"Merry Christmas"

Christmas Day is quickly approaching! I love the Christmas holidays…cold weather, snow (sometimes), lights, music, trees, and yes, presents. Who doesn’t like presents? I have gotten some really great gifts for Christmas in the years past. I can remember my first bike. It was a blue frame Huffy bike with yellow rims. I can even remember my first stereo. It was a Sony with a double tape deck, and it had detachable speakers. As we are all swamped with gifts, shopping, family, and friends, I want us to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.

Micah 5:2-5a
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. 3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth to her son. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. 4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD's strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored all around the world. 5 And he will be the source of our peace.
(New Living Translation)

Micah was a prophet whose prophesies promised both judgment and deliverance for Israel. In earlier chapters he tells Israel that God will bring punishment upon them because they do not honor God in their heart or with their life. God does not even accept their sacrifices anymore! Then, you have this passage. Here, when things seem so dark and hopeless, Micah gives the nation of Israel a little ray of hope to hold on to. God’s kingdom will not completely pass away, but will actually reach newer and greater heights through the coming Messiah. This Messiah will be born in a small town called Bethlehem. We see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Matthew 1 and Luke 2. The birth of Christ renewed the hope of Israel and restored life and vitality to the people of God. Through Jesus Christ, we too live with an unfailing hope in our eternal future with our Lord God.

Jesus truly is the greatest gift that we have ever received. My mom used to always tell me that Christmas is more about giving than receiving. I never understood why moms and dads would torture kids with that great little one-liner. Until now! Now, I have my own kids and I find myself saying the same thing. But today, on this blog, it is about what you have received. I want to hear from you. Take a moment and share with me (aside from Christ), “What is one of the greatest gifts you have ever received?” I’ll start…

Even though it was December 28th, one of the greatest gifts I have ever received was my wife. We will be married eleven years this year, and she truly is my best friend. I have never met anyone with such a patient, caring, and self-sacrificing attitude. She has put up with so much due to my little “quirks” and “inconsistencies.” Why she continues to put up with me I will never know. But I am, and will be, forever grateful that she said, “Yes,” and that she continues to help me grow into the husband and father that I long to be. (I can write all of this about her because she doesn’t read this blog!)

Your turn! “What is one of the greatest gifts you have ever received?” Blessings…

Spill the Beans

Confession. Boy, has that word begun to hold some negative connotations. The accused, a lawyer, a couple of police officers, a legal pad, and a pen all sitting in a room around a little bitty table trying to uncover the truth. Here confession is the admission of guilt and the beginning of indictment. In this context we understand confession to mean that one realizes he or she is left with no other alternative. They have been caught “with their hand in the cookie jar” and all of the evidence is stacked against them. At this point, the best thing for them to do is admit their guilt and beg for mercy.

“He confessed!” When you hear words like that you begin to think that some ugly, guilty, despicable person has finally been caught and will soon get what they have coming to them (justice). When you put it that way, no wonder we think so negatively about confession. But that is what the world, and worldly values, tend to do to some very healthy and beautiful components of Christianity.

Confession was actually meant to be a good thing; one broken sinner, standing before a forgiving Father, pouring out his heart begging for mercy. Here confession is the admission of imperfection and the beginning of absolution. In this context, we understand confession to mean that one realizes he or she is only human. We are not perfect! No matter how hard we try, we are going to find ourselves in those moments when we fail. At this point, the best thing for us to do is acknowledge our imperfections and beg for mercy.

Think about these two very different views. Christians have even been guilty of leaning on the more negative view. There are so many people in our churches today that are hurting, deeply hurting, but no one is going to know it because they are not going to tell. They will not “confess” because they are afraid of judgment and embarrassment. We do not usually know that anyone has a drinking problem until they have hurt themselves or someone else. We do not usually know that someone has financial problems until they file for bankruptcy. We do not usually know that someone has marriage problems until they file for divorce. How did we come to the point that people feel so guilty about their “issues” that they feel too ashamed and embarrassed to ask for help? I wish we could all just come right out and say that struggling with temptation is normal…struggling with finances is normal…struggling with marriage is normal…there is no shame in that!

I wonder if it is possible for us to restore the beautiful, positive connotation of “confession?” I like the way that Webster defines confession. Confession is ‘a disclosure of one’s sins in the sacrament of reconciliation.’ Confession is the beginning of reconciliation. We cannot be truly restored until we “spill the beans.” Disclosure is a scary word for some. I looked that up too! The first definition I found listed was, ‘to open up.’ Just open yourself up to God and watch the healing begin.

Take a look at these words from David in Psalm 32, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Do you hear that? When we keep silent about sin, struggle, in our lives it eats us away from the inside out. Our silence saps our energy. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people struggling with sin say, “I just can’t go on. I am just too tired.” Huh, I wonder why? When we bare our soul before the Lord (when we hide ‘nothing’), David says that is when we find forgiveness. I want you to notice though that David points out something really interesting here! We are not only forgiven of our sin, but we are also forgiven the guilt of our sin. Whew! Not only can I let go of that ugly thing in my past, but I do not have to carry around the worry that goes along with it.

May we all find the courage to practice “confession” and practice it regularly. We need to admit that we are human, fallible, and imperfect. We need to quit pretending, in our moments of absolute weakness, that we are strong enough to conquer sin and its guilt on our own. Find comfort and inspiration in David’s very real experience. Whatever it is that is eating you away from the inside, let it go. Give it over to the Lord! I said earlier that Christian confession is a broken sinner, standing before a forgiving Father, pouring out his heart and begging for mercy. The cool part is we beg for mercy, but the forgiving Father grants us GRACE! Experience true relief, true grace, and true forgiveness; “SPILL THE BEANS.” Blessings…

"Four Weddings and a Funeral"...A Look Back

Wow! What a year! I really don’t know what else to say. It hasn’t been terrible. It hasn’t been burdensome. It has just been wild. I have actually grown a lot throughout the last year. When someone goes through a whole lot of change in a short amount of time, I have heard it said that they have been “baptized by fire.” Let me tell ya, it has been hot! Good!...but HOT! I have learned so much about myself this year. As I look back, I am and will be eternally grateful for the challenges that the Lord has presented me with over this last year. Within this last year, I have seen a lot, experienced a lot, and taken a lot. I like to call this last year in review, “four weddings and a funeral.”

Within this last year, I have taken on a massive amount of preaching responsibilities. You know that old saying, “Be careful what you pray for…you just might get it!?” Well, I have been itching to preach, and buddy, have I had ample opportunity. It has been fun, too! Our last preacher has accepted the call to plant a church in a growing community just to the north. While our church began the search for our next pulpit minister, I opened my mouth and told my elders I would like a crack at this preaching thing. I have certainly enjoyed the time in study, reflection, and prayer as I prepared for each sermon. I have preached more in the last 12 months than I have in my last eight years of ministry. Exciting, huh! I feel that God and I have developed a much closer relationship in these last 12 months.

To add to the excitement, I have actually done “four weddings and a funeral.” I have had the privilege of performing the first wedding ceremony of one of the kids that grew up in my youth ministry. Let me just tell you, it is one thing to watch them grow up for six years in your ministry; but, it is something else entirely when one of them calls one day and tells you they would be honored if you would perform their wedding. They would be honored?! Man, it was so cool to be able to perform their wedding and participate in such a special day. I was able to cap the year with three more weddings for some who were members of our church, and some who just had past ties to our church. For one, I actually got the honors of performing a wedding for one of my past youth ministry interns.

The funeral was very humbling. Have you ever wondered why God places you in certain situations when he does? Well, this funeral was one of those moments. When this family called and asked for me, I kept asking myself, “Why me?” I really didn’t know them. They really didn’t “know” me. They had seen me upfront regularly because I work for the church, but we did not have a deep relationship with one another. After I had the opportunity of meeting this family, God began to reveal to me why he was asking me to do this funeral. As I began to visit more and more with the family, I began to realize that this man was so much like my granddaddy. As I said before, I really didn’t know this family all that well. However, the more and more I listened to them talk about him, share stories about him, and remember him, the more I saw my granddaddy sitting beside me in the room. When I began to put my thoughts down on paper for the funeral, it became very apparent to me what I was going to say. And going into this experience I was terrified because it was my first funeral. I believe the Lord knew what he was doing.

So there it is…my year in review. It may not be very exciting to you, but it was a ride for me. There is so much more I could tell you, but these are the most exciting highlights. What has the Lord done for you this year? What were some of your most exciting moments? What were some of your most terrifying? Somebody be brave and start the sharing! Blessings…