Saturday, November 28, 2009

Batman or Joker

It is probably already established in everyone's mind's that we live story. We decide in our own lives if our story is going to be a good one or a bad one. But how exactly do we determine what makes a good story? I was talking with my wife about this just the other day. What makes Batman the good guy and the Joker the bad guy. Why do we always tend to vote for the dark knight instead of the crazy clown? My conclusion is that the people that decide to care for others are always a good guy. I cannot think of one person in the world that is selfless and a bad guy. The obvious flip to that is that a bad guy is always a selfish one. This may seem trivial and light but it is true and it is convicting! When I look back upon my story so far- where am I? Am I a good guy? Do I look out for others first? Or am I a bad guy that is only out for myself? What I am slowly discovering is that I am neither. I am sometimes a good guy. Sometimes I will give some of my own time to someone else and only think of them. But I also do the opposite many of the times (probably most of the time). I am in the middle. The conclusion I have come to is that there are more people in a story than a good guy and a bad guy. In the Batman movies there are several people that don't play a serious role in the plot of the story. A story writer would call them an Extra. Basically their role is to take up space and impact nothing, but to fill the voids. This is the story I have realized that I have lived most of my life. I am not a terrible person, a person only thinking of himself, an antagonist. But I am also not a protagonist. I can not see someone watching my life and rooting for me to be the winner. I tend to be an extra in my own story.The only way to have a good story as a good guy I need to learn to be as pro-active as possible in caring for others. I need to stop thinking of myself. It is true. Batman is always pro-active in the story- a go-getter! My prayer is that we all can learn to be the Batman's of our own stories. Because the only memorable character in a story is the Protagonist.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Stones

For the last few days I have been reading and re-reading the book of Acts. Before now, I always avoided the book because I saw it simply as a history lesson of the early church and nothing more. But I was wrong (shocking...really). As I was reading the story of Stephen I was thinking about the trust and passion he had for God's story. Even as the mob was barraging him with stones, Stephen had unfailing trust in what God was doing. Sometimes when I am in conversation with others I will bring up something really controversial that I am overly passionate for, and when I am seriously challenged by their reactions and reasoning, I back down. It is interesting because Stephen didn't do that at all. When stones were taking flesh and blood off of his body, he had faith. He even says right before his death, "Jesus, don't hold this over them!" I get so emotional when I read this that I get shivers throughout my entire body. The emotion isn't from feeling for Stephen, but feeling that I am not like Stephen. If I stood in Stephens shoes and my very life was challenged, I would cower down in fear and probably reject God. It's not because I don't believe, but my relationship with God just isn't that good. I think we all fall into this same thing and my prayer is that we can be strong like Stephen to endure even the hardest of situations.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Easter-The New Christmas

Yesterday after church my family and I decided to stop by the mall to pick up a few items. I hadn't realized that the holidays begin two months before Christmas actually is. I walked into the mall only to be swarmed by thousands of people with thousands of bags filled with thousands of gifts for their thousands of relatives. I sometimes wonder if we haven't lost sight of what Christmas was all about in the first place. I think we forget about Jesus. I think we forget about what Christ's birth did for us. When Christ was born, God began a story of redemption to save us. The interesting part is that we celebrate the start of the story with great intensity, the birth of Jesus, but the climax we give to the Easter bunny, the death and resurrection. If the birth was the most important part of the story, then why is it that when the Christ died the disciples lost hope. It is because the story wasn't finished. I would argue that Christ story is similar to the new Transformers movie. Would we enjoy the movie as much as we did if the movie ended with the death of Optimus Prime? No. That would be a terrible story. We would lose hope in the cause of the Autobots altogether. Is Christ's story not the same? The climax of Jesus life was not his birth, but his death and resurrection. When Christ is resurrected the story comes complete and becomes good. I am not saying that Christ's birth is not worth celebrating, but I am saying that Christ's death and resurrection are far more important. So maybe this coming Easter we should whip out the Christmas tree. Maybe this Easter we should give gifts to the ones we love the most. Maybe this Easter could become the New Christmas.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Meek Leader

How can I learn to lead in love? It is incredible that God ordained us to love. Not just love Him, but to love each other, ourselves, and this world. I wish that Jesus would have talked more about leading in love though. It is easy to make the tough decisions in leadership positions when my convictions are put on hold. I imagine I could be a very good leader if I were to lead from the stance of secularism. But unfortunately I am not secular. It is tough to make the hard decisions when leading from Christ's example. How do I love and care for someone while informing them of their grave mistakes. How do I love and care for someone while telling them that the can't be involved in our ministry anymore. It is those tough decisions that make me personally want to quit leadership altogether. Fortunately we have hope. Christ in Matthew 5 discussed the idea of being meek. The meek will inherit the Kingdom of God. What is interesting is that the crowd Jesus was teaching to most likely had many leaders in it. Maybe a better translation of the word meek might be humbleness. Blessed are the humble leaders for they might inherit the Kingdom. That, I believe, is the key to good leadership. Humbleness. If we are humble when making the tough decisions in life then me might just look a little bit more like Christ.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

My Blue Car

A few years ago I bought my dream car. A stunning blue Jetta with leather seats and every option possible on it. I loved my new car (maybe to much). When I would go to park in a parking lot, I would either park in the very back where no cars ever parked, or I would at least make sure to never park next to a cart return. My car was shiny and gorgeous. Today I still drive that car, but its not the glossy beautiful car it used to be. My Jetta (unfortunately) is getting old. The leather is wearing and the paint is fading. A realization that I have come to is that my theology often does the same thing. When the reformation happened, the new theology that Luther came up with was fresh exciting. But today if we followed Luther's exact theology it would seem old unnecessary and sometimes ridiculous. The theologies of today are the same. The classic Baptist and Presbyterian theologies we all grew up with are getting old. I am not saying that the very foundations of our theologies are old, but the less important pieces of it are becoming worn. Today I still love my car a lot, but I know it is getting older and more worn. But the realization that I have to come to is that my car eventually is going to break down and not work anymore. Our theologies if we do not adjust will do the same thing. So we must remember to keep testing and probing everything in our theologies in order to throw out the old and sometimes unnecessary theologies we insist on and adjust to something else.