How To Be A Christian Without Being A Jerk

Faith in real life

hey, what about Patrick?!

March 17th, 2009

Well, when all the green beer, et. al. is over, we are left with one of the most amazing “Christ-connectors” ever. His profound focus on the Trinity has informed Celtic theology over the centuries, and more close to home, has been instrumental in my own thinking. Dude knows what’s up when it comes to the extra-dimensional properties of the trinitarian reality.

Here is one way Patrick said, “Good night.”

“The God of life with guarding hold you;

the loving Christ with guarding fold you;

the Holy Spirit, guarding, mould you;

each night of life to aid, enfold you;

each day and night of life uphold you.

Yes…

alone

March 16th, 2009

Genesis 2:18 says, “…it is not good that a man should be alone.” People are created to be in relationship. Even the word for “alone,” shows this. In the Hebrew it is pronounced, “bad.”

So it is “bad” to be “bad?”

beautiful and delicious

March 13th, 2009

In Genesis 2:9, we are introduced to still another attribute of a loving God. “Beautiful” trees and “delicious” fruit. After all, plain trees and bland fruit would still aid the development of advanced life forms on planet earth.  Why “beautiful” and “delicious?”

I can immediately subject a skeptical spin on it and question, “Who decides what is beautiful and who decides what is delicious? ” So, I am going to simply assume God made the trees I think are beautiful and fruit I think is delicious.

The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit.

In other words,

The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—including jacaranda (like in our backyard) and papaya (like fresh for breakfast in Maui) trees.

What a God…What beautiful tree and delicious fruit come to mind for you?


existence of evil

March 11th, 2009

We never had a perfect world. Genesis 2:9 makes clear there is evil in existence from the beginning. “The tree of knowledge of good and evil” alludes to this. The Hebrew word for “evil” comes from a root meaning of “broken” or “shattered.” God’s creation is the best possible goodness where the brokenness of evil is allowed.

Why allow evil? Its existence makes the existence of chosen relationship between people and God possible. Without the possibility of separating from God, how would a freely chosen loving relationship be possible?

a great run!

March 11th, 2009

 

Ryan Watkins, star center Reseda BB, City Champ, boy's friend, my bud

Ryan Watkins, star center Reseda BB, City Champ, boy's friend, bud

 

 

All of our children have gone to Reseda, the public high school for a large part of our ministry area. Kristina graduated in 2007 and David and Gregory are currently juniors. It has been a great school for the kids and the closest community connection Nancy and I have in our day-to-day life. It is important for ministry leaders to be involved significantly in their community as they work on expanding Kingdom and blessing the city. We meet many families and work with many young people we never would have connected with in any other way. It isn’t just strategic, it is exciting!!

Being a great fan of basketball (with a helpful memory filter providing an overestimation of my skills playing high school and a bit of college ball), I have been a great fan of the Regents boy’s basketball team this year. Our own boys played up to this year, but decided to concentrate on just one sport, volleyball, and so attending the games has been purely as a Reseda supporter and not also as a dad. It didn’t matter. It is just as exciting!

As of Saturday, we are the Los Angeles City Champions! First time ever. Our best team prior was with two-time LA City Player of the Year (69, 70), Greg Lee, who went on to star for UCLA and had a brief career in the NBA. But they lost in the city championship in their only finals in 1969.

Not so 40 years later. We defeated University High School, 79-66, on Saturday. Then we quickly moved on into the State championships, and we lost in the second round last night in overtime 93-91, to number one seed, Thousand Oaks. Oh, well… 

It was a great run and I had great fun connecting with the fathers of some of the players, sitting the front row and screaming my encouragement to the referees to use their skills wisely. Something like that. Good job, Regents. You made for an exciting season and congratulations to Coach Keith Higgins!

work

March 10th, 2009

According to Genesis 2:15, humans are created to work.

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

We are created to work before the fall of humanity, and so the idea that work is a curse for the sin that comes into the world through Adam and Eve, and through the rest of us, is false. Work is to be a blessing. Two quick observations.

1. When we hear about “jobless” rates, “being on government assistance,” “being on disability,” and such, these words take on a whole different meaning philosophically. This isn’t about statistics or policies as much as it is about humanity and how we are wired.

2. There is no concept of “retirement” in the Bible. Only retiring to the grave. So, what is the relationship between retirement and our human wiring? Is it a good thing?

Adventure in Beverly Hills

March 9th, 2009

As you know, normally I am a short poster, but last week, when I posted on a fundraiser I attended,

my "date," Adam Gregory

my "date," Adam Gregory

I didn’t tell you the whole story…

Generosity Water (www.generositywater.com) is an awesome ministry that came  out of a vision of my friend Philip Wagner, from Oasis Christian Center (www.oasisla.org) in Hollywood. Jordan Wagner, Philip and Holly’s son, is the head of the ministry. They fund and direct the digging of clean water wells in Uganda, Ethiopia, other countries in Africa and Central America. This is the church where I taught the “How To Be A Christian Without Being A Jerk” series. I committed to 10% of the profit from the DVD going to the Generosity Water cause. I had the chance double that so far, last Thursday.

At the fashion show fundraiser in Beverly Hills, I joined Sarah Hankowski, the Generosity Water Coordinator from our church community, her friend Desi, and a whole bunch of people dressed really nice. Actor Adam Gregory (the New Beverly Hills 90210), and Jason Kennedy (E!) were there, and the fashion show designers were “Project Runway” finalists, Jerell Scott and Korto Momulu. It was really cool with international models and all! I even think one of them used “Magnum!”

At the end of the evening, the final event was a live auction for a date with Adam! The bidding took off with many of the young ladies going back and forth.

Then I entered the fray…

Yes, I started a bidding war for a date with Adam! The crowd went nuts with a guy bidding, but come on, this is LA…Anyway, it was down to me and one woman, and we were both focused like a laser beam. In the end I won!

Everyone is roaring and Jason, the MC, asks me, “Where are you going on your date with Adam?”

I said, “O, it’s not for me, it’s for my daughter.”

The place exploded in applause and laughter (and maybe a sigh of relief from Adam!).

Jason asked me how old she is and I said “20.”

Adam said, “I’m 21.”

I am thinking, “What did I just do?”

and

“You’re 21, well I am  215 lbs. and part Russian!”-

No, not really, he is a great guy. I actually had a chance to speak to him before I knew about the auction part, and we talked about the GW ministry, he asked about my connection to the event, and then asked about LIFEhouse, and he shared he was fellowshipping at Dream Center. A gracious young man.

So, the evening ended with many young ladies coming to me and saying,

“You’re the best dad in the world!”

“I wish I had a dad like that!”

…and so on. Just, smiled and ate it up.

I told Kristina and she was thrilled. Here facebook status became,

“Kristina thinks she may have one of the coolest dads ever.”

Oh, well the things we do for our daughters. Except, as I explained to her, with that simple gift to Generosity Water, doing the math of:  The cost of a well, how many people a well services, how many people die in places because of water born illnesses, it comes out to about 25 lives saved with one small gesture (or an expensive arranged date!)

That was a night to remember and I was thrilled to be part of such a great ministry. Sarah, and Tommy Andrews from our church are going with a team from Oasis to check out new projects in Ethiopia in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to get a report.

garden

March 6th, 2009
magazine ad to sell seeds

magazine ad to sell seeds

I remember selling mail order seeds door-to-door as a kid. I must have been around 10. Trying to get a decoder ring or something…But, I never planted my own seeds successfully. My mom was a wonderful gardener. She had the best iris’s. Not me. My seeds never seemed to work.

Well, in Genesis 2:8, God himself is planting a garden. It doesn’t seem fair because, of course, God is going to have the best garden. I wonder what that first garden looked like? Beautiful, no doubt, and he didn’t have to use mail order seeds…

How To Be A Christian Without Being A Jerk

Faith in real life