He is Risen!

Note: This is a slightly modified post I put up last Easter......

He is risen!

Can you think of more wonderful words than these? The blood-soaked cross and the blood-stained ground beneath it both look magnificently different today than they did yesterday. For yesterday they reminded me of a dead man and the death wherewith he died. Today however, they serve as witness to what a living Savior endured out of total love for me and total devotion and obedience to the Father!

Alas, today I have a new emblem! There is an empty tomb! An angel sits atop the stone that once sealed its’ entrance and proclaims, "He is no longer here, for he is risen – just as he said"! His death gave me hope – his resurrection gives me life! His last words on that cross, “It is finished”, hinted at victory. His resurrection gave credence to his claim of being “the Resurrection and the Life”.

Yet, as beautiful and victorious as this empty tomb is, my eyes keep glancing back at that wretched cross. The prophet said that I would be healed by His stripes, but I never expected those stripes to cut so deep.

I cannot understand this amazing love. For centuries men have pondered the question…. “Why would One such as this suffer and die for one such as I?”

Why would He trade in His kingly crown for a crown of thorns?

Why would He give up His place in the Heaven of heavens shrouded in glory to be wrapped in this putrid flesh?

Why would He exchange angels worshipping at His feet for men pounding nails through them?

The angels sang His praises. Men mocked Him and spat upon Him.

In His former estate, the entire heavenly host gave to Him…worship and adoration. Here, the creatures of His creation took from Him….always wanting food, or a miracle, or health.... They took everything they could from Him…even His life.

Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Do not mourn the crucifixion…hope thou in the Resurrection! Oh, what a glorious thought this is! My Lord has risen and He reigns in majesty! He sits clothed in glory, angels worshipping Him in His righteousness! And wonder of wonders, His very presence at the right hand of the Father perpetually satisfies the just judgment and punishment that my sin deserves!

My risen Lord and Savior hath clothed me in His righteousness! My soul leaps within me! Death hath no power! The cross is no longer a picture of horror, but one of beauty! HE IS ALIVE! HALLELUJAH! I will shout with joy today! As long as I have breath, let me not forget to praise thee, oh my Lord! And when I’ve breathed my last…oh, how I long to be in thy presence and at thy feet, and sing glory, glory, GLORY to your wonderful name!

____________________________________________________________________

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
by
Isaac Watts

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

To Christ, who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevermore.

Friends, Snobs, Jazz, BBQ, and a Free Steak: My Trip to Kansas City.

I just returned from a business trip to Kansas City. The highlight of the trip was a long visit with on old friend on Wednesday night (my first night there). I'll talk about that a bit later on, but first a couple of other brief stories about the trip.

• The Bass Pro Shop in Olathe is an extremely cool place. There's a fairly decent restaurant in there and the entire place is just fun to look at. I wasn't able to spend much time in there, but it was fun!


• I was shocked to find that some businesses are a bit snobby when it comes to their customers using cash! My company put me up in a fairly "ritzy" hotel. Any incidentals I incurred, I paid for out of my own pocket (internet access, room service, etc). These people honestly seemed put out that I used cash rather than plastic.....I didn't bother to waste my breath explaining that I haven't used plastic in five years and don't expect to ever use it again......it frustrates me that green money is somehow inconvenient these days.


• I ate one meal that I probably shouldn't have due to cost. While my company was reimbursing me for my meals, I still felt a bit guilty about the price of this one. The restaurant was extremely nice and the food was priced very high. I ordered steak and lobster....it took so long for it to get there that they ended up giving me the meal for free! Normally, I would have said, "well, if I knew it was going to be free I would have ordered the steak and lobster tail"! Since I couldn't say that, I simply told the waitress that her tip just got a lot bigger than it was going to be! The food was fabulous.


• As I said earlier, the hotel I was in was quite nice. There were 16 stories in the place and the higher you went, the nicer and larger the rooms and suites were (I was on the 3rd floor!). Thursday evening I got into an elevator with a guy and asked him what floor I needed to push for him. When he said he was on the 15th floor, I replied with a hearty, "Well, congratulations!"......he didn't get my joke.
  


• I did get to enjoy a little jazz and BBQ while I was there. Kansas City is really a unique place with a neat culture. I enjoyed it!

Now, regarding my visit with an old friend... Tim and I worked together at the Wilds of the Rockies for two summers ('93 - '94). We "hung out" a bit, but I don't know that we were ever super close as friends. He was one of only a few guys who was there from the previous summer, so we had a good familiarity with one another and often went the same places on weekends. After that last summer, I'm not sure that I ever saw or spoke to Tim again until recently when our paths crossed on SharperIron and Facebook. When I found out that I was going to be in the KC area for a few days, I got in touch with Tim and asked if we could get together for a bit. So on Wednesday night (my first night in town), Tim and his wife had me over to their house for dinner.

The food was great, but the highlight of the evening was the conversation. For nearly 4 hours we talked about the goodness and grace of our Lord. While we did some "catching up", the bulk of our conversation was spent talking about lessons learned in our respective lives as we've strived to please God and get to know Him better. Honestly, it was one of the sweetest times of fellowship I've had in the last several years. I'd never met or spoken to Tim's wife until I walked into their home, but instantly I felt a kinship with her as if I'd known her forever. From the moment I walked into their house, I felt like I was family.....that sort of warmth and comfort only comes with Christian kinship I think. At any rate, the food was wonderful, the fellowship was superb and the ice cream hit the right spot!

As enjoyable as the trip was, it was certainly nice to get back home to my family. I got in a tad later than I expected, but everyone managed to stay awake and greet me (with the exception of our youngest child.....he was out cold!). As excited as my wife and kids were to see me, their enthusiasm paled in comparison to that of our dog, but his level of enthusiasm is just as high if I walk outside for 10 minutes and come back in!

I don't really enjoy taking trips without my family, but finding an old friend to fellowship with certainly makes it much more enjoyable!

Not a typical music post...

I came across this today over at Sharper Iron. I've never read it before now, but it made me laugh.....enjoy!

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

"Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."

"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?"

"Oh, they're OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.

"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.

The farmer said, "Well, it's like this - If I were to say to you 'Martha, the cows are in the corn' - well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:

'Martha, Martha, Martha,
Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows,
the brown cows, the black cows,
the white cows, the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN.'

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus."

The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit and attended the local church of the small town. He went home and his mother asked him how it was.

"Well," said the young man, "it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs."

"Hymns?" asked his mother. "What are those?"

"Oh, they're OK. They are sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man.

"Well, what's the difference?" asked his mother.

The young man said, "Well, it's like this - If I were to say to you 'Martha, the cows are in the corn' - well, that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:

'Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they in God's sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

So look to the bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.'

Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn!"

--Author Unknown

It's easier when you have all the answers!

*****UPDATE: My friend Marty Colborn recently wrote an article on this subject that you might find interesting. I've known Marty for nearly 3 years and have come to appreciate his thoughts. He's one of the most genuine, godly men I've ever had the privilege of calling a friend. We come down on different sides of some issues, but in the end, we both love our Savior and we both want to serve Him. By the way, Marty and I attend the same church.....we even sing in a quartet together! You can find his article here. *****

I remember it like it was yesterday......I had it all figured out! I knew all the answers to the real important questions regarding life, Christianity, holiness, and sin. It was so simple and I couldn't believe that everybody else around me didn't see it - it was as clear as the nose on my cleanly shaven face!

The year was 1993 and I was a 20 year old bible college student. Everything made a lot of sense to me back then. I knew what a "real" Christian looked like, acted like, dressed like, etc...all others were counterfeit Christians. I knew what kind of music good Christians listened to, what Bible version they used, what kind of churches they attended, and what kind of haircuts they sported. I remember meeting a young man who's father pastored a different kind of church....you know, the kind that was full of "deceived, fake" Christians..... This young man seemed to love the Lord and he had a passion for the things of God. We were talking one night and he told me how the Lord was using his brother in the ministry his brother had. When I asked him what that ministry was, I was shocked to discover that his brother was the lead singer in a Christian Rock Band (one that is fairly well known these days). I was flabbergasted! Fortunately I was able to tell him with a great deal of confidence that his brother was probably not saved.....I explained how the term "christian rock" was an oxymoron - the two words ought not even be uttered in the same sentence. That's right - I had all the answers and that night I lost a friend because of it.

One of the first churches I worked in after college was a small non-denominational church in southern Kansas. The fact that they had the word "community" rather than "baptist" in their title really bugged me, but they preached from the KJV and had conservative music from a good old hymnal, so that was good enough for me. I left that church when I "discovered" that they were supporting an SBC ministry financially - after all, the SBC was filled with compromisers...not "true" Christians. Again, I damaged some good friendships and hurt some sweet servants of God with my damaging words....all because I had all the right answers.

I like for things to be "black and white". I've got an extremely analytical mind and "gray areas" used to bug the living daylights out of me. It was much easier to write people off as being counterfeit than it was to try to understand things from a truly biblical perspective. In my mind I couldn't rationalize how a Christian man could ever have long hair, or wear jewelry, or (gasp!) have a tattoo on his body! As a matter of fact, a man who would put a tattoo on his body had disqualified himself from any usefulness in ministry as far as I was concerned. Yep....I had all the answers...

I guess the Lord began to open my eyes a bit when I finally found a church to attend that felt the same way I did. The lack of love; the separating from the world to the point that we were perceived as haters; the constant denigration of any Christian or Christian group who listened to certain types of music, read certain bible versions, or dressed in a certain way.....you get the picture - anyone who was different. Those things began to make me realize that I might just be missing something.

It was a lot easier when I had all the answers.....but it was lonely. I mean lonely in the sense that I went out of my way to ostracize myself from other believers. I viewed things such as music, bible versions, and calvinism as separation issues. I used to get mad when I would hear about or read interviews with CCM musicians and they would talk about ministry or speak of their relationship with Christ. I didn't understand how Satan was using them, but I just knew he was. After all, those within CCM were likely unsaved.......

All the answers.

Well I'm glad I'm no longer deceived into thinking I have all the answers. I've come to realize that God doesn't fit all that well into a little box, no matter how well that box might seem to be constructed. I've made dear friends who seem to have incredible walks with the Lord, yet they just don't see eye to eye with me on everything....I've come to love them and accept them....even the ones who have all the answers! I've come to find that two of the most important characteristics that a Christian should display are humility and love....it was difficult to display those characteristics when I was so convinced of my own righteousness.....

I realize that I don't have all the answers. Sometimes that makes things difficult, but.....I think it's better!

A correction.....

I am sometimes (OK....often) guilty of overstating something for effect. My last article was such an occasion, I think.... I have no intention of voting for Hillary or Obama (although I like Obama.....he strikes me as the most honest liberal that's ever run, even though he's left of nearly everybody in the US!).

All that said......I also won't vote for McCain. McCain is conservative in name, but not in practice. I like his stance on the war and on abortion, but those two things alone are not enough to win me over. The fact that our current President gave him the resounding endorsement of being "a true conservative" certainly doesn't add much credence to his cause, in my opinion. I will vote this election, but I'm not sure for whom. It will likely be 3rd party or a write-in....but I may change my mind between now and then - time will tell.

So it seems that this go around, we are destined to get either the first female, black, or really, really old President.....either way, we will likely see more of the same - a political quagmire in D.C.!!!! I just love politics!

My political post

I don't really talk about politics too often, because the subject frustrates me. Each Presidential election brings us news that is nothing more than "all politics, all the time", so the political discussion is now on my mind. Of course, this frustrates me all over again, so I'm going to use my little slice of the internet to discuss my frustration.....

For most of my adult life I've been a registered Republican. After all, we know that all good Christians (and especially fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals) simply have to support the GOP! This is the same GOP that has given us the President we've had for the past 8 years and is apparently going to throw all its muscle behind a marginal (at best) Republican like John McCain for the upcoming election. The same GOP that turns utterly spineless when at a crossroads with Democratic opposition in the Senate. Quite frankly the GOP has abandoned most of its conservative principles and is causing me to refer to myself as a man without a party.... It frustrates me that the "conservative base" in the GOP are perceived as such dullards that all it takes to get our vote is to attach the term "pro-life" to your name. Equally frustrating is the fact that we've earned that reputation! You have to look no further than how this primary season has shaken out for McCain....a man who is more of a Democrat than Leiberman ever was is getting the vote of conservatives for two reasons...he's pro-life and he takes a good stance on our current war situation.

The only viable conservative that even ran for the Republican nomination this year was Romney (who will have no choice but to drop out soon), yet conservatives by the truckload threw their support behind Huckabee and McCain (who are essentially the exact same on most issues). This upcoming election is likely to pit McCain against Obama......in that scenario I'd likely vote for McCain, but if Clinton wins the Democratic primary I might just vote for her this year. A McCain Presidency would look a lot like a Clinton Presidency with the exception that Clinton has the benefit of being married to a former President. I guess I'll have to see who their running mates are. If the ticket is Clinton / Obama, there's no way I'll vote for it. If McCain chooses someone like Lieberman or Huckabee, I feel the same way. I don't know, maybe this is the year that I don't vote....

By the way, after this primary season is over, I will no longer be registered as a Republican.

Humility

In Philippians 2 we are reminded to be of the same mind as Jesus Christ. As the passage continues, we are reminded of the great humility displayed by Christ by, not only in His willingness to leave heaven and live for a short while as a man, but to have that life taken by the hands of His creation in the most brutal of methods. If we take pause, however, after that short phrase, “….let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”, we cannot help but to tremble at the thought.

I, for one, fail so often in this matter of humility that it’s depressing to even think about it. The idea of self-sacrifice and completely selfless living is often so foreign to me that I wonder if there’s anything other than selfishness coursing through me. Christ’s humility involved a measure of this selflessness and self-sacrifice that sinful man is unable to achieve, yet the Apostle cautions us to, “let this same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus…”. Is it really possible? In this day and age I meet precious few people who are willing to put into practice some of the basic lessons that Christ taught us both in word and deed. Commands like, “love your enemy”, “turn the other cheek”, “bless those that curse you”, or even “love each other” – as in agape. I don’t mean to come across as if I display these things on a daily basis. I don’t even display proper love consistently to those whom I hold dearest in this world.

Sometimes the study of the Word will prompt one to ask oneself some difficult questions. Some questions I’ve faced recently during my study times have been:

• How can I claim to be a follower of Christ when I consistently fall short in nearly everything He’s commanded?
• How can I maintain a right relationship with my Lord when I bristle at the most petty of differences between myself and those whom I call my brothers and sisters in Christ?

I’ve been confronted with many more questions than these, but they are personal enough that I won’t share them here…

So why am I sharing this with you? Simply put, I’m beginning to grow tired of the mediocrity that typifies the lives of most Christians, but specifically, my own life. I sometimes wonder if I know the first thing about humility, sacrifice, and selflessness. I don’t know that I’ve ever been accused of “turning the other cheek” and of loving my enemies. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact. In some venues I’ve garnered a reputation that says I’m not a good man to cross…..I don’t think that’s the type of reputation that God would have one of His children possess. It's certainly not the example left by our Savior as He was "led as a lamb to slaughter".

In a couple of weeks I’m beginning a study with our adult Sunday School class on some of these things. We’ll be taking a 4 or 5 week look at some examples of humility from the life of Christ and drawing some practical lessons from them. I’ll be posting some of my notes here following each class.