I'm like the fidgetting kid in church. You?

I'm antsy. Do you know the feeling? It's a mix of expectation, anxiety, excitement and fear. It's like driving behind someone who has had their directional on for awhile. Do they know it's on? Are they going to turn? Is anything going to happen? When?

I feel like the Lord has been getting me ready for something. My heart is shifting, the things I enjoy are changing and something is building up in me that could be called "vision." It's been happening in Robin simultaneously.

Have you ever had something to say but you just can't seem to get it out in the midst of all the other noise? For example, you're at a meeting and the ideas are flying but you just don't get a chance to add what you're thinking. Take that up a few notches. Picture yourself as an assistant coach dutifully performing your role game after game. You've been doing it for years. The coach is great but you just have this sense that you're ready to take a team of your own. It's a good change. It doesn't come out of anything negative. It comes from preparation and vision.

That's how I feel. Ready.

Ready for what? I have no idea! Maybe 2010 will be when we sell everything and head for the mission field. Maybe God will lead us to a group of hurting people who are facing their church closing and use us to reignite vision for their community. Maybe we'll buy a farmhouse and minister to unwed moms and use the barn for worship space. College ministry? Campus pastor? Planter? Whatever it is, we're excited about it.

I'm antsy. I'm about to burst with a desire to share what I have been learning in Scripture. I don't want to preach at people as much as I want to invite them to explore Jesus with me. I am anxious to build a team and lead others into discovering how to follow Christ. I'm ready, willing and waiting for direction.

Things change in life. My perception is that the teens I work with would go further with someone younger. They need the community-building energy of lock-ins and retreats. They are ready to be challenged by whoever it is that the Lord has been preparing to begin a ministry with them. How many teenagers want to hang out with someone who is older than their dads?  I love them enough to see that I am probably limiting them. They deserve more than a maintenance mindset.

Will 2010 will be when the Lord moves us? Maybe He has more prep work to do in our hearts before He sends us. Will you pray that we learn what we must and that He sends us with clarity? Be excited with us.

And I double-dog-dare you to pray, "Lord, here I am, use me however and wherever you wish." He is showing me that amazing adventures lie ahead if we will just drop our nets and follow Him.

Is. 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

What would you do if God showed up?

I run into a lot of people who are waiting to hear from God. I meet people who want to know God's Will for this and that decision. "What car does God want me to buy? Where does God want me to go to college? What's God got lined up for me in the area of love and romance?"

It's kinda like God is an American fortune cookie. We want to crack something open, take out a slip of paper and read, "Hey, God here. My Will is for you to buy the three bedroom house on Elm Street."

I want to hear from God. You want to hear from God. We've got questions for Him to answer. We want to know why bad things happen. We want to ask Him why He let the axel on our car rust out when He supposedly loves us. We shoot little prayers skyward saying, "God, I don't get it."

And then, over on the shelf near the decorative snowmen, there's a book that's different from the other books. We've grown up hearing it called "God's Word." We've heard that it tells us about God and is full of God stuff. But, truth is, we've read books on glistening, moody, romantic vampires and mysteries about who killed who in the library with a candlestick while that God book just sat there.

Heck, we've even read books by authors writing about that book. But, that book? We can't remember the last time we read it. We read about the secret code of the book and even went to see a movie or two about it. That was cool. Things blew up and conspiracies built up into exciting chase scenes.

We sit around and say things like, "I feel like God would feel this way" and "My God isn't like that." The book sits.

How would your life be different if you really believed that book was the actual words of God? That book written over 1400 years on three different continents by more than 40 authors is different than other books. It is inspired by God. It communicates His heart and shows us what He does.

That book is difficult. It cuts me, scares me, encourages me and educates me. If it were a movie, it would be rated R. Sometimes it helps me sleep well and other times it leaves me tossing and turning all night. It is alive.

Want to know God? Grab that book. Before you "feel" this or "think" that about God, what have His very words told you?

I am learning to love this disturbing, defining, direction-giving book. I am learning that this Holy God is so much bigger than my fortune cookie approach. I am learning that His opinion is often different than mine. And while I still await His direction for the next steps in life, I am learning to be content right where I am now. His book is teaching me that godly men were not as concerned with comfort as I am; they wrote letters from prison cells, hung on a cross upside down or were persecuted.

God showed up. His words are over there on your shelf in that bible with its books of history, poetry, prophecy, songs and biography. I dare you to take it down and turn to Matthew to start reading of Jesus and what made Him tick.

Before I speak for God and use Him to elevate my personal agenda, I want to be sure to I know what His Word says. I want to know His Word.

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another - showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. 2 Timothy 3:16

I met Scrooge. So young and so angry.

Scrooge is a girl and she's madder than a wet hornet. She hates Christmas. She's a self-proclaimed hater of consumerism and is a fan of what she calls "social justice." Her causes range from hunger to war to sexual orientation to diet.

She's mostly mad at fellow Christians. She often spouts off all that is wrong with the church and wags her finger at its lack of action for her causes. Jesus would support the causes she supports; she has no doubt. The facts of more than 200 billion dollars given by individuals to fight hunger, oppression, provide clean water and medicine and educate are of little concern even when compared with only 26 billion in aid given by the US government.

She's mad at Christians who dare offend others with a wish of "Merry Christmas" and is angry that the holiday is far from representing Jesus. She's mad at consumerism though she texts, blogs, surfs the internet, loves YOUtube and has several hundred dollars worth of gadgets she needs. "How can Christians spend so much on their toys while 53 percent of the world lives on less than $2 per day," is her cry. Meanwhile she'll drop another $15-$20 this weekend to bang her head to the latest band that comes through town.

I agree with much of what she says but am amazed that she can't see herself in any of her criticisms. Those darn Christians! How can they say they love Christ when they support this American economy of excess?

If she believed in Christmas I know just what I'd get her.  I'd get her a mirror.

My mom always told me to be careful pointing at others. She showed me that whenever I pointed the one finger I had three other fingers pointing back at me.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3

Who's afraid of barns?

Why do we work so hard to make Jesus unapproachable when God put so much effort into tearing down barriers? Why do we build ornate cathedrals, invest in expensive garments and commission intricate stained glass? Each gold-plated decoration puts more distance between God and the common man.


I understand where it comes from. God is holy and fully deserving of the best. The Old Testament tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, was breathtaking and perfect. But that changed with Jesus. Man became the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. No building is God's house today.

I've been looking at the Christmas story and am overwhelmed by how underwhelming it is. It's simple and ordinary except for angels and wisemen.

First, God announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds. Few people were lower on the caste ladder than shepherds. Theirs was a position of no status or noteriety. When making decisions or seeking advice, no one went looking for shepherds.

Second, Jesus was in a feeding trough. It makes sense since there was a feeding trough that his birthplace was in a livestock setting. Do you get that? No one feels intimidated in barns. No one puts on their fancy shoes to go feed the livestock. I can't think of a simpler, less ornate, less religious setting.

Why did God choose such a humble setting? Maybe the key is in John 3:16 in the word "whoever." Whoever would believe would receive. Simple.

So many people stay away from Jesus because they aren't religious, don't have good enough clothes, have no money or feel like they won't fit in with the church crowd. Maybe you're one of them. Would you feel the same if I invited you to come tour a barn with me?

I think that's the simplicity that God had in mind. From shepherds to kings, from criminals to humanitarians, from poor to rich, from uneducated to matriculated, from plain to fancy ... everyone is welcome to approach the manger. As the Christchild grew, that never changed. Everyone is welcome.

Let's stop lining up hurdles for people to jump before we invite them to begin a relationship with Jesus.

What Not to Wear; Church Edition

Maybe, we should all worship naked.

Now before you get all offended on me, hear my rationale. This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching. I always love it when I get the opportunity to share what the Lord has been doing in this messy life of mine and I think it occasionally even encourages a few folks to draw closer to Jesus.

At FBC, the first service bears the label "traditional." What that means is we get to hear a dapper-looking choir in matching robes, we sing hymns and listen to organ music mixed with piano. Neckties are important, suit coats are pressed and hairdos are puffy. It's a good-looking crowd.

The second service is labeled "contemporary." Praise bands play guitars, bass and drummers drum while we sing the latest in Christian music. More than a few coffee cups can be spotted sporting their Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts logos and older people wonder if younger people are experiencing a shortage of combs because their hair has purposely been made to look somewhat chaotic. Neckties are few and far between and jeans are more the norm for the men.

The same message is preached to each crowd.

I play dress-up for the first service. I put on a suit and tie even though it makes me feel somewhat like a poser. For the second service I change into my comfortable clothes and feel more at home and able to breath. What puzzles me is the way people react.

I had one woman pretty upset with me when she saw that I had changed out of my suit and tie after the first service. "Don't you want to give God your best?" she asked. For her, my suit was "my best" and my jeans and argyle sweater were dumpy.

I didn't get drawn into debating clothing but I did toss her question around in my head a little. The reality was my suit outfit cost me less than $150 at an S&K Warehouse sale while the jeans, shirt, sweater, belt combo cost more than that. By her standards, I think I gave God my best in the second service ... if clothing has anything at all to do with it.

"Good to see you in a tie," one guy told me before the first service. I asked him why ties were important to him. He linked it to respect. We are good enough friends that I challenged him to do a little tie research in the coming week. Historically ties have been a sign of wealth, power and status. I wonder when they made the leap to being a sign of godliness for so many.

After the second worship service one woman was very upset that one of the guitar players had a tattoo. Her view was that he should have covered it up during the service. I don't even know where to go with that.

Adam and Eve were naked. Then they did what we all do; they went their own way and pushed God's way aside. As soon as they took the bite, the first thing that changed was their attitude about clothing. From fig leaves to togas to suits and ties, it has been a big deal ever since.

No, we can't worship naked. No matter what we wear or do not wear, it will always be an issue to some in this family of ours. I wonder if anyone heard what I said Sunday? I think it was good stuff.

What does God want us to wear? I think it's pretty clear in Colossians 3:12-14

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.(The Message)