Archive - April, 2011

The Royal Wedding and Proms

April 30, 2011 in Christian Living with 2 Comments

I had just completed a lengthy article about my astonishment of “The Royal Wedding”, but opted to delete it. My astonishment is two-fold. One, why do people care so much about this? Two, how idiotic it is to spend 60 million dollars on a wedding. Three, what impact does this wedding have on girls looking towards their wedding? And four, how this wedding and things like it have caused proms to be “out of control” in the amount of money spent for dresses, tuxes, meals, the dance and the post-prom party.

I guess I don’t get it and would like your help. Answer for me the following questions…

1. Why do you care about this wedding? Is it the “fairy tale” or what?

2. How do you justify spending 60 million dollars on a wedding? Is the Brittish economy that much better than ours?

3. Does this wedding cause young girls/women in our society to yearn to be a princess? Does this cause self-esteem issues down the road? My three girls are my princesses – not because of how they look, but because of who they are as people. I think weddings like this and even prom events put an awful lot of focus and pressure on looks and “fluff”. In my opinion, this adversely affects the self-esteem of young women.

4. Have proms gotten out of hand the past 20 years? I hate to add up how much money is spent on prom each year – in each community in the United States. Post-prom parties alone spend several thousands of dollars all to ensure that kids aren’t out drinking, doing drugs and/or having sex – at least not on this night!

I don’t know, call me an old fuddy duddy or something. I just don’t get it. I know I am a guy and guys don’t get a lot of things.

Help me out here. Where is God in any of this? What would God want of us? Is this question given any thought? I know me even bringing up this question will absolutely turn many of you off, but I believe it is something each of us should ask. And it is MUCH EASIER for me to ask this question to you than for me to ask it of myself!

 

I can be so unproductive!

April 27, 2011 in Christian Living with 0 Comments


It’s amazing how little I can get done sometimes – shockingly so! I am so easily distracted. I can sit in my office with great intent to really accomplish a lot – make progress for my next sermon, do some reading, plan some upcoming meetings, contact some people, etc…, to come to the end of the day and see very little traction made in any of these areas. It is pretty frustrating!

What is it that causes me to be unproductive you ask? Great question! The simple answer is “ME”! The more complex answers are the following: phone calls (probably 8-10 yesterday), emails, people stop through the office, helping make coffee, interacting with D, Jim and Kim, text messages, a Youtube video someone told me about, updating my contact list in google, checking my calendar for the coming weeks, thinking about details for our short trip to the Cities on Sunday, putting together some things for a seminar I will be attending in Portland in early June, etc…

I have come to realize that these “distractions” are what I like about life. I LOVE when people stick their head in my office to say hello. I very much enjoy helping people with coffee or whatever they need in the ministry center. I am energized by interacting with D, Jim and Kim (ok, usually energized!). I am a relational person, so whenever I can interact with others I am happy. I also have to spend time updating my calendar and contacts and those details in my life, so that stuff has to be accomplished as well.

I have also come to realize if I really want to make traction on that sermon or do some focused study or writing, I have to get out of the office to do it. I have started trying to take a day a week – or at least 4-6 hours of that day to go to a coffee shop and spend time working on those items mentioned above. It is amazing how much more productive I am in a few hours in a coffee shop than I am for 8 hours in my office. When I say “productive”, what I mean is in the amount of physical work that I can get done. It is a different kind of work than when I am in the office.

I am planning on making it a regular part of my life to get out of the office at least two days a week. I want to use this time to intentionally meet with people and to use that time between meetings to study for whatever it is I need to be studying for. I am looking forward to this change. If you want to meet with me in a coffee shop in Ames or Ankeny, let me know. I would love to interact with you!

My challenge to you – if you are in a position that allows it – how can you change your day-to-day work pattern to make yourself more productive and efficient?

Why do you believe what you believe?

April 25, 2011 in Bible, Christian Living with 0 Comments

Just some questions for you to ponder this morning:

What do you believe will happen to you after you die?

Why do you believe this?

What if you are wrong?

What if you are right?

What are some ways you could investigate this further?

I truly believe this is the most important thing you need to come to terms with in your life.

Enjoy a video by Casting Crowns. It gives the message of Easter.

 

Peter – Me – You?

April 22, 2011 in Bible, Christian Living with 2 Comments

Peter is one of my favorite guys in the Bible. He is so devoted, so spontaneous, so “on the edge”, so passionate, so confident, so committed, so real. He is outspoken in his allegiance to Christ. He is ready to fight for the cause. He is also so scared, so doubting, so self-concerned, so self-preserving, so real.

Maybe I like Peter because I am so much like him – except without the passion, spontaneity, confidence. I am real though.

Peter is one of “The Twelve” – and perhaps the one who was closest to Jesus. He was certainly part of the inner three with James and John. I appreciate Scripture so much in that even though Peter was tight with Jesus, it still shows that Peter struggled. Christ refers to Peter as “Satan” in Matthew 16:23. I want to focus a little today on the last day of the life of Jesus.

Jesus is having his last meal with his disciples. He then kind of changes the mood of the meal by sharing that someone from his twelve were going to betray him to the authorities. Jesus followed that up by saying that all of them would fall away that night. Peter, in typical Peter fashion, replies that even if all the others fall away, that he never would.

Jesus takes this a step further and informs Peter that on that very night, Peter will deny that he knew Christ three times. I love Peter’s declaration! “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” I can see myself thinking and saying the same thing.

Such confidence, such boldness, such zeal! What happens? Peter denies Jesus three times. When Peter realized what he had done, he went outside and “wept bitterly”. Can you imagine the heartache Peter experienced? What a failure! Come on Peter! You said you would follow Christ to the death! What happened?

My heart aches for Peter. My heart aches for me. I hate to think about the number of times I have denied Jesus. The ways are numerous. I have denied Jesus when I fail to act when I see injustice. I have denied Jesus when I fail to speak up when someone is being mistreated. I have denied Jesus when I don’t listen to that still, small voice that is encouraging me to visit someone at the nursing home or in the hospital or down the street. I have denied Jesus when I speak harshly to Stacy or my kids. I have denied Jesus when I manipulate things or people.  I have denied Jesus when I do what I want with my things I purchased with my money. This list could go on and on … Ugh…

But isn’t this the message of the Cross? We all fall so short – or at least I do – of total commitment to Christ, of living lives that seek to bring him glory and honor. I try, I make a new commitment, I strive to do better. This time it will all be different I think. I can hear Peter thinking and doing the same things. “I will follow you to death!” “I won’t deny you!”

Following Jesus’ death, John shares in his Gospel that Jesus went to Peter and restored him. That’s the story of the cross. As we sin, as we fall short, Christ is there to forgive us and challenge us to keep serving Him, to “Feed his sheep” and to “Follow Him!”

Death, burial and resurrection – the Gospel message. A message to live for. A message to love for. A message that changed the world. I am praying it has changed your world.

 

Love God … Love Others

April 20, 2011 in Bible, Christian Living with 3 Comments

As we are going through Holy Week, it is interesting to think what Jesus did each of the days between Palm Sunday (his entrance to Jerusalem) and Maunday Thursday (when it is commonly accepted that Jesus had the Last Supper and was then arrested*). There really is not a lot of detail about those days, but we do know that Jesus did a lot of teaching.

One of the lessons he taught during this time is what we now refer to as the Great Commandment from Matthew 22:37-39 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

My question for you to ponder today … which one is harder for you – to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength or to love your neighbor as yourself? Why?

I will kick it off in the comments below.

 

* I read an article just this week that speculates that the Last Supper and arrest actually happened on Wednesday of the week, not Thursday as has been commonly accepted. It discussed different calendars that could possibly have been used.

 

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