A fun little trip...

I know it has been a little while since I have posted. Things have been nuts! I can't help but get pumped over the fact that God is doing so much around here. Day after day I have the privilege of hearing story after story of lives that are changed because of the power of God. I really believe that, for some reason, God has chosen this time to work specifically in this place to accomplish something big for His glory.

Since the last time I wrote, only 10 short days ago, I have been able to experience some amazing things. Last Sunday, for instance, I got to worship alongside thousands of other people at Continental Airlines Arena while being led by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman. If that wasn't enough, one of my favorite speakers EVER, Louie Giglio, was there sharing the Word. What I love about him is that he always reminds me of just how huge our God is. Next time you're around me and you have a second to soak up some passion, just ask me to share about his message that night. It is still ringing in my heart a week later.

Yesterday was another awesome experience. One of the bands from Emergence and I took a trip to Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon, NJ. I was asked by a great friend, (the best man at my wedding) Adam Culp, to speak at their Chapel service and I was so pumped to bring along some of my fellow leaders from Emergence. It was a great experience, as it usually is. I love speaking to and worshiping with young people. Something about their passion and drive to change the world and the faith to believe that the world actually can be changed gets me pumped. The bite of jaded age hasn't yet reached them, and it is an awesome thing to be around. I'm (not so secretly) hoping we can join them on their retreat this fall and worship with them for a few days on end.

This weekend is the big Annual Meeting. While many people let out a groan at those words, I actually do love it. It is a time to celebrate and to be reconnected for another year. I also love getting together with those who are totally committed to God's work here--committed enough to show up! It should prove to be a great time--and these next years should prove to be big ones in the history of God's work up here on the hill.

Hope you're all having as great a week as I am!

One of these things is not like the others...

It is amazing to me how many people die every day. I mean, obviously, there are many people who are born every day, and therefore many will also pass, but I was just browsing through some obituaries today and found these:

A professor at the University of California at San Diego who was one of the world's leading investigators of new therapies for Alzheimer's disease, died in a plane crash near Borrego Springs, Calif. He was 62.

A former conductor and first violin player in the Boston Pops, and the managing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra died in Boston. He was 82. Through the years, he donated more than $13 million to the orchestra and millions more to other arts endeavors in Boston and in Palm Beach, Fla., where he had become a resident in recent years.

The oldest living man in the U.S. and the world's oldest WWI veteran died just a few weeks shy of his 111th birthday.

Former Playboy Playmate of the Year who has struggled with years of substance abuse and personal plagues died of yet unknown causes in a Hollywood, Florida hotel room hours after witnesses saw her drinking profusely to the point of not being able to stand or walk on her own. She was 39.


Let me start by saying that I don't think Anna Nicole Smith's (or Vickie Lynn Marshall as her parents named her) life is worth any less than these other people I listed or even my own. I believe she was made in the image of God, just like all of us. What perplexes me is that as I sit here with the television on, I am still hearing reports about her death, days after the actual event. I didn't hear one word about the scientist, the conductor, or even the world's oldest WWI veteran. I had to search for news of those, and even then it wasn't easy. I'm so confused about this thing we call celebrity, and why so many people are fascinated by it.

I do realize we're in a world of 24 hour news. When it isn't the war we see, it is personal wars. When we're not seeing bombs going off, we're seeing Hollywood elite getting bombed. When we're not hearing how high the casualty count was for the day, we're hearing how high the actors, musicians and playboy pinups can get on whatever substances they choose. And as if we don't have enough issues with personal relationships in our society, we need to hear the ins and outs of every relationship the 'stars' have.

I think all of this reminds me that the people that God has placed around us are so precious. How many of those that we come in contact each day feel like they aren't even worth talking to? How many people feel like there's nothing left to live for? While I'm seeing headlines of people I will never, nor ever care to meet, there are people I pray for, worship with and live next to hurting and dying on the inside--sometimes even on the outside.

I have a new goal each day--make someone feel like a celebrity: to let someone know they're worth the attention and the time--not because they are a scientist, a conductor, or a centerfold, but because they are made by the Master. Every obituary carries more than just a story. It carries a lifetime of stories. I'm just not convinced we spend our time focusing on the right ones.

Do you have an exit strategy?

All this talk about war, leaders, and politics is really starting to make sense to me. I'm not here to write about whether or not we should have gone to Iraq. I have strong beliefs that the church should stay out of positions on politics (not to say I don't have my own views, I just wouldn't talk about them from the platform on Sunday). I just think that a lot of who we are as a culture is reflected in our attitudes toward marriage, dating, and even war.

For instance, we all know that the war in Iraq is not going very well. Even the president has admitted that it is a real struggle. I just find it interesting that there are so many people calling for immediate withdrawal now. It isn't isolated to our problems in the middle east, either.

Let me put it this way: when I was in high school, it was very common for some to date someone until you had enough of them and leave them. One moment you were madly in love, the next you hated the person and never wanted to see them again. There really weren't any lasting repercussions when you took off. You got bored, tired, or just plain moody and it was over. If you didn't like the way it was going, you got out. No biggie.

Fast forward to adulthood. Our society is full of people who fall for someone, get married, get tired, bored, or just plain fed up and they move on. In fact, it is common nowadays (especially in NJ and other well-to-do areas) to go into a marriage with an exit strategy, a.k.a. a pre-nup. When you steamroll into town quickly, take over the center of someone and things go easily, you're thrilled to be in the thick of it. One day, the emotional insurgency starts--possibly even a civil war of emotions rages--and you find yourself wondering how you can get out as quickly as possible...maybe it was all a big mistake... maybe you should have never entered into the engagement. Now you're stuck in a mess, but you always have that option to take off and leave... just like high school... those were the days.

Man, am I glad God doesn't work like that. From the beginning of time, God wasn't trying to figure out a way to get out of his relationship with those He created. He was trying to find every way into a relationship. He was SO intent on sticking with us and never forsaking us that He even came here in the flesh and gave up His heavenly rights so that we might come to know Him... intimately... for eternity. Now THAT is commitment.

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" Hebrews 13:5b-8

Which brings me to my point: don't allow this world to sway you into viewing your relationships--your marriages--the way we view military conflict. God never intended marriage to have an exit strategy. He intended it to be an amazing, rewarding bond. He didn't say it would be easy though. Sometimes our sin nature surges forward and threatens to rip our families into all-out faction civil war. It is those times that we need to remember why we got in there in the first place--and to remember who our Leader is: a steadfast, ever-loving example of what commitment and sacrificial love really is.