Dead American

The Lord told me to write a book about love in 2000.  He gave me a clear thesis and structure for a dissertation on the biblical idea of love.

Per my personality, I immediately argued with God.  My excuses were many: there are too many books already on the Christian market, I’m too young, I’m too old, nobody will listen to me, I’ve never written a book like this before, etc.  The most realistic reason I espoused to my Creator was my extreme feelings of inadequacy.  This is too big, I told Him.

If you haven’t figured this out, yet, arguing with God is fairly fruitless, possibly dangerous, and God kept bugging me.

Before we left for our stint in Korea, God told me I wouldn’t leave Korea until I had written this book.  I began at some point, maybe sometime in 2002, making notes, putting together scriptures, but stalled at the end of the first section on Faith.

My inadequacy was even more pronounced when it came to the section on Hope.  Not that I didn’t have hope in me, necessarily, but I didn’t feel as if I understood it well enough to explain it.

So I spent the next couple years asking God to teach me about hope.  I read related scriptures, but most of the section on hope came from personal meditation and subsequent revelation.

But I didn’t finish the book by the time Becca and I were called back to be missionaries in our home country.  I felt a little guilty about this, almost like a failure, but God quickly showed me a couple of things.

First, crying and whining about it now won’t help.  Finish the book.

Second, I did finish writing the book in Korea.  It just wasn’t down on paper yet.

While I’ve been a member of close communities here in the States, and those experiences birthed the theme of the book, our time in Korea and the ministry there among such a close knit community matured some things that were only concepts before into actualized truth.

So the last two years have been spent finishing the book, revising, rewriting, and editing the material.  Then came the daunting task of self-publishing — type setting, creating a cover, etc.

And here it all is.

Some thoughts on the book: It is a little long.  But there was just too much I had to say.  So I did.  My revisions either extended it or just equalized it all out, so I focused more on editing and rewriting.  That kept it a little more concise, but without a more professional editor, which I am not, I did my best to say what was on my heart to say.

The sections on love are really powerful, but the treasure of the book might be the section on hope.  I considered separating the sections into more than one book.  The hope section really could be its own book.  Ultimately, I wanted to stay true to the theme and original vision and accepted one book of bigger scope.  Hope needed to be in the context of the other two, faith and love.

I won’t be making any money off of this book.  All proceeds will go to the Mercy Home ministry in India.  If I sell 100 copies and there’s a decent demand for more, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it with God’s leading.  My heart is not to be a “peddler of the gospel,” so to speak, but it is up to God where all this leads from here.

Any feedback is appreciated.  Leave a comment on the blog or email me.

If the book blesses you, share it.  If you don’t like something I’ve said, contact me about it to explain further or just pray for me.  I need it anyway.

For all those who have encouraged me along the way, thank you.  To Becca especially, I’ll be serving you in heaven, so thanks for your service to me here.

Peace.

Well, it has been an interesting week.  Obama was elected president, and we’re still talking about Sarah Palin.

Really?  I mean, come on.  Let’s think about the absurdity of a press who shrugs off any negative story on Obama (his support of domestic terrorists, rampant corruption in his state and federal positions) and they still report the most inane rumors they can find on Sarah Palin a week after she loses the election.

Really?

Some unknown source says she didn’t know that Africa is a continent … Hey, I’ve got an email with a video in it where Obama slips up and mentions his “Muslim faith.”  You gonna run with that, too?

No.  What we ask Obama is: what kind of dog will you get your daughter?  How do you feel about the BCS?

Hannity keeps saying 2008 is the year journalism died.  At first I suspected he was just being negative … I’m starting to believe him.

On a related front, the Obama campaign kicked off three newspapers from traveling with them, the only three who had backed McCain for the presidency.  I wonder what would have happened if McCain had kicked off all reporters associated with the major networks besides Fox News and the newspapers that backed Obama … hmnn.  By the way, Fox News, the only interview to really give Obama a tough time and tough questions, is also being frozen out by the Obama staff.

These are the actions of a despot, not the “leader of the FREE world.”

In the spirit of bipartisanship, promised by Obama himself on election night, Obama appointed one of the most partisan Democrats around, this according to the New York Times and the LA Times, as his Chief of Staff.  I must have a different definition of bipartisan in my dictionary …

Although Obama has spoken out about Reid trying to get rid of Lieberman as head of his Senate comittee, but who knows how sincere that is and what will happen.  Talk is if Lieberman is openly censored like this, he’ll switch parties.

One of the bright spots this week is the overwhelming kindness and graciousness shown by Bush and his administration.  It is rare for the sitting president of an opposing party to be so gracious so soon.  Good for G,W.

I’m sure Michael Moore is making a documentary on some diabolical conspiracy behind why Bush is being so nice.

Peace.

Dealing with students is a great way to learn about children.

One intersting observation incited this week was when a couple students, one a white girl and the other a black boy, were discussing the election last week.

The boy expressed his joy over the outcome.  The girl accused him openly of onl liking Obama because the president-elect is black.  They argued about this a while, freely and openly, even to the point where the young man admitted taht he thought Obama would do a better job because he is black, which was then challenged again by the girl.

While they were both passionate about their opinions, they allowed the expression of their opinions without a whole lot of tension or offense … and they still acted civily towards one another.

Some might have heard some tof the exchange and considered it racist to even mention such thoughts, but I saw only two young people unhibited enough to ignore modern notions of being politically correct.

This led me to meditate upon how children generally don’t have a lot of inhibitions we have as adults.  Micah points out my big belly, sticks his own out and says, “I have a belly like yours.”  He thanks God for his penis.  He comments on Saji’s dark skin.  He notices differences and makes comments that some would consider insensitive … but he’s just pointing out the obvious that we all notice but don’t feel the liberty to express.  Am I to hush and shame him out of some pseudo kindness we’ve created?  Of course we don’t with children, but why do we lose the innocence of honesty that can help us be real and open?

I guess what I’m wondering is (and I don’t necessarily have a full answer here) how much of our call to be “like a child” to enter the Kingdom includes losing culturally imposed inhibitions so we can be real, genuine and guileless?

Of course certain inhibitions are good.  But many about race and sex and gender and socio-economic status are counter-productive to being real, open, and genuine.  And those barriers keep us from community and discipleship.

We’re too easily offended by some things and then fine with things God is offended about (a whole ‘nuther post some day …).  And we’re afraid of being offensive, as well.  Truth sets you free.  These cultural mores cause us, Christians, to put up a facade with one another, something different on the outside than what’s really going on inside.  We’re afraid of being transparent - for a whole host of reasons - but that fear is the opposite of love.  It is a type of hypocrisy that we either accept or even encourage.  But God generally hates it.

Again, I’m not saying I have all the answers here, only that I’m meditating openly on the benefits of a Church willing to talk about and express things that our society might consider rude.

There are plenty of examples where Jesus and the original twelve did very socially unacceptable things.  Not that they sought them out, but He was willing, if the Lord so led or openedthe door, to break the sacred rules of man in the name of love and compassion.

Any thoughts?

Peace.

We’re getting close to 4,500 American troops killed in the war in Iraq over the last few years.  That’s almost as many babies as we kill in this country, legally, EVERY DAY.

If every person who voted for Obama had personally given $100 (average) to someone in need on November 4, we wouldn’t need the government to do anything for the poor.  That’s 6 billion dollars to those in need without government bureacracy, waste, raising taxes or campaigning for “change” or “hope.”  That’s not counting the McCain voters as well.  Rounding up for fun, that would have been 12 billion dollars of immediate compassion in one day.  That’s the kind of change we need.

Peace.

The Watchmen

So I saw The Watchmen tralier in front of Iron Man a couple months ago.  Looked very cool, but I had never read the comic book.  I was a collector then, twenty years ago, but I was more interested in GI Joe and Transformers and maybe Batman or Superman then.  So before the movie comes out, I decided to read it.

The premise is this: what if superheroes really existed and ran around in weird costumes?  Alan Moore’s answer is a little disturbing.  In his mock universe, they would have to be insane or sexually repressed.  The really powerful ones would be corrupted by that power, develop some god-complex.  Moore also speculates on a different history: the US would have won Vietnam, completely subjected the world in its domination (even the Soviet Union), all because the Superman-type character is American.

In The Watchmen, the superheroes are all original to the story (no DC or Marvel universe characters), but they are familiar enough that you can relate them to certain types.

They’ve made a few of the darker comics from the 80’s on (300, Sin City, the Crow, etc … I would love to see them do Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns … but that’s not gonna happen), so it makes sense this one is next.  If they stay true to the comic story, and chances are with 300′s director they will, don’t go expecting a superhero story.  This is designed as the ultimate anti-superhero story.  Go expecting something more along the lines of V for Vendetta or Children of Men and you won’t be disappointed.

While pretty dark, and definitely not Christian, I really liked it.  I appreciated the original take on the superhero mythology.  I also liked the pessimistic view of human nature expressing itself even through those attempting to be heroes and “save the world.”  Very appropos for the Obama “hope” presidency in my view, although they wrote it with the Regan administration and 80’s Cold War mindset as a focus … and the liberal Hollywood would more want to relate it to the Bush administration.  The story sees humanity and even our heroes as fatally flawed, at the very least, if not even more problematic than the bad guys, and that’s half the truth, at least.

The next review shows the other half, too.

Fireproof

So Eric and Heather went to see this movie a couple weeks ago and really blessed us by offering to watch the kids while we went to see it.  It took a couple weeks to get there, but Becca and I saw it last night.

This is from the same people who did Facing the Giants.  While not a great movie on its own, Facing the Giants had heart, and it was pretty amazing that a fellowship came together and just made a watchable movie with a great message.

Based on the success of Facing the Giants, they made another one.  Somehow they got Kirk Cameron on board and went forward.

As a movie, it was pretty good.  Definitely better than the first one … they actually pulled a couple scenes together nicely.  The first few minutes of the story, during the setup, were a little tortuous, but it got a lot better quickly.

The story was a great idea.  A couple good themes ran throughout.  They even had some moments of good comedic timing and acting along with some of the drama that went a little overboard here and there.  The salvation scenes were good, not too forced, and a lot of heart and genuine reality in them.  The two action scenes had some good tension, as well.

Don’t get me wrong.  This movie doesn’t touch Oscar worthy.  The script could have used some work, and some of the actors were definitely not professionals.  I’d rather watch an agenda driven average movie about the true redemptive power of Christ, however, than a great agenda driven movie about gay cowboys.

Oh, and the “forced” nature of the spiritual scenes are way less contrived to me than the “forced” liberal and secular humanist drivel I have to endure in most movies from Hollywood.  We’re just so used to getting force fed that crap that it seems more forced when actual truth is openly expressed.

I can honestly recommend this movie … although it is more of a chick flick. 

The Happening

Finally saw the new M. Night movie last night after house church.  While I enjoyed it, I put it more in the category of The Village.  Good to watch once, but not something I’d probably get excited about seeing again.  I love the way M. Night makes movies, but the character development and acting weren’t as strong as in some of his others.  The ending, usually one of Night’s strong points, really left something to be desired.

This one was a little more violent than his others.  Some of it was creepy and a little disturbing, but overall not as redemptive.  Again … why don’t these movies take the time to really work on the script? 

I need to watch Lady of the Water again.  I really liked that one.

Peace.

Now, as you view this, I’m sure that there are many Obama supporters very genuine and grounded … but this has got to be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.  I laughed hard.

Link to video here.

Peace.

Cry and shout, O inhabitants of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! Isaiah 12:6

Also see Micah 4-5

I’m reminded of a great movie, Hook, starring Robin Williams as a middle-aged Peter Pan.

If you haven’t seen the movie, the basic story is that Peter Pan continues to come see Wendy until she has a granddaughter.  Peter Pan falls in love with the granddaughter and gives up his life in Neverland to be with her.  Years pass and he forgets he was ever Peter Pan.

Peter (Robin Williams) returns to London to honor Wendy and her work with orphans, which he remembers himself to be.  At one point, Wendy asks what Peter is doing now, and he says, “Corporate takeovers.”

Wendy replies, with surprise, “Peter, you’ve become a pirate.”

Well, Captain Hook has been bored all this time without Peter Pan and comes looking for Peter to rekindle the old rivalry by kidnapping Peter’s two children.

As the family returns from their evening out, they find the children gone.  They call the police, but the authorities of our world can do nothing in Neverland.

Wendy pulls Peter into her bedroom and tells him, “You must fight, you must crow, you must fly.  You must save your children.”

Peter gets confused.  He thinks she’s gone batty.  Then Wendy delivers one of the greatest lines: “Peter, don’t you know who you are?”  Then she opens an old book to show him a picture of a young Peter Pan.

As our world continues to erupt in crisis, either now or in the future or both, I have one question for the Church:

Don’t you know who you are?

You’re the hero of this story.  You are the agent of redemption.  You’ve been given the ministry of reconciliation.

Not your ministers or professional leaders.  You.  All of you.  Together.  You’re the hero.

Stop looking to the authorities of this world to accomplish what can only be affected in the heavenlies, what only you have been anointed to do.  Stop looking to governments, political parties, economic systems, religious systems, candidates, celebrities, causes, organizations, or professional ministers to give you hope.

You, the collective YOU, Church, are the hope because the Hope resides in your midst.

The King of kings is your Father.  That is more authority by inheritance and promise than any worldly leader could ever attain or gather to him or herself by any means.  The will of God always trumps the will of the people.

Who shall we obey, God or man?

You might be confused.  You might think I’ve gone batty, but my message is this:

You are the hero of this story.

You must learn to fight.  You must learn to crow.  You must learn to fly.

The story depends upon the HERO realizing YOUR destiny.

Peace.

Your gods, the work of your hands, will be the ruin of you.

Do we really believe that He who refused to rule an earthly kingdom while in the flesh, seeks to do so while in the Spirit?

Peace.

Hmnnn …  Where to start?

Well, I’ll begin with more natural, worldly thoughts: the Republicans deserved to lose this election for many reasons.  For six years, the Bush administration had a Republican controlled House and Senate and did very little that could justify keeping the Republicans in power.  They were content to play status quo, too anxious of a media ready to pounce at any real revolutionary idea (fixing Social Security, Fair Tax, etc.).

Also, McCain messed up his one shot to win this election.  Hindsight being 20/20 and all, he was ahead in the polls after choosing Palin, but when the “economic crisis” occurred, McCain and Palin both responded with the same rhetoric spewing from the Democrats and Bush.  A large percentage of Americans were against the bailout.  If McCain had taken a position against the bailout, citing his reluctance to put more money at the hands of corrupt politicians and CEOs, he would have distanced himself from the Democrats and the unpopular Bush.  After that “economic crisis” and bailout business, McCain fell too far behind to catch up.

You can only assume that McCain followed his beliefs and gut and took a stand where he thought best.  I respect the guy, but I really do think it cost him the election.

I’m not too worried about a Democratic president with a Dem majority in Congress.  Here’s why: Clinton had it for a couple years at the beginning of his presidency and did nothing with it until the Republicans got their act together and made a play.  And as stated earlier, the Republicans also just wasted six years in the same position, twiddling their thumbs most of the time instead of trying to enact real and positive change.

For evidence of the nasty, racist, sexist, and unreasonable division the Dems are capable of, just remember the primaries between Obama and Hillary.

Plus, the Dems have been talkers and critics for much of the last 16 years.  Oh, they do stuff every now and then (like the sub-prime mortgage stuff), but they mostly have tried to influence the system and sit back and let Bush make the decisions.  They will now be responsible for everything that happens in Washington.  They have no Republicans to blame.  This will cause many Dems to run in fright from putting their name on anything.  Their inactivity, along with the unrealistic expectations for Obama, will be a huge problem.  Maybe not enough to keep Obama from re-election, but it will have an effect.

Now on to spiritual things:

God wanted Obama to be president.  This challenges certain theologies and our democratic sensibilities, but just because we get a vote doesn’t mean God has somehow lost the power to raise up leaders as He chooses.

Let me clear, though.  This does not mean that God is pleased with Obama or even likes him.  I’m only saying that God desired to have this man as president of the US for the next four years.

Why? you may ask.  I could think of a whole host of reasons … and maybe they all have a degree of truth to them.  But the real question is what our response should be.

Pray for Obama.  Pray that our leaders will make wise and righteous judments and decisions.  Pray that God will frustrate any attempt at unrighteousness.  Bless Obama in the name of Jesus.  Do not curse him in your heart or with your words.

One reason God might have raised up Obama is to teach conservative Christians to pray for and choose to bless those whom they strongly disagree with politically.  I know a lot of Christians on both sides of the political aisle that need to learn this.  We can strongly disagree with a man or woman on issues, and some of them are very important, all while still loving and blessing that person.  We are to speak the truth in love.  That doesn’t go out the window with politics.

I’m not saying this justifies voting for a candidate with perverse, dangerous, and oppressive policies and philosophies, either.  That’s a totally different discussion, albeit an interesting one.

I’m saying its time the Church learned, as a whole, how to stand up for righteousness and against any party or candidate that perverts righteousness, all while loving and blessing those we stand against.  It is time for us to be the people of character and love we were created to be.  While disagreeing on issues is fine, do not call Democrats or Obama idiots or fools or demonize them.  They are people that God loves just as much as he loves any of us, and any human drawing breath has a chance for redemption because of the power of God.  Do not be like the “tax collectors”, only “loving” those who love you.  Love your “enemies.”

And do not be afraid.  God is in complete control.  He always has been and he always will.  He looks far beyond the next four years, and His Church should as well.  Our hope is not in a candidate or a party or an economic or political system, but in Christ and His Church.

If God brings more tough times, if they continue to get worse, then realize that this is our chance to shine, Church.  Jesus called us the “light of the world,” and light shines brighter in darkness.  Not that I wish dark times to come.  I pray that Obama is a successful president in positive ways, but I also know that God brings dark times just so the Church may shine.

Shine in peace and love.

Peace.

Mixed emotions.  While I don’t support his policies or philosophy, I also applaud that a man is president in a country where he could not have voted fifty years ago, not to mention he would have been enslaved another century before that.

I applaud Obama’s right as a man, regardless of his skin color, to serve as president of the United States.

There was a nice moment where a white couple was being interviewed about the win, Obama supporters.  Behind them stood Jesse Jackson.  He was weeping.

While Jesse Jackson has his issues, too, it must be overwhelming to have marched in places like Alabama and Mississippi in the face of such hate and oppression and to live to see a black man as president of the United States.

More thoughts to come this week.  But for now I just say congratulations and pray for a righteous and wise leader, as is my duty as a Christian.

Peace.