How He died

"When the centurion heard His cry and saw how He died, he said "surely this man, was the son of God."

It was one man's conclusion, not thousands. Most everyone else jeered. They taunted, and in their pride, tried to appeal to Christ's pride, as he slowly died on the cross. It was the devil's last temptation. A last desperate attempt to preserve his victory. It was the final hour of Christ's life on earth, all eyes were on Him. Some were spiteful, some sorrowful. Others, from a distance, were full of guilt and shame. Everybody was watching, anticipating the next moments.

He hung. Two words. 6 hours past.... and He hung. The people jeered and He hung. In the face of humiliation, pain, death and every low point of human life, He hung. There was no fanfare. No exultation. There was no praise for the God-man. Only rage, prideful arrogance and ignorance were directed His way. The greatest gift ever giving to man was rejected, tortured and cast-out, like an unwanted garment or possession.

There is so much significance in the words of that centurion. Unlike the people of Israel, the gospel had not yet been revealed to them. Unlike the people of Israel, they had not walked with Jesus for 3 years waiting on His every word, His every miracle. There wasn't the same intimate experience with Christ, and this makes the centurion's words that much more significant. They were spoken from one 24 hour period. In that time, Jesus was scourged, beaten, mocked, humiliated, beaten some more, forced to carry His cross, and eventually crucified like a common criminal. We've heard those words, but this scenario, this encounter with God experienced by a man with no previous revelation of Christ shakes my foundation of evangelism to the core. "As a lamb before the sheerers is silent, so He did not open His mouth". Jesus didn't preach an eloquent sermon ala Stephen in the book of Acts, He died.... He hung and He died.

The power was in the pre-requisite of this moment. The evangelism and annointing were brought to fruit by the perserverance of Christ. We perservere because we know that in that perserverance there is fullness of life, Christ perservered for us. We perservere to experience perfection, He perservered to restore it. And while we perservere in pursuit of a life abundant, Christ perservered to take the punishment I deserved upon Himself. He perservered in complete humility, breaking Himself, pouring Himself out and being lifted up, in order to save my wretched soul amongst the scoffers. I read what I just wrote and it hits me "Surely this man was the son of God."

are you ready?

What is readiness? I found myself at home tonight watching hope for haiti now with my wife and seeing kid after kid on my t.v and then hearing that even before the earthquake, orphanages in Haiti turned away 80 kids a month.... or 2.3 a day for those who don't like math.... devestating numbers.... I sat there and thought out loud, "we should adopt a kid from Haiti." Our collective response was to say we weren't ready.

The point of this post is not to debate whether or not I'm getting a child... It's readiness. What is it? Is it a choice? A state of being? A moment where everything clicks and feels right? Or is that just what I want it to be? Where has the life of faith gone? Where has dependency on Christ gone? Where has the willingness to trust that God will provide for His little ones gone? Why are there so many questions in a row that I don't have the answers to? Instead I sit here, pondering, hoping that somewhere in the middle of these troubling questions I find justification for the way things are.

When I say I'm ready, it often looks like I've worked out in my brain all the available scenarios for a given choice that I will make and they work out acceptable to me. Since when was that the governing factor for my life?

What does being ready look like to you? I believe there is wisdom in readiness. I also believe that God asks us to trust Him for wisdom. I'm troubled..... cause I don't know if I'm ready. I don't know if that really matters.

Jesus as the bread of life

"This is my body, broken for you. Do this, in remembrance of me" (Mark 14)

It's a statement that I've always looked at specifically in the context of communion. Jesus was stating to his followers that the passover meal they were about to share was symbolic of his sacrifice. But that was where it ended, with the cross, the grave, the resurrection, and the ascension. Jesus, & the gospel writers, had let us in on an incredibly intimate moment with Jesus & His disciples, that was about to become relevant for all of mankind. But Jesus, as the Bread of Life changes everything.

A friend of mine told me in discussion of this topic, "Jesus doesn't do anything by accident." With that in mind, there are connections between this feast of the passover and other moments in Christ's life that scream out to be recognized.

Jesus feeds the 5000. Here again, Jesus is the one who breaks the bread. He's the one that distributes it, and His distribution..... is abundant. It never runs out and in fact is excess of what is required. It's more than enough. Fastforward to the passover feast. Jesus is breaking the bread, He is distributing the bread and the message from the past is added to the symbolism of the moment. Jesus, never runs out. His body, is not only sufficient, it is abundant. It never runs out, and like the physical abundance of bread, Jesus' life points to the abundance of His body being broken. It's what leads Paul to write that Jesus' sacrifice was "once for all" (Hebrews). The grace that covers a multitude of sins is figurative in the bread. It covers a multitude of sins because the point was never that 5000 got fed. The point was that there was abundance. Jesus provision didn't scrape by and tide people over until they got home to have a snack. It provided a filling, and then some. 12 basketfuls were left over. It's a declaration that He is greater than what is about to come and given the connection between these moments, it's a subtly prophetic act that He is greater than the breaking of His body. He not only will overcome sin with His sacrifice, but He will also overcome the physical and spiritual death associated with His sacrifice. He is abundant, more than enough and in this moment, it's a promise to His disciples.

Jesus as the affirmer. It's one of the last recorded Biblical events that we have of Christ on earth in the Gospels. Peter and the boys are out fishing, trying to forget what happened, their dreams crushed, shattered. They are fishing and Jesus shows up in the shore. They race to Jesus, peter swims, to find him with fish and some bread. It's the encompassing of these moments again. Jesus is restoring Peter, but He's also affirming the promise. He's tying the pieces together and bringing revelation to His disciples. The bread and the fish, a common meal with dramatic ties to a highlight in the disciples lives with Christ. If we had witnessed the feeding of the 5000, no doubt it would be the same for us. Christ is assuring Peter and the disciples before there is ever the reinstatement of Peter that His body is still enough. It hasn't run out and it won't run out. Again, Jesus is in control. It's a reconnection to the moment of their deepest intimacy with Christ. The time when everything seemed poised to explode into glory and Christ is taking them there again with a shifted perspective. It's no longer about Israel's return to empirical glory. It's about the return of God's creation to Himself. Again the disciples find themselves picked up from their dejection, reminded of the past and are placed into the present. Jesus has become far greater than the earthly King they had hoped for. He has become the savior, the provider of forgiveness and grace, abundant life. He has become exactly what they need.

So, in my remembrance of Christ, when I take part of His body and His bread, my perspective has, like the disciples', forever been altered. No more is it just a moment of intimacy with my God. It's a promise, a declaration, a reinstatement, an affirmation, abundance and the glory of Christ's return and His creation's return to Him. It's new meaning to the Bread of Life.

In You, I'm Found

Is it possible that who we really want to be is found in Christ?

There's the obvious of our identity, but there is the person that inwardly, each of us desires to be. It's built into the uniqueness and make-up of who we are as people, and all of us are aspiring towards being this better version of us. Whether that's the better husband, the better father, the better friend, co-worker.... It's found in Christ.

It's found in Christ.... and with that is found the peace of finally ceasing our endless striving. We become the peace of Christ when we find ourselves in Christ. It's like the person that we have been searching for is found in our presence with Christ. It's not a matter of looking up and saying "There I am, I finally am found in Christ", but it is choosing to be found in Him. It's telegraphing our hiding spot in a game of hide and seek. It's telling people that they know where to find us. It eliminates pride in being self made people, and it is evidenced by the God-given fruits of His Spirit in our lives.

We have a choice.... we have the ability to allow ourselves to be found in Christ. It doesn't have to be a mystery anymore and it allows us to Be Still.... and know that He.... is God.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you realized that what you want is so not where you are? When you look at your life and you think to yourself, "how did I get here?" I just had one.

Have you ever looked at something and thought, "man, that's going to cause me pain and heartbreak. It's going to require repentance and discipline, and not just one time. Probably more than I care to know?"

Have you ever stared that straight in the face and realized that brokenness leads to wonder, pain leads to pure joy and repentance and discipline leads to humility? And then, as you step back and look even closer, you realize that heartbreak is not over what you give up, but what you've already missed out on in your own arrogance.

But we rest on grace.......... that alone makes it bearable, but it will not ease my pain, for I know what I've missed. This isn't a beat up on myself, but it is a refreshingly honest look at my life. Praise God for His word.

Why is it that the church only seems to stand against things? I got to thinking the other day how I can't remember the last time that the collective church rose up in Canada to stand for, instead of against something.

We speak of a God of love, justice, a God who cares for His creation, a God of second chances, mercy, grace, forgiveness, but we as the church, more often than not, condemn. I'm tired of the excuse that Jesus stood for truth and expects us to do the same. It's a crutch we are using and the way that we are implementing that command is a joke and an insult to Jesus Christ.

I'm for standing for truth, but part of standing for truth means that we stand for the pro-active heart of Christ and not just the reactive. Why are we not working to alleviate poverty as a church, or hunger, or any other huge problem in the world today? We have a world that is passionate about the environment. Well, we were charged with taking care of the earth as christians. What an opportunity to share Christ with the world. We live in a world where advocacy is in style. As followers of christ, were we not called to bring hope to those who are hopeless, to liberate the oppressed? Were we not called to these things?

I dream of the day that we stop calling implementing those things the "selling" of Christ. It's not selling Christ by meeting the world, it's the truth of who Jesus is and has been, from Old Testament to New, and when we finally start doing these things, we will have influence and our opinion will no longer be judgmental, but respected.

The quest for equality

I've been thinking about our world and the quest for equality. I've been thinking about how whether it's racial, gender or religious equality, or any other kind most people, within the church and outside of it aren't really interested in equality.

See the whole thing about equality is that it puts you on the same level as everyone else. By it's truest definition, equality places everybody on the level playing field. That means, those who are requesting equality get pulled up the level of those the request is being made of. But that's as far as it goes.

But take a look at your life, does it reflect a desire for equality, or superiority? Are you interested in having equality? are you interested in being challenged by someone equal on what you believe or how you live? See, the problem is most people will say, "I want equality. I want to be considered equal." But they are really saying. I want to be able to believe what I believe and do what I do without challenge, because that's my right, and it's your right. However, that attitude is about superiority. There is no room for that kind of thinking in the world as we live in our day to day lives, and there is no place for that in the church.

How can we possibly have authentic community when we approach any discussion of faith that we have as more a debate than an opportunity to grow. How often have I, have you brought our package of beliefs into a debate and walked away saying that somebody attacked us because they challenged our beliefs? You are not your beliefs. How can there be equality when we refuse to accept that the person that we are talking is bringing equal beliefs to the conversation?

I guess the challenge is to walk in equality. Don't live like you are superior and function in the equal community we were called to function in.