And then I felt horrible.

Did I fail?  Man, I felt like it.  But, really, did I fail?

Probably not.  And probably.

After talking it over with a friend, we came to this conclusion.  I probably did fail a little bit because I thought that I could just hop right in and solve everything.  I probably didn’t fail because I was just being a nice guy and trying to help out.  But in the midst of all of this, I was missing the key ingredient: relationship.  Even though I had started a relationship with this neighbor, we were nowhere near good friends yet.  I just hadn’t given it enough time.

And that was what I learned that day: Ministry takes time because relationships take time.  Time. Time. Time.  Some things just take time.  People need to see that they can trust you.  People need to see that you care.  People need to simply see you – see how you are going to be there for them and experience life with them.  People need time.

Ministry needs time because relationships need time.

And, as I found out Sunday afternoon, ministry needs relationships.

Mark is probably in his 40’s.  He’s single, unemployed, and does not have any family or friends in the area.  His life consists of drinking during the day… and drinking at night, too.  He sits out in his lawn chair by his trailer and sips on his beer.  I actually have not spoken to him when he has been sober yet.  But here are two things that I have learned from Mark and this friendship already:

1. I really don’t blame Mark for drinking.  When I was younger, I thought it was simple.  Good people don’t drink beer.  Bad people do drink beer.  And I thought it was a fairly straightforward decision: if you wanted to be good, you didn’t drink.  If you wanted to be bad, you did drink.  But Mark has really made me think about this.  Here’s the thing: Mark has nothing else to do.  Truly, Mark has nothing else going on in his life.  He needs to find some happiness somewhere – so why not the easiest thing, the thing that he knows?  Beer.  He has nothing else, and he needs something.  So I can’t fault him for that.  And that has kind of thrown me for a little bit of a loop (see below for how this is spurring me to respond).
2. Mark has a story to tell.  Almost every single time that we have talked, Mark has told me the few stories of good things that have happened in his life.  Mark played college baseball.  Mark was the top vacuum salesman.  Each time we talk – he shares these stories with me.  He loves sharing his story.  He loves these good moments in his life.

So what am I learning?  Easy.  I need to help Mark see that there is something more for him out there.  I need to give him something more – a purpose, a mission, a calling, a charge.  Mark needs to see that God has a plan for him and that God has things He wants Mark to do here on earth.  Secondofly, I need to just listen to Mark.  I need to listen to him and validate his story.  HE HAS A STORY!  And I am thrilled to hear it – simply because it is from him, simply because it is Mark’s.

Give him something more.

Listen to his story.

That’s what I am going to focus on with my new friend Mark.

Even though Jesus is the Son of God and fully God Himself…

Even though Jesus is my personal Savior…

Even though Jesus means everything to me…

Can it be that I still don’t give Him the credit that He deserves when I set up my life and faith?
I was really thinking about for the past couple of months.  I think that I don’t try to pattern my life, my decisions, my attitudes, and worldview after Jesus very much.  I mean, I will wear the WWJD bracelet and try to do the things that Jesus did.  But do I try to live like Jesus lived?

How did Jesus live?  How did he set up his life?  What was his worldview?  How did he make decisions?  What were his attitude and actions?  …How did Jesus live?

Not only that, but when I think about my theology and faith – I don’t think about it in terms of Jesus.  Even with my theology, everything needs to revolve around Jesus.  The way that I think about church should revolve around Jesus.  The way that I think about missions should revolve around Jesus.  The way that I think about everything should revolve around Jesus.

My faith and my life should find its beginnings and endings in Jesus Christ: who He is, what He did, and how He lived.  My life and mindset and actions and attitudes should revolve completely around Jesus: who He is, what He did, and how He lived.  Everything in my life needs to be all about Jesus.

And that goes a lot farther than a bracelet…

“Work and Witness” separates the two things.  It makes it sound like our “work” is separate from our “witness”.  And this should not be the mindset.  Our compassionate work is our witness.  The things that we do in these communities should be both evangelical and compassionate – because you should not separate these two things.  They both enhance each other.  They both connect with each other.  They are a part of each other.  And they should not be separated.

Really, it should just be considered “Life” or “Love” or “Compassion”.  We cannot have a mindset that puts things in separate boxes anymore.  We must think about life and faith and compassion and missions in terms of life and the Kingdom of God.  It is all connected.  It is all entangled beautifully together.  And it should not be separated.

So if you have a missions mindset that is compartmentalized – take some time to think about it.  Should we put things in terms of “work” and then “witness”?  Or should we simply put things in terms of life and compassion with the knowledge that it includes our work, our witness, our faith, ourselves, and everything else?

I hope that makes a little bit of sense.  And I hope that we can continue to live a life and faith that is not separated, but that includes everything that we are and are trying to do under one mindset.

This surprising show about a guy who tries to make up for the bad things that he has done throughout his life absolutely blew me away when I watched the first couple seasons on DVD.  It honestly has had a surprisingly big impact on my life.  Let me tell you why I believe My Name is Earl is the most Christian show on television.

The life of Jesus Christ personifies what Christianity and the Church is all about.  And I see a lot of that in this television show.  The basic structure of each show goes something like this.  Earl identifies something on his list of “wrongs” that he has done throughout his life for which he needs to make up.  He proceeds to find the person that he harmed and asks them what he can do to make it up to them.  The rest of the show follows the different ways that Earl connects with these people he has hurt in order to better understand their lives and bring some redemption for whatever he did in the past.  While the show is cast in a very funny and light-hearted way, it really packs a punch of meaning, morals, and value.

And the show has one of the greatest descriptions of compassion that I have ever seen.  The word ‘compassion’ means to “suffer with” someone.  And that is exactly what Earl does.  He tries to right his wrongs by putting himself in the shoes of those he has hurt and suffering with them.  Earl lives in a veritable state of poverty, and most of the people that he helps live in the same state of poverty.  Most all of the characters on the show have things wrong with them – bad jobs, no money, no education, lower class, etc.  But Earl wins their favor, friendship, and love by making up for his wrongs by suffering with them and getting his hands dirty with their lives.

That is why I believe this show is the most Christian show on television.  Earl shows compassion, love, and understanding better than many people in the Church today, I would venture.  The show is a beautiful compilation of people living in the lower class of society finding ways to connect with each other in a wonderful blend of community and care.

Compassion.  Christ.  Christianity. Earl.

Check it out.  It’s totally worth it.

For many of us, we are simply heading right where the world, society, our natural selves, and everyone else tells us we should head.  It’s a personal direction.  We look to our own comfort.  We are constantly heading towards things that make us the most happy, safe, secure, and comfortable.  Our trajectory of life is towards nicer things, better things, bigger things, and things that give us more and more comfort.

But is that how life should be lived?

How did Jesus live His life?

I would argue that when Jesus was here on earth – He didn’t look for comfort, He looked for need.  He wasn’t necessarily concerned with His own comfort.  He was concerned with meeting the needs of those around Him.  The trajectory of His life was not dictated by society, others, his natural self, or anything like that.  The trajectory of His life was dictated by his love for others.  He was living for others, not for Himself.

And that is how we should live, too.  Think about it: where is your life going?  Where is it heading?  What is the trajectory of your life?  How do you make the big decisions in your life – where you live, what you do, how you spend your money, how you live your life?

I want to encourage you today.  Don’t look for comfort – which is focused on yourself.  Look for the needs of those around you – which is focused on love for others.  That is how Jesus lived.  That is how we should live, too.

When you really think about that phrase, it kind of says a lot of things.

But let’s just look at one thing that it says.  When churches say that they want to help “those less fortunate”, they are automatically saying that they are fortunate.  There is a difference.  There is an “us” and “them”.  There is a “higher” and a “lower”.  In our churches, our language and mindset is bent towards us being fortunate – and them being ‘less fortunate’.  We are fortunate; they are less fortunate.

Is this such a bad thing?

Not necessarily.  But it is more of a reality than I think we realize.  Even though our churches are extremely well-intentioned, they are also extremely ‘fortunate’.  How did all of our churches become so ‘fortunate’?   And why is there such a distinction (and distance) between our churches and those less fortunate?  Christ Himself was not ‘fortunate’.  What do we do with that?

This is definitely something that needs further consideration and processing in order to lead us to a sustainable and wise course of action.  But I think the question/observation is extremely valid.

When we say in our churches that we want to help those “less fortunate”, we are showing that we ourselves are fortunate.  Why is it this way?

Scholars believe that Jesus lived about 33 years here on earth.   So with the 3 years of official ministry that kind of kicked off at His baptism, that means He lived on earth for 30 years before that.  While there are some accounts of His life during those years, it cannot be denied that His first 30 years were spent differently than His final 3.  John 1:14 says that Jesus came down to earth and “dwelled among them”.  For 30 years, Jesus simply dwelled among people.  He lived.  He learned.  He laughed.  For 30 years, He contented Himself to simply be one of us.  And then His ministry finally began… or did it?

How come the time that Jesus spent simply dwelling with people and sharing life with the people around Him doesn’t count as “ministry”?  Granted, He might not have been giving sermons and healing all kinds of people and things like that – but does that mean that the things that He was doing don’t count as ministry?  It can be argued that without the first 30 years of Him simply dwelling among people, He wouldn’t have been in a place to speak into their lives.  He wouldn’t have known their plight.  He wouldn’t truly be one of them.  He wouldn’t have their trust.  He wouldn’t have the right to speak into their lives.  He had to spend time simply “dwelling among them”.

And that’s where this notion comes to the forefront: Life is ministy and ministry is life.  To Jesus during those first 30 years, His ministry was simply to live with those around Him.  And His life – his very life, the eating, talking, sleeping, walking, working, playing, life – was His ministry.  He didn’t need to do some kind of ministry from 9 – 5 and then shut it down and go back to his “regular” life.  There was so separation for Jesus.  His life was His ministry, and His ministry was His life.

This is something that God has been opening my eyes to lately.  Ministry as life and life as ministry – kind of like how Jesus lived during His first 30 years…

Just wanted to share.

Sorry there haven’t been as many posts lately. I am working on creating a new format for the blog. So stay tuned to some of the changes and more regular postings… coming soon!

Thanks!

Many people have various reasons for loving Christmas. For some it can be the presents. For others it could be spending time with family (and not at work!). Some people love it because of the snow and the cold. Others think its great because of all the decorations and lights and things. There are thousands of reasons why people love Christmas. And I just thought I would take a quick minute to share mine with you.

My favorite part of Christmas is the nostalgia. I absolutely love the connection with the old days. Whether it is a beautiful picture of a horse and sleigh shooshing through the snow to get to a far away country home or if I am watching White Christmas – I love the fact that Christmas connects us with how life used to be.

Really, I am not trying to spell out doom and gloom or anything by defaming Christmas in its present form today (no pun intended). Even though Christmas today is different than it used to be, that is not all bad. No, the reason that I love the nostalgia around Christmas is because it takes us back to a simpler time – a time where everything about Christmas was much more simple yet no less joyful.

I love seeing people get delighted over a cup of hot chocolate. I love it that families used to read Christmas stories around the fire to each other. I am amazed that simple gifts like marbles and oranges and candies and nuts were met with smiles and excitement when found in stockings. I love that people actually used to carol. I love it that snow was a big deal. I love it that people used to only get one present each – and that was a great Christmas. I think it is so cool that people used to stand around the piano together and sing Christmas songs. I love that folk used to go downtown to shop and walk around and see all of the Christmas decorations. I love that Christmas trees were all real, and they were decorated with popcorn and tinsel and holly. I love that eggnog was a specialty. All of these incredibly simple things were considered such treats to people in years past.

Can we ever connect the present with the past? I hope so. I know things will never be like they used to be. But I also know that some elements of the Christmas spirit in years past can be incorporated into our Christmas lives today. We can look in wonder at the beautiful Christmas trees that we pass everyday. We can bask in the glow of all the Christmas lights that surround us. We can treat presents more like gifts and less like obligations. We can walk downtown and see the shops. We can enjoy our moments in the snow. We can sing the old songs and tell the old stories. We can connect the present and the past.

Really, we are not doing that bad today. But I think that we can learn a lot from looking back. They were doing a lot of things right back then. There’s a reason those were the ‘‘good ‘ol days’’. And it would be good for us to take a more simple approach to Christmas – to take joy in the actual things and not the quantity of something.

And, of course, the farther we look back to connect the present with the past leads us all the way to Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus…and that was a pretty simple Christmas, too.

Merry Christmas, ya’ll. Enjoy the simple pleasures of the season.