A Star is Born, Brady and Mahomes, and Your Drive For Greatness

If I told you that as a result of COVID we have been staying home more and watching more football and more movies, I would be lying. We stayed home before COVID and watched quite a bit of football and our fair share of movies. We even have a Netflix series, Longmire, that I have watched in its entirety and am watching a second time with my bride. She is the one that has gotten me into staying home and she knows who’s playing and at what times before I do. She even loves Longmire now. Don’t get me wrong. She is not lazy. She works hard and is very productive outside of her work. So am I. We just like to stay home. I guess we’re called homebodies.

One of her favorite movies of all time is the 1976 remake of a remake of A Star Is Born, the winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Original Song, 5 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and 1 Grammy award for Best Original Score. The movie stars Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, with music composed by Streisand and singer, songwriter, actor, and author Paul Williams, among others. Both Streisand and Williams are Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy award winners. They composed the Oscar-winning song “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born).”

It was time for her to take the risk and watch the 4^th remake of this classic musical romantic drama directed by Bradley Cooper (in his directorial debut) and starring Cooper and Singer Lady Gaga. This 2018 contemporary version received 5 Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, and 8 Academy Award nominations, inducing Best Picture and received the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Shallow.” As in the 1976 version, the lead actress, Gaga, composed some of the music and collaborated with lead actor and director, Cooper on “Shallow,” inviting the songwriting talents of various other artists to contribute to the soundtrack as well.

We loved the movie and this post is not going to be a review of the film. I encourage you to watch this deeply moving portrayal of one singer’s rise to fame, true love, and tragic addiction. What I want to do is to draw your attention to 4 short sentences that keep floating around in my mind since Friday night. “Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave. Twelve notes and the octave repeats. It’s the same story told over and over. All the artist can offer the world is how they see those 12 notes.” Packed away in these lines, delivered by supporting actor Sam Shepard, are so many truths about life and potential and achievement, that I was having trouble knowing where to begin. That is until I noticed what the title of our pastor’s talk was for today; “Drive for Greatness.” So let’s start with a bit of music history.

Aristoxenus in the 4th century BC invented the 12 tones between octaves in an attempt to use the same ratio between each note. This is the 12 note scale referred to in the quote. The Greeks were first to figure out the math that occurs naturally in the harmonic overtones created by horns and other wind instruments. They applied the same mathematical ratios to stringed instruments. Pythagoras (remember his theorem to solve for the hypotenuse), invented the tuning of perfect fifths and octaves, followed again by the Greek's invention of 7 modal scales based on Pythagorean tuning. All this to say that since the 4th century BC the vast majority of music composed simply uses 12 notes over and over again in a different order and different rhythm, but 12 and only 12 notes. The exponential options are seemingly unlimited. Within the limits of 12 notes, the art form of musical composition has continued with no end in sight to its creative potential.

With the seemingly finite limit that 12 single notes put on a composer, how is it that over the centuries artists are still able to create not only new musical ideas and expressions but compositions that move us to categorize some as the pentacle of greatness? “Evergreen” in 1976 and “Shallow” in 2018 are award-winning songs, the very best related to film in their given year among who knows how many songs composed for films in their given year. 15 scores are typically shortlisted before 5 nominations are typically announced. How is musical greatness defined when it is entirely subjective to the listener’s tastes.

A Star Is Born…or is a star “made?” What does it take to have the competitive edge to become a star, to be the best, to reach number 1? What is it that transcends the subjective ear to raise a composition to award-winning greatness? How did Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady get to be, arguably, two of the very best quarterbacks in the National Football League? Mahomes, in his 4^th year in the NFL actually has the cumulative edge in statistics against Brady (drafted in 2000 and is 43 years of age), in the games where they have met each other. Why do we idolize athletes who are competitive and then look to people in our own little world and criticize their competitive nature, particularly if those people are Christians? As a Christian community, we shine a spotlight on Christian actors, Christian politicians, Christian musicians, and Christian athletes and then accept mediocrity from those right around us. We even go so far as to expect less of one another and place less value on what people right around us do well. I was once told that a church musician should not be paid, regardless of their level of skill.

Many Christians believe that Jesus was not competitive, that He was “chill” in the words of my pastor today. However, Jesus did not arrange any of the “Twelve notes and the octave..” in an order ever perceived by humankind. His was not “…the same story told over and over.” The way He calls us to see “…those 12 notes” is contrary and scandalous. But somehow, lesson after lesson taught us that as Christians we cannot strive to be like Jesus and have the ambition to be number 1 in anything, and so we learned to give up ambition. How far from the truth can this be? In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite.

The Bible is clear about the teaching of Christ. He did teach that we should be careful who you are competing against and why you are striving to be the best. Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 warns us about envying our neighbors. Galatians 6:4 tells us we don’t need to compare ourselves to other people. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us to be humble, not conceited. Romans 12:2 tells us to look carefully at our behavior and to be transformed by God. The Word of God warns us against jealousy, selfishness, boasting, lying, provoking others, and taking the glory for ourselves. But if Jesus did not want us to strive for greatness, then His expectation of us, as Pastor Erwin McManus said today “…would be to reduce ourselves to the lowest common denominator.” Then nobody would be number 1, everyone would be the winner and the loser, and everyone and no one would receive an “award.”

In Matthew 20 verses 26 thru 29, Jesus had a chance to put us all in our place and tell us there will be no “stars” in His kingdom; nobody will be #1. Instead, He said that if you want to be great you are going to have to be something even more difficult than being great. You are going to have to be a servant. He didn’t tell his disciples not to try to be first, #1, the best. He told them to be a slave. He offered Himself as an example, telling them, and us, that He didn’t come to be served, but to serve; to go so far as to give His life to save many. Jesus didn’t tell us to give up ambition because we want to follow Him. He told us that greatness equals sacrifice. Just because we “take up our cross,” doing the very hard things as a Christ-follower, doesn’t mean we don’t want to achieve #1 status in what we are called to do and who we are called to be. So I have the word SERVANT stuck to my monitor so that I see it every day. Because wanting to serve is hard.

Brady and Mahomes make greatness look easy. Next Sunday as we watch them in their element on the gridiron, they will perform with relative ease compared to the sacrifice, determination, dedication, and hard work it took them to get to the Big Game. They have been slaves to the game; Brady for over 20 years and Mahomes, a mere 4 years in the NFL. Both started playing the game as children, just like we did. Jesus, Himself, claimed greatness above any other man that ever lived. He reveals the One, True, Invisible God. The Bible says He rules over all of creation and in fact, everything was created through Him. He is actually holding creation together right now. He’s the head of the Church. He reigns over death. Jesus said that He is fully God, that He has the power to save; that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. Not only is Jesus the only one that can save us, but He also wants to save us. He wants to save you! *

AT&T recently ran a series of commercials “Just OK is not OK.” Things like “It’s not OK to be a just OK tax professional; for carnival safety measures to be just OK; a just OK skydiver; being a boy band without dancing. In other words, AT&T was not settling to be just OK. My daughter wants to be a great violinist. Never will I ever tell her to settle on just being OK on the instrument. I will forever encourage her to do everything she can to be the best violin player there is. My son and daughter-in-law have allowed my sweet, adorable granddaughter, Adeline, to be a hair-bow model. Maybe it will lead her to model other fashion items and accessories. I will never say that I hope she will be an OK looking model. I want her to be the cutest toddler model there is. Jesus didn’t say that we should strive to be 2^nd, or 3^rd, or mediocre. He said “whoever wants to be first…” In other words, if you want to be 2^nd, what I’m about to say doesn’t apply to you. It doesn’t take sacrifice to be mediocre. You can hit that goal by sitting on the couch. The formula Jesus gives us to be #1, to be the greatest, is to get off of the couch and sacrifice yourself and become a slave to the goal of being like Christ Himself.

This weekend I thought quite a bit about the fact that great music is created by those who have sacrificed themselves, their time, and their energy, to arranging those 12 notes in an order that makes sense to them and hopefully to someone else. They want to be great and they want to create great things so they become a slave, a slave to the craft of composition. They did not even always have the purest of motives. It has been said that Handel composed The Messiah because he needed the money. Even so, God allows us into the creative process with Him. Imagine that. But that’s a blog post for another day.

What are you and I willing to do to be great? I want to be a great husband, but I don’t want to unload the dishwasher and put the dishes away. You want to lose weight, but you don’t want to change your eating habits and go to the gym regularly. She wants to excel at her job, but she doesn't want to get to work on time or put in a full day’s worth of focus and energy. There are 12 notes and an infinite way to arrange them. I can put them together in a way that will sound like something that has been heard since infancy and will not move anyone, will not excite a soul, will not make people want to listen to it over and over again. Or....I can do the hard, sacrificial work of orchestrating those 12 notes into a symphony from my heart that rivals the greatest compositions ever written. It will take becoming a slave to the process, but it could earn me a Grammy, an Oscar, a “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Nothing in the Bible leads me to believe that God is content with mediocrity. We are good at reciting clichés that justify our lack of ambition, our desire to stay on the couch and not unload the dishwasher. “It’s the same story told over and over. All the artist can offer the world is how they see those 12 notes.” How are you going to arrange the notes? What mark do you want to make on the world? Hear these words of an early Christ-follower. “Isn’t it obvious that all runners on the racetrack keep on running to win, but only one receives the victor’s prize? Yet each one of you must run the race to be victorious. A true athlete will be disciplined in every respect, practicing constant self-control in order to win a laurel wreath that quickly withers. But we run our race to win a victor’s crown that will last forever. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 TPT

Thanks for reading,

 

*https://www.pursuegod.org/10-facts-the-prove-the-supremacy-of-christ/

From Crimson Red to Snow White and the Chasm Between

Have you felt like you’re not good enough for God’s love? Come on, be honest. Most of us have asked ourselves the question, “Why would God love me?” When we retreat to the dusty corners of our existence and evaluate what we have done, good and bad, we usually find a whole lot of garbage that we don’t really want to acknowledge. You can call it “mistakes” or “failures”, “bad decisions” or “sin.” You’re not the only one that has done that. You want to believe that you are good enough to earn a stroll down the streets of gold. You hope that you have done what it takes to reserve your room in that heavenly mansion. But you look at all that garbage and you think that the pearly gates will have a sign with your name and “DO NOT ENTER” in bold letters. Either that or you disregard your own evil tendencies, focusing only on the evil others perpetrate against you. You don’t evaluate your own actions much. “I’m generally a good person. I can live with myself.” You then go along your merry way of daily existence.

If you read my last blog post, The Croods, an UFC Figher, and Nothing is Wasted, you know that I believe that nothing is wasted according to God’s economy. Your mistakes, failures, bad decisions, even sins, do not have to be considered as wasted when you properly address them according to the truth of who God is and who God wants you to be.

There are lots of things that the Bible calls out as “sin.” But first, if you’re not too familiar with that word, the simple definition would be to purposefully disobey God’s law, going against His nature and what He designed for you. The Bible tells us about literally hundreds of things that are condemned by God, or considered sin. Most people are familiar with the 10 Commandments. They are found in the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 20 and in the classic Charlton Heston film by the same name. But that’s only a starting point in terms of what God expects.

Here’s the deal. According to God’s Word, sin separates us from Him. That means that our disobedience of our Creator-Father creates a gap between us and Him, because God, as our Creator, is perfect and He can’t really accept our imperfection. You had no idea that you actually create something in relation to God, did you? This chasm separates us not only in space but in time; for eternity. Yet God, as our Father, loves us with a love that we can’t even comprehend. He is deeply saddened by the chasm that we have created. Think about that for a moment. If you have children, think about your relationship to your children, how much you love them, how much you would do anything to hold them close. Think about the horrific heartbreak of eternal separation from them. So there is a cataclysmic, eternal-size dilemma that requires a solution.

It’s a good thing a perfect God is able to come up with a perfect solution. It is such a simple solution that men and women have missed it for centuries. It takes one action and only one action. Here it is: Give His Son, Jesus, your life. That’s it. That’s all there is. “Well, that’s too easy. There’s got to be more I need to do to bridge the gap my sin has created.” Nope, that’s it. Why is that it? It is because Jesus built the bridge for you. He has already done what it takes to close the gap, to fill the chasm that separated you from Creator-Father. He did it by paying the penalty for your sin by dying a sinner’s death though He Himself was perfect and without sin. I that very act Jesus has taken care of the consequences of your sin and repaired the separation between you and God.

You and I could never be good enough to make up for our sin. You see, if you go back to the hundreds of sins that the Bible identifies, you have to be honest and admit that you will never be able to keep from committing at least 1 every day if not almost every minute. Add those up over a lifetime; 525,600 minutes equals a year in a life (365 days) multiplied by the average life expectancy of 70.5 years equals 25,732.5 days of your life. Just one sin a year is over 70 sins in a lifetime. One sin a day certainly qualifies you as imperfect; a sinner. How would you ever make that up in terms of satisfying a perfect God?

So, as I see it, we have 2 choices; 1) we can decide that the Bible is not the Word of God and is wrong about sin and separation and perfection and all that stuff. So we ignore it and consider those that believe it to be foolish. As C.S. Lewis puts it in a series of BBC radio talks later published as the book Mere Christianity, we would have to think of Jesus as either a liar or a lunatic*; or 2) We can believe what God says, believe Jesus is Lord, and trust His solution and give Him our lives. There really is no in-between. I have met many people on my journey who have decided that the first choice is the logical choice for them. Regardless of the evidence to the contrary, they are unable to wrap their minds around the concept of a Creator-Father that would require a sinless life from His creation. The beautiful thing about God is that He gives us all the freedom in the world to choose. With freedom comes consequences. But many wonderful people I know and love exercise the freedom not to believe in God. I have come to believe that there is more freedom in the second choice.

I had an interesting series of conversations about God and Jesus and heaven with one of those friends years ago. I wrapped up the conversations with a statement and a question that she told me haunted her for months afterward. Here’s what I said. “If you’re right and I’m wrong, we're both OK when we die.” Essentially if there is no God or no separation from Him because of sin we would both be OK because hell isn’t real, so there would be no consequences of sin. By the way, hell is the Biblical place of the eternal consequence of separation from God because of sin. Then I asked this question. “If I’m right and you’re wrong, where does that leave you?” Now I’m not really a gambling man, but those are some stakes work carefully considering.

So back to my original question. Have you felt like you’re not good enough for God’s love? Why would God love me?” Whether you have wrestled with this question, if you haven’t contemplated this question or you have dismissed it altogether, I have good news for all of us. The good news comes from God Himself, from the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament. Let me paraphrase the small translated differences into one promising message: “Come now and let’s deliberate over the next steps to take together. Let’s argue this matter and settle it once and for all. I have promised you this over and over,” says the Lord. “This is My message: Though your sins are like scarlet (they’re literally blood-red, and they stain you that color), I will make them be as white as snow (snow-white; like bright, new-fallen snow); though they are red as crimson (that deep red color), they shall be like pure wool (Is. 1:18, see translations below).”

Many of you who are Christians have read this post and at first-glance assumed that I have an audience of people who have not yet trusted Christ. I do have those in my audience and to those of you that believe differently than I do, thank you so much for reading my blog. But the sad reality is that there are so many Christians who do not live in the freedom that God has for them because they, too, do not really understand the love that God has for them. His love is beyond what words can adequately describe. I have, however, found some words that have effectively impacted many Christians and non-

Christians alike with their profound meaning. It’s called The Simple Gospel: “God loves you! As much as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. Because of what Christ did on the cross, God can’t love you any more and He cannot and will not love you any less.  It isn’t because of what you have done or have not done.  God simply loves you! And all the power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you from the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is ask.”

Today, if you have never trusted Jesus to save you from the separation from God, simply start the conversation by saying to Him, “Jesus, I give you my life.” That prayer is the beginning of what will be a lifetime of conversations with your Creator-Father. If you have trusted Him but want to understand the love of God in a deeper way than ever before, I challenge you to pray “The Simple Gospel” above and replace the pronoun “you” with “me.” Then commit to praying it every day, or several times a day if need be. Do that for a month and see how your heart and mind are changed. The words are not magic. It’s not a mindless mantra that you should do without thinking. It is words full of truth that should help you to understand how God is thinking about you right now.

If you prayed either or both of the above prayers, I’d love to hear from you, either in the comments section below or via email or FB Messenger. And as always…

thanks for reading.

 

* ”Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” is a trilemma (a choice among three options, each of which is in part difficult to accept), an apologetic argument traditionally used to argue for the divinity of Jesus, pointing out the only alternatives. In addition to C.S. Lewis making this argument famous, the argument in various forms was used by American preacher Mark Hopkins in 1846, Scots preacher John Duncan around 1859, N.P. Williams, Reuben Archer Torrey, and writer G.K. Chesterton, in his book The Everlasting Man (1925) which Lewis cited as the second book that most influenced him.

 

Isaiah 1:18 NIV “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18-20 The Message “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.” This is God’s Message: “If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. If they’re red like crimson, they’ll be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18 TPT Come now and let’s deliberate over the next steps to take together. Yahweh promises you over and over: “Though your sins stain you like scarlet, I will whiten them like bright, new-fallen snow! Even though they are deep red like crimson, they will be made white like wool!”

 

The Croods, a UFC Fighter, and Nothing is Wasted

Yesterday I watched a movie from 2013 I thought I had seen before. I remembered it was great and there is a sequel coming out soon. Now I am not so sure I had ever seen it before yesterday. It could just be that my 53-year-old brain erased it to make room for other things, like the hundreds of passwords necessary to survive in 21^st century. At any rate, I thought it was a fun, entertaining movie with a great message worth sharing. The message was this; Tomorrow does not have to be like yesterday, it can be so much more.

This stone-age family, the Croods, followed their husband and father, Grug, voiced by Nicholas Cage, in his rules for survival, believing there is no safer place than their cave. Grug’s mantra was “never not be afraid.” New things posed a threat to their very existence, except in the curious mind of Eep, the somewhat rebellious teenage daughter (Emma Stone). As the story unfolds, Grug learns through a series of life experiences, failures, adventures, and a young man named Guy (Ryan Reynolds), that any hope for freedom will come by learning from the past, living out a new calling and a new future that is bigger than his fear.

In the Bible, the Book of Acts, chapter 7, verses 20 -37, the author Luke retells part of the Old Testament story of Moses. In a time where life-expectancy was a whole different economy of time than now, Moses lived to be 120 years of age. In the span of his life, we see that the way we start is not the way we have to finish. We see that with God, there is nothing wasted!

Have you ever thought “I’ve just wasted that day, or weekend, or season of my life?” Have you ever thought, like I have that “I have wasted my entire life?” All I must do is look at my 3 kids to know that there are at least 3 ways that I did not waste my life. But like you, I sometimes lose perspective and do not realize that God has such a different idea about my life.

Moses was born in a troubled time, a time when firstborn sons were to be killed and he was the first-born. Scripture tells us that Moses was no “ordinary child (Acts 7:20 NIV). Friends, the reality is that you were no “ordinary child.” Neither was I. Neither was anyone. You see, in God’s economy, nothing is “ordinary;” nothing is wasted. In fact, humans are the only species that produces waste; which divides waste and recyclables. You can look beyond humans and notice in all the rest of nature that nothing is wasted. Forests clear and regenerate themselves. Dead animals become food for other animals and insects thus providing life by their very death. The oceans, full of aquatic life, do not also become a vast sewer. What you and I consider waste may actually be fertilizer.

Moses’ Hebrew mother felt it safer for him to be placed outside, in a basket in the Nile River, surrounded by Crocodiles and other predators, than to be raised by her in her home. He was eventually found by the daughter of the very Egyptian Pharaoh who enacted the edict demanding the killing of babies. As he grew, being raised and educated as an Egyptian in the house of Pharaoh, he discovered he really had no identity; he wasn’t Egyptian, yet he wasn’t Hebrew either. Moses was an outsider.

Do you feel like you are an outsider, that you do not fit, that your struggles and failures exclude you from a free and full existence? God’s perspective is so much different than ours. You see, since with God nothing is wasted, our wounds, our scars, our failures, and disappointments all shape us into who God needs us to be. Maybe you are an outsider because other outsiders are who need you the most!

Ever since I identified a calling to live my life for God’s work, I thought my calling was specific to helping other Christians know, understand, and relate to God by facilitating their worship of Him. Yet my entire career, apart from a few breathtaking seasons, I have also felt like an outsider. As I said earlier, there were even times when I felt like I had wasted my life. I carried hidden wounds, secret scars, colossal failures, overwhelming disappointment, oh, and fear that rivaled Grug Crood’s desire to stay in the cave. I have lived the life of never not being afraid.

When Moses was a third of the way through his life (40 years old), something happened that changed his life. The Hebrew people were enslaved by the Egyptians and had been for many years. In defense of an Israelite being mistreated by an Egyptian, Moses killed that Egyptian. He thought that this was God’s way of using him to rescue “his people,” though an outsider he was. But word had spread, not of Moses’ heroic act of rescue, but of his lawless act of murder and for 40 years he fled to yet another land, again being an outsider, living aimlessly, likely feeling like his life had been wasted.

It was another 40 years after that when Moses encountered a bush on fire in the middle of the desert, a hotspot in his disappointing life, that God reached to Moses and called him to something new and specific. In verse 36 we see that “He (Moses) led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.” It was Moses who initiated the eventual freedom of an entire nation of outsiders, the children of Israel, the very ancestry line of the ultimate rescuer, hero-redeemer, Jesus Christ.

These people whom Moses led out of Egyptian captivity were a stubborn people. These outsiders wondered in the wilderness for 40 years, ironically the same amount of time Moses had just spent exiled as an outsider. However, in this final third of his life, Moses walks in God’s calling as a leader, a rescuer, right where God wants him to be. It is not counted against him that he floated in the Nile as a 3-month-old. It is not counted against him that he was raised in the home of a perpetrator of genocide. It is not counted against him that he was a murderer. It is not counted against him that he felt like an outsider and that his life had been wasted. Believe me, when you have had a life similar to Moses’ life, the negative press is overwhelming. The things people say and do to you are unbelievable. “Who made you ruler and judge?” “I’m not sure if you’re truly a child of God.” “I can’t eat in the same restaurant as you. I’m leaving.” “Oh, you’re in this aisle of the grocery store. I’m going to go to another aisle.” “I wanted to talk to you but I’m not allowed to.” “You’re not welcome at this wedding.” The list goes on and on. Outsider…? Can you begin to see how one might think their life was wasted? If you are only listening to those who oppose you, you are not learning anything. But if you are only listening to the people who agree with you, you are not learning anything either.

I was pleased to discover that at least one other person, other than my wife and my mom, read my most recent post, “Christians Can Be Democrats and Still Be Respected.” It was the most political piece I have ever written, yet it was wrapped in my beliefs about faith. The reader pointed out that I may be looking to the government and political ideology to meet the needs of families rather than looking to the Church to be the Church and care for the widows, the orphans, the marginalized in our society, including the poor. The reader questioned whether my points would be better served aiming them at the Church rather than the government. I had to admit that indeed, I had failed to include the Church in my thinking regarding the issues I addressed in that post. Since chewing on the reader’s response, I have had some interesting conversations, complex thoughts and ideas, and will continue to formulate and digest the topic, likely to be discussed in a future blog. I appreciated the interaction and “As iron sharpens iron” so does listening to people with differing opinions than you. We could all do more thinking about walking in the other one’s shoes. If we only listen to those who agree with us, I believe we stunt our own growth.

We now see with Moses and should recognize within us, that God sends us to “school,” the school of hard knocks, the school of life, in order for us to make a difference in the world. The tuition has cost us nothing and yet has cost us everything. Moses had plans. He had an idea of what his life was supposed to be. He knew there was no one to blame and it was out of his control when he went into a self-prescribed exile for 40 years. His life was unmanageable.

But God…the 2 greatest words a story could ever include. But God…stepped in after 40 years to call Moses to do amazing things. But God…said, “leave your past in the past and let Me create a new future for you.” Friends, do not settle for less. Maybe all that “waste” of the past was the exact “fertilizer” that is needed for your growth and maybe even the growth of an entire nation.

Michael Chandler is a professional mixed martial artist who has been fighting for over 10 years. Michael was a former three-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion with a 22 – 5 record before going into his UFC debut last night. Chandler, 34, defeated number 6 ranked Dan Hooker with a first-round TKO that surprised the UFC world. Michael recognizes that “the fight” is not only about his skill as a mixed martial artist, but that all of us are fighting every day for our families, for our friends, and for our faith. He strives to carry himself as a man of God and an example of strength and discipline as he uses his platform to reach people for Christ.

Last night was my 2^nd exposure to UFC and mixed martial arts. Unlike the boxing of Mohammed Ali and Mike Tyson that I can recall, MMA includes a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu. There’s grappling and submissions, the ground game, and the standup game. There are knockouts and there are decisions, just like boxing. Oh, and did I tell you their gloves are quite thin, and 3 to 5 round bouts usually involve blood from one or both competitors? I had enjoyed my introduction to the sport with my son a few years ago, and my daughter’s boyfriend, Caleb, invited me to this social-distancing event, complete with hot wings and ribeye and unlimited Diet Coke. This is where I learned about Michael Chandler, who was not fighting in the main fight of the night but was one of the earlier fights on the card. He is now becoming Caleb and my favorite fighter. I do not have many to choose from.

As a high school athlete, Chandler went to the state championships every year. Every year he fell short. In his senior year, he thought his wrestling career was going to be shattered because he was not a state champion. Then came college. “You’re just thrown into the fire in college wrestling, and college wrestling has very much made me the man I am today.” Chandler described that part of his career as being stuck in a pressure cooker of a situation where it is dog eat dog, and it’s may the best man win. The competitors were all state champions and Chandler felt he was a failure. He worked very hard, and he was not that talented. He did not have those accolades. He did not have those gold medals. He did not have those state championship rings. He did not have those pictures of him on the podium, and he wasn’t the big man on campus. He felt like an outsider; a waste.

To tell you that I am surprised to learn that a committed Christ-follower would also be an MMA fighter is an understatement. I know that George Foreman calls himself a Christian. Even Mike Tyson claimed Christ at one time. But this sport is even more violent than boxing. Chandler relates to my surprise and is often asked, “How are you a Christian and you’re going to beat people up?” Chandler states, “If I can reach people by doing what I do — even though what I do might not be the way that you look at a Christian or the way that you think a Christian man should act or the kind of activities that a Christian man should engage in — who are you to look at that and say, ‘I’m doing something wrong’ when thousands and hundreds of thousands of people are being impacted…I was being called in this direction to be able to be put on a platform to reach people.” God wants to use each of us “unordinary” people to make a difference in the world. We all have ways God wants to use us. In Chandler’s case, it was some young person acting on God’s calling in their life that impacted Chandler’s life and opened his eyes to Christ. “Like most of us who go to church, we got invited by a friend… somebody that we trusted… someone that we knew or that we liked.” Now Chandler is acting on God’s calling in his life and making an impact on others. “I can’t tell you how many messages I get, how many people come up to me, face to face, how many people I meet that say, ‘Man, I love the way you carry yourself. I love that you are a warrior and a fighter, but you are also a man of faith, and you’re also a devoted husband and devoted father.’”

So often God uses people other than “Sunday School perfect” people. Chandler considered himself an outsider, at least in the sport that was his passion. He had the choice to be part of the Crood family and let fear, doubt, and thoughts of a wasted life rule his survival or step into God’s calling and experience freedom like never before. Through that freedom and the “school of hard knocks,” Chandler is now on the rise on an international stage. The sport of mixed martial arts has grown tenfold in the last 10 years. It is the fastest-growing sport in the world. It’s on big networks like Fox and Fox Sports 1, and they’re still doing million pay-per-view buys.

Chandler says, “So if I can be a husband and a father and a Christian man and have a platform to be able to reach people, and then also take that platform and use it inside of a cage in front of millions of people and see how the ups and downs and the wins and losses and the pain and the anguish and the triumph of this crazy MMA career can reach people…[it’s] and opportunity.” That is what I am talking about. No life is wasted. Ups, downs, wins, losses, pain, anguish, and triumph, these are not wasted. They are exactly what God uses in you and me to reach other outsiders like myself.

So ask yourself, are you Grug Crood and are you never not afraid? Are you really just an outsider whose future has no chance of redemption? Or are you Michael Chandler, or even Moses, who has a heroic story yet to be written because nothing in your life is wasted?

By the way, I will be watching more UFC fights and soon I will talk about how those fighters leave nothing for the next fight and neither should we. I want to again direct you to Mosaic.org and Erwin McManus. His messages are located there. Just click “watch.” They are now streaming so you can watch them at any time. Today’s message provided fodder for my thoughts.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

 

 

Christians Can Be Democrats and Still Be Respected 

For months I have been wrestling with what I am about to share here. I have recently re-encountered the belief and associated disrespect of the idea that a person cannot be a Christian and a Democrat. I am both. Yet it has come about that “treating others as you would like to be treated” and “loving your neighbor” have been conflicted because of politics. I have actually just “come out” as a Democrat because of the treatment by some Christian towards others who might think differently than they do on a few or on many issues. This post is the most public I have been and maybe the most public I will be on the issue. I honestly don’t think it matters as much whether I’m a Democrat or a Republican as it matters how I love others, even others who think differently than I am. And I have been guilty of lacking love too.

I was raised in a Christian and Republican family. However, over the past 20 years, I realized that that party no longer represents my own Christian values and this year I have felt the need to speak as a Democrat. Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 makes it clear His followers must seek to help and protect society's most marginalized and vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the poor, and minorities. The Democratic party, with its support for food stamps, reasonably available health care for all, protection of Social Security and so many other social and economic justice issues, is the political party that best fulfills my sense of calling as a Christ-follower.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. On their website, an interesting statistic they show, among others, is that while only 20% of Democrats participate in prayer, scripture study or religious education groups at least once a week, only 30% of Republicans do the same. Just as interesting to me is that 26 % of Democrats say the Bible is the Word of God and should be taken literally and only 36% of Republicans say the same.

As a Democrat, I do not condemn Christians who vote Republican. I try to be respectful of people who have differing views than I do. I seek to have humility and accept the fact that I, nor any political party, have all the answers for America. I have, in fact, kept my political persuasions and opinions mostly to myself. I ask the same courtesy of you who are Republicans. People lacking humility and respect regardless of their political or religious views do not promote the gospel of Jesus, which is that God loves EVERYONE (see my previous post). I would rather be outspoken about the love of God through Christ than about any political position or candidate. It is safe to say that Early Mennonites (the denomination I was raised in) emphasized Christ and the Bible first, politics second.

The media does not help the political process. It is a vehicle of propaganda, even Fox News. But in a day and age where normal, everyday citizens have little to no opportunity to know their politicians, we end up relying on the word of someone or something else. We have experienced this concept on steroids in the last several weeks.

This is my attempt to explain my thoughts about the recent and greatest division politics has caused in my life. In a pre-election survey taken by Christian Democrats of America of over 1,200 self-identified Christian voters, 26% of Republicans and 78% of Independents polled say Joe Biden and Kamala Harris better reflects their values as Christians than Donald Trump and Mike Pence. This may be because many Christians, including some Republicans, are finally seeing they simply cannot justify supporting those whose actions are so opposite to their individual convictions as Christ-followers.

Jesus and His disciples had a radical, progressive message that called individuals and nations to feed the hungry, help the poor, heal the sick, free the oppressed, and love our enemies. It is important to point out that political agendas have little to do with Jesus on the liberal or the conservative side of the fence.  They have more to do with gaining dominance.  Having said that, we are forced to live in a society of political agendas, and the Democrats generally embrace values that resonate with me. There are many reasons Christian voters have chosen to engage as Democrats when considering important values-based ideas such as:

·         viewing the immigrant with compassion, not wanting to separate children from their parents at the border.

·         policies to help the poor, wanting to increase food stamps, housing, and programs for those who are vulnerable from the homeless to the elderly to the veteran to the single parent.

·         wanting no one that works 40 hrs. a week to live in poverty.

·         desiring greater equity in pay from CEO’s to janitors.

·         education should be an affordable option for all Americans and teachers should receive an equitable wage for the job they do.

·         reform and justice in mind for long-standing racial inequity and against homophobic and xenophobic laws, mercy, and protection for all of God’s creation; not include measures of lawful exclusion of certain American citizens.

·         safety in our schools and on our streets; children should not have to worry about their safety.

·         lobbyists should not have the ability to influence leaders through monetary contributions,

·         proper and responsible stewardship of our environment and our world,

·         healthcare available and affordable to all Americans, regardless of their socio-economic status,

·         medical decisions should not be dictated by politicians,

Now, I hear the cynical arguments for many of the points I just listed. I’m sorry for those of you who think every person benefiting the poor are taking advantage of you. I guess you have never been in need to the point where you weren’t sure where to turn. Those who have been are not perfect people, but neither are you. On these, and so many other issues, the choice for many faith voters is the Democratic Party, which is not perfect, but it is fighting for values, I can solidly back up as a Christ-follower. It is also worthy to mention that the stance many Republicans take against fellow believers is seen as contrary to Christ in terms of the lack of love and respect they seem to have for those who may think and feel differently than them, not to mention the lack of love and respect for those who are not yet Christ-followers.

Jesus didn’t paint the tax collector to be some type of radical, unlovable, liberal criminal. He invited Himself over to his house for dinner. Jesus openly called out the Pharisees for their actions. Like it or not, God is not a Republican or a Democrat. Jesus was surprisingly detached from the political institutions of His day. One can imagine He looks down at the broken systems (political or otherwise) in the same way He looked out at the temple courts prior to overturning all the tables. The Son of God was not sent to be a political savior. This is one of the things Jesus made perfectly clear as He taught people about the love of God. Americans also need to remember that He was a non-English-speaking, brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew; those traits alone break stereotypes ascribed to Him by vast portions of the modern American church.

Some will say I am supporting "baby killers." I am far from a fan of abortion, but history makes it clear abortions will continue even if illegal; they will simply be more dangerous. I believe giving women adequate means to support their children is far more likely to help desperate women choose life. I am not called to play God or to be anyone’s conscience.

This pet issue of evangelical conservatives represents the sword on which many will fall at the top of the hill on. It is this habit, the picking and choosing of sins, that is actively destroying the Great Commission in 2021. Morality cannot be legislated. That is not God’s plan for His Kingdom. Freedom of choice comes down to the very choice of whom a person will serve, God or Satan. Jesus’ example of freedom is exchanged for control, His hope exchanged for fear, His love exchanged for hate, and His divinity exchanged for idolatry. God has not mandated nor legislated that people follow Him. Look back through history and see how legislating morality has failed.

Leaning on the crutch of abortion completely misrepresents what it means to be pro-life and using it as a marker of true Christianity diminishes the power and grace of a loving Father. Rather we should address the gap between the angry, outspoken opposition to abortion and the Godly definition of a pro-life worldview. This should be the chief priority regarding this complicated and deeply painful matter. Pro-life should be pro-ALL life, not just unborn babies. We should be addressing starving people, capital punishment, justified killings, not to mention a human’s ability to really live. Nothing is black and white about abortion itself or the implications of supporting a candidate who believes the government should leave a woman’s body to a woman.

At this moment in time, the evangelical church is rapidly losing its authority and credibility on how to think deeply, act justly, and live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world, despite the authentic efforts of many who truly are salt of the earth people. Many Americans are concerned by Former-President Trump’s actions and his reflection of what Christianity supposedly looks like, which does not reflect me as a Christ-follower. Ironically, it’s Christians that must have a “come to Jesus moment” reconciling their broad support for Trump and the phenomenal damage done to their ability to witness in the name of Jesus to those who need them. In fact, many have moved away from calling themselves “Christians” and are using the term “Christ-follower” exclusively. Christian and Republican are not one and the same. They never have been and they never will be.

It’s important to recognize that some of those who take this questioning of their integration of faith and politics are some of the same types of people who crucified Jesus two thousand years ago, minus the political labels. Jesus wasn’t crucified because he said things like, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”, “Love one another as I have loved you” etc. He was crucified because he said, “See the Pharisees? Look at those hypocrites.”

It is also important to note that some would see Former-President Trump as a thrice-married, twice divorced, porn-star adulterating, amoral, racist, narcissistic, sexist cheat who is wholeheartedly incapable of telling the truth. Those that take offense to this description are some of the same people that fully disrespect, criticize, and name-call those who believe in political and religious ideologies different than their own. The fact is that we are all sinners. While the office of President of the United States is not a religious office, it is meant for a person of integrity. It does not require a faith or persuasion that exactly matches yours or mine. I know that no one is perfect. That is not what I’m saying.

Though my politics lean left of center, my vote goes far beyond policy alone. I voted for President Joe Biden because of the deep love I have for people of all persuasions and for their future. I voted for President Joe Biden because character, integrity, and the truth should still matter. I voted for President Joe Biden because I believe he most aligns with principles that form my understanding of what it means to be a Christ-follower. I voted for President Joe Biden because I do not believe those on the far left or the far right or those who are promoting outrageous conspiracy theories. I choose to not be that cynical. I do not believe that the courts of this land, all the way up to the Supreme Court, have been overcome by radical, un-American ideals, and are choosing to ignore facts and allow frivolous inquiries.

Political parties are tasked with many things but carrying out the Gospel isn’t one of them. Voting for Biden did not represent an illusion that he will “fix” everything or that he is perfect, but a signal that, of the two candidates, he was my choice to lead the country based on the choices we were given in this system called Democracy. Since you can be so bold in your support of your choices, I can be so bold in mine.

As usual, thanks for reading.

RESOURCES

https://christiandemocratsofamerica.org/blog/2020/11/03/in-new-poll-80-of-christian-voters-say-biden-represents-their-values-more-than-trump/

https://www.hollandsentinel.com/opinion/20201101/my-take-christians-can-vote-democrat-too

http://goodnewsplanet.com/what-it-means-to-be-a-christian-and-a-democrat/

https://christiansforsocialaction.org/resource/christianity-is-neither-democratic-nor-republican-its-better-than-both/

https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/party-affiliation/

 

You’re Looking to be Loved, Aren’t You?

I sometimes think “why am I spending time writing and why on earth am I posting my writing out there for random people to read?” There are much smarter people who already have proven that people do want to hear their thoughts. They are much more articulate than I am, have a much more diverse background, and already have a platform from which to share. I, on the other hand, just resigned the main platform that I could potentially share from. I doubt that platform will open to me again. I have started and stopped my blog enough times that even if I once had readers, they’re gone now. I appreciate my wife and my mom reading what I write, but let’s face it, they’re kind of obligated because of the nature of the loving relationship we have. So you can go to https://mosaicla.online.church/ on the even hours today and hear the talk that has inspired my words. I am not looking to be loved through my blog, just heard. I am writing because maybe the processing I have done on the subjects I am writing about will connect with you in a way that Erwin McManus will not. Maybe because of the loving relationship you and I have, your thoughts will be impacted by my thoughts in a unique way. Maybe you will decide that because you know me, you can pass on my words to someone else you know and they might resonate with the ideas and concepts that you want them to think about. But I’m going to continue to think and process and write even if no one is reading it.

This week I was reading about suicide in America. You may not know that it is the number one cause of death among gay and lesbian youth. Between 20 – 30 percent of LGBTQ people abuse substances, including alcohol, compared to 5 – 10 % of the general population. Those who are LGBTQ are 2 – 3 times more likely to be bullied. This is a group of men and women in our society in 21^st century America that is struggling to find answers to the question they have. It is not the only group in America searching for answers. It’s not being singled out from any other group for any reason other than it came to my attention this week.

The truth is, in our world today, many people are searching to make sense of their existence and their interaction with the world they live in; with the environment that they exist in; with their surroundings, and the people that are within their sphere of existence. The LGBTQ community is just one example of a group in our society that is struggling to find the answers to the same questions everyone is asking. The statistics are staggering. They are appalling and they are troublesome for me, as a Christ-follower.  Talk to almost anyone and they will tell you that they either have searched or are searching for meaning to their life. Most are trying to make some order out of what they perceive as chaos around and within them. It is interesting that many of those people decided that they can create the scenarios that bring perceived order; that they can design a truth that fits their narrative and thus exist in a realm that keeps them in the center and allows for their ultimate freedom to decided and choose anything they want to be their reality. Isn’t that what a myth is? These same people searching to make order out of perceived chaos will seldom consider that the universe itself is designed by someone who has that same desire for order. Seldom will they consider that they were designed to desire order by someone who also desires order. People think that somehow a great void and nothingness all of a sudden made one change and that change was the right change that perpetuated more right change and now here we are in a universe and a world and a sphere of existence that is the complete opposite of void and nothingness. So even though they are now wanting to create change in their existence, the entire existence of the universe could not be ordered by someone or something who desired to creatively change their existence.

I come to this topic with a bit of a bias that I want to acknowledge before I go any further. I was raised in a Christian home. My family heritage is generations of Christians, God-fearing men and women who left religions and political persecution in the Ukraine and other places prior to that, to find freedom in the United States. Having come to the conclusion at age 11 that Christianity provided the framework for me in answering these questions, like you, I have continued to struggle with the questions that I present in this blog. A framework doesn’t mean that every question is answered completely once and for all. Every question has nuance. Every answer does as well. You will likely sense my confidence in the framework through which I experience life. I want to humbly offer these thoughts in light and in spite of that.

“Why?” You may have never thought about the fact that it is one of the first things toddlers around the entire planet ask. Every little tiny human being wants to know why. Every parent and caregiver has literally fielded thousands of “why” questions from children who can hardly form a sentence, let alone comprehend the universe. Yet we all want to know why. Before trying to figure out why we have all tried to figure out something else without even knowing it. Before we have a capacity for language, before we have the ability to exert much of our free will, before we are actually cognitive enough to comprehend this in our minds, we have the need and desire to be loved. Research shows that the growth of at least one part of the infant brain is completely dependent upon the love, emotional warmth, and responsiveness shown to him or her by those in the infant’s environment.

As I was reading this week I was struck by the idea that the key question for all of us is “do you love me and will you always love me?” Whether it is asked directly or not by someone it is felt across gender lines, across sexual orientation lines, across nationality and cultural lines. Every human being wants to know that they are loved. This fact cannot be denied. Most every individual then wants to find meaning to their life. Meaning comes from knowing we are loved and by attempting to answer the “why” question. Neuroscience research supports the premise that the brain is actually primed for such things. Religion has typically been the vehicle to put a framework around such needs. It’s interesting that every culture has some sort of “religion” associated with it. Ara Norenzayan, Ph.D., a psychologist at the Univ. of British Columbia and co-author of Cognitive Science (Vol.30. No.3, 2006), says that “Religion is one of the big ways that human societies have hit on as a solution to induce unrelated individuals to be nice to each other.” He goes on to say that people become more charitable to one another by promoting belief in a supernatural agent; a “spirit” or “god.”

I find it interesting, though, that among all religions in the world, Christianity seems to be so quickly and easily excused by so many who are searching for love and searching to answer the questions of life and existence, and interested in exerting their free will. Even more interesting is the fact that in every world religion a person must “achieve” their connection with god by the nature of their actions. The much reach towards an aloof god. They must do the right things in order to get to achieve peace, happiness (nirvana), reincarnation, harmony with the universe, salvation, heaven, etc. Everything is dependent on their path to enlightenment, so to speak. You may not know this, but Christianity is the only religion (which I propose is not a religion at all) where God says we cannot and will not achieve salvation, thus He provides us the way to salvation in the most loving act one can ever comprehend, the offering of His one and only Son.

Christianity, a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ, answers both questions that are fundamental to all humans from the beginning of their very existence; “Am I loved?” and “why?” I know that I am loved because the Creator of the Universe provided the way for a relationship with Him, the way for being a part of His Kingdom, and did so because He loves me. Jesus cries out to us, essentially saying, as Erwin McManus pointed out in his talk today, that “nobody is coming for you” from these other religions. These other gods are not offering you the answers because you are not really loved by them.

Now I am not naïve to think that these are the only questions you desire to have answered. I’ve also had enough experience in life to know that some of you think you know all the answers and are right, contrary to what anyone else wants to tell you. Even others of you think that if others think differently than you do, you have to be sure that they know how wrong they are. These things are actually a natural tendency of some people. Love does not always come naturally. Even though it is the very essence of our Creator, it doesn’t always come naturally to us. That is a conversation for another time, except to say that navigating the answer to the questions about being loved and understanding the why of existence is a difficult journey to navigate. What I want to humbly ask you to think about today are these questions foundational questions: 1) If I have such a desire to make order out of what feels like chaos, why would it make sense that my very existence is not designed by someone or something full of order? 2) If someone did design me, does that someone love me? 3) If that someone leaves it completely up to me to achieve the goal of life, is that love? 4) Isn’t it more love for that someone to tell me that I have been given everything I need for this life and the next because I am loved?

Friends, I am confident of this: God, the Creator of the Universe has given Jesus Christ, His only Son, so that you can have life and have it abundantly. There are not steps to achieving the life He has called you to. You simply have to believe it. It is not a far-fetched myth or fairy tale. The Encyclopedia Britannica says about myths “…there is no attempt to justify mythic narratives or even to render them plausible.” The same publication says of Fairy tales, “wonder tale involving marvelous elements and occurrences, though not necessarily about fairies.” They are stories rooted in folklore and art. The Christian message is a message that has withstood the test of time. It has the backing of archeologists, scientists, historians, and theologians around the world. The evidence is overwhelming. The precepts are trustworthy and true. You don’t have to take my word for it. The Case for Christ by the New York Times Bestselling Author Lee Strobel will lay out this journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus. The Case for A Creator, and The Case for Faith by the same author will offer evidence that all points to the God of the Bible. Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell is another great resource that will help you look into what I have proposed in this blog.

“Do you love me and will you always love me?” - When asked what side of a moral issue like the issue of LGBTQ, someone for whom I have great respect paused a moment and said “LOVE.” That is what I want to be known for. As for God, let’s allow Him to speak for Himself: 1 John 4:10 The Passion Translation “This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.”

“Why?” Like any parent would say, I can’t begin to answer all of your “why” questions. To answer the question of why He sent His Son, again, He can speak for Himself: John 3:16 The Passion Translation 16 For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.

I’m always interested and willing to make this a dialog. If you would like to interact publically in the comments section, we can do so. I’m happy to take it offline using my email address, which you can find in my bio.

As always, thanks for reading.