Excerpt from unChristian by David Kinnaman

"We can be defensive about the idea that we are hypocritical. We can ignore it. Yet what if culture's accusations of hypocrisy are God's way of waking us up to the overwhelming needs of others? What if he is using our culture to make us aware of our hollow religiosity and empty answers?

Busters and Mosaics {16-29 years old in this book} are searching for authenticity. They want to find people to trust and confide in, but they often find more transparent, authentic people outside the church. We have opportunities to help outsiders - if we are willing to put aside our unChristian ways of interacting with them.

Philip Yancey, in his book What's So Amazing about Grace? makes his own candid conclusion:

Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap {sound familiar?}. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.

If only our view of outsiders were more like that of Jesus. And if only we condemned hypocrites the way he did: "They crush people with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden" (Matt. 23:4).

Think of the overwhelming perception among young outsiders that we are merely hypocrites. Does your life point people to a life in Christ that bursts with freedom to love, restoration, purity, and transparency?

Or are you burying people - insiders and outsiders - under the weight of a self-righteous life? Do you lift a finger to help?

As a Christian, it's my duty to ask: Are you lifting a finger now?

Which one?" (p. 60)

Chew on that a while. Just try not to choke!

Quotes from A Three Dog Life

"Suffering is the finest teacher. It teaches you details." (p.10)

"The season is changing, I take Harry (the dog) to the park and watch the leaves turning underfoot. There is something else I don't know yet, something I'm straining to feel, as subtle as the change in humidity or temperature, or the shift in light as summer becomes fall, the most beautiful season, with its gift of beauty in loss, and the promise of something more to come." (p. 24)

Emphasis mine.

Whom shall I fear?

A qualification before I begin. Sometimes when I am in the midst of worship, it is almost like the Holy Spirit is playing a YouTube video in my mind of all the different people in my life and their struggles. And while I may never actually know what it is they are truly going through, for a moment I feel their hurt and the weight of their burden rests upon me. And at the same time, I feel the strength within me that they need to make it. It is in these Holy Spirit inspired and empowered moments that I am able to truly rock intersession for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26).

As we sang the following song this past Sunday, I had just such an experience. Again, most of what I am sharing comes from the trials of other people. I fully realize that I am taking some liberties with the application of the verse in this song as David was writing about his enemies and I am translating that to "things." Changing the whom in some cases to what. Please forgive me.

Darrell Evans: Whom Shall I Fear {from Psalm 27:1}

Verse:
I Will seek You, Lord,
While I am in my youth
I will serve You, Lord,
And I'll proclaim Your truth
While I was far away
Always keep me safe.

Chorus:
The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear

As we sang, I praised through my prayers:

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
My uncooperative womb? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The cancer or other sickness taking up residence in a body? - NO

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
An unfaithful partner? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The unstable economy? - NO

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
A broken relationship? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
A sick child? - NO

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The judgement of men, even fellow Christians? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
An uncertain future? - NO

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The corrupt world that surrounds us? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The decisions of others or a circumstance that is beyound our control? - NO

The Lord is my light, and my salvation
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
Our own propensity for sin? - NO

The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Whom shall I fear, Whom shall I fear
The dangers some face in real persecution? - NO

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?

"If God is for us, who {or what} can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). We are the only true Untouchables. Now let us stand at arms together with the strength of our Lord in this battle called life.

Real vs. Pretend

The following incident happened a few weeks ago. In the midst of it, I was immediately struck by some brilliant spiritual significance. Then I waited to write the blog entry about it until I could give it my full attention {i.e. early in the morning is the best time for me to write deep stuff}. We started watching another season of 24, and so I have not been getting to bed at an hour conducive to early morning awakenings. Thus the lag in Dust entries.

All that to say, I forgot the point of my story. I wrote the general subject down in my writer's journal so I wouldn't forget to write about it later. But the brilliant spiritual significance has vanished. I even talked it over with Steven hoping that a good discussion would jar loose some of the cranial muck that is hindering my memory. But alas, nothing.

What to do, then? I decided to share the story anyway, and allow you to make the spiritual connection and life application for yourself. {Just between you and me, I need to be able to check it off the list in my journal or it may haunt me}. I would love to hear your thoughts on what you glean from the "parable."

I have a bowl of fake fruit on the end table between the couch and love seat. It contains 3 green apples surrounded by red cherries. The child has been taught not to touch the "forbidden fruit." To which end, she is generally successful.

Not long ago, she was crawling between the couch and love seat and subsequently underneath the aforementioned end table. Which she has done countless times. In this case, she miscalculated and actually tipped the end table. Luckily, I was in the proximity and caught it before it fell over. But some of the fruit spilled out of the bowl. I picked it up, and we returned about our merry way having learned to be more careful.

A few days later, I noticed a cherry on the floor that appeared to have escaped my earlier attempts to clean up the mess. Before I retrieved it from its hiding spot in plain sight, I was distracted. Then forgot about it until a few days later when I spotted it again. Mind you, the child has been crawling right past the thing for days now.

When I finally reached down to recover the errant cherry, I was astonished to realize that the little booger was REAL. You see, in the midst of all of this we had been visited by my parents who brought and ate a package of real cherries while they were here.

But my 18-month-old daughter was so accustomed to the fake cherries and had been so thoroughly trained not to touch them, that she failed to recognize {me too} and completely missed the opportunity to experience the real thing {thankfully}.

What does this mean? You decide.

Draw near to the throne of grace.

The following excerpt is from Pleasures Evermore
by Sam Storm:

"God only looks for humility and desperation in those who would petition Him. So come. Ask Him for grace to love Him, to obey Him, to enjoy Him. Come falteringly, come failingly, but by all means come frequently. (emphasis mine)

What if the believer is unable to put words to his wants? Because this is a gracious throne God will read your desires without the words. Spurgeon explains that 'a throne that was not gracious would not trouble itself to make out our petitions; but God, the infinitely gracious One, will dive into the soul of our desires, and He will read there what we cannot speak with the tongue.' When my daughters were young and struggled to articulate their desires and needs, I didn't berate them or denounce their feeble efforts. I would help them any way I could, even by suggesting the very words they longed to utter. Will our heavenly Father do less for us? Spurgeon put it this way:

He [God] will put the desires, and put the expression of those desires into your spirit by His grace; He will direct your desires to the things which you ought to seek for; He will teach you your wants, though as yet you know them not; He will suggest to you His promises that you may be able to plead them; He will, in fact, be Alpha and Omega to your prayer, just as He is to your salvation; for as salvation is from first to last of grace, so the sinner's approach to the throne of grace is of grace from first to last.

Because it is a throne of grace, nothing is required of you but your need. Your ticket to the throne is not works but desperation. (emphasis mine) God doesn't want sacrifice or gifts or good intentions. He wants your helplessness in order that the sufficiency of His grace, at work on your behalf, might be magnified. This is a throne for the spiritually bankrupt to come and find the wealth of God's energizing presence. This is not the throne of majesty which supports itself by the taxation of its subjects, but a throne which glorifies itself by streaming forth like a fountain with floods of good things" (p. 285-286).

Called to Him.

The words of Karen Watson, servant of the Lord, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2004 while living as a missionary in Iraq. She wrote them in a letter to the pastor of Valley Baptist Church with the instructions to open it only upon her death. I painted these words on a wall in the house in little B-town. I pray that someday they would truly be written on my heart, and perhaps even said about the way I chose to live this life He has given me. For Him. For His glory.

The Purple Martens

My neighbor has a purple marten house in her backyard. She recently shared the following story with me, and I thought that I would pass is along.

One morning my neighbors awakened to the blessing of five baby martens perched upon the top of their marten house. Apparently, this was the day designated for them to learn to fly. The four females in the group promptly launched themselves from the safety of their perch, caught the wind and soared to heights yet unknown to their little hearts.

After much frolicking in the breeze, they noticed that the last of their siblings, the lone little male, was still gripping tightly to the bar unable to let go and enjoy the freedom of flight. Periodically, he would flap his wings in an attempt to bolster the courage necessary to take the first plunge into the unknown. But it was only after his beloved sisters returned to his place of fear and fluttered all around his head while chirping incessantly that he was able to overcome his paralysis and finally embrace the call of the wind. He was FLYING!

Even the birds of the air understand the importance of encouragement.

What person is there in your life that, even today, requires your encouragement in order to spread their wings and fly? That encouragement may come in the form of your acceptance of who they are, your forgiveness for what they have done, your gentle push in the direction they should go, or perhaps, just your presence in the midst of their struggle.

May we be found willing and faithful, for the sake of our flightless friends, to flutter and chirp until our wings can beat no more and our song becomes hoarse. That, they too, may soar.