Loving, Learning, and Leading

Happy Thanksgiving! What a wonderful time of the year. Although we should live the entire year with appreciation and thanksgiving, it is appropriate that we mark a specific time as sacred, just for the exercise of being thankful. We are all thankful for life, strength, possessions, relationships, and clarity. These are often not appreciated until they are gone. However, we can take time just to thank God for his generosity towards us. The focus is not on the things per se, but on the giver of things, the provider of life and its purposes. Today, in my devotions, I have been studying the book of Jeremiah. I came across the following scripture this morning that is shaping the way I am celebrating this Thanksgiving: Jeremiah 9:23-24 23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, w...

Truth and Consequences Its always interesting to me that we feel as if we need to place blame on somebody or something. It is as if there is a sense of justice that is not satisfied, unless someone or something has taken the blunt of blame. For instance, even though things were handled poorly in the interventions of Hurricane Katrina a few years ago, very few people talked about the damage that occurs whenever there is a category 5 storm. We even spent time blaming the storm on others (global warming tendencies, etc). All this to say that we often feel the need to blame someone when something does not go right. My wife is an Obstetrician-Gynecologist. These are the most sued medical providers, and their malpractice insurance is incredibly high. The reason for the escalation in cost is that when a baby is born with any kind of defect, many families want to know "Whose fault is that?". It is as if bad things can not happen to good people. Our attitude suggests that there must...

The Hidden Sin Luke 12:11 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.(NIV) No one who identifies themselves as Christian went into the faith hoping that they would become hypocritical. Hypocrites are those people who claim to have certain values and priorities, but betray them in the course of living. We recognize them, but they rarely recognize it in themselves. Eugene Peterson, in his book, "Talk it Slant", states that hypocrisy is the "silent killer". We rarely recognize that we have it before it nearly kills us. The truth is that we all have betrayed our values through our behavior. Whether it is as subtle in having pride in our humility, or as obvious as being selfish in our serving, we have all experienced hypocrisy. The degree of your hypocrisy may be based upon your w...

Meanings and Musing over the Miraculous! Yesterday, I sat in my sitting room and was speechless. Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th president of the United States and I was elated. It was somewhat surreal. As if I was trying to stop time and grab a piece of history. The effect of such an election can not be understated. We elected someone, who in my opinion, despite his tremendous gifts, vision, and education, would have been unelectable even ten years ago. What makes it more amazing is that even thirty years ago, this would have been inconceivable. Analysis of the voting patterns show that this was by far a generational win. Younger peoples supported Obama and came out in ways previously unseen. Now, what is interesting was that in my discussions with younger voters, they supported Obama because of his vision and his vitality, not his ethnicity. In other words, they chose Obama, not because he was an African-American, but because he was a visionary. This speaks volumes...

Cultural Grace I arrived at Bissell Elementary School this morning to vote at 6AM. The line was wrapped around the modestly sized school. Never before had the election officials seen such a crowd for a general election. I must admit, that for 6AM, the place was buzzing. There was a weird type of tension present. It was probably a microcosm of what was happening all over the United States. Twinsburg is a suburb of Cleveland, OH and is an up and coming "place to live". The school system received the highest possible rating (which is the title needed to be consided as "the place to live"). It is racially diverse, with about 25% of the school system being African-American and another 10% being Asian-Americans. We go to school together, have neighborhood parties togethers, shuttle our children to soccer/basketball/baseball/softball/track practice together. However, on this day, we seemed to stand apart. There was an unusual quietness. People made a little smal...

Spiritual Boredom Today, I began a new sermon series for my wonderful Church family ( www.christcommunityfellowship.org ). Its based upon the experience of so many Christians today who have a boring faith. Now, I am not saying the the Christian Faith is boring, but I do feel that the experience of the average American Christian has become stale, predictable, and frankly, boring. We have a difficult time getting people to come to all kinds of church functions for a whole host of reasons. People are busy, too tired, unsure of the value, etc. However, the one thing that affects our desire is in the experience itself. What if the Bible study, the prayer gathering, or the service project is just not stimulating? What if it really does not stimulate the mind, encourage the heart, and empower my hands. Jesus stated explicitly in John 10:10 that he came to give us an abundant life. He came so that we would learn what it meant to truly live and what it means to be fully alive. Our exp...