Reality Check

Anything you can do, I can do better.
     I can do anything better than you!

Do you remember that song?  I remember going 'round and 'round with my sister - "no you can't, Yes I can!"

We may not say this much any more but I bet it's still thought, a bunch!

The mistakes of others often cause us to shake our heads and look down our noses and think, I would never be that careless.  Consider this, when reading about the wanderings of the Israelite's many Christians scoff with this, "if God did for me what He did for the people of Israel I would follow Him anywhere!"  We assume that we could "do it better" than they could.

But I wonder if that is true?

The truth is no matter what happens, no matter what is going on in my life, I have the tendency to harden my heart.  It's not like I do it on purpose.  It just happens.  When I go about my life I can get sidetracked with the day to day.  Even if God provided food every day.  Even if He made my shoes and clothes last forever.  Even if He made the sun stand still - I would get used to it.  I would harden my heart and look for something "more."  With food every morning I would complain it wasn't the right food or get tired of it, I'm sure.

The point is we so often miss the things God is doing in our lives.  Not because we aren't paying attention or because what He's doing isn't incredible, but because His work and miracles have become commonplace.  Because we've grown used to His working in our lives we fail to see it any longer.

The writer of Hebrews recalls this,
"Today, please listen;
    don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”
    that time of wilderness testing!
Even though they watched me at work for forty years,
    your ancestors refused to let me do it my way;
    over and over they tried my patience..."

My prayer today was that I would NOT be like those who wandered in the desert.  That I would NOT get lost in the commonplace of God's mighty hand at work in my life and church.  That my ears would stay open so that I would hear His voice so that I might obey His command.  And that I wouldn't get sidetracked or lose focus, but would instead make it to my destination.

What are you ignoring today because you've gotten used to God's providence?

If there is food in your home... ANY food then God is providing.  You literally could be like the majority of the people in the world and have NO food in your home.  No refrigerator or freezer to keep food beyond the day.  No cupboards filled with canned stuff you keep until there's a food drive at church or with Scouts and you can unload it.  Got a vehicle to get to work?  Does it work?  Got a job?  Most people walk.

Father, help me to have eyes to see your work and provision in my life and for my family.

Learning from Lance

Lance Armstrong is back in the news but its the same old story.  Doping.  No it doesn't mean that he was smoking dope, weed or Mary Jane.  In the sports world it refers to any number of performance enhancing substances designed to give you a physical edge over your opponents.  This time though the prosecution comes with eye-witness accounts from Armstrong's team-mates and lots and lots of documentation.

Now, I don't want to presume him guilty, I'll let the people who are making the claims do that but the pressure and the evidence are mounting against Lance.  And although he still fiercely maintains his innocence I would imagine that the truth will come out perhaps sooner rather then later.

Here's the deal.  When you beat as many people as he has as much as he has someone is going to cry foul.  They will say things like, "no one can be that good."

So here's the problem in Armstrong's situation.  He denies his guilt.  I imagine that if it's possible, he'll claim innocence to the grave, regardless of what his closest and most trusted "friends" are saying.  And there's the problem.  We'll take honesty over perfection any day.

Many Christians have believed for a very long time that they, like Lance, have needed to claim innocence even in the midst of obvious guilt.  We'll make some excuse or reason why we "had" to do what we did and say things like, "I didn't mean to do it" thinking that motive or mitigating factors lessen our guilt or responsibility.  But the truth is people just want us to be honest.  If you fall.  If you fail.  Own it.

Here's what I tell the folks at Real Life.  If you are trying to live out your walk with Christ and you mess up, you tell a dirty joke (or laugh at one!) or you let some @#%$! words fly, don't just jump back up on your high-horse and blame your co-workers for your failure, go to them and say, "I'm Sorry.  I'm trying to live differently now and I failed.  I'll probably fail again, even though I don't want to."  An apology for not living up to your own expectations - offered out of HUMILITY will go a long way in helping your co-workers, family, friends or neighbors understand that your new life in Christ is a process and that you want to succeed.

The worst thing we do as Christians is pretend like we're perfect and that everyone else is at fault if we fail.

If it turns out that Lance has been involved in the most intricate and covert doping cover-up in sports history he'll look like a fool and honestly, I hope they take away every win he received.  Not as punishment for his win, but as punishment for his lies.  If he's innocent, I'll be the first to cheer him on.

Believers know this, you're not perfect.  You're going to mess up and fall both publicly and privately.  Own it before your friends, family and co-workers and own it before God.  Seek restoration and reconciliation from those around you and from God.  Get out of the saddle and see what it's like to walk in frail honesty for awhile.  You'll find it's a lot more freeing than trying to be perfect and finding someone to blame when you're not.

The Walking Dead Have Taken Over Real Life

What a great Sunday at Real Life to kick off October AND our new message series, Walking Dead!  Had a great morning of music finished off by four baptisms and learned about how Daniel was walking dead because he chose to die to sin and selfishness so that he could live, completely to God.  And that is what this walking dead series is all about!  The truth is we are all walking dead.  In a literal sense we are all headed for death, if you're reading this you haven't died yet, but you and I and everyone else will one day die.  We're walking dead in a spiritual sense in two ways:  First, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) so without Jesus we're dead in our sins.  But as believers in Jesus we should die to sin and selfishness.  So you are either walking dead IN sin or walking dead TO sin.

The myth is that if we remove the obstacle (God we suppose) to happiness and life-the-way-we-want-it then we will truly be able to live.  But the reality of our lives is that without God nothing really makes sense.  We can pretend it does and talk about morality and doing good to others, but without a God that determines what is moral and good those things become arbitrary and meaningless.  I know a young man who talked about how God probably wants a good moral person who "does no harm" over a Christian who lives at times like a hypocrite.  In this view, he justifies not needing a Savior because he lives his life trying to "do no harm" to others.  The problem with his view is this; while he is kind to most people he can be horribly mean, verbally abusive and physically aggressive toward members of his own family.  So he doesn't even live up to his OWN moral code.

When we live for ourselves based on our own system or code of what life is all about we most often fail and wind up controlled by something that we thought we had control over.  Live your life for yourself, on your own terms and you'll end up looking for something more down the road, something that satisfies your hunger for meaning and passion for life.

Paul, in Titus  chapter 3 gives this testimony, [God] gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus (Romans 6:23 MSG).

If you want to really live you've got to give up your life - I know it sounds backward but it  isn't, it's how it works.  Try to save your life and live for yourself and you'll get trapped by the very things you chose to do to prove your independence!  But give up your life to Jesus and let Him lead you and you'll discover what it's like to truly live.  To be free.  To be more than you though possible.

Welcome, to the walking dead.

Here's a picture of my family taken last Sunday at Real Life Christian Church Worship Center to promote the walking dead series on social media sites.

Thriller Flash Mob at Real Life Sunday!

To increase awareness of the Walking Dead series beginning Sunday October 7th, a few creepy folks from Real Life decided to thrill us with a little taste of zombi-riffic dancing on Sept 30th!  Enjoy!