A true reason for Thanksgiving

On this, the eve of Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for. That's a cliche, I know. It's also grammatically incorrect.

We also have some things that make us long for days of old, when this (still great) country held fast to the principals on which it was founded - a spirit of independence, a staunch belief in personal responsibility, and a deep, abiding faith in God. As a reminder of those times, take a look at President Abraham Lincoln's original proclamation of the Thanksgiving holiday.


The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Abraham Lincoln

By the President:
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.

Happy Thanksgiving. May God bless you and keep you.

The future president's church life

I was a little disturbed today when I read that Barak Obama, who was pretty upfront about his relationship with God during the campaign, announced that he hasn't attended church since the election. Instead, the Wunderkind is working on his figure at the gym Sunday mornings. It makes cynical little me wonder... was it all for show? Surely one wouldn't attend church every Sunday for months on end, in front of the TV cameras, just for the purposes of campainging, would one?

Mr. Obama claims he doesn't want to cause a distraction or disturbance at a church that wasn't prepared for him. And that's a good point. After all, the purpose of a church service is to worship The One True God, and anything that forces a distraction from that would not be good. I respect his decision to keep other worshippers in mind as he struggles with this question.

On the other hand, you can't believe his presence in churches didn't cause distractions during the campaign. And, he's not been afraid to attract a crowd at Sunday services before, see here and here. And it just seems pretty convenient to come up with an excuse to stop doing something that isn't really who you are.

Mr. Obama clearly thinks faith has an important place in politics... he said so himself. And Christian author/blogger Donald Miller claimed that his biggest reason for supporting Mr. Obama for president was his relationship with God.

Now, I don't pretend to know the real reason for Mr. Obama's about face. 2 Chronicles 6:30 says only God knows a man's heart. Therefore, I want to believe that Mr. Obama's reasoning is the whole truth. But, I hope the future president keeps this in mind... God is there in good times and in bad. I know people whose lives have gotten so bad, they try to shut God out thinking he's not going to help anyway. But, if we're not careful, we can shut Him out when life is good, too, thinking that we've got it all under control. I hope that doesn't happen to the future leader of the free world.

When president Obama is leading this country, I desperately desire for the lines of communication with his maker to be wide open. To that end, I beg him to find a church home for his family and fast.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with the president-elect's reasoning? What would you do?

The fine art of self-denial

"Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.- Joel 2:12-13

Why don't we fast more? I mean, I talk/write/complain a lot about how I want to be more like Him and less like me. So, why am I not willing to set my needs aside and focus on the needs of others? Why is it that I'm so obsessed with feeding my appetite, that nothing gets in the way? Not prayer, not tragedy, not sorrow... nothing.

Fasting yesterday, I learned again that (1) It's surprisingly easy, and (2) It really does change my focus from my desires to His desires. Since I've told you all I was fasting, I know my reward for it won't be in heaven. But, it was important enough for me to put this thought out to challenge you to try it, and to hold myself accountable.

Next time you're struggling... really struggling and seeking God's will, try denying yourself for a while. He'll show up.

A sheer gift?

Today is going to be hard. Maybe one of my hardest days as an adult. So, here is the verse I cling to today:

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." -James 1:2-4 (The Message)

I don't always face challenges well, let alone consider them a gift. I usually consider them a curse. My prayer for today is that I will truly see tests and challenges as a gift from God, designed to grow my faith and stretch me in a way that I would never stretch myself.

If you're so inclined, please pray with me.

Runners in the news

Why is it that whenever runners are in the news, it's that they (a) found a dead body, (b) got run over by a car, or (c) were attacked by some wild animal? Obviously as runners, we don't always consider all the dangers inherent in our sport.

Take, for instance, the story of this woman, who was attacked by a rabid fox while running and ran a mile with the fox clamped on her arm. When she reached the trailhead, she wrapped up the fox, threw him in her trunk, and drove to the hospital.

On the flip side, it did land her the feature spot on Letterman...

How to deal with stuff...

Man, there is some stuff going on right now. Stuff in the economy. Stuff in people's families and lives. This world is full of sickness and despair and depression and uncertainty. How do you deal with all this stuff? Here is a suggestion from the writer of Hebrews:

"...strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God." -Hebrews 12:1-2 (The Message)

Jesus knows pain. Jesus knows betrayal and heartache and doubt and temptation. Maybe you've never been through what you're going through, but Jesus has. God incarnate, He knows what it means to be a human and to live in this world full of all this stuff. Keep your eyes upon him, review the list of what he's done for us. He will be your refuge, your rest, your dwelling place. Your comforter.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." -Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

Success before commitment

We don't like commitment. As humans, we'd normally rather be non-comittal. Companies don't like to commit- they need to stay flexible. Congregants don't like to commit to giving or serving- we'd rather "check out the church" for awhile, and see if we "like the style." We'd like to live together for a while before we think about getting married. A week before the recent presidential election, most polls showed nearly 10% still undecided who to vote for. That means 1 in 10 Americans are like the proverbial squirrel squashed in the road because he didn't know which way to go when the car came. Let's hope these undecideds were waiting to see who would give them the bigger payday.

We don't like to commit. Which is why this sentence, in Seth Godin's latest book, Tribes, sent chills up my spine:

If your organization requires success before commitment, you will never have either.

Wow. If you have to trust your gut and commit to something without first having a win, you won't win. If you have to follow God and trust he'll take care of your needs before you give, you'll never give. You have to commit to a new product/service/ministry/organizational structure even though it may not deliver immediate results if you want it to succeed.

Do you have the patience to succeed?

Beautiful Bride

"Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder:
Hallelujah!
The Master reigns,
our God, the Sovereign-Strong!
Let us celebrate, let us rejoice,
let us give him the glory!
The Marriage of the Lamb has come;
his Wife has made herself ready.
She was given a bridal gown
of bright and shining linen.
The linen is the righteousness of the saints.
The Angel said to me, "Write this: 'Blessed are those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.'" He added, "These are the true words of God!"
I fell at his feet to worship him, but he wouldn't let me. "Don't do that," he said. "I'm a servant just like you, and like your brothers and sisters who hold to the witness of Jesus. The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." - Revelation 19:6-10 (NLT)

This scripture describes the church as the bride of Christ. To help figure out what that means,I just want to put some images in your head of what a bride looks like. Think about the weddings you’ve been to. All the guests describe the bride... she’s lovely, she’s beautiful. When everyone at the wedding is gathered in the church and the bridal march turns uptempo, the whole congregation stands and turns around just to watch her enter the room in all her splendor. And, she’s so stunning that the mothers cry and her sisters cry and her friends cry, and the groom gets weak in the knees, because it is at this time he first realizes, he’s marrying way out of his league. She is the most gorgeous woman in the room, and, at that moment, she’s the most beautiful woman alive. But, she doesn’t get there alone. Preparations for the wedding start months- often years before. Little girls buy hope chests and fill them with pieces of china and and pictures clipped from magazines, boys give promise rings, and young ladies visit other weddings and cut clippings of great hairstyles from celebrity magazines- until by the time she reaches adulthood, the wedding is foremost on a young woman’s mind. Often, in fact, the only missing piece in a young lady’s life is a groom. Minor detail.

So, when that day comes, parents, friends, relatives all work to make her look as gorgeous as she possibly can. Her best friends give up their entire week or month even, and wear the most hideous hot pink and teal dresses with big poofy skirts and unflattering sleeves just to make her look even more beautiful. And on that day, everyone is taking pictures of the bride and the wedding scrapbook even years later will have three pictures of the groom (including one with the groomsmen lifting him on their shoulders while he looks very afraid), seven pictures of the flower girl, and 126 pictures of the bride. And whenever they look back at the scrapbook, all anyone ever talks about is how beautiful the bride is.

In our case, the church is the bride. Our job as believers in the church is to make her beautiful. Beautiful so that all who encounter her will remember her beauty. Beautiful so she is ready to do the work she has to do. Beautiful so that more people want to come to the wedding party. And most of all, beautiful for her groom. Let's gather round and serve her, let's organize and make her as beautiful as Jesus intended.

I hope you hate my message

"As for you, son of man, you've become quite the talk of the town. Your people meet on street corners and in front of their houses and say, 'Let's go hear the latest news from God.' They show up, as people tend to do, and sit in your company. They listen to you speak, but don't do a thing you say. They flatter you with compliments, but all they care about is making money and getting ahead. To them you're merely entertainment—a country singer of sad love songs, playing a guitar. They love to hear you talk, but nothing comes of it. -Ezekiel 33:30-32

These are the words of God given to the prophet Ezekiel around the time of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Though they weren't said directly to me, I think I can understand how Ezekiel must have felt.

Though I'm not a prophet of God, I do listen to him intently before I write or speak. And, often enough, people have come up after a service and told me how they enjoyed my message, or they really liked it or thought it was "really good." And, I have to admit, sometimes I like that. But, sometimes, I don't. Sometimes, I just get this overwhelming urge to say, "that's too bad. I really wanted you to hate it."

Sometime when I write or speak, I have a desire to convict people with words or, more precisely, to have God convict people through me. It sometimes works for me even when I speak- God uses the process of writing and preaching to change me. But, I want to be used to change peoples' lives. Yes, I want people to know the endless, undying love of a God that created them. But, sometimes I want them to know that what they're doing is just not right. I want them to avoid eye contact after a message because they're struggling with something I said. I want them to send hate mail to the church because they vehemently disagree that what I called sin is a sin. I want to have a heated discussion, right there in front of the stage after a service because someone in the audience hated what God said through me. Then, I will feel like God is truly using me to make people more like Him.

I don't want to be a country singer of sad love songs. I'd rather be a tool of the Most High God.

God's thoughts on the election?

Everyone tries to get help from the leader,
but only God will give us justice. - Proverbs 29:26 (The Message)

Making little trees out of big ones

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take a branch from the top of a tall cedar, and I will plant it on the top of Israel’s highest mountain. It will become a majestic cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed. Birds of every sort will nest in it, finding shelter in the shade of its branches. And all the trees will know that it is I, the Lord, who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall. It is I who makes the green tree wither and gives the dead tree new life. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I said!”- Ezekiel 17:22-24

It is God, not I, that makes things grow. But in order to do this, he will sometimes kill something off. This is a concept I struggle with in my life from time to time.

Right now, it seems like there are some things in my life that are dying. Stuff at work, and other things that just seem to be withering away. Fortunately, the important things are still strong. But this verse spoke to me today. Maybe what God is doing is killing some things off in my life so that something else can grow better. Maybe He has to cut down a majestic tree that has stopped growing, and plant a part of that in some soil somewhere else, so that it may grow and flourish and become majestic again.

How about you? Do things in your life seem gloomy? Is there something that is dying and you don't understand why? Is there something that you need to kill so that something else can grow stronger? Think about it.

Most of us trust God when he's growing the little trees in our lives. How many of us trust Him when he's cutting down the big ones?

How great your faithfulness!

Lamentations. The very word just makes even the strong in constitution think of greiving and sorrow. So, why is there so much hope in those five short chapters? Not much to write today, I just wanted to share these few verses from the book of Lamentations.

Background: Israel is in ruin. The town of Jerusalem has been destroyed by the Babylonians. Her people are scattered everywhere. Surely God has deserted her. But, out of the sorrow comes this:

He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
I've forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished.
God is a lost cause."

It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He's all I've got left.

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young
to stick it out through the hard times.

When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.

Why? Because the Master won't ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:

Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
-Lamentations 3:16-36 (The Message)