketing plan, gathering endorsements, and creating cover art–believing the message of this book is worth all the work.

It’s encouraging to think of a bunch of publishers and editors circled around a conference table looking at hundreds of manuscripts, deciding mine was worth their time and money. And yet about a day after signing the contract my heart and mind left this encouraging celebratory moment, setting my sights on good reviews and making it on sales lists. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, and given the possibility of miracles any of it could happen. But if I miss today, dwelling on tomorrow, then none of it’s worth anything.

I’ll keep you posted along the way. Check out the book summary over on “The Book” page.

Rest for the Inner Man

This book deal released a fury of calls, edits, and a growing to do list. And it follows me, this work – in the shower, while I jog, when my head is on my pillow. I can work even when I’m not working. I can rest and not rest.

If we miss the ideal of rest we miss one of the greatest realities of what it means to be human. God rested on the 7th day, not becuase he was tired, but becasue he wanted to model for us that part of existing is resting.

If you doubt me let me check back with you at 3am tonight. (Yes, you’ll be asleep, as will I.) Meaning, we have a daily reminder that we can’t and don’t control everything. The world keeps spinning without us.

Rest is the opportunity for us to cease striving, cease lording over our own lives. Imagine, resting from the need to prove yourself as known, or recognized, or righteous. No amount of vacations or naps can give us what we need – inner rest. This inner rest can’t come from yourself, for you’ll tire as you try to reach it. This inner rest can’t come from others for human relationships are always conditioned upon something, and that condition creates some amount of expectation, worry, and fear – not rest.

Rest is created when a faithful Creator loves a restless faithless person. This love has no conditions.

We are Loved Before

I love to watch my children sleep, watching their chest rise and fall. It reveals the idea, the freeing truth that we are loved when we aren’t doing or accomplishing something. The love of God is conditioned upon nothing. We are loved before and after, when we sleep or rest, not just during.

Tags: gospel, grace

Tyndale House Book Deal

Friends,

Two weeks ago my literary agent, Chip MacGregor, called me with stellar news – Tyndale House Publishers was interested in a book manuscript I wrote last fall. Over the past couple of weeks, after many conversations and emails, the details are now set, and I’m ecstatic to announce that the book (“40 Days without Food: divine goodness to a starving soul”) is set to release as an e-book on July 1st. If there’s a certain amount of success with the e-book a print book will be published. So…my completely biased suggestion: buy an e-reader if you don’t have one (welcome to the future!), buy the e-book, buy the print book, then buy 50 copies for all your friends and family.

The book follows a 40 day fast I did six years ago, but the greater story told is of God’s faithfulness to a frazzled twenty-five year old who is wrestling with faith and purpose. While the book will be available on all e-readers and computer apps for e-books Tyndale House is partnering with Amazon (via Kindle) for some unique marketing and promotions.

I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you. I’ll be posting excerpts and details on the blog over the next couple of months – as well as be promoting on other blogs and sites. As you learn about and read pieces of the book I hope you come along for the ride.