The Rev – Page 9

Mind and Heart

January 17, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

The Christian life is not mind or heart but mind and heart. Photo by Sweet Ice Cream PhotographyI am reading After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by N.T. Wright currently and it has been really helpful and really challenging. In my desire to avoid any kind of works based religion I have too often ignored the importance of good works. Wright has offered me an important corrective. This morning I was reading Ephesians 4:17–32 and it tied in with a section from Wright’s work that I’m in on the importance of the Christian mind. We have entered into a time where there has been a loss of Christian intellectualism in America. The Church in America has become all about the heart. My training at seminary in communication focused on engaging people’s emotions and their “hearts.” Engaging the mind and the renewal of the mind was largely ignored. Yet, as I read in Ephesians 4:17 and following I am struck by how the mind...

It’s Not Fair

January 13, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Nope, I don’t see any elephant ears… Photo by Filip Mroz“It’s not fair!” he whined, tears welling up in his eyes and his face beginning to flush red. “It’s not just NOT FAIR!” My son had collapsed into a heap on the football field. The fathers versus sons two-hand touch football had just concluded. The game had been an epic contest between ankle biting five year old boys and way past their prime dads. This battle of football giants had ended, as they have from the beginning of time, in a tie. “Don’t they know? Football games don’t tie! This is just terrible! IT. IS. NOT. FAIR!” My son, my first born child who has a passion for justice, even at the age of five, just couldn’t handle something not being fair. He knew that the game was rigged, and he hated it. My Facebook and Twitter feeds have been filled with adults whining, “It’s not fair!” Their candidate lost or their candidate is being maligned or...

Go Deeper, No DEEPER!

January 12, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

What we think we need is not always what we really need. I am learning that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are “Baseball” people and “Not Baseball” people. We are definitely “Baseball” people. My wife loves the game. I love the game. My son, really loves the game. My daughter, barely tolerates the game. Last summer my son was having one of his best years at the plate that he had ever had. He discovered the ability to hit with power and for average. His hard work in the off-season was paying off. During a tournament where there was an opportunity to make an All Star team he began to struggle. Boy, did he struggle. Against one of the top teams in the tournament he had a great game. But, other than that, he didn’t do very much. Half way through the week he asked me what he was doing wrong. We showed up early to the batting cages and...

I Have So Little Faith

January 11, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

The Night The Winds Kept Me Awake Photo by Timothy Ah KoyLast night the winds blew. They rattled our home. I could hear the shingles and siding shifting and flexing with each fresh gust. Then came the “BANG!” That sound made my heart skip a beat. Then again, “BANG!” Then, “BANG! BANG!” I looked out the window and saw what looked to be siding on the lawn. I ran downstairs barefooted and stepped into my boots. There was indeed a hunk of siding, but it was extra from a project our neighbor had done this fall. Returning to bed I prayed, I asked God to help me sleep. Then, “BANG! BANG! BANG!” As I laid in my bed my wife slept peacefully next to me. My children slept too. I couldn’t stop hearing the “BANG! BANG!” Every gust awakened my senses to fear of there being major damage to our home. Major damage that I wouldn’t know how to fix. After two hours of sleeplessness I relocated...

Parents Don’t Get A Raw Deal

January 10, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

They get exactly what they want. Photo by Brandon MorganOver the last few days I have bumped into an article by Rhonda Stephens entitled, “Parenting: Are We Getting A Raw Deal?” I saw it once and read it. I saw it a second time and read it again. The first time I laughed and remembered my childhood and how it reflected much of what Stephens wrote. I appreciated that at the end she makes it clear that maybe the current state of affairs is not the way things ought to be. Then it struck me, kids only do what parents allow them to do or not do. Her rant was great. But, maybe I missed it, is she making changes in her home? Is she calling for anyone else to make changes? I am reminded of a marvelous section of Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, where he talks about a family waking up to a similar reality. The dad made...

He is Sovereign. He is Good.

January 10, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Photo by Liane MetzlerToday I’ve been thinking about the depth, majesty, and greatness of God. I’m a pastor, so I suppose that is not all that surprising. Yet, a passage from Isaiah has been floating around in my mind and heart all day today. Check this out from Isaiah 40:27, 28: Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah is writing to the people of God in exile. At this point they are despondent and broken-hearted. They feel as though God has abandoned them. They can’t worship at the Temple and so they are experiencing a deep separation from their God. Isaiah quotes them as asking why God is ignoring them (“my way is hidden”) and hasn’t brought about the justice...

Blessing Isn’t Cheap

January 9, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Photo by Frank McKennaOn Twitter I follow a few accounts that post quotes from great coaches. They are usually inspirational and remind you that excuses are for chumps. There is also a common theme from most great coaches and that is, “Luck is fought for in practice.” I am reading a book called, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by N.T. Wright. The premise of the book is to highlight how Christians develop biblical virtue. It’s a wonderfully challenging book that is helping me to more deeply understand the tension between grace and works. This morning in the Scriptures I was reading Psalm 1 and the first two verses really hit me between the eyes. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Particularly, what jumped off the page was the...

We Prayed

January 9, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Photo by Milada VigerovaI am always surprised by the moments in the life of leading a congregation that end up filling my soul. That conversation with a neighbor that I didn’t expect. Or maybe the conversation with the bartender at my local watering hole. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to serve a friend or a stranger. Often it has been seeing God provide for our family. Tonight I had one of those moments. Here’s the thing, I’m not a big corporate pray-er. I have never really enjoyed praying in groups. At conferences or gatherings where they make you split up into small groups and pray for each other, I slip out the back. It always feels fake and lame. I’m a pastor, I shouldn’t feel like that. Before that I was a missionary, I shouldn’t have felt like that then either. There’s a spirituality standard for us professional Christians, right? If there is, I fail miserably at this point. Tonight we started the new year with...

This Is Jesus

January 8, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Photo by Dino ReichmuthThis first Sunday of Epiphany we read Hebrews 1:1–12 and come face to face with King Jesus. He’s magnificent. He’s radiant. He’s the eternal. He’s active. He’s among us. He’s the king! Epiphany is the season where we see Jesus revealed as the God-man. Perfectly God, perfectly man. We see his mission unfolded before us in the gospels and the scriptures. We are reminded through the prophets that all of this was foretold. Yet it is in Hebrews, in the New Testament, where we get this amazing image of who Jesus is in the opening pages of the letter. This morning, I am simply reflecting on the glory of our Savior as I am reminded again that he is greater than the angels. This. Is. Jesus. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of...

Love Is A Verb

January 7, 2017December 11, 2017 by The RevNo Comments

Photo By Nina StrehlI noticed something “new” today in a passage that I have become very familiar with over the years. This passage is Revelation 2:1–7 and it is a letter to the church at Ephesus. Check it out: To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp-stands.“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you...