http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/05/25/God.sports/index.html?hpt=C2

It’s an interesting question… Does God care about sports? It’s not hard to see how much influence and impact they can have, both good & bad, on people and culture in general. We have seen the powerful influence of successful athletes, and heard the stories of life’s great struggles through the lens of athletics.

It would be hard to argue that God cares about who wins in sports, but maybe does… What do you think?

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/03/25/sam.harris.ted2010.cnn

Somehow people who are atheists believe it doesn’t require faith to believe what they do… It’s strange to me that there is this ‘intellectual supremacy’ this people group claim over other beliefs. I mean, it’s not hard to come up with just as much, if not more, evidence about why to believe there is a god versus why there’s not. Do the research yourself.

But maybe it’s all our fault. Maybe what atheist’s need is to experience followers of Christ having more valuable impact on the world than any other people group… Let’s face it; Christianity in western culture is blowing it at large. We are known for things Jesus was never known for, and we’re rarely identified with who and what He actually stood for! Love, mercy, creativity & joy, these aspects of Jesus would rarely be linked to western Christianity. It would be far more likely to be labeled as hypocritical, divisive, gay hating & boring…

The sad thing is this: I can’t argue with them, their perception is basically right… However, I do know that this IS NOT the reality of a small movement of Christ followers in the west today. There are people all over America living passionate lives of faith led by the Spirit of God and making huge impact for the Kingdom & in the world today. I will trade in my discouragement around the “Christian perception” in the west for hope of what is to come. May the western church rise to the occasion, and love the world through the Spirit like we’re called to!

ZEN Words of Wisdom:

1.  Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.

2.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.

3.  It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.

4. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

5. Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.

6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

7. If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

9. If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.

10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day .

11.   If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably a wise investment.

12. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

13. Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.

14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

17. Duct tape is like ‘The Force’. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

19.  Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving .

20.  Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

21.  Never miss a good chance to shut up.

AND

22 .  Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

That’s good for a laugh… don’t over-spiritualize it people, just relax and be able to chuckle a bit…

If I’m honest, sometimes I struggle with Shane Claiborne… I don’t say this because I disagree with him, just the opposite in fact. He lives a life of such radical devotion, it makes me question myself and my own faithfulness. Jesus was a radical, there’s no doubt about it, and I love the way he is seen to be exactly that in the life of Shane.

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209#ixzz0XQ1fWBP4

http://www.doggieheadtilt.com/83-percent/

Have you ever have someone speak malice against you? To slander your name publicly? If you have, you know it’s not fun.

I was coaching a group of high school kids this past weekend. Our team won a tournament that was a pretty big stepping stone for the program, and yet my day was soiled by a strange and frustrating moment. Just after the championship game I had a parent from the opposing team interrupt a conversation I was having with my coaches and parents. He jammed his finger in my face and said something like this: “I don’t appreciate the fact that you called my son a ……” (a very derogatory and harsh word). I stood there stunned, like I had just been punched in the face. “Sir,” I said, “first off, that is a ridiculous claim, who is your son?” I knew the allegations were totally untrue and unwarranted, yet the questioning of my integrity stirred a rugged pugilist deep inside me that had to be restrained (sorry, I’ve just always wanted to use the word pugilist in a sentence, haha).

After he explained his son played for the opposing team, I asked him if I might meet him and the three of us could settle this dispute together. He took me over to the opposing teams bench, and a mob of parents quickly formed around me. Now I recognized the kid when we walked up, it was the same young gentleman I asked to clean up his mouth after he walked by my wife and I earlier in the day spewing profanities. He was not comfortable with the fact I was standing before him now asking what exactly he told these parents I had said to him. Nor was he effective in bringing out any type of legitimate story as to why or how I made fun of him. He simply continued to crawl into a invisible cave and say “you were making fun of me…” His victim like attitude still caused enough controversy with the parents to make me feel uneasy, but not enough to remove the desire to kick his butt.

The situation was diffused when the coach asked me to leave his players alone and go to my team across the field. Finally I yielded and before I left I looked at the father who originally prompted the dispute, I shrugged my shoulders and said I don’t know what to tell you. He snaps back with his original intensity, “I just don’t think there should be a situation where a high school kid feels like an adult is making fun of them.” Despite the obvious fact his son was folding under the pressure, like a guilty person before a tough lawyer, the father was still upset. The coach ushered me away as I told him I agreed with him, and I hoped he would address with his son why he would lie to his face.

I did not get to enjoy the sweetness of our victory. My heartbeat was racing and I grind-ed my teeth together out of anger and confusion. The opposing teams parents stared at me like a leper, and soon I lost my anger for disappointment. Dissapointment in the whole situation. This is why I didn’t want to coach high school kids, I thought. And then I thought of all the great kids I get to coach, and all the parents that I encounter and truly enjoy knowing. I know it’s worth it, but man, that sucked, and I didn’t feel like my name was cleared as it should have been.

I can not imagine what it would be like to be Jesus. To be this guy with the most pure servant heart ever. He had committed his every day to others and never himself. And then to be put on trial for bull crap, and hear the very people he longed to serve call for his death. To hear what people must have said about him to the court and judge, it must have been hard to keep quiet. But he did. And then he was beaten ruthlessly, only to return to the court to hear the people cry for his death by crucifixion. There was no worse way to go, and there he is, an innocent man to be put to death. The shame of it all, the public slander that took place, even his friends wouldn’t associate with him, instead they lied to others claiming not to have known him. Seems radical really. To think that Jesus actually had the power to stop it all and reverse the whole situation, and yet he didn’t. Instead he humbly allowed them to do as they pleased. And he didn’t do it in vain, he knew what the result would be, and he kept his power subdued so that his mission might be fulfilled.

Now I don’t think I did the wrong thing in addressing the situation with the boy and his father, but I wonder how I could have handled it better, I wonder what Jesus would have done… Not what someone in the church would have done, but really Jesus, I wonder what Jesus would have said to the people, I wonder how he would have been postured, I wonder if it is different than what I think… That is what it means to be a Christian to me, to become more and more like the person of Christ. The radical man depicted in the gospels that shows us another way to live, a way unlike this world.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

-1 Kings 19:11-13

Have you ever wanted to hear the audible voice of God? If your anything like me you do regularly… I wonder what it would be like to hear the voice of the creator, the one who was and is and always will be… Pretty radical when you sit and think on it huh?

I am in a strange place of transition and questioning… Not questioning my faith, but more my own personal calling by God. We are all called to some good work, from the beginning of time this has been true of all people. Currently there are 6.5 billion people in the world, each uniquely gifted and equipped to do some type of good work, to bless humanity, to serve, love and worship God. This obviously looks different for everyone. My life long friend Dan is almost done with med school, he has studied his butt off for years to become the best doctor he can be. That is his calling, that is his mission. Here is what’s cool that his calling and your calling and my calling may all be different, but have the same value and purpose. SO, this is what I am trying to figure out is what my unique calling looks like. I have some good ideas and indicators for what my calling looks like. I have always held onto what someone told me years ago, ‘your desires give some indication of your calling, your talents confirm a lot about that calling.’

I have been seeking wise counsel and praying about this pretty intently. I keep waiting for some type of divine intervention, and yet it seems to never come… Isn’t that how it feels at times, that every once and a while we simply cannot hear the voice of God. Either that or we’re trying to hear him in a way that he is not speaking. I wait and I pray, I look to scripture and others who I trust, and still I feel a sense of inner turmoil. I look to the earthquake and the fire, and God is not speaking there. But, in that quiet whisper, he does speak, if only I learn how to listen…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhNqfq_6_68

Sometime around 30 years old Jesus started his ministry on earth. You can find his first major corporate teaching in Matthew 5, the famous “sermon on the mount.” Right after he goes through these revolutionary ideas called the beatitudes, he narrows things down and tells the people what will happen when they live this way. He spoke of how when someone chooses to live life in the way that his God has uniquely designed them to, they become this humanity preserver, like salt for humanity. These “kingdom people” (if you will) have been around for centuries, as committed followers of Christ (probably not much the ones we see on TV), they bring out the good, the pure, the funny, the exciting, the artistic, the beautiful, the magical and majestic, all that is true, everything that reeks of love and grace, they bring that out in the world. Just as light illuminates something that is there, and brings it to life, so do they. They breath hope into souls when there is despair, they speak gently yet with an assurance and boldness that we long for. There is a certain leadership in them that we want to follow because it is accompanied by such a unique humility. Just as salt and light are not the focus, they too can fade in the distance, but their impact is undeniable. Yet every once in a while, probably more often these days then they like, they have to defend their faith because others have given them a bad name.

Have you ever taken a spoon full of salt into your mouth?…

Have you ever had a flash light pointed right in your face?…

There is an appropriate way to live this radical life that Jesus called us to over 2,000 years ago. I don’t assume to know exactly how to do it, but I long to walk in the world the way he did! It is not easy to strive to do that in today’s culture, but I am certain it has always been that way, and always will be for every part of the world. Sometimes I feel uneasy about other peoples experiences that they associate with Jesus, because I know that sometimes people can come off much more like a spoon full of salt rather than a pinch of it in your dinner. Salt and light are vital in our existence, maybe salt is not as much now as it used to be, yet it certainly adds a lot to our lives. I hope that the Christ followers you know would personify what it means to be salt of the earth and light of the world, just as Jesus longs for them to be.

If you think things don’t look this way now, may it start with you…

Kim and I were talking the other day about how incredibly radical it is to think about the life of Jesus… I mean, this was no normal guy. I don’t know anyone who has more holidays and world events than this guy! Not just Easter which symbolizes his resurrection from the dead, or Christmas where so many celebrate his birth, even our historical and current time gauge is based off him (BC & AD)! I don’t know any other figure, real or fictional, dead or alive, religious or political, who has had more impact on the world than the man from Nazareth. Even his name has been turned into a curse word for some. That’s wild, I mean, you never hear someone smash their toe and yell, BUDDHA, or GHANDI! For some reason, Jesus is very popular still today. So why? What is it about this man who walked the middle east two thousand years ago?…

I could probably write on this for days. This is what its all about, knowing the life and heart of this man, this God-Man, Jesus. He is wholly unique, incredibly different than what many would expect (probably myself included), 100% radical, fearless, captivating as a leader yet humble and peaceful, a great story teller and a refreshing theologian, he is smart and witty, funny I’m sure and probably strange at times, and one of the things that draws me most to him, he reeks of love and compassion. You read the gospels, compassion oozes out of the pages and rubs off on you from Christ and his actions, not just his words, his actions. That is what I hope to see resurrected this year, a renewed heart of compassion in our world. That I may live in another direction contrary to whatever I may think or have been taught and actually believe that it is better to serve than it is to be served, that it is better to give than it is to receive, that it is better to show mercy, to forgive, to love my enemies and truly pray for those who persecute me… This is the way of Jesus, and this is what inspires me to follow him, his actions. Right out of the tomb and into the streets, carve a path in your neighborhood of redemptive action that cannot be discredited by anyone because it was done through no other motivation except the one the resurrected Jesus called us to… love.