As I reflected on the 10th anniversary of September 11th in preparation for this Sunday’s worship service, I found myself drawn to passages that looked forward to that day when Jesus would return and set everything right. Passages like Isaiah 2:4:  “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” And Revelation 21:3-4:  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” It is hard to make sense of a tragedy as terrible as September 11th, but one thing that I believe most people of all religious, political, or national backgrounds can agree upon is that we long for the day when there is no more war, no more death, no more mourning or crying or pain.
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Today’s post is a story from Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel. If you have never read this book, do yourself a favor and add it to your summer reading list.

A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of World War II, was called by adoring New Yorkers ‘the Little Flower’ because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation on his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the NYC fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Read more »

Today’s post is reprinted from a post written on August 7, 2007. It’s one of my personal favorites, written back when we were a church of 40 or so, and a reminder to me of the amazing grace of our God. Despite our best efforts to screw things up, He continues to love us and to never give up on us, and continues to convince “O we of little faith” that the best is yet to come.

This one is for the little guy. This is for the disqualified ones, the barely hanging on, the ones who don’t belong, the struggling but still faithful.

This is for my church.

Every day, I read the blogs of about ten other pastors and church leaders in my desire to learn from others and improve my ability to do this thing we call ministry. These ten pastors are mostly higher profile guys, leading influential churches to dizzying heights of effectiveness in the kingdom of God. It’s hard not to be blown away by all that God is doing in their churches. Here’s a sampling of just four of yesterday’s posts:
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Today’s guest writer is Jim Quigley.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Over the last several weeks, the topic of God’s love has been an overarching theme, not only in the sermons preached but also in my personal time of devotion.  While this may not be very shocking, it has served as a great reminder of just how awesome God’s love is for us.  Although volumes can be written on God’s love and still not do it justice, I will try to limit what I feel were the four key reminders to me of what God’s love is for His people. 
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“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” - Oswald Chambers

This past week I was at a funeral, and after the service I went downstairs for a reception in the fellowship hall of the church. The church had decorated their walls with a collection of sayings on faith, and the Oswald Chambers post which I quoted above spoke to me deeper than all of the rest. Oswald Chambers was an earliest twentieth century minister and teacher who is best known today for his daily devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, a book that has encouraged me often over the years.

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” What a beautiful way of explaining what it means to walk by faith. Faith is not positive thinking, or wishful thinking, or believing in things that make no sense. No – faith is choosing not to allow our actions and attitudes to be swayed by the day-to-day circumstances in which we find ourselves. Instead, it is basing our whole life on the character of God, trusting in who He is even when everything in our life seems to contradict those truths. And this confidence in the character of God comes primarily because of the cross and the resurrection. For example:
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“One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’ (Matthew 22:35-38)

I wanted to elaborate on something I shared at the end of the worship service on Sunday.  The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to LOVE God.  Not to believe in Him.  Not to follow Him (although both of those are important).  To LOVE Him.  There are many who believe in God, many who do their best to follow Him, but would you use the word “love” to describe your relationship with God?  Are you moved, both in your emotion and your will, by who God is, or by what He has done for you?  Or is your faith just an intellectual act of belief?

Make no mistake – God’s desire is that your relationship with Him would be characterized by love, a love that grips your heart and transforms your desires and moves you to love and service, towards God and towards others.  And so I ask it again – do you love God?  Do you understand the depth of His love for you?
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I grew up going to church; however, God did not truly become real until I was 18, right at the beginning of college, as the result of attending a youth group the summer after my high school graduation.  As a new Christian, I was full of young enthusiasm for God, for the Bible, and for Christian fellowship, but also very unsure of who God was and what it meant to know and follow Him.  I want to share with you a story about one of the first ways God ever answered that question in my life.
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I’ve recently been enjoying John Ortberg’s new book, The me I want to be, in which the author talks about the unique ways God grows each of us spiritually into the people we were created to be.  One of the parts that really spoke to me was where Ortberg said this:

“The Bible does not say you are God’s appliance; it says you are his masterpiece (Eph 2:10, NLT).  Appliances get mass-produced.  Masterpieces get hand-crafted.  God did not make you exactly like anyone else.  Therefore, his plan for shaping you will not look like his plan for shaping anyone else.  If you try to find a generic plan for spiritual growth, it will only frustrate you.”

(Can anyone say journaling?)

Ortberg then goes on to give an excellent summary of some of the ways God worked in the Bible:

“He had Abraham take a walk, Elijah take a nap, Joshua take a lap, and Adam take the rap.  He gave Moses a forty-year time out, he gave David a harp and a dance, and he gave Paul a pen and a scroll.  He wrestled with Jacob, argued with Job, whispered to Elijah, warned Cain, and comforted Hagar.  He gave Aaron an altar, Miriam a song, Gideon a fleece, Peter a name, and Elisha a mantle.  Jesus was stern with the rich young ruler, tender with the woman caught in adultery, patient with the disciples, blistering with the scribes, gentle with the children, and gracious with the thief on the cross.  God never grows two people the same way.  God is a hand-crafter, not a mass-producer.”

Boom.  Just like that, your categories and presuppositions, your expectations and formulas, are all blown out of the water.  All of a sudden, discipleship returns to what it was meant to be all along:  following the Spirit of God, living in relationship with Him, and going wherever He leads.  “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
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Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things. (Philippians 4:4-8)

Thank you, Lord, for saving my life.  Thank you for coming after me and revealing yourself to me when I was not even looking for you.  Thank you that in spite of my self-centeredness, you chose me, filled me with your Holy Spirit, gifted me, and have used me to bring you glory.  Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always, and so today I just want to spend time rejoicing in who you are.  I praise you for creating me, that I am your workmanship (Eph 2:10), not a cosmic accident but someone who has been crafted by you in order to do the good works which you prepared in advance for me to do.  Thank you that though you are holy and just, your mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22-23), and you are always full of patience towards me (2 Pet 3:9).  Thank you for the hope I have in you, that you are able to work all things together for good for those who love you (Rom 8:28), that even when men intend evil, you work it out for good (Gen 50:20). 
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A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from?  2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.  3 He will not let your foot slip– he who watches over you will not slumber;  4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  5 The LORD watches over you– the LORD is your shade at your right hand;  6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  7 The LORD will keep you from all harm– he will watch over your life;  8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121:1-8)

As many of you know, I am the father of three young children – Ryan (5), Will (3), and Nate (1).  When each of them was a baby, I used to put them down for bed at night by standing near the crib, holding them in my arms, and singing quietly to them before laying them down.  If you have children of your own, you know that it can be a challenge getting little ones to go to bed without crying for a parent to come and pick them up again.  One question that often went through my head during the nighttime routine was which approach would help them go to sleep more peacefully:  keeping my eyes closed while I sang to them, or keeping my eyes open.  For a time, I went with the eyes closed approach.  By closing my eyes, I reasoned that I was showing them by example that it was time for sleep. 

Ultimately, however, I settled on the latter approach – putting them down with my eyes open, looking them in the eyes as I sang to them.  And every time I did that, I was reminded of Psalm 121, Read more »

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