Unconditional Love? Maybe not so much!!!

The idea that we Christians love unconditionally is about as true as the notion that the sun is a warm fuzzy ball. Any one who believes either of those ideas is clearly deluded. The very notion that the Church is exclusionary in its gatherings is in itself proof that our love is conditional. It’s conditional upon you accepting what we believe to be truth, as truth. It’s conditional upon you looking, speaking, and acting in a manner that we deem acceptable by our measuring stick. It’s conditional upon you living your life by the same set of values by which we live ours. Why, sometimes it’s even conditional upon what color the statue of Jesus or the picture of him above your mantelpiece is. If that’s not conditional love then I don’t know what is and I’m the deluded one!

Much of the way we express our faith reflects this notion: If you accept all the things we accept, and live exactly the way we live, then we extend our ‘hand of fellowship’ and welcome you warmly (That’s why in America we think being Christians and Republicans are part of the seven sacraments). If on the other hand, you are a non-conformist and insist on questioning everything we believe, then you’re an outsider and we generally extend to you the “left-foot of fellowship.” Oh, don’t get me wrong, we definitely pay lip service to the idea that we love, embrace, and welcome everyone, but that is the theory. In practice the reality is much different as evidenced by the clear lines of demarcation along racial, denominational, and various other ‘measurables’ during our Sunday worship hour. I realize that I’m generalizing and there’s always a danger in doing that, but the larger point is clearly found somewhere in the middle of these ideas.

I recently read a blog post by Brad Johnson that chilled me to the core because of it’s simple but profound truth. Now I could paste the hyperlink here and go on to restate the same ideas, but that would be redundant. Instead I decided to directly quote some of his observations since he stated the big ideas more succinctly than I ever could. The writer made the following observations:

“I can’t shake it. It’s a phrase that haunts my thoughts at night, like some ethereal creature floating just out of my reach, taunting me.There is this on-going debate going within me about this phrase.

It’s a war. My soul says, “Yes, this CAN be.” My heart says, “I so WANT this to be.” My logic and observations declare, “This will NEVER be.”The troubling phrase? From the lips of Jesus: “Father, let Your will be done on earth…JUST AS IT IS…in heaven.”

What does that mean? What would life on earth be like, if even parts of Jesus desire came true?Questions lifted my thoughts to heaven. What is heaven like? What will relationships be like? Heaven will be filled with pure love and freedom from shame, and acceptance and peace with our selves, peace with others, and peace with God.In heaven, we will live life with no reservations about others, where love prompts us to hope and believe the best about one another, expect the best, cheer for the best?

There, perfect [unconditional] love will cast out fear; fear of being rejected, judged, disliked, hurt.I can’t get this thought out of my mind, this angst out of my heart. Jesus EXPECTED that we could have some of the attributes of heaven, right here on earth. I could. You could.So, why don’t I, in my life, in relationships, in interactions and conversations?

Why don’t we in our sanctuaries, our cathedrals, our churches, our services of worship?Why isn’t the rule of heaven…well, the rule of the day?To have heaven’s love existing between us would be a vision of revolutionary grace and mercy. To have heaven’s love would find odd-pew partners side by side, engaging in conversation and laughter and hugs and worship.

There would be wounded marriage partners, bathing each other in forgiveness. There would be adulterers and adulteresses, now clean, walking in the freedom of new life, free to experience new, honorable love and meaningful love. Addicts would be healed from shame, embraced by Christians, moving sober into a wonderful new day. Republicans and Democrats would lay down agendas of their parties and find common ground under the rule of heaven.” (emboldened word in parenthesis above is mine)

I have a few more ideas about this that I’ll conclude with tomorrow (yeah, really. I’ll actually blog two days in a row), see you then. :)

Subluxations!?!

I must admit that I'm feeling rather bloated and unhealthy at the moment. I've had a really bad back and neck pain and so I haven't been bike riding for almost two weeks. Wow, the very idea of eating and not exercising is problematic for me but that's where I've lived the last two weeks. Enough already! I have an appointment with my doctor this morning, since, even two visits to my chiropractor last week haven't been able to resolve the problem. I'm telling you all this so you can say a quick prayer for me as you go on through your busy day. How can I pray for you today?

Blame it on the Tylenol...

The world is so much smaller, and our ability to impact it, so much larger. It's hard for me to fully comprehend the idea that I woke up almost 9,000 miles away from home yesterday, yet this morning I sit at my computer in the familiar sorroundings of my home office in Lake Mary, Florida. The astounding developments in technology make it continually easier and safer to fly long distances over shorter periods of time. The internet makes it considerably easier to communicate with people globally at the click of a button. All of this amazing technology serves the Gospel really well!

Because of the internet, I can share my thoughts with the world through blogging, so that people who want to, can vicariously live my life experiences with me. Because of the Internet I can e-mail people an encouraging (or discouraging, depending on the context) word, send e-faxes, and generally conduct my daily business no matter how far from my home base I am. I absolutely love this! How else can people I've never met, who literally live on opposite corners of the globe from me, offer me condolences, prayers and encouragement at the mere click of a button? There is a global village that exists in the Internet world, many of whom must be recognized as a vast "unreached people group" in and of themselves. That's why I'm sitting at my desk on four and a half hours of sleep, dazed by the residual effects of Tylenol P.M. rambling on and on about... well, nothing really.

So, in case you're visiting for the first time or are a recent visitor to Seasons of Change, before you mark this as one of the blogs that has nothing to offer by way of sensible content, I'm going to sign off now and get some more sleep. I promise I'll be more profound and inspiring tomorrow. Meanwhile, what things in your life have been made easier by the advances in technology?

This One's for you! (Yes, I'm talking to you)

David asked the following question in the book of Psalms:

"When all that is good falls apart,

what can good people do?"

The Lord is in His holy temple;

the Lord sits on His throne in heaven.

I have this inexplicable sense that someone out there in cyber world needs the encouragement that David was offering. I'm not sure what the dire circumstances you're facing are, but I do know that God is not overwhelmed by them. While your circumstances may have come as a surprise to you, they were not a surprise to Him. Unlike you and I, God is not threatened nor frightened by our storms. The established order of His purpose has not changed as a result of what we might be going through.

Because He is still in His holy temple, because He still sits on His throne in heaven, He is well able to bring about His perfect will for you. So no matter what you're dealing with today, remember that He is still in control and will cause all things to work for your good if you will only trust Him. I'm saying a prayer for you as I type this. Have a blessed and wonderful weekend!

Irrational Love

What manner of love is this: that a man would die for people that He doesn't know, knowing that many of them would still reject His sacrifice? I think often about the selfless sacrifices being made by our soldiers fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war ravaged areas of the earth. I think about the fact that many of these men and women are fighting to defend the freedom and liberty that many of us take for granted. Whatever your position may be about the justification of these wars, these men and women that bravely put their lives on the line daily to defend our freedom, don't have a choice.

They are enlisted in an army that requires them to follow orders to the letter. Their very lives, and the lives of their compatriots depend on it. So they fight. Some of them conscientiously objecting to the efficacy of the war, but they fight. That is what soldiers do. They fight wars to defend what they believe in. Some of them give their lives for the cause. You don't become a soldier unless you are willing to go to war and give your life for the cause. Moreover, soldiers get paid to fight. My understanding is that they even get hazardous job pay over and above their basic salaries. Why do they do it you might wonder? I would speculate that the reasons are many and varied. Some do it out of committment; some out of conviction; many out of obligation. But how many do it out of pure, unadulterated love?

That's why Jesus did it. That's why He went to war against the devil, to defend everything He believed in. He did it out of love for you. You see, He believes in you, even when no one else does. The difference between Him and the US soldier is that He has a choice. He is God incarnate after all, and He could have wiped out our world completely and started afresh. But He didn't. He chose to die for the cause, even knowing that many of us would still reject Him and His sacrifice. If the soldiers in Iraq feel hurt and rejected by people criticizing them for fighting a war in which they had no choice to begin with, I wonder how our Savior must feel being criticized and rejected by the very ones for whom He is fighting the war, especially since He has a choice. Then I realize, He isn't hurt by our rejection, He is simply heart broken at the possibility of losing any one of us to the enemy. This is true love.

Even after generations of people had spit in His face, He still loved them.... And yet, it is that very irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest defense. For only God could love like that (Max Lucado - God Came Near)

How does a person remain so focused on a cause in the midst of such abject adversity and criticism? The answer lies in clearly understanding your purpose. Jesus knew why He had come to earth. Nothing that the enemy attempted to do to distract Him worked. The enemy tempted Him with food when He was desperately hungry, knowing that He had the power to turn stones into bread. He tempted Him with a lust for power, suggesting that He throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple and then save Himself, knowing that He (Jesus) held the power of life and death. And he tempted Him with a desire for possessions, offering to give Him the kingdoms of the earth, forgetting that he was offering the earth to its Maker. Non of these distracted Jesus from His cause because He had the strength of self-mastery. His love for us motivated Him to remain singular in His purpose and vision, and so He gave His life for His creation. What manner of love is that? Have you ever loved anyone selflessly? Would you be willing to share that with me in this post?

Noche de la Luz (Night of the Light)

This was a really cool event we hosted for kids in our community, as a wholesome alternative to Halloween. We called it "Noche de la Luz" (Night of the Light). There was a ton of candy, great music, games and some really great interactive discussions with the kids about what Halloween actually represents, and what a healthy alternative celebration can look like. Even Spider Man dropped in for the evening!

Mexican Santa???

I guess some might call it a paradox. A Mexican Santa? What's up with that I hear you ask? Well, the truth is that I had this brainwave idea that Epcot Center weren't the only ones who could take advantage of a great idea. So we came up with the idea of an event called the "Colors of Christmas."

It was essentially an event where we had the cuisine, culture, and costumes of a number of different nations. People walked around in the hundreds sampling food, asking questions and examining different cultural artifacts. We also had a couple of drama skits highlighting the birth of Jesus as viewed from the perspective of the shepherds, the Angels and some rather intellectual Scientists. It was an amazing and well attended event and a local Hispanic radio station covered the event live. Under my Poncho is a full Santa Claus outfit. The heat was almost unbearable but the success of the day made it all worth while. So how come your'e just showing us photos of an event that happened last Christmas? Truth to tell, I only just downloaded a bunch of photos from my digital camera onto my computer and so I figured I might as well do something with them. That means you'll be seeing a few more photos that I discovered on my camera that I thought would be fun to share with you. Enjoy!

I kinda like staying home!

Hey guys,
Meet my absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful wife, Sola. I heard a guy once explain that he didn't go out much because they had six kids. He explained, in response to peoples question about whether he had figured out what 'causes' kids, that not only did he know what caused them, but that's the reason why he stays home so much, since he and his wife have discovered that they like it too much to give it up, especially since he has a "smoking hot wife." I kinda like staying home too! Oh, before I forget, meet Ron, one of my best buddies, golf teacher and partner, and my lead associate pastor. It's great living life with people that you really like and enjoy hanging out with. I really hope that you have relationships in your life that you can depend on and be completely real with.