I pledge allegiance

I’m not sure why I tend to be late with my posts as they relate to holidays or significant moments. I thought about this post for quite some time and finally decided to give my thoughts on the celebration of independence day of the USA.

Over the weekend, my wife & I travelled to Columbus, Ohio to watch red, white & boom, allegedly the Midwest’s biggest firework’s display. And we were quite entertained as were thousands of other onlookers. The soundtrack to the event featured a patriotic song (God bless the USA) followed by an unrelated pop song (boom boom pow) naturally added for its popularity and likely sound-effect boom boom pow. Then the following night we gathered with a group of close friends and watched our local, not as spectacular, but probably funner fireworks display in Chillicothe.

Anyway, all that to say we spent a solid several hours celebrating our freedom. At one of the events, they started with the pledge of allegiance and I just began thinking, “wait a second, we are seriously pledging our allegiance to a flag and a country.” But I’m a Christian serving a God whose love knows no racial, ethnic, or national boundary…..and here I am giving my loyalty to my country.

Now please read me correctly and thoroughly – I love our country. The USA has done significant good for the rest of the world. Our freedom should be the pinnacle for all humanity to watch. We continue to be a very generous and charitable country. We also have done many wrongs in the world. And while we could continuously discuss America’s role in divine history – that’s not the point of my thoughts or blog… (not sure I have a point btw, I’m just giving my thoughts and questions)

The questions I have though surround where my loyalty falls. The few writers of the NT in Jesus’ time were very familiar with a similiar political landscape of their day – ie the Roman Empire. This empire – uh much like ours here today – loved to be worshipped. The Romans wanted its inhabitants to devoutly worship and adore her. The Romans pledged their allegiance to their empire much like we want to pledge our loyalty to the US.

And Jesus comes along with his political message – ie the Gospel of good news that transcends boundaries, that kicks the Roman empire out of the way offering divine citizenship to the King of Kings. Jesus tells a pharisee he must be born again to fully live. He tells him that his political power and loyalty to the Romans means nothing, it’s vain, it’s life-less, it’s temporary, but citizenship to God offers life, it’s permanent & shall never die. Jesus says, “follow me, pledge allegiance to me.” It’s my grace that will follow you, that will guide you, that will ultimately protect you and offer you hope… not your country, not your government.

So while I believe that we should always celebrate our freedom, that we should forever remember, honor, and celebrate those who went before us then & now fighting for freedoms, we should never forget the ONE who gave us ultimate freedom. So while I believe we should never relent in praying for our leaders, I trust that my allegiance isn’t to the American dream, rather it’s to the KING OF KINGS.

Maybe next year this post will come out prior to independence day. May you find your freedom in Jesus. May you pledge your faith to him. May you recognize & celebrate freedoms in our country, but never forget that our loyalty belongs to the Father and it’s in Him that our true citizenship & identity can be found.

death, icons, and legacies

Sadly, within the last week, four American celebrities have passed from this life. Each had a significant impact on our culture – for different reasons. Michael Jackson (yes I actually did like some of his music) passed away last Thursday and has received the most media coverage. There have been numerous shows already doing celebrations and memorials for him. No matter your personal opinion of MJ, his music will live on – so they say. Farrah Fawcett also died that same day after fighting a hard battle with cancer. Her beauty has been recognized for generations – so they will say. Earlier last week, another cultural icon – Ed McMahon passed away. Those older than me (I’m finding I don’t get to say that as regularly anymore) will remember him from his performances with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. This morning we lost a TV commercial icon – Billy Mays.

While I’m saddened for their families they all leave behind, I must be honest with myself and realize this is a reminder that life is short, no matter your impact, it’s short, so go at it, and go at it well & hard.

However, as I mentioned, we lost what many say are icons, as these each had a cultural impact on us. Yet another death has provided me with the most hope.

Head football coach Ed Thomas was gunned down last week during by a former player. Coach Thomas had a local, yet significant impact on the lives of hundreds of high school athletes, of parents, friends, and coworkers. Coach Thomas coached for over 34 years and was the coach who produced several NFL players. Considering that less than 1% of high school players make it to the NFL, the fact one coach in Iowa led 4 guys to the NFL is amazing. Yet that’s not what makes him significant in the community.

One of his former players, and current NFL player said this about his former high school coach:

“Coach Thomas was very special to me and many other young men from the Aplington-Parkersburg communities. His legacy for many will be associated with his tremendous success as a football coach. However, I believe his greatest legacy comes not in how many football games he won or lost but in the fact that he was a committed follower of Jesus Christ. He lived his life trying to exemplify this faith and convey those values to those under his influence. His faith in Christ pervaded everything he did and that is why in the midst of the heartache we all feel there is comfort in knowing he is with his Savior.”

So as I reflect on the deaths within the last couple weeks, I’m provided the most hope from the one mentioned last here. As I value music & the arts, I must also realize the importance in having an impact first must start with our relationship to Jesus Christ. It starts here. Our legacies can be great, but without knowing the hope of Jesus, our legacies will be insignificant. Consider your life, consider where your hope rests. Consider what others will know of you. May you find your hope in this world in the resurrection of Jesus, of a God who loves you.

reflections & redemptions

We bring so much to the table, our past, our mistakes, our attitudes, our failures, our experiences, our histories. Often we allow those to determine who we are and what we will become and do in the future. And typically, we focus more on the negative situations and allow them to haunt our future and identity.

I’ve been working with a good friend and my wife on expressing & communicating the hurts in the past; to not allow them to determine my interactions and relationships in the future. It’s taken me about a year to realize how jaded I’d become and unfortunately significant, it has caused me to become overwhelmingly disconnected or to be insanely sarcastic – in unopportune times.

It’s so easy to fall in the trap that all experiences we go thru will be similar to the bad ones and therefore we become cynical looking at present and future relationships and situations.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve heard amazing teachings on the importance of serving a God who takes the mess and creates beauty, who takes the negative experiences and overcomes them; and that it’s only God that is good and only in him should I run for comfort.

It’s true that our past makes & molds us, but I’m learning to trust the present that God has us in and enjoying the journey into the unknown.

Methods Change, Message Stays?!?!

Check out the following video regarding a popular cliche. Interesting thoughts by Shane Hipps here. more to come later.

the devil believes it

Over the weekend, I had a passive conversation, one my wife and friends and I have had on numerous occasions. We were talking about a story in the bible when God told Noah to make an ark – a huge boat, fill it with 2 of every animal in order to judge the rest of humanity, and save only a few of the good. Anyway, this always leads to a question about whether or not this entire story is entirely true or not, or literal or not. Did man really make a ridiculously-sized boat and find a way to get all these animals on it? (fyi 7 of every kind of bird). Did God really flood the earth?

While I believe the basic tenets of this story, I must admit, if I were to find out that it didn’t happen, well it doesn’t reshape my faith. I haven’t placed my faith in such a story; rather I shape my faith & allegiance to a story of hope found in the resurrection of Jesus.

In school, we did a literary study on another biblical story about a man and a fish. While having the same conversation about how literal to take this story, my professor wisely responded, “the devil believes it and it didn’t change his life.”

While a funny response, there’s a lot of truth in there. We often times argue and debate (which is good nonetheless) and get way off track on non-essential matters. These stories could be 100% true, 100% literal, or there is a good chance they could have been written in order to provide hope to a people, in order to offer redemption to the readers and paint a beautiful picture of God.

May you find comfort in wrestling with stories. May you find truth. And may you be open & honest, and let your faith rest in a hope that is called Jesus. May you find his way of living, his way of truth, and his way of the resurrection.

presents or presence

So this is about 6 months late or early, depending on your perspective. But this is a constant battle or conversation I enjoy having, one that has only elevated since our two boys are growing up so fast and now the eldest is involved in recreational activities. From the onset of our marriage, I wanted my wife to know that, from my perspective, while being generous by giving gifts is an awesome expression of love, it in no means should triumph over spending time with people.

But as many times as I hammer that point home, the nail doesn’t tend to enter the board. What I mean is, we attempt, or I attempt to encourage our family and friends to not overwhelm our kids with gifts, rather to overwhelm them by spending time with them.

We live in a culture that says buying gifts or spending money is the greatest sacrifice, the greatest way to demonstrate one’s love. And while I agree, it’s an expression of love; often in our culture, it ends up being the last resort, or the way to do something without doing something meaningful. For example – it’s graduation season, how many times have you (we have done it countless times) grab a card literally on the way to the party or whatnot. Yes, you showed some act of love but did it w/out much significance or meaning.

But I digress, I think. The point to this blog, I hope is to encourage people to spend time with people, find meaningful ways to demonstrate love. Don’t just buy someone a gift thinking that covers it. Back to my children, sure they love toys, but above all, they love spending time with family & friends. When I think of Jesus’ sacrifice, we know he came to give the ultimate gift and he’s the ultimate present-giver, but above all, Jesus came to be with us – Emmanuel. Let me repeat that – He came to be with us.

Therefore – Jesus was the ultimate presence-giver.

Meaningful time is a beautiful expression of love; moreso than something you can buy at wal-mart.

Jesus to snack on

I love Jesus & I love cheetos – this is the perfect combination.

What’s goin on

Last night, on American Idol (yes I watch) Kris Allen sang from one of my favorite artists – Marvin Gaye. He sang, “What’s goin on?” Such a social conscious song. My favorite line is “only love can conquer hate”

Isn’t that true. Every situation that we could ever encounter can be overcome if we have love. In our western minds, we think that bigger guns and tanks can ultimately win over our enemies. I respectfully would have to disagree.

If we look at the greatest example of love EVER – yes JESUS, he looked evil, hate right in the eye. And Jesus, Jesus was innocent. But he was aggressively loving. He wasn’t passive, but he was nonviolent.

You might not be fighting literal wars, but in your everyday circumstances, give love a shot. Try loving instead of bitterness, instead of envy, instead of wishing bad to your enemies. In the end, love wins.

Forget Scientists

Cicadas believe in global warming. Follow this link to read about Cicadas emerging up to four years before their typical cycle. Cicadas emerge, pending the brood, every 13 or 18 years, this group appears to becoming early…

what year are we in?

Check out this story about a senior student about to get banished for attending a prom with his girlfiend. The student is a senior at a christian school..the girlfriend doesn’t go there. Enough said.

click here