The mistakes we make

Through out human history we as a race have made all to many mistakes. Even if a person does not believe in sinful depravity, you can not realistically look at yourself in the mirror and wish you hadnt done something, should have done something, or maybe feel guilty for one of those things you did do.
I take a snapshot of teenagers. They think they know so much and are adults able to make decisions for themselves. They wont realize until later the damage it will ultimately do to a person. We a teen has sex and finds out they are pregnant, it is then that they will regret the decision. Or if a teen has sex with multiple partners and finds out they have an STD, they never thought it would happen to them. They never thought to ask their partner where they have been and who they have done. I look at my own past and wonder why I let so many thing taint my image of what is true.
I know a lot of people will argue and say that there isnt an ultimate truth. I find that hard to believe when we live in a world that has an reaction to every action. Morality aside and not saying what is consequence and what is reward, we must be aware that our decisions have outcomes that we may or may not be prepared for. Even as an 'adult' we think that certain decisions will be good for us, only to find later that we in fact made a mistake. Everyone gets mad, and sometimes what we do when we are mad is a really good example of this. The decision to burn a bridge even if you didnt realize it. The decision to cheat on your spouse even if you thought the other would never find out. All these decisions, whether you think them to be a positive or a negative decision, are decisions meant to have reactions. I mean if you didnt want to burn that bridge you would have thought your anger through, focused it elsewhere, walked away. If you didnt really want your significant other to find out, you wouldnt have cheated on him or her. Then, there would have been nothing to find out.
Yet these are examples with answers, cases that we can place in a vacuum tube and define the variables. Not everything is so precise. The teen who has sex doesnt have any notion of what they want of the sex other than the pure enjoyment or for the pure curiousity. Oh, but how it will change them forever. For some of them and the smaller percentage, because teens are having sex, they will get pregnant or get an std. For some of them it will not affect them until later in life realizing that doing so wasnt the best decision. For some, it may be no more than the pain that they will feel when that relationship doesnt pan out. And dare I say, for very few, they will never realize the re-action of that action, ever living the way they think they ought to.
As disconnected as I have tried to be I am sure anyone can see my own views laced in this post. That is just fine, because I dont really believe that anyone should agree with me or not. Still, I wonder how much of the pains in this world are based not upon accidents and chance, but by the falling of the dominos. One decisions leads to another, which naturally leads to another. Than, in any case of the teen, the adult, or the elder they will find themselves at a point in their lives just curious about how life might of turned out. But, I am inclined to believe that some of our decisions are hurtful. These hurtful decisions will sooner or later lead us to a place of sorrow and conviction wondering just how deep of water we have gotten ourselves into.
Casting Crowns has a song called be careful little eyes what you see. I would advise this to us all. Because maybe if we thought through what we did, maybe if our decisions were thought through, I dont know, maybe this world would be a bit of a better place.

Diving further within

Havon has been in the works all of my life, and just recently took form to be Havon: The Histories. I’m not sure where it began, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was addicted to the first Final Fantasy game when I was a kid, and then also absolutely loved the Conan movies, no matter how bad of movies they were—it had a big strong guy(Schwarzenegger before he could speak more than two words of English) with a big awesome sword. Enough said.

My writing started out as early as elementary school. I think at one point we had to make our own stories. I was sold. I started cutting up small pieces of paper that had maybe a few words on them and stapling them together to make them look as thick as I could.

During middle school and high school I wrote a ton of different fantasy short stories that probably never truly ended. The ones I was most proud of were the Two Brothers and Anything for Love. Both of these stories where pretty childish, but were very important to my development as an author. Two Brothers were about exactly what the titles implies, I am so creative I can hardly stand myself. The story begins with a dragon coming through the two brothers town dismantling it while the two are out on a hunting trip. They come back to find that the town is a waste land, and they find themselves having to live on there own. They are first tested by a pack of wolves that attack their camp. During the raid one of the brothers cracks, and brings devastation down upon the now overwhelmed wolves.

Anything for Love on the other hand came out of a semester of taking an independent writing course in high school. I was able to write 70 pages, the most I had done to date, about a man who chases after a dragon that was Satan himself who has taken his wife. He doesn’t find out about the true identity of the dragon until he smashes a jewel upon the dragons neck, and suddenly there in front of the man is Satan himself in a warrior’s form. He toys with the man, but when the man is about to loose his sword is infused from the light given to him by the Saints of that particular world. In the end, love prevails, and the man and wife have a classic ride off into the sunset.

From there on out I took a few creative writing classes in college, ever trying to develop a story that wouldn’t be torn apart by the over-zealous teacher. My first time around in the class I wrote a short story called New Man. This was simply about a man who get amnesia from a crash and has to find anew who he is. As he goes about the process he finds just how despicable his life was, and tries to start anew.

The second time around was probably the most important. I wrote one short story that was a fictionalized version of a relationship I had in High School that had gone drastically wrong. While writing it a stem of passion was let loose in my writing. For the first time I wrote whatever came to me, and as I did so a manuscript came together like none I have ever written. To say the least it is probably not something that would ever land in anyone’s hands but my own. Still, I broke free of the typical writing style, and found what my writing could do when driven by my heart.

I also wrote a short story about Travis Nevin. A youth pastor who had a bit more of a fix on the spiritual realm than may truly be possible. Still, his character was based on any person you have ever looked up to as a mentor, a discipler, and anyone who might reflect the person of Christ.

That particular story only becomes relevant later on. When I spent a summer at Myrtle Beach I wrote a short story that took a unique perspective on spiritual warfare. I called it Havon, knowing what we truly are is caught up between the heavenly and the earthly. So, it wasn’t Heavon, wasn’t Hell, but Havon.

After writing this piece I went the next year without writing any fantasy or fiction to get excited about. I stopped writing entirely and submersed myself in my Bible Theology classes as well as any book I could get a hold of. By the end of the summer of 2005, I was so fed up with not being able to write that I sat down and began jotting down notes. As I did this I found that many of the characters I had established in the past were what would drive the new story. I also realized that people like C.S. Lewis and Ted Dekker use Christian motives to inspire their books. Well, I know fantasy, and I know theology and philosophy. So, why not?

Havon came out accordingly. The first year of its conception I found a few things out. 1. Nevin is a direct derivative of Nevi’im, a Hebrew word for prophet. It is oddly convenient that Travis Nevin was a character to reflect Christ. It was also odd that I needed a hero. Having just finished a paper called ‘Jesus as Hero in the Gospel of John’, well you do the math and realize just how I did how this will fall into place. Then two, I realized that creating my antagonist would take me about a million tries. But I hope the scene in Havon: The Histories captured my antagonist better known as Luscious Aramous.

So now the process of trying to beg, plead, and hope that someone who can promote my book begins. And if you have ever tried to publish anything I can tell you that it is a pain and one of the harder processes you will ever go through. But, I believe that doing it is worth it. No matter how discouraged one gets, no matter who you get rejection letters from, there is always another way to try and get someone to notice you.

Yet, at the end of the day, if you have lost everything and sit alone don’t let the depression overwhelm you. Remember that you have a Lord that justifies you not by what you do but by the atonement that was through Christ Jesus. But if you do not have faith in a diety, have faith in yourself. Have faith in your writing.

But whatever you do, have faith that tomorrow won’t turn out like today.

The Community of God

The Community of God

Confirmation Sunday. I suppose that this is a common term through out the states and beyond. Just last week I attended the second of two services dedicated to my sister-in-law’s confirmation class. In a couple of weeks I will attend my cousin in laws confirmation. And today, we join to celebrate our own confirmation class from this past year.

I myself, as we all recently may have realized, was never confirmed into a church. It came out of the fact that I would rather sleep in on Sunday mornings then go some where that early on my Sunday. No, I wasn’t interested into religion or anything to do with God when I was just entering into 10^th grade. I suppose I believed in other things. You see, all of my life was constructed by what I did. Everything fell into place accordingly, and I was considered a good kid.

But as I reflect on what the verses that have been read thus far I realize just how badly I had missed the mark. And as I continue to reflect on these verses, I am wondering how much confirmation Sundays have become about what we do, and not about who we know.

First though, I might need to clarify what Paul is getting at in Romans. What many of us don’t realize is just how huge of a debate the early church had over how a person is justified. Many early Jewish converted Christians believed that it was still by the law that they would be justified, but on the other side of the debate was a coalition whose views can be seen through Pauline theology. He took a different approach. This approach can be found through out Paul’s ministry, but is articulated very well in our NT lesson for today.

Paul states “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”

As Matt and I discussed earlier this week this small section within Paul’s bigger layers of theology could be the subject of a sermon alone. Yet, this is very important to today’s cause; for Paul in this section alone is able to account for all of the Old Testament only to lead to Jesus. One of the things I like to ask people is what is atonement. The kids I ask usually respond with ‘atonewhat’? So for all of you who do not know, Paul just stated it very clearly, because in this first section of our New Testament lesson our answer can be found. For as the law is given to instruct, the prophets sent to lead, so also was Jesus sent by the same loving and righteous God to save this fallen race we are all a part of. Atonement then, is the reconciliation of humankind through out history. God gave humankind different sorts of methods to try to bring them back to him. But it would not happen through the law or the prophets—ultimately it had to happen through Jesus.

But as Paul progresses we learn just how incorporating the giving of the law into his theology is important. For if we were to obtain righteousness through what we do, then any one of us could brag all day long about our achievements. But this though is not about us, it never was. No, Paul is clear to point out that it is not about a certain set of people in stating “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also?” Then his answer is a firm no, God will judge the circumcised, or what would have been the Jews, through the same faith he judges the Gentiles. So also he will judge each of us not by if we are the best person at a certain sport, the best at quoting scripture, or even if one is baptized or not. No, he points out very clearly that since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.

Therefore, Paul leads, nothing is accounted to us: all grace and righteousness must come as a gift from God so that no one can boast. Paul would probably say that being good at sports, or at quoting scripture, and most certainly baptism are all worth while. If, though, if we leave these things to be simply about what we do, then everyone will have missed the mark just as I did growing up.

Paul further proves his point through the example of Abraham. Once again he shows that through all the avenues that the Old Testament has to offer—the law, the prophets, and so on—our salvation never came through these types of avenues. Just as we saw in our Old Testament lesson that even before Abraham had done anything, it was his faith and trust in God that was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. No matter how much Abraham tried to do things to try to bring about God’s will, it didn’t matter. At the end of the day Abraham believed in God’s promises. At the end of the day, God credited Abraham’s faith as righteousness.

Thought out the years we will do many things. We will go through great trials, endure the elements, and achieve goals we only dream about. It has been said that it is not about who you are, but about what you do. If Paul were here, I suppose he would disagree. I think he would say no, it is not about what you do, but who you know, trust, and ultimately who you put your faith in. Then, as we have faith in Christ Jesus, we will find that what we do will stem from the change that Christ brings into our hearts. We no longer will be self centered thinking only about our own gain, but we will realize that Christ gave himself up as a living sacrifice so that everyone might experience true communion with God. Our actions will then turn outward and become the actions that the Church, the bride of Christ, ought to be doing.

So, as we continue through Confirmation Sunday it is my prayer for every individual being confirmed through out every church that there focus would not be on the family that shows up to celebrate with them, or that it is just another step as you are brought up as a child of that particular church. I hope it is not about what you do or what anyone else will do.

I hope that it would be about a public affirmation of a much deeper conviction. Then, no longer will you be left to your own mechanisms, but that through faith you will be justified by that very faith through the redemption that is Christ Jesus brings, thus giving you entrance into the Community of God.

Havon: The Histories Teaser

There had been rumors of people disappearing at this time of night, ones that now began to run through the boy’s mind. Rumors of children gone missing. Travis had never been out this late and began to give into the rumors that flooded his mind. As the rumors took a hold of his mind the boy began to get scared. The boy’s fear began to consume him and the night began to play with his head. Pillars that surrounded him seemed to change and begin to move as if they were people in the night. Statues started to become more then stone, as the boy’s mind began to see wings coming from behind the statues as if they really could fly. The wide expanse of the darkness began to be filled with red dots that reminded Travis of eyes. The boy’s nightmares, his very worst dreams of how he might die, were coming true.

Travis began to walk faster as the panic quickly traced through his body filling every part of him until he was in a full sprint. The shadows moved with him, as if they were running beside him. He began to hear leaves coming after him. The trickle of hard dry leaves against the rock of the path he ran upon. The time of the year was all wrong though; the leaves had not died and the trees were just blooming. The noise was something else entirely.

Travis took a chance and looked back over his shoulder. As he did his foot stubbed into a crack in the rocky path. He tumbled forward landing directly on his ear as he skidded to a halt. When the motion stopped Travis knew he was bleeding. The boy tried to pick himself up but as soon as his head lifted up from the ground nausea waved through him. His world began to tumble in a silent spin. The spin was expected; the sudden silence that overcame the night was not. Travis tried to turn around, finding himself able to do so, but past the rotation he found he could move no further. He squinted, trying to see through the darkness—trying to figure out what nightmare stalked him on this night.

It occurred to Travis that he might be dreaming. So in the realization he used a technique his father had tried to show him: he tried to calm his thoughts so the dream might change. If nothing else, maybe he would wake up entirely. But as much as his mind focused upon changing the dream the darkness stayed. With the darkness staying the sounds of leaves returned. The sounds now were all around him as if the sound was encapsulating him in a cell that would bring the end for this teen. With this realization came the understanding that he was certainly not asleep. With that came the pain from his ear and the nausea in a completely new form. It pierced into his mind as his eyes began to close he saw a new motion. The form he now saw was similar to a man’s but moved far more fluently and separated Travis from the sound. Travis could see the figure make a quick motion as its hand rose to the heavens. The last thing the boy saw was a blinding flash as light revealed gargoyle like figures surrounding Travis and his protector. Then, for Travis Nevin, there was complete darkness.

Jamestown Sermon: Youth Retreat '07

Jamestown Sermon

“Image”

Its been an interesting ride in coming here. Only a week ago I picked up a book called Skin by Ted Dekker, and oddly enough, it is exactly what I needed to read in going into this conference. At the end of the book he is asked what he is trying to illustrate by this thriller of a book and his answer is formed with the words of Jesus.

And they asked him, what teacher, is the meaning of this story? And Jesus answered and said, The kingdom of God is like a beautiful world hidden to all but those who have eyes to see. But man is powerless to find that beauty for his heart is full of deceit and wickedness. Neither can he make the ugly beautiful. The beauty he makes will crumble and he will be left with only sand in his hand. Therefore, open your eyes to see past the skin of this world and know that beauty comes form God, not from man.

Just like most of the things Jesus said this, in and of itself, is radical. It was radical when Jesus lived but I wonder if it isn’t more radical now. But I think we all need to know why if you don’t already have some idea.

Today’s culture is based on a materialistic image. If we were to go through and list the most popular sites we would probably have my space and facebook as two of the more popular sites. This is no surprise considering you can post a picture and hardly any actual information about yourself and still have friends. Although some of those sites help me keep in touch with others, it is amazing to me how many people have gotten popular through utube and or my space.

Not to mention that the most popular celebs are those who base there identity on image. Most of us will recognize names like Brittany Spears, Hillary Duff, Paris Hilton, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and his wife, and finally George Clooney. Each of which has come to popularity not through what they do but what the general public thinks of them. These names form the idea of how a person should look and how much money they should bring in. With both celebrities and the idea of image fueling how we feel about one another our social structures are formed.

One of the things that sickened me most about my high school and the teenage phenomenon is the focus on popularity. Looking back at my high school experience, even if it is somewhat removed from all of your experiences, I can still see and reflect on how much a person’s popularity seemed to help them coast through. You will often find that the class president is also one of the best athletes and either hansom male or beautiful female. Being fueled from the images on People and Teen magazine from a very young age each of us begins to put together an idea of how people should look.

Now you might say that I dress a certain way because it feels good or is the style that the store that is available to buy. But what about the different styles that are not the most popular or plainly not that style or what about those people who can not afford the next best thing Abercrombie or American Eagle has to offer. Those kids begin to have a hard time fitting into the social spectrum and will begin to be made fun of.

I know how easy it is to see something silly or different about another person. I myself sat and watched the American Idol try outs and made my own comments about how the people you auditioned looked. We are so prone to see what society and pop culture wants us to see that we are numb to the affects of our judgments.

To prove my point, how many people have ever made fun of someone else? Go ahead, raise your hand? Ok, now, I want anyone who has ever been made fun of raise there hand. The fact of the matter is whether you have been or not, or even if you raised your hand or not, there are real numbers that the National Government has come up with. The fact of the matter is 10% of children are bullied on a yearly basis. That may not sound like much, but if there are a hundred kids in here ten of you should of raised your hands to my question of if you have been made fun of. Then, according to the same National Government three of you who have been bullied will bully in return.

Because this process becomes circular, the number of kids being bullied every year only raises exponentially. Think about it this way: If we took a hundred kids through four years of High School the first year there would be ten kids bullied. From those kids three will bully different kids the next year, making the number the next year 13 kids who have been made fun of. By the end of your senior year almost 21 people will have been made fun of. The thing about this is most of the schools you attend have more then 100 people. If you school is a thousand strong, that is a hundred kids that are made fun of in a year. The fact of the matter is the percentage may seem small, but the amount of kids being made fun of is huge.

For those kids who end up being rejected from peer groups because they are deemed as different that can lead them into depression. Depression is then one of the main causes of suicide in our country. There is a lot to do with suicide as well as what causes depression. Yet, our cultures significant importance on image has a direct effect on how much pressure we feel on a daily basis. Whether for the women in this room it is to have the best figure with the nicest curves or for the men it is being strong and fit enough to be deemed hansom and able. Either way, this reality affects all of us.

I myself have been affected by this circle of events. I was born with an in caved sternum. As the Doctors told me in one of my first physicals the condition is completely normal when it comes to a human’s makeup. To the health world there is nothing wrong with having a in caved sternum. Yet, weighing right around a hundred pounds at 5 nothing tall playing sports in middle school and into high school was quite the challenge. For the longest time I dare not shower no matter how sweaty I might have been simply because of my in caved sternum. But why should I be if it is completely normal. Well, as I have already pointed out our idea of how we should look is based on what this world decides people should look like. So, in Middle School in playing basketball the classic shirts vs. skins came into affect. From that day forward and all through seventh and eighth grade I was deemed titty boy by my peers. One of the effects of having an in caved sternum is your ribs look like they are sticking out. Only two summers ago when I went swimming with my wife’s’ family this affected me again when the youngest of the family took a double take at my in caved sternum.

Although this story is personal to me I can also understand women’s points of view. My wife and her younger sister are healthy but are also skinny. Because other women may want to be like them, or for whatever reason, my wife was made fun of and now we see her younger sister going through a similar taunting. The worst part of it is was that my wife had a friend who took image so seriously and had to be skinny in such a way that she herself became anorexic; all because there was an image that the peer group decided on and all because teenagers want to be accepted.

When I first started speaking to you I quoted an explanation to the disciples that Jesus gave. And now that I have painted the image this world forces us to deal with us every day, I would like to show you the picture that God wants us to have. A vision that is quite different then the worlds, one that is composed of love and respect, and one that will lead to encouraging others self esteem instead of deflating it.

If I may, I will remind each of you of what Jesus said to the disciples:

The kingdom of God is like a beautiful world hidden to all but those who have eyes to see. But man is powerless to find that beauty for his heart is full of deceit and wickedness. Neither can he make the ugly beautiful. The beauty he makes will crumble and he will be left with only sand in his hand. Therefore, open your eyes to see past the skin of this world and know that beauty comes form God, not from man.

The theme of this conference is based on a passage from 1^st Samuel telling us that God does not look at the things the world does but he looks at the heart. Jesus re-iterates this fact by telling the disciples that we need to see past what the world sees and begin to know the beauty that comes from God. And this beauty, I will argue, is a beauty that we have to actually look for.

If I have never known anything else about God I have found that a life in following Him is not the most easy of lives. Even the Bible calls the path of following God the straight and the narrow. This is to illustrate that we must keep our eyes on the prize, which is ultimately saving grace through Jesus, in order to walk the life that God has called us to. But this life is not a life that the world wants us to adhere to. As the youth of this nation, you have a great responsibility. As the youth of our towns we have a responsibility to stand up against those who chose to make fun of. We must stand up against the type that live there lives enslaved to image. And we must give them a new image to live for.

For many years I have let the reality of my in caved sternum hold me back from even at the most extremes laying down on my back in public. When I do this I really notice the fact that my ribs are sticking out. This of course, is not normal according to the world’s standards. I myself tried again and again to be the kind of man that I thought girls I liked wanted me to be. I would try so hard to impress women because I thought I wasn’t good enough. In my very core, I though that I was not loveable.

I think, though, at everyone’s core because we are sinful and because we all have secrets we do not tell, we all think we are not loveable.

But this is not the case. And when I came to this realization my world changed.

God has a way of looking past what the world sees. He has a way of selecting individuals who to the outsider may seem completely unable for the task at hand. Through out the Bible hero after hero is exactly that kind of individual. One of the very first that the Bible portrays is Moses. Moses was such a doubting Tom. He really didn’t think that God could do what God constantly told Moses He could. It was in fact Aaron, Moses brother, who had to step up and help Moses carry out what God wanted him to. Eventually though, God used Moses to free the Israelites from slavery.

We continue on to David. Everyone who has every gone to church knows the story. David, this little boy with but a sling shot, goes up against Goliath. Goliath, I mean seriously guys, what do you think about when you think about Goliath? I think of some mammoth individual. And if that isn’t enough of a warrior, it was the strongest and most skilled of the opposing army that David’s side went up against. Yet, somehow, God used David to bring Goliath down with only a measly pebble.

This continues through out all of the Prophets where the people the prophets speak too constantly reject them. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he constantly complains about how he is treated. Yet, God kept sending visions to these individuals to warn the Israelites of their behavior.

My last example of people God uses in the Bible is Jesus. In focusing on Image and expectations Jesus may be the very best of individuals to focus on. Now, I know that a lot of our paintings and depictions of Jesus are this blue eyed long faced Jesus. And each of us has our own understanding of who Jesus is. But our image of Jesus may be the only image that is portrayed inside out. That is, I wonder if our depictions of Jesus are not the depiction of what his insides looked like. The guy hung out with people who the world hated. He hung out with essentially the IRS who you might have heard your parents cuss at. He spent time with prostitutes. And finally, where leprosy was spread through contact, Jesus hung out with them too. Yet, the only real image given to us about Jesus is found in Isaiah, one of the Prophets. Here is how Isaiah describes what later the New Testament says is Jesus: He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

In other words, Jesus was no Matt Damon, Brad Pitt or even Tom Cruise. According to this passage the guy was just plain ugly. Still, it wasn’t his appearance that people recognized in the New Testament. They recognized his actions. They recognized his miracles and his love for human kind. These were the things that defined Jesus, not his outward appearance. It was not his outward appearance that lead the 12 disciples to follow him. His outward appearance did not bring crowds of people to come listen to him. It was his words, his actions, and the way he cared for everyone he spent time with.

Which makes each and every one of us wonder. What If I was walking along and saw a person coming towards me. The person is not pretty by any means. The person has a dirty cloak like jacket on that one can tell has not been washed. The person has a crooked nose like some kind of witch from the movies and is pushing a cart filled with cans. The cans have flyes flying all around still having pop left on the rims. As I walk towards them I make a split decision to cross the street so I don’t even have to pass them.

Now, the first question each of us should ask ourselves is what would Jesus do? But that is not the question I am going to ask. What if that was Jesus himself and we just completely ignored him, in fact, we rejected him.

To close, I have put together a bunch of pictures to show each of you. I tried to get pictures of people from all backgrounds, in all shapes and sizes. All in all, I put together a ton of images for us to look at. I want you, though, to not look at those images the way the world will. I want you to look past there skin and think about what God would see in their hearts.

SonRise Sermon: Easter 06

Sonrise Sermon

Every Easter we come back to the same stories. Every Easter we enjoy the traditions that our parents did before us and their parents before them. We get together possibly the night before, or at least sometime before, and decorate fresh eggs. We come together with loved ones, and as I reflected earlier in the week, have our glorious ham. But most of all, we come to church yet again and we hear yet again all the things the youth have proclaimed thus far.

I can remember a lot of Easters. I can remember one Easter in which my dad painted huge rabbit feet upon our front side walk. We were so excited that the Easter Bunny had come and left his tracks. We looked around for the eggs in which we ourselves decorated like I all ready mentioned most people do sometime before Easter. But I still think the Easter Bunny came.

I can remember different church services that reminded us about what Jesus did for each and every one of us. Even today we are reminded how the Prophet Isaiah’s words eventually come true in light of Jesus. He tells us of a servant who was despised and rejected by others and that surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases. We further heard about Luke’s portrayal of how Jesus himself most likely referenced Isaiah himself when Luke tells us in verse 27 that Jesus began with Moses and all the prophets and interpreted to the two he walked with all the things about himself in all the scriptures. So now we will all remember this year in which we learned about the Gospel, which is re-iterated here in the verses that have just been read from Luke.

What I find is more interesting though is the fact that the disciples first tell Jesus about what has just happened because they themselves are kept from recognizing Jesus. We might ask why they were kept from recognizing, but I am not sure that is the point we should be worried about. The fact of the matter is all the disciples know are the stories of the women. They themselves didn’t see the angels, and they themselves only saw an empty tomb. By no means should they think at all, even if this man walking with them may looked like Jesus, actually is Jesus.

To the point though, the two disciples are probably a lot like you and I. In being Jesus disciples they believed in the words that Jesus proclaimed through out all of Luke. And every day before Jesus’ death they heard what Jesus had to say about a true faith, a divine kingdom, and a loving Father. All the while paralleling what we hear every year when we yet again hear just how it was that Jesus suffered, died on a cross, and rose again.

But even more so, while the disciples tell the story to this ignorant stranger. they continue to be ignorant themselves that Jesus is the one talking with them and walking with them for about seven miles. Before they reached their destination Jesus spoke in response to them about the things He always has. And they still do not recognize their Lord, The Son of the Father, who only three days ago died for their inequities.

They do not recognize Jesus until he distributes the elements to the two at Emmaus. Only then does the light bulb finally go on and the disciples realize how their hearts were burning from the truth of the words and the reality that Jesus had taken the time to walk the seven miles from them. Realizing what had just happened, they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that Jesus did exactly what Luke tells us he did.

Yet, once again, as I was working on this Sermon I began to wonder if the way the disciples do not recognize Jesus throughout their seven mile journey is not similar to each of our journeys. Weather it be seven miles, seven weeks, or seven years I wonder how long each of us will be able to proclaim the exact things the disciples did and still not recognize Jesus for who he is. I wonder how many of the Easters we can remember are done exactly in the same fashion.

We will show up on Easter morning and we will declare to any stranger who may not know the events over 2000 years ago. We will tell them that Jesus was handed over to be crucified by not only his enemies, but was also betrayed by his friends. He was forced to carry his cross to the very place they crucified him to that very cross only for the first time in his entire life be separated from his Father. Then he died.

Then the Sermon will tell each one of us the truths found in the Scriptures. The Sermon will reflect on the Old Testament in which it speaks of someone who has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases. The Sermon will tell us how we cry out to the Lord and He and He alone was the one to reach down and save us. And finally, the Sermon will tell us that the disciples went to see an empty grave three days later.

But the Sermon will not help you see what some of us for many years have missed. Amongst all the Easter Eggs, the glorious hams, and even the Sermons that speak of Jesus did for us some of us will not realize that Jesus himself is walking with us without us recognizing he is doing so. We are kept from doing so for many reasons.

For whatever reason, I pray that on this Easter we would realize just how much Jesus enjoys walking however many miles with us. He will walk with us and listen to how the past few days have unfolded. Then he himself will continue your story to the day you were born. He will recount everything you have experienced up until today as you sit so graciously listening to my words.

But if you hear nothing else, hear this. Jesus did rise from the grave so that he could continue walking with us for eternity. He bore our sins upon the cross he died only to rise on the third day from Hell itself in victory. He did this for each and every one of us because of one concrete and eternal reason.

As you tithe and as we finish this Sonrise Service and as you go down and have a doughnut I hope you will know the truth of what Jesus wants you to know. I pray that you will know that He walks with you on this day and forever more onto eternity. But most of all I hope you hear him whispering to you his one concrete and eternal reason:

“Because I love you.”

Welcome to the mind

I find blogging interesting. Somewhere through out the internet we find one another, and for a little while we enter into their thoughts as if we are friends. Friends who understand eachother, freinds who hope with one another, and for a little while--friends who can relate with someone like them.
So, having not much to give you in this first post, I thank you for coming here and being my friend. I hope to introduce you to a world that only I understand, and the rest of you will be left to ask questions and wonder just what the heck got into me.
I can tell you though, it started with being Jesus and crying in the manger, then it lead to being falsely accused of eating mushrooms, and then finally being told to hold onto the garage door as it opened. Everything that comes from this is exactly what you all should be afraid of.