Category Archives: People

It might be spring!

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The weather is amazing… finally. It means a couple of things.

1. People are really in a good mood today!

2. It also means the end of the semester for me as adjunct faculty. This year I am finding is a bit tougher. I know quite a few students who are graduating. It is rewarding in that I know so many.

It is also bittersweet. There are several I have mentored over the past couple of years and the realization is they are headed out.

What a reward. They have added to my life. I am so thankful for the time we’ve had together. I pray for God’s best in their lives.

Finishing Well

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 A great pastor in our fellowship went home to be with the Lord last night. Mark Denyes was founding pastor of Emmanuel Christian Center in the Twin Cities and a great man of prayer.

He lived as a great example of a pastor for thousands. For me, he was an example of a man of prayer.

He is no longer homesick for a place he’s never been. He is now home.

Eternal memory.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (II Tim. 4:7, NIV)

 

Why We Hate Normal

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There is such a battle to be unique, to be quirky, to be a bit odd… set out in some way. We just don’t like normal.

But in the “normal” we may find the power of God working through us. Yet, we will find in that moment that it will then be about GOD, and not us.

Which may be why we don’t like normal after all.

 

Did You Hear the One About the Awful Waiter?

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If we’re going to beat up on how awful Christians are for bad tipping, which is why half of America is not Christian, by the way, is there not a case to be for awful service?

Let me tell you about a couple of THOSE incidents….

Just kidding.

You know why? Because I’ve never had bad service? Hardly. Just last month was an awful waiter at a restaurant I spent quite of bit of money, but still didn’t get much from the waiter.

My response? Why, I handed him a Christian tract and went on my merry way!

No. I gave him a great tip like I always do, with maybe 1 percent or 2 shaved off, but it was my typical generous tip. (I say generous so much to prove I’m a better Christian than most of you reading this post.)

But to my point… and I do have one.

Why NOT tell you about bad service? Because I don’t see the need.

What good does it do me to rail away on bad service at some restaurant especially if I don’t know the whole story? What if the guy got ripped by the last customer and was having a hard time recovering?

I could tell you about a TON of great servers. There are some GREAT stories of the best people who we love to see when we walk into a restaurant, and, contrary to popular belief today, they love to see us.

But let me give you one example of bad service and why I just see no need to rip on it in a social media forum.

It was a few years back and the service was unbelievably slow. It took us well over an hour to get our meal. When I went to pay, I was getting geared up to let them know what I thought. I didn’t need to. The guy in front of me was ripping away.

When I got up the counter to pay, the manager winced a bit, knowing she had to ask yet again, “How was your meal,” and knowing it was going to be another bad story.

She asked, “How was your meal, sir?”

I said, “You know what? It looks like it’s been a bad day and I think you’ve already heard enough. There’s no need for me to pile on.”

She let out her breath and told me how she had made the wrong call in sending people home too early and how hard it had been. It was just a bad call on her part. She knew her mistake. I didn’t need to rehash it.

So, instead of bashing on “bad Christians” or awful waiters, how about we give some leeway and try looking out for the GOOD in others?

Right.

I didn’t think so, but I thought I would give it a try anyway.

The Ordinary Life

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In Acts 3, Peter and John were on their way to prayer. They were doing the ordinary stuff of life when the extraordinary happened: the healing of the lame man.

They were not on their way to a healing crusade, so they brought the man with them (or gave him a flier hoping he would attend).

God is ready to use the ordinary routines of your life to do something that really could be extraordinary.

Don’t wait for the healing crusade or the “great evangelist.” You might be the one to stretch your own hand out and see something special happen.

Prosperity

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Growing into adulthood in the age of the “prosperity gospel” there was the misuse of 3 John v. 2 about prospering “as your soul prospers.”

A newer translation says this:

2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (NIV)

I don’t know about the whole “name it claim it” deal, but I do know there is a prosperity spiritually I carry with me. That carries over into the rest of my world when it seems I am being driven to despair.

This current week has been a weak when anything that could go wrong just about has gone wrong. Major things. Our van bit the dust so we needed to get another one. Our old furnace finally bit the dust and we have gone two nights without heat during the coldest week of the winter thus far. All at a time when we were finally getting our heads slightly above water financially.

Several things play into this. There are some spiritual attacks that directly aim at physical and financial issues. Our church is aiming at some pretty daring things spiritually, calling people into a level of spiritual maturity, growth, and prayer. Raise up American Christians who actually take their Christianity seriously and there are ensuing skirmishes that happen. They are little battles meant to drive us back into mediocrity.

We are aware of those battles.

But another thing I am so acutely aware of today is the wealth I truly have in my life. When my wife put on Facebook that our furnace was out, we immediately got responses through Facebook and texts and phone calls. Incredible friends who offered us a place to stay, space heaters to borrow… anything. My wife’s boss offered to go stay with her parents just so we could use her house for a night.

Friends walked me through diagnosing the problems on my furnace before I knew I needed to call a repair company.

There was so much care and compassion, I have only been immensely grateful this week. My soul prospers.

I face financial cliffs that don’t match the government, but they overwhelm me. Yet, in this, I am so full of joy. The presence of God has shown up in our friends and family. I know all the other provision will come because my soul is really getting along well.

 

Daring Mother Nature

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I passed a place last night that really was trying to stick it to the weather. It was a drive-in restaurant. Not drive-thru… drive-in, like an old A&W. You had to get out of your car in the 5 below weather, go to a window and order your food.

It wasn’t as surprising that they were open as the fact there was a sandwich board out front announcing: ICE CREAM.

That is making the most out of a bad situation.

I almost stopped to get some!

Lost in Transition

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We live with transition all around us. I live in an urban area, so change is part of what stays the same.

This morning I was taking the bus, so when I transfer I walk through the IDS tower crystal court, which is essentially the heart of Minneapolis. I’ve walked that route for months. As I looked at new businesses going in, I began to think about what they were replacing. I found I could remember what was in one storefront only a few months ago, but I couldn’t remember some other store fronts.

Things get lost in transition. Memories fade quickly. What we think is permanent gets replaced, and sometimes that memory fades in the collective conscious.

It causes me to work harder to reflect on my journey in a more purposeful manner. To remember events. To remember people. And not lose them in transition.

MLK

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So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . .” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime–the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

– from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963