Plugged In, But Disconnected

Sunday was our Rally Day, and our Ministry Fair, and our Annual Church Picnic… all rolled into one glorious day. With near perfect weather, we celebrated our ministry efforts and opportunities, provided a sumptuous picnic lunch, played games, raffled prizes, shared in awesome fellowship, and consumed huge numbers of snow-cones (well… the kids sure did). The parking lots were full to overflowing, and so was the street parking around the church. We had many more people show up than we anticipated, but we didn’t run out of anything. That had less to do with any type of miracle, and more to do with some intelligent planning by all the hard-working folks that made the whole thing happen.

Before taking up my position of snow-cone wrangler, I was determined to try to photograph most of the event. Now, being the person I am, that also meant talking to almost everybody. Since I am the chief contributor to the ‘Alive in the Spirit’ blog, I am also the chief promoter of said blog, so… I would ask people if they had read the blog lately. The unanimous answer was: “No.” Now these are my brothers and sisters in a fellowship better know as ‘church’, so rather than just leave it at that, most seemed to need to offer some sort of reason as to why they hadn’t read the blog lately. There were some really creative excuses, but for the most part, one basic problem resonated among my friends: “I’d love to read the blog, but I can barely keep up with email and Facebook, as it is. I just haven’t got the time!”

I really enjoy the comic strip ‘Zits’ by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, as they have their fingers on the pulse of the ‘plugged-in’ society in which we live. Most of us are constantly connected to our cell phone, and through them we are connected to text messaging, email, and the internet. We are plugged into our families, our friends, sports scores, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, Myspace, and Facebook. We can communicate instantly and we have access to much of the learning and information that is available in the world today.

Never in history have we ever been so plugged in.

Yet, never in history have we ever been so disconnected from each other!

So much information, so little time… and it’s getting worse. Just look at all the spam email you receive. I mean, really… various body part enhancements, drugs, debt consolidation, chain letters, hoaxes, and political mud slinging. Sadly, more than half of it comes from our friends. Sure, a funny YouTube video might really be hilarious, but after 10 of your friends send it to you, it is just a big time waster… having to delete what now amounts to spam from your mailbox.

Compared to text messaging, email is only a minor time-waster. So many parents have had to place their families on unlimited calling plans because their teenager had racked up hundreds of dollars in text messaging charges. And what’s so important that it needs to be messaged 24/7/365? From what I can tell, after exhaustive survey of teenage text users, it’s pretty much critical information like:

- i’m bored
- this class is so lame
- sk8ers 4evr
- ur a noob
- i’m hungry
- ; p

Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook are pretty much more of the same. I’d guess that 90% of what passes for communication and social networking is totally useless idle chatter. What isn’t vacuous content is coarse, crude, or rude. It should really come as no surprise: people text whatever happens to pop into their head. Should anyone attempt to castigate them, they act like you are infringing on a God-given right. Of course, since spelling, grammar, and vocabulary don’t matter to this plugged-in world, most are horrified that you would even think of castigating them. Though they might be erroneously thinking of a surgical procedure, threatening them with a rebuke is just as onerous. LOL!!! I’m not worried about any of them taking offense, because they stopped reading at 255 characters.

While being plugged-in is tremendously important these days, we seem to be disconnected in a big way.

Like Jeremy in the Zits comic strip, we can be so focused on being plugged-in that we completely disconnect with those around us… often in rude, thoughtless, and boorish ways.

Some of the most spectacular recent public examples of this disconnect have been impossible to ignore:

- Representative Joe Wilson shouting “You lie” during a speech by President Obama.

- Tennis star Serena Williams threatening, with expletives, to cram her tennis ball down a lineswoman’s throat at the U.S. Open (after Serena had earlier splintered a racket on the court in a rage, I think everyone was quite concerned for the lineswoman).

- Singer Kanye West grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift and insisting that the award she was accepting should have gone to Beyonce.

No less spectacular, but far less newsworthy, are the daily disconnects we see in rude and volatile drivers, the disrespect children show to their parents and teachers, the disrespect we show each other when a call, text, or twitter is more important than a face-to-face conversation.

The irony of me writing this on a computer, formatting the pictures, posting to the blog, and knowing that it is forwarded to Facebook does not escape me.

On Sunday, I saw people connecting in a good way. During our picnic they queued up politely for food, brought drinks to people sitting near them, worked and shared and served together, played together, and encouraged their kids to be polite and nice (this sometimes reads: scolding). It was a fine summer day, a fun picnic, good friends, and stimulating conversation. People were pretty much unplugged for several hours, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Our picnic accomplished what we can’t even do during our church services… it got people to turn off their phones! You can’t text and toss a water balloon at the same time… you can’t twitter and be in the 3-legged race, and you won’t be on the phone while they might be calling your winning number for the big raffle prize.

The more we plug into our social network sites and smart phones, the less we connect with God. God wants us to connect with His words… not ours. God wants us to make a difference in people’s lives… not see how many Facebook friends we can have. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t utilize technology; it’s a great tool! But we need to be able to put the tool down from time to time; otherwise it’s just another addiction… a replacement for God. God sent Jesus to redeem us from the sin that separates us from God. Jesus calls us to walk with Him in the light… don’t miss His call because you were too busy being plugged-in!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Refiner of Silver

This week, I stumbled upon an old story I had put away years ago. I have no idea who the original author is. Once again, it is a story reproduced countless times via email and on sites around the world. As always, I would love to give proper credit to the author, so if you have any reliable information about this little gem, please email me with the details. Here’s the story:

There were a group of women in a Bible Study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three, they came across verse three, which reads:

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh that’s easy… when I see my image in it."

So… if you are feeling the heat of this world's fire, just remember that you are being held in God’s hands, and God is focused on you.

My wife is fond of telling our daughters: “God’s not done with you, yet.” I KNOW He’s not done with me, as I feel plenty of heat working on all my impurities. I just pray that, little by little, I continue to improve in God’s hands, and that I can reflect His image more and more.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Spiritual Warfare

My good friend, Kathi Avarbuch, sent me the following:

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There was a little old lady, who every morning stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted: “PRAISE THE LORD!”

One day an atheist moved into the house next door.

He became irritated at the little old lady. Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell: “THERE IS NO LORD!”

Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day.

One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted: “PRAISE THE LORD! Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!”

The next morning she stepped out onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.

“PRAISE THE LORD!” she cried out. “HE HAS PROVIDED GROCERIES FOR ME!”

The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted: “THERE IS NO LORD; I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!”

The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted: “PRAISE THE LORD! HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITH GROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!”

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LOL! What a great story.

If you’d like to pass it along, save yourself a whole lot of cutting and pasting, and just send the URL of this blog page to all your friends. That way, some might find out about our blog, or our church, how the Spirit is alive in our fellowship, or even how God might be calling them. Of course, acceptance is optional, but we always put the offer out there anyway.

In this funny little story, I see a wonderful spiritual warrior in the little old lady. She is faithful, she is bold, she is steadfast, and… she knows her enemy!

She is faithful. Even though she is old, she continues to praise the Lord.

She is bold. She knows that the spiritual battle is ongoing, so she encourages her portion of the world by proclaiming: “Praise the Lord!”

She is steadfast. In the face of criticism, denial, and mocking, she continues to hold her spiritual ground. She never retreats, she never falters, and she never stops offering praise to the Lord.

She knows her enemy. With her supply lines cut, and under physical attack, she still continues to praise the Lord. When her neighbor jumps out and claims victory, you can see that she knows her [real] enemy… and that she knows the real power of the Lord even better as she proclaims: “Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries and made the devil pay for them!”

Notice that she didn’t attack her neighbor. She aimed her barb at her real enemy… Satan. She recognized her true enemy, and her enemy wasn’t her neighbor. Christ already taught us this lesson. Do you remember Jesus’ response to Peter saying that he (Peter) would never allow the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus to happen? In Matthew 16:23, Jesus turned to Peter, but was rebuking the enemy when he said:

“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Oh, Lord, when my neighbor is a stumbling block to me, help me remember to cry out: “Get behind me, Satan!”

Oh, Lord, when my neighbor has wronged me or hurt me, and I find it impossible to forgive… let alone love my neighbor… help me to remember to look into my own heart and cry out: “Get behind me, Satan!”

Oh, Lord, help me to be faithful, help me to be bold, help me to be steadfast, and help me to recognize my real enemy.

Oh, Lord, as I see the beauty of your creation, as I experience the wonder of being alive, and as I am filled with the joy of walking with YOU, may my heart and voice ever proclaim:

“Praise the Lord!”

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Perceptions

Almost every week, my daughter takes my grandson to the La Habra Children’s Museum. She has a pass, and likes to take him when they first open up… before the busloads of day campers overrun the place… and overwhelm a little 2-year old. After the museum, their routine is to have lunch at the Corner Bakery Café in La Habra at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Idaho Street. Jenny appreciates the healthy children’s menu, and especially the fact that they have a selection of menu items that don’t set off her allergies. Since they make everything fresh, you order, go sit down, and they bring it to you when it’s ready.

Two weeks ago, she and Jeffrey were at a table waiting for their order, when Jeffrey looked up into the exposed ceiling of the eatery and exclaimed: “Look, Mommy, a dragon!”

Now to a 2-year old, the twisting, turning exposed ductwork might well be perceived as a dragon. Jenny looked up, chuckled at his imagination, and explained: “No, sweetheart, those are ducts.”

A week later, what do you suppose happened? Sitting in the same restaurant, Jeffrey points to the ceiling, and happily proclaims: “Look, Mommy, duckies! There are duckies in there.” His brain registered the correction, but not the subtle difference between a ‘duct’ and a ‘duck.’ He couldn’t see any duckies, but Mommy had said that’s what they were last week, so it must be true. His faulty perception had been corrected, but his limited perception of the world had led him to a belief in something that was still false. He’s only two, so his perceptions, and vocabulary, will continue to grow, and he will soon grasp the truth about ‘ducts’.

It’s much more difficult to change the faulty perceptions of adults.

How many people in the world have a faulty perception of Christians and Christianity, because of what they have seen, or heard, or witnessed? Do we think enough about the perception we project as Christians as we go about our daily lives? Do we model Christ, or the world, in our unintentional witness?

And if they see ‘dragons’, do we lovingly and patiently take the time to understand their position so we can better understand their perceptions? Or, do we just hurriedly swap ‘dragons’ for ‘ducks’? Where they once saw only a capricious and vengeful God, now they see an irrelevant God. What perception do you develop when you see people in clown wigs at sporting events, painted up, and holding a sign that reads: John 3:16? That sure takes a lot of explaining!

Churches teach classes on how to share the Good News with the unchurched. You can find books and seminars on evangelism by the hundreds, with more being published every month. I’m convinced, however, that while all that may be well intentioned, Christians who are alive in the Spirit of Christ don’t need any of it. If you are alive in God’s Spirit, the Spirit leads and guides you. We need to encourage each other to be more alive in God’s Spirit!

How do we do that? How do we become more alive in God’s Spirit?

There’s more than just admitting that we are sinners, and then asking Jesus to be Lord of our lives. That is just our birth into a life with Christ. As in the physical world, we need to do more than just be born to stay alive, to be healthy, and to grow. To be alive in the physical world, after we are born, we need to continue to breathe, we need to drink, and we need to eat. There’s more, of course, but let’s start with the basics.

To be alive in the Spirit we need to do the same things as in the physical world. We ‘breathe’ during prayer; as the Bible says: “At all times and in all situations.” We ‘drink’ during worship; satisfying our thirst for God-in-our-lives through praise and music. And we ‘eat’ when we devour God’s Word; His scripture strengthens and protects us.

When I’m breathing, drinking, and eating in the spiritual world, it seems quite natural and expected to be alive in the Spirit… like riding a bicycle. If I am not, just as in the physical world, I begin to suffocate, die of thirst, or die of hunger. Have you ever felt like you were in a spiritual desert? I know I have.

As I said before, we need to encourage each other to be more alive in God’s Spirit!

Breathe! Drink! Eat! God has great plans for you!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Joy

It seems that everybody is my Facebook friend these days. If you do not know what I’m talking about, get a teenager to hook you up! Anyway… last Sunday, I was crossing our Messiah campus when I bumped into Carlo and Aimee Bell. Carlo and I are such big kids (others say: “goofballs”), that we were gleefully playing off one another in seconds. Aimee is much more responsible than Carlo and I, but before too long, all three of us were giggling and laughing and being wonderfully silly. I was excited about a friend on Facebook and was telling them about how they should hook into her as a friend, too. I was sure that they would appreciate the pure joy she shares in each of her videos. How could I know that? Simple… Carlo and Aimee radiate a pure joy that is infectious to everybody around them. Although their lives are filled with challenges, they reflect a purity of faith and service and spirit and joy … as it is magnified off of each other, and then reflected into a world that is rather starved for joy.

I was telling them about singer/songwriter Stacey Renee Baltes. Stacey is the school chum of Carmen Pease who organizes our on-going Leadership Conference series. I had heard Stacey at one of the conferences, and was really impressed. But being linked in to her Facebook page has been nothing short of wonderful! You see, Stacey is sharing all of the songs she has written for the children’s ministry at her church. The technology used to do this is not exactly “high-end”, and her studio looks to be her living room, but I find myself watching the videos over and over. I laugh and giggle, I feel like she’s talking and singing right to me, and I can’t help feeling transformed by her pure and innocent joy.

Here… check out her V-I-C-T-O-R-Y song, and let’s see if you can watch without giggling (turn up your volume):



Stacey is alive in God’s Spirit. You can see it in her smile, you can feel it in her music, and you can hear it as her sweet voice shares inspired lyrics. Her CD is wonderful, she’s awesome in person, and the videos are so much fun! Of course, I can hear the grumbling already: “With that much talent, it’s easy to be full of joy. What about the rest of us?” Well, I’d point back to the beginning of this post to Carlo and Amy, and point out that with FAITH, and SERVICE, and SPIRIT… come JOY.

Find the gift that God has blessed YOU with, and use it. If you don’t know what your gift is, volunteer. Teach Sunday school, get in a Bible study, lead a bible study, try out for a play or the choir, join the repair team, serve on a committee or run for a council position. The short answer is: there are hundreds of ways to find your gift… through service. The truth is that just sitting in a pew during worship isn’t what God wants from us. He wants us to shine and sparkle with our gifts, to His glory, to light a dark and despairing world.

Take a look and a listen to how Stacey “sparkles”:



Don’t hide your joy under a bushel basket… “Be” the light on the hill and let your joy shine and SPARKLE through!

Oh… by the way… if you want more of Stacey, you can connect with her at:

http://www.staceybaltes.com/

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

The Dash

I know that many of the recent posts have been about a similar theme, and today’s post is more of the same, but the Spirit is leading me down this path so I trust that God has a purpose behind all of this.

Today, I attended a memorial service at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arcadia. The memorial was for the son of my wife’s cousin who had just recently died in Texas. He was only twenty-five. His name was Alex Edge; he died of a drug overdose.

I was moved while listening to Alex’s father, Dirck, overcome his emotions to tell of Alex’s life. In a few short minutes, he painted a picture of a brilliant young man who was an expert at motorcycle riding, who had a passionate love and talent for photography, and who was compassionate and caring to all who knew him. Last Wednesday, Alex’s friends put together a memorial service, and it was attended by over 150 young people. One of the comments was that Alex lived more in 25 years than most people could pack into 2 lifetimes!

Almost all of the family showed up: aunts and uncles, and the (for me) confusing tangle of all the cousins. Family orbits often tend to be separate, rather than to intersect much… except at funerals or memorials. Surprisingly, their grief is our grief. We all show up to lend our support, but there is little we can do, so we pray that our presence will somehow help Alex’s grieving parents, Dirck and Kim, and his younger brother, Evan.

Pastor Sonnenberg delivered an inspiring and uplifting message. He acknowledged that Alex struggled with problems. Then he looked out at all of us and said that every one of us also struggled with our own problems and sins. I can’t do his message justice, but it was centered on Romans 8:31-39:

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He asked for Alex, but he asks for all of us when he said: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” Then he answered for Alex, but he also answered for all of us when he confidently summarized: “Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In listening to all of Alex’s accomplishments, and the impact his life had on so many people, I was reminded of the beautiful poem by Linda Ellis:

The Dash
by Linda Ellis 1996

I read of a man who stood to speak,
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all,
Was the dash in between those years.

For the dash represents, all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And how only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters most is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough,
To consider what is true and real.
And always try to understand,
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read,
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
And how your spent your dash?

I was just thinking that even though Alex’s death is a tragedy for his family, his parents and his brother can be proud of the way he spent his dash… and confident of where he’s spending eternity!

Alexander Joseph Edge
December 4, 1983 - July 27, 2009

How’s your dash coming along?

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Eternity

While I was writing the last post (Moonwalk II), I began a poem. It was initially inspired by a picture I took of a grave marker in Canada that was over 100 years old.

Eternity

By David Alan Hoag – August 5th, 2009

Time in its infinite span
Offers us just the merest breath.
So fleetingly we live our lives
Before we taste of death.

Monuments of marbled stone
With your last remains you entrust,
But in a few short million years
Your tomb is only dust.

In the dust of creation,
Are we just some capricious clod?
We know that we don’t measure up,
Yet we are sought by God.

Adam communed in Eden
With our God, long before the fall
But don’t blame Eve; it’s all of us…
We heed temptation’s call.

Jesus, son of the Father
His life, for all of us, he gave
In overcoming sin and death
Left just an empty grave.

Instead of raising gravestones;
In the place of struggle and strife
Decide to walk a better path…
Choose Jesus, and choose life.

I can do no better than to echo the last line of the poem in closing: Choose Jesus, and choose life!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

A Tribute to Rich Lewis

We are blessed with a ministry that provides opportunities for youth and adults to develop and share their gifts in music, drama, and art with the community. Messiah’s Performing Arts Ministry continues to offer numerous opportunities for Performing Arts planning and implementation in worship, Sunday education, and complete stage presentations throughout the year.

As with many ministries, Messiah’s Performing Arts Ministry was conceived and developed by someone who felt a special calling for that particular ministry. This someone was our own Rich Lewis. Rich led our choir, led our Sunday school children in music and song, and was the driving force behind Messiah’s Performing Arts Ministry. Rich was so much more than just those things… Rich was my friend, too. I keep saying “was” because Rich went home to our Lord on May 6th of this year.
Messiah produces two to three complete stage presentations each year. This past year we were blessed with sold-out runs for our summer presentation of Hello Dolly! The cast numbered over 50 and more than 100 persons helped “behind-the-scenes” in a variety of ways. In the spring of 2009 Messiah Performing Arts brought us Barefoot in the Park, a laugh out loud comedy about love and marriage.

This summer they are presenting Back to Broadway - a Tribute to Rich Lewis. Rather than trying to do justice describing this wonderful show, I’m share the email I got from my very talented and wonderful friend, Carmen Pease:

Hello friends and family,

This summer, Lauren, Macy and myself are performing in the "Back to Broadway: Tribute to Rich Lewis" at our Church, Messiah Lutheran. Messiah's Fine Arts Ministry has been going strong for over 12 years, under the direction and leadership of our volunteer director, Rich Lewis. Sadly, Rich passed away earlier this year. This show is our way of honoring an amazing man who touched countless lives. We'll present some of Rich's (and maybe yours, too) favorite Broadway musical numbers, such as Anything Goes, Peter Pan, Hairspray, The Sound of Music and Les Misérables.

With a cast of over 50 people, young and old alike, it should be a fun show. Lauren, Macy and I want to personally invite you to come enjoy the evening and cheer us all on. A show is only as good as its audience...that's why we want YOU there!

Tickets are on sale now. The sooner you call the better seats you can get. It's all reserved seating.

Show dates are:
Friday, Aug 7, 7:30pm
Saturday, Aug 8, 7:30pm
Sunday, Aug 9, Dinner Gala at 6:00pm, Show at 7:30pm (FABULOUS FOOD!!!)

Prices are:
Adults $10
Kids (11 and under) $5
Dinner Gala and Show $30

Located at Messiah Lutheran Church, 4821 Liverpool St., Yorba Linda, CA, 92886

All proceeds help fund the Messiah Fine Arts Ministry. It is 100% volunteer based.
Please contact Maren Greytak at 714-779-1078 to purchase your tickets today.

We hope to see some familiar faces out in the audience. Thank you for helping support this wonderful ministry.

Love to all,
Carmen

Doesn’t that sound like fun? Pick a night (or a matinee), and bring the family and some friends. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and the parking? It’s free, and there’s plenty of it. Unlike other theater experiences, we never hit you with ticket fees, venue taxes, or jacked-up parking rates. What that boils down to is this:

Cost of Show: 10 dollars
Or cost of Dinner Gala and Show: 30 dollars
Cost of parking Zero dollars
Seeing your friends perform: Priceless!

These are gifted performers. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They will sing and dance and act their hearts out for you. Come and support and encourage them. You will have a great time! Hurry, this offer won’t last long!!!

Your brother in Christ,
Dave

Moonwalk II

If you don’t recognize the picture, you must have been spending the last month walking on the Moon. It is, of course, the casket of the King of Pop as it was on display at the Staples Center during the Michael Jackson memorial. Millions around the globe mourned his passing. Thousands attended a star-studded memorial tribute. Now the question is: Where will his final resting place be? Will there be some grand memorial for the tourists and fans to flock to? Will there be a Graceland west?

He might have been proclaimed the King of Pop. He might certainly have been a musical genius. He might have changed his appearance more than a chameleon. He also stood accused of improprieties with children; he might, or might not, have been guilty. He had many detractors, but millions more loved him for his music and performances.

Although television, newspapers, tabloids, and many pundits will try to judge him, it is not for them… or us… to judge. The Bible reminds us that:

“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:23-24

In the end, Michael Jackson is just like me… is just like you. We are born, we live for a few short years, and we die. The most important thing a person can seek is NOT fame, or wealth, or recognition, or position, or power, or friends, or security, or peace. These are not bad things, and if God has blessed you in any of these areas, be thankful. You needn’t be ashamed of any success you have worked hard to achieve. Still, above all those worldly successes, the most important thing any of us can seek is to hear and accept the words of the gospel.

What is the gospel? It is the simple truth that all of us are separated from a holy God because of our sin. Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross. Because He is the sinless Savior, the Son of God, death could not hold Him. He rose again from the dead and that same resurrection power is available to each person who, by faith, receives His offer of forgiveness and a new life. By believing this message, we can be forgiven of all our sins and both be saved now, and be with Him forever in heaven. This is a simple but wonderful and life-transforming truth. This is the gospel.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are led by the Spirit to not just hear and receive the gospel, but to live as a new creation in Christ. We should reflect and share the life-transforming truth of the gospel! It is good news… it doesn’t take special training to share good news… it just takes a willing heart.

I wonder if anyone ever shared the gospel from their heart with Michael Jackson. If you knew you couldn’t fail, who would you share the gospel with right now? Guess what? You can’t fail! It’s impossible for you to fail. All you have to do is SHARE the gospel… God’s Holy Spirit will grow the seed you planted.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Moonwalk I

Forty years ago, the United States space program put men on the Moon. On July 21st, 1969, the world heard Neil Armstrong… stepping down onto the lunar surface… say:

“That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

We haven’t been back to that playing field lately.

I’m reminded of the sermon series we are just finishing up: “Get in the Game – Moving from the Sidelines to the Playing Field.” To land men on the Moon took more than just a few being on the playing field. It took the commitment, the resources, and the support of a whole country. There were tens of thousands of active support and supply personnel, hundreds of Command Center specialists, three astronauts on the mission, two that landed on the Moon, and one that took the first step onto the lunar surface. I vividly remember listening to Neil Armstrong describe exiting the Lunar Lander, climb down the ladder, and go where no man had gone before. It’s been estimated that the global audience at that moment was around 450 million people!

At that moment, it seemed like EVERYBODY was on the playing field.

What happened? We were quite successful in placing people and equipment on the Moon. Six more missions followed that first Moon walk; five of those missions would place astronauts on the Moon. We had astronauts explore craters, plant flags, hit golf balls, perform experiments, delight in the lower gravity of the moon, and even race around in a Lunar Rover. They could place Lunar Modules on the surface with precision, lift back off to achieve escape velocity, and dock with orbiting Command Modules with equal precision.

After a win, everybody leaves the field.

The Apollo program was a big win, but it died early. There were three more missions scheduled, but cost concerns closed Apollo to help fund the Space Shuttle, and unused Apollo equipment went to support the Skylab program. After a while, it’s not so new and exciting anymore… “Been there, done that.” Dreamers and leaders have a way of inspiring and getting things done. When agencies or committees or boards take over, they have a way of counting every cost… and finding it too expensive. After a while, there seems to be no reason to remain on the field.

Churches can get caught up in the same cycle, too. A strong leader has a vision, builds a team, inspires the support of what becomes a thriving congregation, and sees huge success and growth. After a while all the effort just seems mechanical. Committees and managers are put in place to keep things running smoothly, and then, in the midst of all this success, the team walks off the field. “Since we’re winning, there’s no reason for me to be on the field all the time.” That’s the mindset that comes with complacency.

What does it mean to be “on the playing field?”

Well, we’re not NASA. We don’t have a 10-year goal… we have an eternity goal! We don’t have to move by committees and Congressional funding. We move when the presence and the power and the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit is a functional reality in our lives and our fellowship.

As believers, we receive a new nature that draws us naturally off the sidelines, and onto the playing field. This new nature does not make us a new and improved version of the old nature, but a completely new and wholly different nature. As a new creature in Christ, we partake in a union with God. With that knowledge, with that energized spirit, we can don the spiritual armor of God, get on the playing field, and be part of God’s awesome program… for our lives, our families, our communities, and our churches.

I pray that we can be led by the Spirit, alive in the Spirit, and ready to meet God in the Spirit!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave