My word for the year!  Where will it take me.

No, I haven't seen the movie.  I have heard great things about it and so it is on my list to watch.

When you receive a renewal of faith, it takes you to a place of wonder with God.  

I'm not wondering if there is a God or what He is up to?

My word this year is so I can be LOST in His wonder.  The mystery!

My prayer and hope for 2018 is that WONDER will bring me closer to God and allow me to see things about this world that are unseen to me at this point.  I pray that I will be able to lay down all the things that take me away from faith and distract me from God will hush and Wondering with God will be the prevalent voice I hear.

It's a good word!

​He's a good God!

Does God exist?
Where is God?
Who is God?
Why would God create humanity?
Why would God give humans free will?
Is there really a Hell?
What will heaven be like?
Why its there sin in the world?
Is there really a Holy Spirit?
Is the Bible contains true or fictional stories?

These are just a few questions you can ask.  I have found that when I ask the most basic and even the most profound (or at least profound to me) questions I end up growing closer to God.  I have no issue with having doubt or asking good questions.  In fact, I'm probably a little more fearful of someone or group that believes that they have it all figured out.  God is a mystery.  Even the things that He has allowed us to know is an extreme limit to His Awesome presence.

Our theme for our year is Legacy.  So I thought last year that a good class to talk about the things we are already thinking about would be a good idea.  So basically I am offering a class on Systematic Theology to our adults at church.  However, the entire premise of the class is asking questions and discussing why each piece of what we talk about each week matters.  Some unexpected things have already happened through the class.

1.  People who I would have never thought would come, have come and greatly participated.
2.  One member felt freedom to ask me a good question which led to them and a friend meeting with me to discuss and study things about theology and together asking unbelievably great questions
3.  I have found some renewed passion for discussing and dreaming about God that is currently unleashed.

Really my passion for God has been stirred so much, I simply cannot stop reading scripture and thinking about God and His Kingdom.  One question leads to a new and better question.  I'm not shaken one bit by the fact that I cannot answer these questions.  All it does is make me want to know God more.  It is changing my prayer life and conversation with Him.  I feel a Spirit-led change in me and cannot wait to see what God is going to do next. The class I'm teaching is for me, just as much as it is for the church.  The best part is that I'm getting over 20 discussion partners each week to discuss views on God.  Simply Amazing!!

If you need a boost to your faith and want to think deeper about God and don't necessarily need a definite answer then do these simple things to ask good questions of God and faith.

1.  Rethink everything you already know -its ok to come up with the same answers as before and its ok to find a new answer
2.  While reading your Bible underline or highlight something that doesn't make complete sense to you.  Then ask questions about it.
3.  Pray to God by asking a question of him and sit in silence to listen.
4.  Be Okay with mystery and wonder
5.  Find safe conversational partners to ask these questions and discuss how what we learn and know of God's nature could answer those questions.
6.  Read authors that are asking and discussing good questions
7.  Don't forget how you got where you are.  Stay grounded!

I hope that when I'm 80 years old I will still be asking new questions of God.  I never want to be settled in my faith.  This is a great season!

I had a friend die yesterday.  I won't say much about it right now, because I want to respect the family and their privacy.  But I must say something about grief.



​In funerals I often read from 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm faithful that death has no sting.  However, I'm pretty realistic that grief does provide a sting and sometimes a slow burn of pain.  So, I continue to remind myself that grief is temporary, and hope is eternal.

I wrote this about grief almost 2 years ago.  I still think it holds truth.

Death is basically a promise to all of us.  Sometimes it follows a long journey and almost invited.  Sometimes death comes unexpectedly and quickly, like a thief in the night.  Sometimes death works like a boomerang where it seems to come, seems defeated, and then comes again to sew its roots of finality.  Death is evident and as people who believe in God's promises we are told not to fear death because of the eternal reward we gain.

However,  I don't fear death.  I don't even fear the death of those whom I love the most.  Sometimes I fear grief.  Grief means that I am here to continue a journey without the ones I love.  It pains me that as my journey continues, it continues with less on this earth.  I say in funerals and memorials where I officiate that grief is an invention from God's imagination.  And this is true.  The pain of grief and mourning was created by God and given to us.  It's not that He wants us to hurt.  It's that He knows we feel and that by exploring all of our emotions we are not denying God or His presence, but leaning fully into Him.

As a professional minister I am suppose to have all the answers.  I don't!  I'm at a loss when others are experiencing deep, painful grief.  Knowing the truth about God does not take away my pain, but at least my pain is experienced in a greater hope.

We will all experience our own grief and others' grief at some point. Not knowing what to say and do is extremely common...even for ministers.  A preacher that I greatly admire, Mike Cope, has written several blog posts that share about grief.  His daughter Megan died at a young age and his son Chris had a terrible car accident that nearly took his life many years later.  He covers in this one blog post about things to say and not to say.  Click here for that post. And check out his other posts on the topic of grief.

Please pray for those who today are suffering in grief!

And remember:
HOPE is Eternal!!

This is still one of my favorite songs.  All I ever want is for God to have my heart and for me to follow His heart.

Justice is not a solely a civil rights issue.  It is a theological issue.  If Justice were followed by God's people the way He intended there would be no need for us to have movements and leaders who consistently push us toward treating people fairly and with God's love.  I challenge you this day on Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday to observe some sort of fast and while fasting keep this scripture in mind so that your fast will produce justice.

Isaiah 58:6-10
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday."

Several times a week I stare at a blank screen.  Sometimes that screen can stay blank for hours or even days.  Other times it could be seconds before a fluttering of words come from over anxious fingers finding their way to the correct keys.  Writing is a joy and a grind.  And sometimes the grind is just as much joy as the free flowing moments.  

Life is similar in that it is a joy and a grind.  And life sometimes becomes a joy due to the grind.  What I really mean is that it isn't the grind that is joyous, but making it over the grind or even the thought that you will make it over the grind. I heard Pete Rollins expound on this idea in a podcast with Rob Bell when Rob and Pete talked about love. (Look up the Robcast for Episodes 159-161, An Introduction to Love Part 1,2,3).  Pete basically says that whether we are being creative or just living life we end up desiring most what is hardest to achieve.  And we can end up desiring the more difficult pieces of writing and life because there is that moment when we think we are on the right path to find just the right word or have just the right experience.  Every year people make resolutions only to break them within weeks or months (sometimes days).  The reason they are broken is because they were difficult to keep in the first place.  People put difficult standards on themselves because it enriches the hunt for meaning.  However, they aren't prepared to deal with all the difficulty or they lose their passion for that outcome and the resolution falls short.

It wouldn't be advantageous to create resolutions for the year that are easily accomplished.  What is better is to prepare yourself and have an action path that will lead to success so that your goal is met and ultimately you have grown as a person by December 31.  As you make your resolutions or goals for a new year, you are staring at a blank page of your life.  You are considering what you want for your 2018 and what it will take to get there.  Here are a few things that have helped me keep my goals and be successful in accomplishing them by the end of each year.

1.  Sit down and pray in isolation:  Take time to find a place of solitude where you can pray without distraction to God about your previous year and what He wants for you in your next year.  Don't skip this step.  Put away your devices.  Speak out loud to God.  Spend considerable time listening for God (in other words, don't talk the whole time).  Spend time in comfortable posture (sitting, laying, standing) and spend time in uncomfortable posture (kneeling, prostrate, hands lifted up).  Have things on paper you want to pray and then when it is all said, listen and then just speak from your heart.  The moment you find yourself more distracted than praying, say Amen and move on.

2.  Examen your previous year:  Write down from January to December the big events and the small events that you remember.  Write down the things you accomplished.  Write down the things you wanted to do and didn't.  Write down your suffering and pain.  Write down your joys.  If these things have themes (I.e. all your pain and joy came from financial sources) circle those things.  After making these lists, think about your responsibility in them and also how God worked in them.

3.  Consider your new year:  Make a list of things from the previous year that you want to carry over to the new year.  Things that were tried and seem to be completely unnecessary, exclude them from your new year.  Things that were desired and failed or tried but would definitely be beneficial to your life include again.  Consider whether or not things you have in mind can be done within 12 months or sooner.  Also, get a calendar and mark down important dates.  Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, grief anniversaries, vacations, crazy work seasons, etc.  You'll need this later.

4.  Make a list of things you want for your new year.  Just a list at first, then prioritize.  

5.  Schedule on a calendar:  Use whatever kind of calendar works for you.  One of my goals each year is to read a certain number of books.  So I will put down on my "goals calendar" when I need to be finished with each book and sometimes how much of the book needs to be read each day.  Put everything down on your calendar that you want to accomplish.  In other words create deadlines for each goal or resolution.

6.  Add to your calendar:  Now add the things you know for work or life that will be on that calendar as well.  You might add meetings you know will come or just your whole work day

7.  Edit:  Now look at your entire calendar.  Ask yourself and maybe your spouse or friends, "Is this something I can pull off for an entire year?", "Am I asking too much of my time?", "Am I not asking enough?"  While you edit, make sure that you are still challenging yourself and leaving room for the Holy Spirit to do His work.

8.  Make it visible:  I would encourage you to make your goals digital on a calendar where alerts and reminders can pop up on your phone or computer.  You can also put it in a place where you will see it daily.

9.  Share it:  Share your resolutions and goals with others that will promise you to ask about it from time to time and share the burden with you.  They may even share the resolution with you and you can do it together.

10.  Prepare for Failure:  There will be goals or resolutions that will fail.  They might need to fail.  Don't allow one failure to become a storm of failure.  If you find yourself behind on a goal, pick it up again.  There is no shame in completing a goal in January rather than December 31.  Just because a resolution fails, it doesn't mean you have failed.  Share your failure with others and take its power away.  It is better to have risked and failed than to never have taken the risk in the first place.

I hope this is helpful.  If there are other things that you could add, please feel free to comment.