Noticing Need

A couple of years ago, a friend gave me a book entitled, “The Noticer.”  It was odd, intriguing, and a bit unsettling.  Essentially, the main character had a knack for “noticing” people and their needs, fears, ambitions, and opportunities.  He paid attention to little things like an emotional “Sherlock Holmes” of people’s hearts.

After I read it, I began to realize how busy I had allowed myself to become.  In fact, you could say I was virtually proud of my busyness.  To notice people, you have to be intentional.  You have to look people in the eyes, watch their mannerisms, and listen–REALLY listen–to what they say (and what they don’t say).

I think Jesus was masterful at this.  He didn’t just allow people to slip by unnoticed.  He didn’t allow Zacchaeus the comfort of being unnoticed in the foliage of a tree.  He didn’t allow Matthew to just go on collecting taxes without connecting with him.  He didn’t allow the Samaritan woman the time and distance to slink in and slink away, overwhelmed with her shame.  He didn’t allow a Centurion to drift out of sight after he demonstrated such great, simple faith.

Noticing people is part of loving them, blessing them.  That’s what this recent series on the Ripple Effect has done for me.  It’s made me more attentive to the stories people are living out before me.  And as one who was noticed so many years ago, and then blessed by the one who did notice my aching heart, I am hungry to step into what I notice and pronounce blessing and hope, not because I’m a pastor, but because I am a heart that was healed when someone noticed me.

So. . .are you paying attention?

Tragedy Can Enable Vision

A former student of mine was flooded in Houston during Harvey’s onslaught.  She had been pursuing a successful career with a foundation of a healthy marriage, two wonderful kids, and an economic opportunity that was congruent with the hard work she invested in training and education.  In fact, she had just purchased a new car and it was sitting in the driveway of their home.  Like most, she thought she was in a safe area.  Then the flood came during the night, and hours later she and her family had been rescued and taken to safety.

When she returned to her flooded home after the waters had receded, she found a disaster waiting in her home.  What she didn’t expect was what happened next.  She was overwhelmed with help.  Her church organized quickly and volunteers arrived on the scene quickly.  Listen to her own reflection:

My most typed words over this past week have been “Thank you!!!!” I’m not even going to try and tag everyone that has helped us because I know I would miss someone, but you know who you are…even if I don’t really know you well! It has truly overwhelmed me the outpouring of help from giving my family a place to stay, to laundry, supplies, groceries, meals, furniture, borrowed vehicles, PayPal cash, and the volunteer army that gutted and packed up our house. Also the kindness and compassion of strangers throughout this process has moved me to tears from the Xfinity girl on the phone to my contractor and even the flood adjuster and FEMA guy!! I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you for your continued support, check ins, and prayers. Thank you.

We take for granted the relationships we have built, the kindness that Jesus calls us to embrace and enact, and the impact of simple things.  Then, when tragedy strikes, all of those things seem to bubble to the surface and we feel overwhelmed.  It’s the kind of experience that can lead you to a see a whole new world through the new lenses that compassion can give.  I hate tragedy, but I always love seeing what God can do through it, using people to be His hands and feet in the wake of tragedy.  It can enable fresh vision that is nothing short of life-changing!

Relief Effort that Lasts

Hurricane Harvey has made history.  Several of my friends have been rescued from their flooded homes in areas where they never expected flooding.  Many have asked how to help and I have several answers for you.

Texas Baptist Men’s Disaster Relief is one of our greatest resources for immediate assistance.  It’s a massive band of trained volunteers who arrive on the scene with equipment for mudding out flooded homes, serving thousands of hot meals, providing shower facilities, temporary childcare help, temporary roofing, chaplain care, and a host of other important resources.  They’re all volunteers, meaning that every dollar we send goes into the supplies and help for people living through disaster.  This is where our church will send disaster relief funds as they are given.

TBM’s disaster relief ministry trains people for responding and several people in our church have received what they call “yellow cap” training–all the folks on the teams wear those yellow caps to identify them.  I’m sure they will be putting out calls for additional help, but they do require training to keep you and those that they serve safe.

Connecting with families–we know several families who are in the middle of the disaster. Many will have inadequate insurance coverage and will need direct assistance. You can connect and decide how to help one-on-one with families there.  You may need to open your home, give of your resources, or resupply families you know.

Lessons Learned from Katrina. . . Years ago, we had a similar disaster and people cleaned out closets, gave food and all kinds of supplies.  We flooded the Salvation Army and Manna house with TONS of clothes and supplies that weren’t really the best help.

The most effective and important help was in relief dollars for those who were on the scene.  It will take great sacrifice and a great deal of time to help the people of the Texas coast as they recover.  This will be a marathon, not a sprint.  As we hear of definitive ways to help, our church will post them on our website and announce them in social media and various print announcements.  We will partner with churches in affected areas for projects that will help in the days to come, but that’s not yet possible.

Pray for the millions of people affected this week.  THAT is the very best thing you can do immediately.  Then, be ready to give, to serve, to partner with people in need.

Great Read–Paradoxology

During our “Search” series, I recommended additional reading in several books.  One was a book by Krish Kandiah entitled, “Paradoxology: Why Christianity Was Never Meant to be Simple.” It’s been very helpful to me on many levels, but his conclusion explains the strange subtitle.

Christianity was never meant to be simple — after all, it is about relationship, and what true relationship is ever simple?

Therein lies the rub and the relief.  Every relationship is marked by paradoxes.  The more we love, the more we invite pain.  The more we trust, the greater the risk and harm of betrayal.  The greatness of our joy is what makes possible the greatest of sorrows.  That’s life.  And when it comes to serving Jesus, we find that God gives us a taste of the new life but not the full banquet of it, not yet.

We all want the full experience of Heaven on earth now, and scripture proclaims over and over that we do not have all of it yet, not until the end.  So in this time between our profession of faith in Christ and His return, it is hard, painful, frustrating.  On some days we experience his love with confidence and power, buoyed by an incredible sense of His presence and leadership.  On other days we find ourselves wrestling with doubt, shocked by our own failures, and wondering if God is up to anything at all in our lives.  We want what is not yet, and when we demand that God prove Himself in an area that is not yet time, we act as if we’ll hold our faith in Him for ransom.  Kandiah writes,

It is tantamount to accepting a financial gift from your parents on your birthday and then demanding the entire inheritance right there and then. . . We may experience a taste of what is to come, but not its fulfillment.

He has nailed me to the wall a few times, and at others, I have belly laughed at his insight. It’s been a great book of encouragement, especially while wrestling with all the questions I received that formed the basis for our “Search” series.  I highly recommend it!

When Humans Decide Which Lives Matter

I am compelled today to speak from my heart. I do not speak about politics, but I do speak of theology. Today, I need to tell a story and I need to clarify theology.

I visited Berlin’s “Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe” in 2013. . .

In a square of just under 5 acres of land, 2,711 concrete blocks stand with the same width and length, but their heights and angles vary.  Children sit on them, scramble around them, while other tourists view them from the perimeter.  When I walked into the memorial, the deeper I walked, the taller the blocks became.  The ground beneath began to take on a rolling shape, and I found that the changing angles of the concrete blocks, their changing heights, and the rolling pavement beneath my feet had a profound effect: claustrophobia. Everything in me wanted to escape, to break out of the disorienting memorial.

The architect was trying to evoke emotion, and he succeeded.  They didn’t mince words, either. “Murdered Jews” sounds very different than “holocaust victims.”  Berliners are ashamed of their Nazi past.  Hitler’s burial place is unmarked and covered over by a parking lot.  For too many years, the Nazis decided which humans mattered, and which were considered to be inferior, worthless, or threatening.  Members of my family spent years overseas to fight that sick, warped view of humanity. But we still see evidence that some embrace this view and claim the authority of God to value life as good or as garbage.  This is evil.

I visited villages full of different ethnic groups in Indonesia, Haiti, Brazil. . .

Not once did my Bible indicate that I was superior because my skin or ethnic backround was different.  They mattered to God.  It’s natural to assume someone isn’t as smart or cultured when you don’t speak the same language.  Something in the human psyche says, “They SHOULD be able to understand me, but they don’t.”  Instead of assuming that WE are the ones who are clueless, we readily think that they are.

But it’s not just language that defines us.  Many in our country look similar, but Polish culture is different from Irish culture, and that’s different from Nigerian culture, as it is different from Cajun culture.  Every culture has its roots in a Creator who lovingly made them in His image.  He gave His son for “whoever” would believe in Him.  Haitians, Indonesians, Iranians, Tutsis, Arabs, Scots, Turks, Hans, Germans, Russians, Italians, Indians–they are all part of God’s creation that He made “in His own image.”  They ALL matter.

Any movement that decides human value is determined by nationality, ethnicity, or cultural backround will seek to differentiate value by those same determinant factors. Theologically speaking, the Bible uses a term that is appropriately applied in this case. Where you see that thinking, you can describe it in a single, biblical word.

EVIL.

Hosting Our World

Every day, I’m amazed at the power of a smile, of courtesy, of being gracious.  It disarms people when they have been pushed and poked and prodded by a world of expectations. Some people don’t know how to operate in any room without announcing, “Here I am; take care of me.”

But some know how to walk into a room, make eye contact, and say, “There you are.”  That person can change the temperature of any room.  I call that person a “host.”  Their graciousness is not pretentious or pompous.  It is grounded in an absolute certainty that God loves people of all kinds.  A host let’s God access their time, talents, and attention to demonstrate grace to other people.  Serving is the natural outlet.

Between these two kinds of people you will find a decision: to live as a guest or to live as a host.  Which are you?  I want to know, because in the next two weeks, hundreds of parents will meet teachers and other parents, jockeying for time and attention.  In the midst of them will be several who are new to our community, new to that particular school, or otherwise looking at life through new lenses.  Who will “host” them?

I want to know because next Sunday, a few hundred people who are still not sure what they believe or where they should go will arrive on our church campus, wondering if they will be welcomed.  Who will “host” them?

I want to know because Jesus described the greatest individual in the entire Kingdom of God as the one who was “servant of all.”  Will you compete for KINGDOM greatness by living as a host?

The Walmart lady looked tired last week, so I asked, “How are you doing?  You have a challenging job here.”  When she looked up at a me and spoke, I saw surprise in her face. It was as if she was saying, “Somebody saw me!”  I had a short but satisfying conversation with her.  It was important to me that she felt “hosted” even as she took care of me. There’s a reason. . . almost 40 years ago, I was a guy standing behind a Walmart counter during the Christmas rush,  and I would have loved for someone to have been a host to me for 60 seconds.

You never know who needs what you can provide.  Will YOU live like a host?

Seeing Reality

Years ago, I led a team of college students to South Padre for a ministry called “Beach Reach.” During spring break, we offered rides to students who had been drinking, took care of people who were no longer sober enough to take care of themselves.

One year, we took a young girl who had only been involved with our church for that particular school year.  An upperclassman, she only told us that she had become hungry for Jesus’ work in her life.  At the beach that year, we learned why.

As we were walking along the beach, talking to students, she grew very quiet and I could tell something was bothering her.  We were all bothered as we watched the activity on the beach, but she was even more disturbed.  That night, she told us why.

Last year, I was on this beach, but I wasn’t sober.  My friends and I started drinking as soon as we got in the car, and we didn’t stop until we ran out of money and left for home.  I had never seen this beach through sober eyes. It’s nothing like I remember it.  It feels like I’m seeing it for the first time, and I am overwhelmed to see what I did without any limit.  I can’t even remember everything that happened.  Now I’m frightened, because I am seeing what is real.

One of the questions I received for our “Search” series was this:  Why are some of the hardest battles in life fought by those who believe in and follow Jesus?  I believe that sin “intoxicates” us to life.  But when you embrace Jesus, you see what life was meant to be and the full reality of how we fall short.  When you start to do something about that, you find the resistance of everyone who CAN’T see it.  But just as you can see the reality now, you can also see the future that is to come.  You know that God will not be mocked.  You know that He has prepared a reward of His grace for you.  You live soberly, alive to the reality around you and the reality of God’s promise, and you see the world through Jesus’ eyes.  Frankly, that hurts.

My dad asked me a question when I was grieving so many of my peers, “Son, would you rather see reality, or be part of an illusion that feels good?”  I decided then and continue to fulfill that decision: I’m going to see reality.  I accept the pain now as part of the joy later.

Asleep to Opportunities

I am battling regret. I was “asleep at the wheel” while I ran errands a few days ago, pressed on my lunch hour to get those things done and return to an appointment at the office. I wasn’t paying attention, and now I wish I could hit “rewind” on that day.

In the middle of one of my quick stops, a man began to describe an experience he had.  I didn’t know him, didn’t initiate with him, didn’t know where that conversation was going. We were walking out of a store at the same time–not together, but alongside.  I don’t know why he started talking about his experience, but he did, and instead of stopping and allowing the conversation to unfold, I kept walking toward my truck, being polite, but not really engaging and allowing this conversation to take us to a needed resolution.

I got into my truck and something nagged at my conscience.  Like something in my peripheral vision that was not quite in focus, I suddenly realized that this casual story was actually a beachhead into the man’s soul.  At that point, he was long gone.  I was asleep to the opportunity to talk to this man about eternity.  And the more I have reflected on it, the more clearly I have seen his condition.  He was talking about this experience for a reason and I was too busy to see it.

Peter wrote to the early church and gave this challenge.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. . .  I must confess that I was prepared with answers, but I wasn’t prepared to see the opportunity that was staring me in the face.  I’m a pastor, and if I’m missing those opportunities, if I’m not paying attention, maybe you are missing them too!

I have prayed, “God, if you will open doors, I’ll gladly take a step through them.”  But if I’m honest, I simply wasn’t prepared to hear what the man was saying to me.  I do not wish for any of you reading this to miss the same kind of opportunities in your path.  I know that God is gracious, but today, I’m just grieving that I missed a chance to help because I was just too busy, “asleep at the wheel” as I drove through that man’s path.

“Lord, give me eyes to see people as you see them, and discipline to step through those open doors of conversation with the HOPE that they need.”  That’s my prayer today.

Raising a Generation–a Critical Need

When my oldest son was born, I knew that my life had changed, and it would continue to be reshaped by a new role that I accepted on that day:  PARENT.  From that day on, God looked upon me as the link of responsibility for raising, training, modeling, encouraging, disciplining, and teaching.  I accepted that role because this beautiful newborn was a part of me.  Just as I could see features that resembled me, I would begin the journey of helping that child develop “resemblances” of his Heavenly Father, too.

I assumed that I was primarily responsible for teaching them about Jesus.  I have been very fortunate to have had church families that helped me in that responsibility.  Men and women have taught them the Bible and given their time in classrooms and at camps to model and teach them the Gospel.  And because they have done that for my kids, I have always felt that my “thanks” was best expressed in volunteering beside them.

Raising a generation takes all of us.  We can’t assume that “someone ELSE will do it.”  Part of the experience of community is this shared responsibility and teamwork for raising the next generation.  Unfortunately, at every life stage, we all have reason to think that “someone else” needs to do it, can do it, or will do it.  As a society, and as a faith community culture that I have seen repeated in four different settings, I can say categorically:  raising the next generation is an ideal into which most of us refuse to invest. Every single church I know is working to teach faith lessons to kids, and every single one of them are ALWAYS strapped for the volunteers that make that possible.

Are you giving your time to help raise the next generation?  Concretely?  I’ll trade my preaching job for a volunteer job again in a couple of weeks.  I’ll walk into a classroom where all the materials have been gathered and prepared and I’ll sit at a table with kids who are learning about Jesus.  We can provide everything we need except one thing:  adult volunteers.  They need YOU.  They need ME.  And if you’re reading this and you’re not part of the church I lead, I can PROMISE you that the church you attend has a similar opportunity and need.  Every child is looking for someone who will love them. How can we say “no” to that need?

Will we actually RAISE this generation for the future?  Will we show them what Jesus is like?  Will we model character for them in person?  If your answer is “someone else will,” you’re actually saying, “I won’t.”  Join me in helping to raise the next generation!

 

 

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Kids delight me.   Their uncanny honesty, lack of inhibition, and natural curiosity often catch me off guard, but delight my heart.  They also teach me soooooooo very much.

I was leaving a home after a funeral and one of the kids asked, “Where are you going?”

“I have to go to work, Darlin’!” I responded.

“Why?  Why can’t you stay?” she asked.

“I need to go and take care of some other people who need help,” I said, thinking that it would satisfy her.  Her response stopped me in my tracks.

“Why is everybody leaving?”

When we go through loss, that’s the question that every grieving person wants to ask but doesn’t.  Everyone else returns to their lives, jumps back into the fray of their busyness and deadlines, but for those who are directly affected by grief, they have no where to which they can leave.  The grieving is only beginning.  Reality is just about to start overwhelming the numbness.  My little friend’s question stabbed my heart because she was asking the right question.  Under my breath, I muttered in my own shame and conviction, “Because that’s what we all do.  We just go back to our lives. . .”

I’ve been talking about pain for three weeks on Sunday mornings, so it’s been very familiar, personal, and close to me.  Every week,  I look into the faces of moms and dads who have said goodbye to their children, sons who have tried to go back to work after losing parents, or spouses who are still coping with silence of houses that are missing their closest companions, newly “alone” people who are still looking at the freshly drying ink on divorce papers.  The pain is far from over.  While I know that time helps wounds heal, my little friend’s frank question has haunted me all afternoon.

So dear readers, I’m asking you the question I’m asking myself:  “Who do you need to call to say that you have NOT forgotten their pain?  Who needs your encouragement, your presence, your acknowledgement today?”  If you have had to leave, will you go back to tell someone that they are not forgotten?

I’m making my own list. . .frustrated that it’s so easy to leave.  I learned again today, “out of the mouths of babes” comes some of the most convicting truth we ever hear.