What did you expect…Unexpected promises kept.

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IMG_2192When I was a kid I remember all sorts of catalogs of toys especially this time of year.  We would often get the big toys r us book around Christmas and circle all the things we wanted to get.  We were so excited when it came.  We probably circled 200 items in the whole catalog. It probably would have been easier if we had just crossed off the things we didn’t want.

What I found most amazing was often when I got that one toy I so wanted for Christmas sometimes it didn’t work out the way I tought it would.  Maybe it wasn’t as big as I had hoped or it didn’t look as shiny up close.  We all have expectations and sometimes those expectations aren’t realized because they aren’t the right expectation.

This week as I was preparing for Chapel I was reading the text from Luke 2:1-7. It is the simple story of Jesus birth.  What jumped out at me was this story is not something that people expected.  At least most Jews didn’t expect it to go down this way.  Here is some of the unexpected that maybe you just ran over on your way to finishing the text.

He was born in the city of David Bethlehem.  First of all the city of David in the old testament would have been Jerusalem.  His City was Jerusalem.  To hear him being born in Bethlehem was shocking. This was a tiny little back woods town of maybe 200-300 people.    This is crazy the king of kings born in such a place.

Or how about the wrapped in clothes a lying in a manger.  Ok this takes some explaining. How come no castle? How come not a palace, and beautiful bed?  Well he was placed in the feeding area for the animals in the small one room house.  Such a humble beginning for the prince of peace.

Wow unexpected for the king of the universe yet it is how He came.  It is how God fulfilled His promise.  It is how God is working in the lives us his people.  God will fulfill his promises.  He fills them in unexpected ways but he always fulfills his promises.

Jesus makes two other promises at the end of his life.  He promises to be with us to the ends of the age and He promises to come again.  Does God being with us always make sense or always look the way we want it. Probably not.  But we have a God who fulfills his promises yesterday today and always.

 

Being a Family of Forgiveness

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20151125_063036So here is the thing.  I am not a perfect parent.  In fact I probably do more wrong than I do right. I fail to have patience. I fail to look up from my computer screen.  I fail to say the right things at the right times.  I miss the mark on so many occasions.  In fact today I was talking with another Dad and we both commented on how this parenting thing doesn’t have a manual to follow more of a play book.  You run certain plays and sometimes it works and more than often it fails.  My goal isn’t to be a perfect parent.  In fact I would say may goal has nothing to do with even being a good parent.

My goal is very simple.  I want my kids to know Jesus and his forgiveness.  In ministry my goal isn’t perfect kids. My goal in my family is not to have perfect kids either.  (Mostly this is because it isn’t possible) My goal is to show them forgiveness.  To show them when they screw up like I do Grace can come.  Sure we have consequences.  Sure we have struggles because of sin.  Grace is bigger than that.  Forgiveness is bigger than that.  My goal is for my kids to know forgiveness.  Whether it is from me or from each other we are a family of forgiveness.

This week as we gather together as families around a dinner table I would ask you to remember these words. To remember we are to be people of forgiveness.  Family time can be a challenge because we have failed each other.  We have hurt each other.  However we have a God who is bigger than that.  He is a God of forgiveness.  He forgave us, so let us also forgive one another.  May you experience that peace that comes through forgiveness Jesus has won for us. May God help you forgive as you have bee forgiven this week.

 

13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

Joy and laughter

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Last night my family sat down to dinner together. We started sharing stories of our day.  It was one of those good times at dinner.  We can be loud and, well, fairly weird.  At one point it got so loud my wife made the kids raise their hands to tell a story or joke.  She was going around the table pointing at each kid in turn.  I had an idea for a funny. I find the unexpected moment or joke brings levity and joy to a situation. So I looked her straight in the eyes and rose my hand.   She gave me that look of what are you doing and she lost it in laughter.  It was a good moment.

Often in life we forget the joys of simple laughter.  We get so busy with life, its challenges, it tragities, its struggles.  I will be honest. I have the issue of being someone who tries to make everything funny.  My go to mechanism for dealing with life is laughter.  I love to laugh.  I love to bring people joy through a smile or laughter. I am surprised by the humor God can provide when we allow the unexpected.

So this week, in a world filled with tragedy, find time to laugh. Find time to see the joy in the world.  Find time to laugh with loved ones.  Find time to have someone point you to the greatest joy in the world.  Look for the unexpected way God can bring you humor. Find time to hear about Jesus.  Find time to look to the cross where you can see the joy of the world sacrificed for you.

 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” Psalm 126:4 NIV

Ask me any question and you will get an answer. Waiting for the question in order to teach the faith.

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Recently I have started telling Middle school students they can ask me any question they want and I will answer it. These students don’t know me very well so they think if they ask something like “How are babies born?” I won’t answer. Much to their surprise, and quite honestly disgust, I am more than willing to talk about that. Just ask any former student and they will tell you I talk about that a lot with students. I think many people are terrified to tell middle school kids or anyone for that matter, to ask them anything. I have found it to be most helpful in striking up conversations with young people. I even have this same policy with my own kids. I want them to ask questions and I want them to learn. I find when I allow questions it allows students to ask and to be willing to learn.

Many moons ago I went through a class in college by Dr. Steve Arnold that helped me to articulate something I understood but didn’t know how to explain to others. The idea is that in order to teach someone something they have to give you permission to teach them. Students, adults and just about everyone will only learn something from you if they give you permission. Most often it occurs in the form of a question they have asked. You see many people still teach in a way that says you are going to learn from me because I am the teacher. What I have found with kids today is they don’t care if you are the teacher, pastor, DCE, mom or Dad. They want to know you care first and then they will give you permission to really teach them something.

This waiting for permission is hard and sometimes I fail to remember my own lesson. I do know that students and most importantly my kids learn best when I get permission. I love to have my students and my kids ask questions. Those questions open them up to my answers. It opens them up to hearing about Jesus. It opens them up to hearing about life.

My encouragement for you as parents, fellow believer and fellow Church workers is to let your kids ask questions. Let the adults ask questions. Let them learn from you. Don’t answer questions they are not asking.  Develop a culture of questions. You may be surprised by the amount of sharing you can do if you wait for the question.

17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. Mark 7:17 NIV

Faith sharing eyeball to eyeball…Get down to their level.

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When I was first in ministry I worked with a wonderful women who worked in our Sunday school Pre-school. If I could multiply her by 100 I would. She was amazing at what she did with young children.  She amazed me with how she could work with any young child. She taught me something I use every day when working with young people. She taught me to get on the floor and look them in the eyes.

It is something so simple we often forget it.  When I teach with young people one of the most important things I try to always do is get down on the floor and look them in the eyes.  It changes the dynamic.  It allows them to see you as a person and allows you to share Jesus with them.  It allows you to listen and speak with them. It allows you to be in their world. If you don’t do this with little kids I would totally challenge you to do it.

Here is the thing.  I want to remind you as a parent, minister, and friend please get on the ground.  Look them in the eyes.  When you do, you can share Jesus with them. The first pastor I served with shared with me this thought “People don’t remember the sermons, or messages.  They remember the time you sat with them and listened. They remember the time you prayed for them. They remember the time you were just present in their time of need.”

We all have people in our lives we want to stand in the pulpit and preach at.  However I would challenge us all to bend down and talk to them on their level.  To listen and look them in the eyes so we can share Jesus with them. Too often we stand tall and preach.  We need to be people willing to get down on the ground in order to share Jesus.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Col 3:12 NIV