I’ve had a couple of heavy conversations this weekend with a close friend and a total stranger. Not heavy bad–heavy important. Really important. “Fork in the road and life may change, kind of important. And I’m facing more this week–not only for some of my friends but for me as well.

I’ve been thinking about what I trust… who I trust.

I find that I put a lot of pressure on myself to make the “right” decision. I play out all the scenarios and ponder all the what ifs. Vacilating back and forth I clog my head with questions.

All that wrestling, all that self imposed pressure and fear that I might get it wrong, brings me face to face with whom I’m trusting and he looks a lot like–me.

My advice for a friend and a stranger this weekend is really the best advice for myself. I need to say this to myself and keep saying it. I need to turn it into my prayer and let it become a part of me:

“Lord, I trust you, more than I trust my ability to hear you.”

So be it.

I was thinking tonight while driving home about why we, as Christians, praise God…

It is not because He’s great, (although He is that.)

No, we praise Him because He’s good.

And that makes all the difference.

I was talking to my friend Ken the other day at lunch. We were talking about faith and struggles, sin and victory. While we were talking something I know quite well in my head was grasped for a fleeting moment by my heart, but it’s funny how quickly the clarity faded. I guess that’s how God shapes us—with each little touch of grace these truths become more real.

I started talking (again) about the book, I’ve written quite a bit about—Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God—it’s truly had an impact on me. I was sharing something that God’s been showing me. When we embrace our weakness it is easier to walk in the light and in turn, find that we are able to walk out our lives in Christ’s strength and God’s victory—not our own.

I thought about how often in our churches the idea of being strong and victorious can be subtly put forward as the way to be. How it leaves us feeling like, if we don’t have it all worked out, we’re second rate Christians who pale in comparison to the “Super Christians”.

The sad thing is, I don’t think that there are many people, or leaders, who see themselves as super christians. But when we don’t foster real community, don’t share our real struggles or our real lives. It leaves room for the enemy, our false selves and our imaginations to believe we’re all alone in not being perfect.

But when someone shares their life, it may be really screwed up or Jesus has managed to work out a ton of bugs and they’re just kinda tweaked—we realize that it is God who saves, it is God who is “super”. We are all weak, And He is the only strong one.

The whole idea of super Christianity diminishes God’s glory and is an affront to the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It begs me to realize that the quicker I come to the end of myself, the more likely I will be to find true life and lasting victory. Come to think of it, I think Jesus said that.

I just listened and read the transcript of the Popes speech at the White House.

Being that I am not Catholic, I admittedly don’t know much about the man known as Pope Benedict XVI but, after reading his speech and hearing him deliver it, I am intrigued to learn more. It confirmed for me something I read by Peggy Noonan earlier this week—Pope John Paul II was a showman but Pope Benedict XVI is a theologian. If you’re an American, you should listen to his words regardless of your faith. I found them centering, articulate and very timely.

Seriously, check it out here.

(p.s. thanks to a reader that brought to my attention something I did not intend.
My comment about John Paul II being a showman, is in no way to diminish his own
contributions to thought, philosophy or theology. My comment was in regard to
his personality and charisma. Not his intellect.)

I work for a communication strategy firm that works to give small businesses and non-profit organizations the confidence to communicate clearly. We’re kinda like psychologists for a business. We surface issues, ask the right questions, perform evaluations and then guide organizations in the process of self discovery. It’s truly amazing to see how many businesses and non-profits really don’t know themselves or understand why others people value them, even those that would define themselves as successful.

Anyway, I blog fairly regularly for my work as well. I thought I’d point you all to my latest entry. I thought some of you might find the tidbit about how our minds process information interesting. It has applications beyond just branding and marketing. They apply to how God calls us a new creation and one day we’ll receive a new name and our own special logo

You can read the entry here.

I’m sitting in a coffee shop around the corner from my house thinking about the exchange between Jesus & Peter when it was foot washing time at the “last supper”. So I decided to read it.

This was one of those mornings when Jesus brought His word to life for me. I felt like I was sitting there right alongside the other screw up students hearing a man I love, and soaking in the words of a teacher I admire.

Picking up in the thirteenth chapter of John’s biography of Jesus:

“He (Jesus) came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?!’ Jesus replied ‘You don’t realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’

‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’

‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’

Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean …’” -John 13:6-10

I was struck by Peter’s request and thought about how often it’s mine as well: ‘Jesus give me a good scrubbing, I feel sinful, I know I’ve gotten myself dirty in this world. Don’t just clean off the little dirt I picked up on the road, remove my shame–wash the important stuff will ya, please!?’.

Peter’s request loses some significance for us in the modern west. Peter is asking for the two most honorable parts of his body to be cleaned. His head and hands. Jesus is wanting to clean their feet–something that unavoidably gets dirty when wearing sandals on dusty Roman roads. Peter wants the important parts cleaned too. But Jesus knows those places are already clean. Peter has already had a bath. He and the others (minus Judas) had received Jesus’ words and they were clean. “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” – John 15:3

Peter’s honor was intact because he had received Jesus’ word, he was clean, his shame was gone. The problem was he still lived in a world of dusty roads. A world where he would get dirty, and so will we. No matter how dirty though–His words to Peter still apply to all of us. Jesus has won our honor and made us righteous.

However, the lesson for us doesn’t stop there. Jesus’ requirement was that Peter submit to His service. Jesus still requires us to submit to his service through the help of other believers. He says to them: “I have set you an example that you should do (for each other) as I have done for you.”

Jesus is teaching us how to serve, but he is also teaching us how to let someone serve us. He is showing us how to administer the grace of God and requiring that we allow ourselves to be put in a place to receive it.

He reminds us that we need Him and we need each other. We’re not to ridicule each others dirty feet. We’re to help our brothers and sisters clean it off, we’re to bear one another’s burdens. We’re to remind each other that Jesus has saved us from the real dirt–once and for all.

But equally important, when we find that our feet are the dirty ones—we can’t allow pride to keep Jesus from cleaning it off through the hands of our brothers and sisters.

Love one another.

Amen.

I first saw this in the news last year. But just recently tripped across it again. And thought I’d share it. Face 2 Face is the project of a French photographer hoping to foster greater understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.

The took up close pictures of both Israelis and Palestinians from the same walks of life. A Jewish teacher and an Arab teacher, a Jewish Rabbi and a Muslim Arab Imam all making funny faces. Then they posted these images in huge format on both sides of the wall that devides Israel proper from the West Bank.

With such a sensitive topic, the authors of the project are clear in the fact that they aren’t chosing sides. This is from their website:

“We are in favor of a solution for which two countries, Israel and Palestine would live peacefully within safe and internationally recognized borders.All the bilateral peace projects (Clinton/Taba, Ayalon/Nussibeh, Geneva Accords) are converging in the same direction. We can be optimistic.We hope that this project will contribute to a better understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Now, I don’t know these guys, so I obviously can’t vouch for them, but when I look at what they’re doing I can’t help but hear Jesus words: Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.

If you’d like to support their cause they’ve turned the project into a book and made it available for purchase. You can bet it’ll be on my coffee table.

So, my bike was stolen on Good Friday. I use it to get to the train station to get to work. I lost it when I went into a Christian bookstore for about 30 minutes. I came out and no bike. My Father-in-law gave it to me when my first one was stolen. Bummer!

Moral of the story. Use two locks

My Friend Travis’ Jeep. I took this pic on top of a Volcanic Cinder Cone.

————–

So, I went out to the desert with some friends a couple weekends ago. It’s turned into an annual trip, this was my second year to go. The trip follows the Mojave Road, sometimes called the Mojave trail. It was one of two main trails the settlers used to move West to California in the 1800’s.

This year we had 22 vehicles and over 40 people! Pretty large wagon train! The trip starts at the beginning of the mojave road which is just north of Needles, California on the banks of the Colorado River. Over 2.5 days we bounce, crawl, slosh, splash and romp 130 miles back toward the Southern California basin. It’s a total blast!

Next year I hope to take the trip with my own Jeep. What can I say, if you go on an off roading trip, you’re going to get hooked!

Check out the picks at my friend Travis’s site: travsite.com

So I learned a little lesson yesterday morning on my way to work. Here goes… 

I ride my bike every morning to the train station on my way to work. Yesterday, I was running late. It usually take me about 8 minutes to get there. I was pretty sure that I was going to miss my train. So I jumped on my bike anyway and started pedaling. I remember thinking that I was really making good time, half way to the station I thought, “wow, I think I might just make it”.

Sure enough, I pulled up to the bike rack and the train hadn’t yet shown up. I managed to make the trip in 5 to 6 minutes. A full 2 to 3 minutes quicker than normal. I thought to myself, “I’ve even got time to grab a cup of coffee.” That’s when I saw Paul hunched over on the bench and swaying back and forth. I felt the Lord tug me.

I hesitated and then made my way over. Long story short, his name was Paul and he got the coffee that I had time to grab. The little lesson was this:

God increases our efforts to serve His purposes.

God strengthened my legs and lungs, because he wanted Paul to get a cup of coffee.