The Center Flame

One of my favorite pass times is cooking on my grill.  I’m not especially good at it, but I’ll keep trying.  My grill of several years has been slowly needing replacement parts.  From heart dividers to o-rings, I’ve put a bit of money into maintaining the system.  It’s ok, none of the parts or pieces to date have been that expensive.

However, I noticed today that in the center of the grill there is now a very high, very intense flame.  That centralized flame forces me to move the steaks and hamburgers around the flame and forces me to keep them away from the center.

Upon further evaluation, I found that one of the channels that host the gas, has rusted through in the middle.  Therefore the intense flame is a result of a broken system.  A high concentration of gas has drawn from the rest of the system making it imbalanced and not heating the grill equally.

Systematic Approach to Heating

As I pondered this it showed an obvious allegory or what I think is problematic system of evangelism in the post-modern world.  See, in order to properly cook the meat I have to have a constant flame at a moderate temperature.  If I were to leave the meat too far from the flame it will never cook.  Sure it’ll be exposed to the heat, but not sufficiently enough to thoroughly cook the steak and get it to a point that it’s tasteful and useful.  Transversely, if I were to put the steak directly on the intense flame, the steak only burns on the outside, leaving the inside uncooked, distasteful, scorched , a waste of the heating system’s efforts and a wasted opportunity.

Failing Flame

Often times when Christians try to share their heart to an Outsider, their flame is too high.  The intensity is a result of something broken in our heating mechanism.  What’s broken varies for Believers.  I feel that often it’s a lack of a pre-established relationship, a desire to “win-over” someone through our own efforts instead of letting Christ work or a lack of patience to keep the heat low and constant to ensure that we influence a well done approach.

Saving people is up to Christ.  He provides the opportunities and the desire in the Outsider to heed His call.  Often times having a balance in our heating system – with all parts working well -do I create the opportunity and environment to witness.  If my flame is too high, such as being so religious that I simply burn people without gradually warming them from the inside, I become irrelevant.  My religious element maybe high and it’s taking away from the other heating elements, such as personal relationship, humor, intellect, etc…  I don’t wish to be misunderstood here.  My Faith is foremost.  It’s what propels me to live as I live, I want people to see me as differently.  But I don’t want the “religious” effects (being seen as self righteous, legalistic or hypocritical) to overshadow a balanced life.

There are a lot of Christians who overwhelm Outsiders with scriptures, judgmental attitudes and a desire to dictate their actions.  They sometimes lack the lifestyle that compels Outsiders to ask what’s different.  We loose relevance in other peoples lives when we’re too on-fire and we tend to burn them.

I pray that I am a constant balanced Christian that doesn’t burn those around me in order to be a small part of the systematic approach of the gospel that creates a useful and tasteful member of the faith.

“Col. 4:6 – Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Tags: bible, christian, evangalism, lifestyle, relational, witnessing

Insufficient Facades

Today I had the rare opportunity to visit my childhood home.  The home was built by my father and I recall it taking much much longer than a normal build.  A matter of fact, I don’t think it was ever totally finished.  There were a series of childhood snapshots that filtered through my mind, some good, many not-so-good.  After my parent’s divorce my young wife and I bought the home and with the exception of our first two daughters not much happiness was in that home.

Interestingly enough, I shared a dream I recently had with my wife a few days ago that my childhood home was being renovated and the cedar siding was being covered with a beige siding.  Oddly enough, my wife peaked in the MLS and found that it was now for sale and yes – had light colored vinyl siding on it.  I don’t believe in coincidences …

We sold the home because of the excessive repairs and upkeep that I couldn’t handle at the time, and …to start over.  We started our marriage anew about the same time that we moved from that home.

The home has had several new owners and is now in foreclosure.  The grass was grown up and had overcome the driveway, the wood rotten from seasons of neglect was only partially covered with vinyl siding.  The inside was haphazardly remodeled, but it seemed not one project had been completed – just as I remembered it.  The septic system now failed, the house vacant and no one to care for it, she sits silently.  The facade of new paint and partial vinyl was superficial at best.

The World Left Behind

As I stood first in the yard and then in the house, all I could think was ‘Wow, it’s smaller than I remember…”  Some walls had been moved, different paint and counter-tops stood out, but for the most part it was as I remember it.  It reminded me of a different period in my life, before I heeded the call of Christ and before I realized how truly precious my marriage was.  Whereas I have regrets of a past life, they are becoming distant and serve only as a reminder of how powerfully God has moved in our lives.

Foundations and Dirt

Standing there in the yard shaking my head at how cursed this home felt, I didn’t feel pity for myself or the home.  It registered in me that the land around the home and the foundation were solid and unchanging.  It was promising to know that the right person could put the work and effort into the location and make a wonderful home.  I stood there and put a prayer together – not about the home, but about people who have facades covering rotting wood and need the right person or “builder” to come and tear down the old and re-build anew.

I prayed for the church to be the builder on Christ’s behalf, but I prayed that I would be able to see the foundation and the soil in people and ignore the history of the “home”.

Tags: building, church, forgiveness, grace, people, shame

I’m struggling….  I know I’m not alone, but I find no solace in that fact anymore.  I’ve again been brutally reminded that gauging your identified by man is temporal.  Friendships and popularity in the world is fleeting.  People by their very nature are in total depravity.  People, once your usefulness to them is negated, will move one. 

Thankfully, the Father is not of this world.  His love is not fleeting, His friendship is based on His desire to show mercy to us.  His love is not temporal.

I feel that I’ve been given a skill set…  I’m good (not great, but good) at communications and especially online communications.  I love to be creative and to engage people.  I love to explore new things, ideas and surroundings.  I’m tired of everything getting in the way of my Faith.  The demands of the day, the fear of man and the pressure of having the “right” answers has kept me from being more engaging online with fellow believers.  No more…

I’m going to be more expressive and engaging with people who share my faith.  I will often times be wrong, I will often times be blunt and I will often times care little about who reads or does not read this blog.

I want authentic, real people to engage one another about their beliefs.  I tire of reading countless religious sites and getting just that – religion. 

I’m a fallen guy, in a fallen world – will you join me?

If so, subscribe by email or RSS on the right of this blog post.  I want to hear what YOU think and what struggles and victories you have.

Tags: believer, blog, christian, faith, matthew, rathbun

Hat/Tip to Greg over at Gregstier.org on this one.  This YouTube video for the Sienna is just too awesome not to share.  It’s pretty funny…

Tags: family, funny, mnivan, swagger, wagon

One of the current cultural Pastors that I most admire and listen to is Matt Chandler out of Village Church in Texas.  He’s insight and delivery are outstanding.  In October he did a sermon on “God and Sex”.  I’m sharing this on this site, because I think it’s one of the most powerful discussions I’ve ever heard on the topic.  It’s also one of the most down-to-earth and frank conversations.  I would recommend that your children not be in the room when this is playing.  He addresses a lot about healthy relationships and hurt then takes text-messaged questions from his congregation.

You can download it by clicking the link right-clicking HERE and choosing “download this link” or you can listen to it from my site by clicking the play button below

 

 God and Sex: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: christian, god, help, marriage, sex

While in Haiti, during one of the evening team meetings we sang a song by Phil Wickham called “Beautiful”. It resonated with me and so I put some of the pictures to the song. I think it tells a story…   The beginning audio clip is from a worship service outside of the area we were using for a clinic.  There’s no way to convey what we saw or how it felt to be among those in the Haitian church, so this is mostly for the team that went.

Tags: earthquake, haiti, medical, Missions, team, video

The Problem with Words

As we begin the fifth day or our trip, there are few struggles that are just setting in.  It’s hard to write about Haiti, and not just because the bugs are trying to eat me alive, we don’t have solid internet connections nor because down time to write is scarce.   It’s hard to write, because instilling in the reader the enormity of the problems is almost impossible.   They say pictures are worth a 1000 words – I’m going to need a lot of pictures.

Who’s Ministering To Whom?

Almost always, missionaries come back from either short-term or long-term trips very changed by what they see. Working with the people in Delma, and the Baptista Church has given opportunities for the Haitians to minister to us as in hospitality, patience and faith.  They are an incredible people, many of whom praise God for the blessing of survival and do not blame God for their poverty and devastation.  We spoke to one local pastor who said that when his home fell (a high-end home compared to those around him) he laughed when we got out of the rubble – He laughed at an attempt to take his life, and then praised God that he was still alive.  I’m not sure most American Christians would do the same.  I don’t understand a word of Creole, but their music, worship and prayers are amazing!

Let It Rain

The day was one of our longest, after a half day clinic, we than visited the survivor camps around us to pray and bless those people.  I’ve never seen anyone so grateful for house visits.  It’s overwhelming and sad to say the least.  We met some people, many of which spoke English (thank goodness).  It was amazing to hear their stories and plans.  It was touching to see them cleaning rubble from around their home and try to keep clean.  The Haitians treat what they have very well.  Frankly, they are far more concerned about their appearance than we have been.  They bath two-three times a day and are constantly sweeping and cleaning.  Rarely do I not see the Haitians brushing dirt from themselves.  They have a very healthy level of personal respect.

We had initially planned to take a break at a local hotel and get some dinner, maybe go swimming.  However, the schedule just didn’t allow it.  On the way home, it began to lightening and thunder, as we arrived it began to rain.  Several just stood in the refreshing down pour after a long, hot and humbling day.

If I could stay….I would. 

Don’t forget to read Amy Umble’s from the Free Lance Star, as she travels with us.

Tags: haiti, humble, mission, rain, trip