What would happen if......?

As I said in my last post, I had the opportunity to go to a Cincinnati Reds game last weekend. As I was sitting there in the stands I had a random thought that I wanted to share. I did a masters degree in sports marketing and management. One of our classes was on facility management, where we learned the in and out of running a professional sports stadium. Well, the other night sitting there watching grown men play a game for $20 a ticket (and we were in the nosebleeds), I had a thought. "I wonder how many starving kids could be fed with the money that it costs to run a stadium for just one night?" The thought has stayed with me and I can't get it off my mind.
I am as guilty as the next person while living in this blessed country. I consume more than I should and I spend more than I should. But the thought crossed my mind that we really have our priorities screwed up. I'm not sure that I could look a small, starving child in the face and apologize to him for not sending more food, but I had to go to a baseball game. I'm not sure where these thoughts will lead, but they are for sure rattling around in my brain and heart. My heart breaking for those who are struggling. What do you think?

Random thoughts about worship and baseball

Yeah, I suppose those two things (worship and baseball) don't have too much in common...unless you go to a Cincinnati Reds vs. Cleveland Indians game and watch the actions of others in attendance. I was struck again last night, as I have been before, about just how worshipful we are as humans. And I was struck again last night, as I have been before, how the object of our worship is so far from what it should be most of the time.

Last night I went to the Reds game. I don't often go to games just because of the hassle in getting downtown, the cost of the ticket, and to be quite honest...I think baseball is rather boring. I know, I may have just lost a reader or two with that comment, but seriously...it is quicker to watch a wall of paint dry than it is to sit through 9 innings of baseball. The only part that keeps me going on occasion is the atmosphere. It is electric. There are people yelling, clapping, singing and being social. But like I said, I was struck again at what Louie Giglio would term "the purest form of worship." And I asked myself the question as we drove away from the stadium, when was the last time I stood up and jumped up and down and cheered for Jesus? Certainly He has accomplished much more than any one of the Cincinnati Reds. Surely what He did for me was much more meaningful and life altering than Adam Dunn hitting a two run homer in the 3rd.

And yet I find myslelf living day to day thankful and grateful, but not excited. Why is this? Is it because it's already done? Is it because I accepted Christ long ago and now it's more a matter of doing? Is it because a lot of the world is not interested in cheering for Jesus, and when I do I just feel alone? Today I asked God for a new perspective. Today I asked God to open my eyes to His many daily wonders...daily reasons to stand up and cheer. We all live lives of worship. I want my worship to be toward the only One who is truly worthy of my worship.

Law vs. Grace

I recently took a class called "The Doctrine of Grace." Really it was a good look at the book of Romans, which by the way, has always been one of my favorites. I get Paul. He and I probably would have been friends (after the whole "killing Christ followers" phase was put behind him). This struggle with how to relate to God is a big one. Do we try harder to be better or do we simply rest in the grace offered us through Jesus Christ, allowing our doing to be an outpouring of our being. It seems as if it would be an easy answer, and yet there are thousands of Christians all over the world trying to "earn" their way into God's good graces. It's not necessarily that we cognitively choose to do it, but our culture is such that performance is rewarded, and so we translate that ideology to our relationship with our Creator.
I have been reading a lot of Henri Nouwen lately. (If you've never read anything written by him, I would say you need to.) He has a way with words. A few days ago, I was reading some things he wrote about joy. He said "joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing can take that love away...joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety."
We have to choose joy. This is the same as choosing to live under grace and not under law. Every day we have a choice. We can choose to live as if what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us is how we earn our way to God; or we can choose to believe that we are unconditionally loved and our relationship to God has been paved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Today I choose joy. Not because it is easy, but because it good. And I choose to rest in the promise that I am loved and accepted apart from what I do today.

The Big Questions

Every so often circumstances present themselves for me to really ask some big questions. Unfortunately this time it is tragedy and unwelcomed hardship. In the past three weeks I've had to experience and walk with others through some of the most difficult moments in life. These are the moments in life that don't make any sense. These are the moments that leave us asking why? I'm sure you've been there. If you've lived on this earth more than a few years, chances are you've walked this road.
It's interesting to me that we only ask the big questions when we are faced with circumstances we don't understand. It leaves us feeling helpless and without answers.
God has taken me on an interesting journey with my questions. The first place is Isaiah 55:8 - "for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." But this doesn't really help. I recently heard a sermon where the pastor said that this is like your mom or dad saying, "because I told you so." It is true...His ways are higher than ours, but when we are walking the road of hurt and pain we want more.
So check this out, James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." What an amazing answer...that these trials are necessary for us to become mature and complete. If we want to be all that God made us to be, we must walk through the valley. We must endure hardship and trial.
But is this even enough for comfort? How about this...Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." It is a reminder that God is good and does work even tragedy and heartache for good in this messed up world. Can we trust this? Can we believe this?
I think we can. I think pain should drive us to the place where the most pain was ever felt...on the cross. And on the cross it was evident that "God demonstrates His own love for us in this...that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Knowing that life would be painful, He endured all of it for us. And in that determination, we can rest in the truth that He will work it for good...maybe we won't understand it on this side of heaven, but we can trust without understanding...that is faith.
So when it seems hopeless and it seems unbearable....remember the cross...and how much He loves. And have faith that God will not allow the pain without redemption.