It's Hard to Be Happy

Today is one of those days when it's hard to be happy. I am helping our Kidsprings director take 15 or so kids to a wildlife park today...no that's NOT what makes it hard to be happy. I have two of the best kids in the world that give me every reason to smile. I have a beautiful wife that gets my heart pumping as fast today as she did 20 years ago. I have three great jobs. All is good and I should be happy..but today it's hard.

Last week, I got word that another one of my good friends, and ministry partners, has cancer. I have another good friend who is watching his parents both battle cancer at the same time and this week learned that his wife's father was killed. Today is just one of those days when I sat down at Starbucks with my Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade and wanted to write something fun and exciting, but it's hard.

In my world, hard does not equal impossible though. So, though there is some pain in the offering today, still I will say "Blessed be the Lord." In the middle of difficulties and watching friends suffer, I know that they are not on the journey alone. This morning, I came across these two verses that solidify my hope.

"The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me." (Job 30:27 TNIV)

"But those who suffer he delivers from their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction." (Job 36:15 TNIV)

"I know that I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ." My family and I pray that Father continues to build this virtue into our lives. This is one of those seasons when the hardships of life and with death are right in our faces. We will walk this road in faith - a fully-sighted faith that produces confidence in us because Father has been faithful to others in the past. It doesn't make it easy, but it does make it bearable.

The David Crowder*Band is one of my favorite bands for many reasons, but I think the primary reason is because they write music that is rooted in real life. They are worship leaders that get that life sucks sometimes and we don't have to sugar-coat it, but we also don't have to be paralyzed by it. A Collision was a CD written out of the darkness of loss and tragedy. Remedy brought the Ultimate Hope into focus. On Tuesday, they released their new single - How He Loves. I thought I'd pass along the song and lyrics - listen and be strengthened:

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Written by John Mark McMillan / Performed by David Crowder*Band on their upcoming "Church Music" CD

"If he is not an enemy, he's an ally."

John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.”

Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.

“On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.

Mark 9:38-42

Mark 9 is a loaded chapter, to say the least. I was drawn by all 5 of the teachable passages (could be more). I have chosen to process with you through one of them, though.

Admittedly, I have a problem with criticism. I have a bit of what I've been told is a gift of discernment. Unfortunately, I have not matured in that gift, completely. It's easy for me to see the good in someone and to embrace that person no matter what they may look like on the outside. However, I can also easily see the bad in someone, and in the words of the great theologian, Bon Qui Qui, "CUT them." My passion and desire to be more like Jesus has turned my criticism 180 degrees in my life though. When I first became a Christ-follower, I would criticize those who didn't know Jesus and felt like it was my duty as a Christian to point out faults and turn them to Jesus. Now, I feel more compassion, mercy and grace flowing to those very people, and less and less flowing to the "Christians" in my culture.

What I hear being said to me in this passage is simple. Quit criticizing those who are acting in my name, and on my behalf just because you don't agree with their methods. If they are not my enemies, then they are my allies. Okay, I hear that, but...

No "buts." No matter if I agree or if I get it, it's clear. If someone is not preaching against Jesus, then I should praise God for them. I don't have to agree with their methodology, I don't have to trust them...I have to trust Him.

It is very interesting that Jesus calls these new Christ-followers, "simple child-like believers." My response to them is crucial. If I keep them from doing any work or ministry "in Jesus' name," then I am guilty. This is serious.

Father, I want to trust you with all of your 'ministers.' You know hearts and you know motives. Even in the most awkward moments, may your light shine through them, as I pray it shines through me when my heart is not right and motives are not pure. None of us are perfect and all of us need you to re-interpret our messages to the hearts of the people you want to reach. May I live in that trust more today, than I did yesterday.

Suspicion v. Adoration

"Most of us have been trained in what is sometimes termed a "hermeneutics of suspicion."  People lie a lot.  And people who write lie more than most.  We are taught to bring a healthy suspicion to everything we read, especially when it claims authority over us.  And rightly so.  We examine and cross-examine the text.  What's going on here?  What's the hidden agenda?  What's behind all of this?  The three modern masters of the hermeneutic of suspicion are Nietzsche, Marx and Freud.  They taught us well to take nothing at face value."  - Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book, p. 68

For most of what we read this is a useful learning.  However, when we come to the Bible with this same approach to reading, we end up with "a small sawdust heap of facts."  We cannot lose this "hermeneutic of suspicion" because we must learn how to discern truth and throw out the junk.  The difference with the Bible is that there is no junk.  We can trust it, no matter what our learned conscious tells us.  Instead of approaching the Holy Writ with suspicion, we must approach it with a "hermeneutic of adoration," so we can see how big, how marvelous and how magnificent life really is.  We spend our time enjoying the world "both vast and intricate" that is revealed by the Text.

Again, this is part of our flawed system.  Think back to when you were a kid and your parents used to tell you stories.  There was a difference between fairy tales and family stories, right.  I mean, a fairy tale was a made-up story designed to spark our imaginations and often stretched our parents to the ends of theirs.  However, when Mom or Dad began to tell us stories of when they were kids, or when their parents were younger, we listened differently.  We listened with a trust that came easily when we were young.  Slowly, over time, this trust of story was replaced by suspicion.  Part of listening to the story of God is regaining that adoration, that trust, as we listen.  We can trust because it's been tested.  We can trust the words because we can trust the object of the words.

If we are going to eat this book, then we must approach it with less cynicism and more trust.  We must allow ourselves to enter into the story, so that the story can enter into us.  We must listen more with our feet and less with our ears, as we participate in the reading of the story.  We have a part to play, but we will never play our part until we trust the story.