kingdom travelin'

At a funeral I attended today, the preacher said something like this –

we need to learn to face that which is real and not drug away the pain of life

– it’s a paraphrase, not exact, but I think the message is accurate and I know it is powerful.

I felt anger today as I contemplated this death, why does this generation (obviously not everyone in it) live in such emptiness? Why do they try to drug away reality… I’m not talking about any one person, but when I look across our culture I am saddened… At the emptiness in the lives of the twenty-somethings, not all of them, certainly not all, but WAY TOO MANY!

why don’t they get it? why don’t they see that He wants lives of fullness for them? why can’t they become as passionate about Him as they become about their desire to mask their emptiness with the seeking of pleasure and status?

no wonder Jesus wept… no wonder Jesus came…

I am so sorry… it is so sad to see this pain and death, and the pain that pervades such empty lives. Oh, and by the way, my generation was no better… we all are struggling with the war we are in, Jesus weeps at the war, Jesus came to bring us a peace that pleasure and status cannot provide… I am not angry at the people, I am angry at the war we are in where the Enemy seeks to direct us to ourselves as the center of the world… the solution to this emptiness must be shown…

this generation must be shown the love of God is unconditional, unlike ours – the NFL banner verse (John 3:16-17) tell us Jesus did not come to condemn but to save… a good friend said this recently “we must be in the business of showing people we love them, not in making projects out of them”

the problem is that we are trying to make projects out of people to change their behavior, this is treating the symptom, the disease is an empty heart… Jesus came to give them meaning… to fill the heart…

many of us who work in schools (students and teachers alike) LOVE to see the snow falling! it often means we will get a day off or a late opening… so during school we watch the web to see the latest on the storm and hope its enough to get school canceled…

on those quiet mornings after a storm, before the kids go out for snowmen and sledding, i linger over the view outside my window to look at the landscape covered by a fresh blanket of snow… i am always mindful of the words of Isaiah: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;…” and “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness”

the snow covered ground is a reminder to me that all my wrongs have been covered; though i am really not worthy, i have been covered and made ready… “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;…”

the next time you look outside at a fresh snowfall, remember this idea and be thankful for the beauty

my mobile rang this afternoon and a crying voice said to me “Dad another classmate is dead” another young life has ended, tragically.

when a young life is ended, it is tragic no matter the circumstances.

what does one do? what does one say? how does one respond? how do we react to the sadness that exists among family and friends when there has been a loss?

we grieve

experts tell us there are stages to grief:
– denial
– anger
– bargaining
– depression
– acceptance

so we look to experts and hear that we can expect to go through some of these stages when we suffer loss. But to help us get through these stages, we must look for help.

I remember when my school lost two grads in two weeks. There were home visits to make, funerals to attend and participate in, people to talk to. Often, the visits consisted of only being present. The presence of loving people does a lot to help in times of hurt and need. There are gestures, words, our simple presence, all of which intended to bringing comfort…

Hear some words of comfort…

Don’t let your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe in me as well. My Father’s house has so many rooms for us: if these places were not there, I would have told you. In fact, I’m going there to prepare a place for you. Since I’m going there to prepare this place for you, I will come back, to take you with me so that you may be with me. And you know where I go and the way there… Thomas said, Lord, we don’t where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him:

“I am the way,
the truth,
and the life:
no man comes to the Father, but with me.”

I remind myself, that all I can do is to bring the truth. I am just very glad that this person knew the truth… “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” Know the way… Jesus, he is the way. For me there can be nothing more soothing… I was playing my guitar and singing and these words really spoke to me in this moment of need, listen to these words of hope…

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
(“All Who are Thirsty” by Brenton Brown and Glenn Robertson)

Now, I know this is will demonstrate a generational gap… but I heard about people who stood in line (they actually sat) for eleven hours to buy the latest video game system. Then I heard about a womon in a neighboring city punching another woman over a TV at one of those early sales the morning after Thanksgiving… I don’t know what to say… 11 hours… punching over a tv…

So I was talkin’ to a friend the other day whose son is about five years old and this young fellow made an astute observation about Thanksgiving… “Thursday is Thanksgiving, we will have to be thankful.”
I think that my experience tells me that this young fellow is expressing that which is very normal for us: not having an attitude of thankfulness. That’s why it is good that we have a holiday that allows us to stop and be thankful. In the West, we have so much to be thankful for, but all of us have so much to be grateful for, the heartbeat, the breath, these involuntary functions that we hardly ever consider.
Let’s be grateful for we have been provided with life, and for so many of us, a life of abundance. Life is a great gift, it is Grace, from Him that came to be the Life and Light of men.

A friend who is a missionary but now in America for a while before going to their new home made me think of the whole “culture shock” thing… part of what I wrote him was this…
May the Love of God be ever apparent to you in your time of struggle in this place [America]… I once heard it said that missionaries should be carefully observed as they prepare to GO to ‘the field.’ I am beginning to think that is exactly opposite of reality… I am beginning to think that this culture is SO screwed up that in many ways ‘the field’ is way less stressful…
I remember the culture shock I have experienced upon returning to America after some long (2 yrs) and even not so long (2 mo) times away…
I think EVERYONE should make the opportunity to travel away from the US for a while… not only to gain a fresh appreciation for what we have, but for what we need…