Sometimes we Christians suffer because we're Christians. As Jesus warned, since we don't belong to the world, the culture in which we live will often clash with out worldview, ethics, and beliefs. This is normal and to be expected, even in parts of the world (or throughout history) where this clash resulted in violence and martyrdom.

However, there are other times when Christians suffer for another reason: our own ignorance, disobedience and lack of wisdom. And in these times, there's no reason to blame the government or Satan or God or anyone else; to find the culprit responsible, we need only look in the mirror.

Consider this to be an example of the latter.

In case you don't have eight minutes to watch people on CNN argue, to make a long story short, a Christian college student is suing her univerty for persecution and breaching her First Amendment rights. The reason? In order to graduate with a degree in counseling at Augusta State University, she is being forced to undergo 'gay sensitivity' training to ensure that she will be able to uphold her oath and charge as an impartial guidance counselor. As you might guess, battle lines have been drawn, and people are lining up on both sides to say their peace and promote their agenda.

Very obviously, both parties have some amount of truth in their argument. After all, a conservative, bible believing Christian should have reservations about proclaiming practicing homosexuals to be living a morally neutral 'alternative' lifestyle. On the other hand, Augusta State University should expect its counseling graduates to be able to set aside their personal beliefs to serve a wide variety of people from all walks of life in the real world. So, who's right?

I don't know. And I don't care.

Here's what I do know - with the church's track record of how we deal with the very difficult and profoundly sensitive issue of sexuality, it should surprise no one when we now struggle to find a platform for our beliefs. In other words, after years of hatred, bigotry, hostility, and exclusion, the world has made its decision that we have lost the right to rationally deal with this issue. And that, friends, is terrible news for those of us who understand the value of the gospel of Jesus.

What's done is done, though, and all you and I can do is strive to emulate Christ as we interact with the hostile world around us. A good start in pursuing this endeavor would be to listen to the advice the apostle Paul gave to Timothy, a young preacher trying to be salt and light to the fallen world around him.

He told him that while some people would argue with God-given guidance, that Timothy should do his best to avoid their argumental strategies. He was called to avoid an 'unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words,' and to make sure he wasn not just trying to 'stir up trouble' as he presented the gospel. Instead, he should 'fight the good fight.' We can do that as well, and we will, when we,

'... run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perserverance and gentleness.' - 1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT)

When was the last time you stood up for what you believed in? Were you gentle? Sure to avoid stirring up trouble? Trusting in God? Loving? If not, then there's something very wrong. And more than that, if you didn't have the result you were looking for, there may have been a reason why - you weren't representing a Christ like attitude, but instead, a selfish, egotistical one.

I've spent far too much of my life being selfish, egotistical, and in doing so, have stirred up more trouble than I care to mention. It's high time that all of us - you and me and anyone else bearing the name of Christ - fought the good fight. And when we do?

Our suffering won't be in vain. 

I suppose now that I've lived in Ashland for more than four years, I should have probably taken in more of the Mid-Missouri culture than I have. I mean, there's a lot to see and do in these parts, I've avoided doing much of it. Well, no more, I say. From now on, I'm going to become a real, live small town Missouri citizen. And to start, I experienced something brand new a couple nights ago:

I went to the Boone County Fair.

This was quite the experience. I ate a funnel cake (or, as we call it in Indiana, an elephant ear); I discovered there was something called 'pig racing'; I found out that 'fun houses' can be hauled in trucks; I saw multiple women in a fist fight in front of their children; I experienced the uniquely amazing experience that is the demolition derby.

But despite the night's adventures, I have to admit that I was confused when I saw the 4-H display of hams. As it was explained to me, students cure hams... and then the hams are judged somehow. I'm not totally sure how the scoring worked, but it seemed to be like school - a 75 isn't great, while a 90 is pretty good.

At any rate, the point is this: I stood and looked at those hams for a few minutes, and then came to a startling conclusion: they all looked the same. Seriously. No difference at all. They all had a brown, leathery exterior with some black spots around them. They were uniformly the same. Every. Single. One. I suppose to the trained eye, there are subtle differences that set a '92' apart from a '78,' but to me, there was no difference at all.

It got me thinking - that's how people look a lot of times. I mean, sure, some people have brown hair while others have blond hair, and some people have darker skin than others, and people wear different clothes and all that. But if you look at a crowd of people, you'll notice that they all blend in with one another. Furthermore, one crowd inevitably ends up looking a whole lot like another (well... the County Fair might have a little different crowd, but that's beside the point).

This past Sunday at ACC, we talked about standing out instead of fitting in, about passionately living for Christ instead of compromising with the culture around us. This is, of course, something Jesus spoke at length about. He wanted his followers to lead others to him, to set examples for faith, and to make a real change in his world.

And how would we do this? Simple: love.

Look at your life. No, look at the lives of the people around you. Do you love others more than them? Do you treat other people with dignity and respect, understanding that Jesus died for EVERYONE, and that ALL people have spiritual value in God's eyes? Do you go out of your way to show the people you connect with every day that they mean something, that they're not just nameless faces in a crowd?

No matter how you answer, remember: the world is supposed to know us by our love.

I can't tell a difference between a bunch of hams, but anyone should be able to tell that YOU'RE different. And it shouldn't be for any reason but one:

You've shown them that you love them. 

 

It feels weird reading someone else's birthday book.

I recently purchased Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis from the always phenomenal abebooks.com. Abe Books is basically a database of used bookstores across the country. It's a truly fantastic place to shop for cheap reading material. There are several definitions for the word 'used,' however, in the world of 'used' books. Most of what I've purchased has been in pristine condition, while others have been treated in a way that no one would refer to as 'gently.'

But until I opened Bell's book, I had never been depressed by of of my purchases. On the first, blank page, is written a heartfelt message from a girl tastefully named 'Stephanie.' Stephanie wrote an encouraging bible verse, intended to show its recipient, a guy named 'Christopher' the importance of staying on the Christian path. It's dated 4/28/06, and its closing reads 'happy birthday.'

And now, four years and some change later, Christopher's birthday present is now in my possession.

Now, admittedly, I have no idea who Christopher is, so I have no ability to comment on why he might have gotten rid of this book. Perhaps, he simply hated it. Maybe Stephanie was an old girlfriend, and getting rid of the book was simply part of the grieving process of breaking up. Or, maybe, Christopher was never a Christian in the first place, and Velvet Elvis was simply a $19.99 prod in that direction. Most sadly, perhaps Christopher has decided the Christian faith is not for him, and therefore, is purging his library of any books that he may have collected during his foray into following Jesus.

No matter what, the entire concept gets to me. I mean, someone somewhere out there had a birthday present picked out just for them. And now, I'm reading it. And what's sad about that is it perfectly illustrates a point that each one of us needs to pay close attention to: where you are now is not where you will be years down the road. You WILL evolve and change; whether that change is for the better or for the worse is entirely up to you.

The Apostle Paul brought this point up in his letter to the church at Philippi when he wrote them a simple request:

Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ's return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. - Philippians 2:16

In other words, Paul had invested time, money and effort into helping the Philippians to follow Jesus. And if they didn't grow up in their faith, his investment would have been a waste. This wasn't a discussion about whether they could lose their salvation or if they would simply lose rewards or anything else. Instead, this was about what Paul had done. There was so much that he had given to help these people spiritually, and he didn't want to see his time wasted.

The point, for you and me, is simple - someone has invested in you, and your decisions will determine whether or not their investment was worth it. Just like Stephanie made an investment in Christopher, you have the choice to discard what other people have given you, or, to build on that foundation and reach the potential that others had hoped for you.

Most of all, though, we need to remember the investment that God has made in each one of us. Because he loves us all, he sent Jesus, who made it possible for each one of us to have eternal life. 

And that, friends, is an opportunity none of us should throw away. 

Yesterday, we changed our church sign. Ordinarily, this isn't groundbreaking news. But judging from the stir that our last message seemed to cause, it seems like a noteworthy development.

I recieved Facebook messages and phone calls asking questions about it - and that was just the start. Multiple people physically drove to the church to ask what was going on with it, I was told that another church in town discussed its meaning as its Sunday School lesson, and there was even another local church that seemed to post something in direct response to it. But the kicker was when I talked to one member here who said that our sign was emailed at his work all around, and that one person had even sent it into Jay Leno (if our church sign ends up on a late night show, I will have no words to describe how I will feel. No words at all).

What did the sign say? Just five simple words:

Good People Don't Need Jesus.

Now, I understand how my sentiment may be misconstrued. I really do. But it was stunning how many Christians seemed to completely miss the point. Okay, so maybe 'stunning' isn't the word I'm looking for; 'sad' may more describe my reaction.

See, the sign is absolutely, positively true. Good people don't need Jesus. After all, Jesus' entire purpose in coming to this earth was to save sinners, to die on behalf of the sins of mankind, and save God's people from the consequences of our mistakes. If someone was good - i.e. without mistakes - then Jesus' coming would have been of no value, either spiritually or philosophically. Simply put, Jesus' coming would not have been for a person who was truly 'good.'

Of course, the irony is that no person is actually good. There hasn't been one human being in the history of the planet (other than Jesus) who actually lived righteously. Therefore, everyone needs Jesus, even though good people don't. 

Unfortunately, this seems to be a message that countless believers in Jesus have missed. In the more than a decade that I've been following Christ, I've met a seemingly infinite amount of Christians who pretentiously treat other people as if they're scum. They look down their noses at people whose lifestyles contradict their values, and they show contempt for anyone who may view God, Jesus, the bible, or the world differently than they do. These Christians are the reason that so many feel like the church is an outdated, archaic relic of a past filled with close minded snobbery; their whole lives scream 'you're not good enough to belong to God!' The sad truth is that these people do infinitely more damage to the kingdom of God than they do good. And I can say these things with confidence, for one fantastic reason:

I used to be a Christian just like that.

We can all use a little more humility, and we can always use a reminder of why it is we became Christians in the first place - because we needed someone bigger than ourselves to help us. If you could make it on your own, Jesus never would have had to die, and you never would have needed to be forgiven for anything. If you had any grounds for arrogance or pretentiousness, you never would have given your life to Christ.

I never want someone to look at me and say, 'there's a good person,' because I'm not. I'm actually quite the opposite - I am a terrible, miserable human being. But that's what makes the gospel so beautiful. As bad as I am, God still loves me. I can still be His, because he sent his son of people like me, so that we could have eternal life. I'm not good, but that's why I need Jesus.

And that's why you do too.

'You are not a well rounded person.'

I heard this last week during a workshop at the North American Christian Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. And I heard it from a minister who is not only wildly and incredibly successful, but, more than anything, is groundbreaking in his approach to evangelism and church planting. And what he said afterwards, being this great success story and all, was even more stunning.

'I am not a well rounded person.'

I've thought about those words a lot this past week, but I thought about them even more last night. As you may be aware, this is Major League Baseball's All Star Week, a mid-season break to celebrate the best and brighest in the game. And last night, in Anaheim, eight players participated in the Home Run Derby, one of the keynote events for the week. This year's winner was an individual named David Ortiz, who happens to play for the Boston Red Sox.

Ortiz is one of baseball's most famous and decorated players, which, when you think about it, is somewhat strange. After all, playing the game of baseball encompasses quite a few skills: hitting, fielding, running, throwing, pitching, catching, etc. A good baseball player will be able to excel at, at the very least,three or four of these different skills. A great player will be able to do just about all of them.

David Ortiz, however, has made a career out of being good at one thing: hitting the ball a long way.

As a fielder, Ortiz is a pretty good hitter. And if there's a slower player in the game, it's not because Ortiz is hustling. And Ortiz has never stepped foot on the mound, and I'm not completely sure Ortiz even owns a glove (his 'position' is 'Designated Hitter'). Yet, for all his shortcomings, Ortiz is a World Champion, owner of a great nickname ('Big Papi') and a sweet beard, and now, the 2010 Home Run Derby champion.

How is this possible? Well, in baseball, you don't have to be well rounded. In fact, no one even really tries; no one both hits and pitches on a high level, and some players, like Ortiz, only do one thing. But that's completely alright - winning teams need people to play roles. And no one is truly good at everything, so being well rounded isn't even an option. Good teams use players' strengths to their advantage to win games, and because of that, guys like Ortiz can be on trick ponies and succeed.

As it turns out, the church is exactly the same way. This is not an original thought that I heard last week; in fact, you can read much the same thing more than once from the apostle Paul in the New Testament. And that same guy - only one of the most famous and well known Christians in the history of world - readily admitted that he had a role to play, and that was all. He wasn't expected to everything. Instead, he was only responsible to do what he was good at, what he was passionate about, and other people would make up the slack.

So, the question is this: are you actively participating in a team of people that you can contribute your abilities to? If not, here's the truth: you're NOT well rounded. On your own, away from the community and friendship of other believers, you will never, EVER live up to your potential as a Christian. After all, because you're not well rounded, you're not going to be able to meet all your spiritual needs on your own. And more than that, there are others who need your help as well, since they, as well, are not well rounded.

The point is this: we are all like David Ortiz. We have gifts and abilities and passions and circumstances that are completely unique to us. But we also need a team to play for - we all need the Boston Red Sox (or, if you follow the illustration, a church home like Ashland Christian Church). Without a team, you'll never be all that can be, and you'll never reach your full potential. You're not well rounded enough for that. But you know what? That's completely fine.

After all, when you have other players to play with, you don't have to be.

There are some things that are creepy. And I don't mean things like scary movies or ghost stories that are 'creepy,' but meant to entertain. I mean, there are some things that are so universally unappealing that even the mere mention of them make basically everyone's skin crawl. You know what I'm talking about - things like cockroaches scurrying out of a kitchen, or strange people staring at you at a stoplight or Nick Nolte's mugshot. That said, I think it's safe to assume that we have a new entrant to the Hall of Fame of Creep:

Jean Stevens.

In case you missed the story, Jean is your average, sweet matronly senior citizen. She's perfectly ordinary - except of course for her housemates, the corpses of her late husband and twin sister. Her living arrangements were recently brought to the attention of her local authorities, and then her absolutely freaky tale was brought to the masses.

Why would she live with the bodies of her dead loved ones, you ask? As she said about her sister,

"I think when you put them in the (ground), that's goodbye, goodbye. In this way I could touch her and look at her and talk to her." 

Truthfully, as I consider her response, I can't help but think that maybe Jean Stevens wasn't creepy after all. I mean, sure, it's weird - but as someone who doesn't believe in God, Jesus, or the afterlife, the whole thing actually seems fairly reasonable through the lens of her worldview. After all, if we are just skin and bones, and we don't exist beyond this world,then what's the harm in keeping the bodies of our deceased loved ones around? It doesn't hurt anyone, and it's a way for them to live on, even if they're unaware of their further impact on this world.

Of course, keeping a dead body around is NOT reasonable or rational. The truth is, it's really, REALLY creepy. But maybe the reason this is so is because people intrinsically understand the underlying truth to our lives that what we see in the here and now is anything but the entirety of what's real. Maybe, just maybe, the reason we recoil at death is we have an inherent sense that a corpse is nothing but a shell, a remnant of a temporary existence in a fleeting world.

As Christians, we have hope in more than just what we can see, and we can rest assured that God has a plan for us beyond this life. As the apostle Paul wrote to the ancient church at Phillipi,

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. - Philippians 3:20-21

The point is this: maybe being creeped out about death is normal, and maybe the reason is because to die is an unnatural, unplanned part of the existence that God created us for. And when we take God out of the equation, we take away our reason to look at a corpse the way we do. In that sense, Jean Stevens isn't really creepy herself; instead, Jean Stevens is simply missing the biggest piece of the puzzle that should dictate how we feel about death.

And that, friends, is the real tragedy here.  

The dream is over. A part of me has died.

Rest in peace, Typhoon Mountain Dew.

For those of you who don't drink soda (i.e. those who will live past their 60th birthday), recently, Mountain Dew released three new flavors of their delicious drink. I discovered this accidentally, as one of them looked eerily like the original. However, once I discovered what was happening, my wife brought home all three for Snyder house taste test. The results were mixed: while Stephanie preferred the white one (and eventual winner), I fell absolutely head over heels for Typhoon. It was like Hawaiian Punch mixed with Mountain Dew, the perfect blend of fruit and soda. It was perfection in a bottle, and over the last couple months, nary a day has gone by that I haven't indulged in the creature.

And yet, now, Typhoon will be 'phased out,' and I may never have it again. I bought the last two bottles at Moser's last night, and hope that those were not my final tastes of my beloved drink. But whether it's today or next week, Typhoon will eventually be gone - along with a part of my heart.

In all seriousness, this is a perfect illustration of the problem of the world we live in: everything's temporary. Oh, sure, some things last a long time, but eventually, and universally, the things of this world end. I don't care what it is or how much you love it - everything we fight for, focus on, and make our lives revolve around will eventually be over. Nothing at all of this world will last forever. Of course, for some of what we go through, it's a comforting thought that things don't last forever, but still - good, bad, or indifferent, the world we live in is temporary.

And that, friends, is what makes the words of the apostle Paul to the ancient church at Thessalonica so encouraging. He wrote,

Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. - 1 Thessalonians 5:10

Short, simple, and profound: Jesus died so that we can live with him forever. Even in an always changing, fleeting world, there is one thing we can lean on, trust in, and build our lives upon: our faith, hope and relationship with Jesus. While everything else will fade away, that will last. Jesus will last eternally, and those who trust in him will as well.

There's nothing we can do about the temporary nature of the world around us. What we can do, however, is ensure that we don't pass away with it. And the way we do that is by trusting in the one who will be around long after the world has disappeared: Jesus.

As for now, I'm going to try to go find another Typhoon while I can!