Category Archive

I’ve been writing this blog for a couple of years now. And in that time, I’ve had a decent amount of visitors. I still haven’t widely shared it outside of a close circle of friends and family. But it is out there to be found. And sometimes, people find it. That got me curious as to how they were finding it.

So, I started paying more attention to Google searches that were leading people to my site. Just for my own amusement, below are the most recent search terms that have brought visitors to this blog. Not exactly what you might expect, given the subject matter I explore.

The Top Ten

1. Yes Cow

2. Survival Instincts

3. Cow Dung

4. Charlie Sheen Wasted

5. Benefits of Long  Suffering

6. Waffle House Menu

7. Milk Carton Vector

8. Religion is Childish

9. Roots not Fruits

10. Light Switch Off

This Sunday marks the end of a long string of absences from church for my family. As I’ve mentioned several times previously, we’ve been debating where to attend, struggling to find a “good fit” for us. After all this time, we’re headed back to a congregation that I’ve felt God pulling me toward for months. Why didn’t I just listen already? Please don’t ask me questions you know I can’t answer!

Part of the challenge, at least for me, in this process is that so many churches now declare themselves “seeker friendly.” One article I found suggests more than 40,000 churches consider themselves built for seekers, those who are open to the idea of God but haven’t yet established a relationship with Him. I have a few basic problems with churches that overly gear themselves toward seekers. Please pause while I climb atop my soapbox.

First, they err on the side of entertainment instead of education. I love a good worship service as much as the next guy, and I want to be inspired and motivated and engaged while I’m at church, but I also want growth and authenticity. In my experience, it’s way too easy to throw that out the window in an attempt to make seekers feel more welcome.

Secondly, it feels like the best way to woo seekers into the Christian family would be to show them what it is genuinely all about. You don’t have to water it down or put on your performance face. Let them truly see God at work, and that will speak volumes. There is nothing more captivating than that. Show them that broken people are welcome. That they can be redeemed. That God can not only heal wounds but use them for His kingdom.

Finally, why aren’t more of us up in arms about the way seekers are being defined? Shouldn’t we all consider ourselves seekers? Aren’t we all seeking a deeper relationship with God, more truth, more communion, more understanding and intimacy. You don’t just “find God” and then stop seeking. You don’t get converted from a seeker to a believer and then rot in a pew. Pursuing God is a lifelong endeavor, so reserving the term seeker to label those who haven’t even fully taken up that pursuit seems unfortunate and shortsighted to me.

With all that said, I do understand the need for the church to be culturally relevant and appealing. I get that. I like that, to an extent. I am a consumer, just like everyone else. I’ve proven lately to be too much of a consumer, thus my aforementioned extended absence from church. I just get a little sideways when I see churches expend so much energy attracting new recruits, potentially at the expense of those who are already signed up for the program and in need of depth and growth. Who still have a lot of seeking of their own to do.

I hope this doesn’t cause you to question my desire to lead others to Christ. I do believe that is a priority for all of us individually, and for the church collectively. I also hope this doesn’t make you think I’m a throw back conservative who wants to do things such as restricting instruments to the standard issue organ and piano. Please no. Rock the stage! Drums. Bass. Horns. I want it all.

But do it all in authenticity. And do it with a balance of helping seekers of all stages and walks. And do it in a way that builds a community where Christ followers can support one another in daily growth, not just a cool hang where the music is fresh and the speaker is snappy and the faces are pretty and smiling.

In less than a month, I will be holed up in a cabin-like getaway, somewhere just north of Nashville, for a 48-hour intensive weekend of writing. I assume I will be spending that time making progress on the book I have promised to finish this year. But I’m trying to stay open to what God wants me to accomplish. 

I’ve never dedicated a serious chunk of time to writing. It’s always been something I do when I steal a moment from the chaos of life. I’m excited about what I might be able to get done with 48 hours. I’m also trying not to put too much pressure on the situation. Nothing worse than catching a case of writer’s block an hour into a weekend of writing. Sitting there, staring at the blank screen, waiting…and waiting…

Biggest challenge will be not to psych myself out. I know this will be positive. Lots of writers do this sort of thing with great success. Trusting that God will make it what it needs to be for me. If nothing else, it will be an opportunity to hear from Him and be still.

Wish me luck.

Yes, this is a sports-related post. For you who are not sports enthusiasts, read on anyway, there’s more to it than that.

Michael Vick is a convicted felon. He served two years in prison for running a dog-fighting operation where innocent animals were subjected to unspeakable cruelties. And last night, he capped a chilling and swift climb back to the life he once took for granted by turning in a historic performance during Monday Night Football, where he basically enjoyed the best night an NFL quarterback has ever had on a football field. Ever.

All along his journey, there have been endless questions about whether he “deserved” a second chance at playing football. Whether a team would be putting its morality into question for signing him. Had he been punished enough for his wrongdoings? Should the NFL refuse to let him back in the game? As he worked his way back into a starting QB role with the Eagles, the questions continued. And now, after a freakish and unbelievable athletic display in front of the entire football-watching nation, the first questions I heard on talk radio this morning were:  Has Michael Vick been redeemed? Is it okay to actually root for him now? Has he paid enough of a price?

I’m sorry. Since when is it our place to determine whether someone has been redeemed? No matter what sins they have committed. Why is it second nature for us to assume the authority and the responsibility for determining when someone else has “paid enough” for his or her wrongdoings? Yes, I understand there are legal penalties involved with criminal activity. And those were carried through with Vick. But why is it presumably okay for us as a society to  judge whether this man is forgiven? That seems highly hypocritical given the grace and mercy bestowed upon us by God. Right?

I’m not saying you have to personally like Michael Vick. I’m not asking you to condone or approve of his past transgressions. I’m not asking you to watch his games, buy his jersey or actively seek his autograph. But I think instead of focusing on whether we’ve been able to extract a pound of flesh from his body, we should focus on the redemptive story God is telling here. And I’m not just saying this because Michael Vick is my fantasy quarterback and helped me win a game this week with his six-touchdown performance.

I have no way of knowing Michael Vick’s heart. That’s for him and God to work out. But seeing what God has provided for him over the last two years is powerful. From a prison cell and public villany to running the offense for a playoff-bound professional football team, the transformation is nothing short of remarkable. Like him or leave him, that’s up to you. But I personally take this as a reminder of two very important truths: 1. I serve a mighty God and 2.  judgment is not in my job description.

This entry marks my 100th post to this blog. Wow, I feel really good about that.  In fact, I’d like to pause for a moment and reflect, maybe even meditate, on the journey thus far. Oh yeah, I said meditate. 

Which brings me to what I’d like to write about today. Each time I see Christians get bent over meditation, it stresses me out.  Please pardon the soapbox I’m about to mount.

Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God.

Meditation can clearly be okay. Yet it seems to me that many Christians are stacking it right up there with Ouija boards and seances. I understand those who believe if you meditate, you should meditate on God’s word and all, but even if you are simply clearing your mind and centering yourself, I really don’t see the harm. It has been suggested to me that you could be opening windows to evil spirits when you do this.  That you are trying to achieve equality with God.  I really, really, really don’t think the vast majority of Christians are intending to summon the darkness or rival God if they engage in meditation.

Just this past week, danger has been diagnosed for yoga as well.  Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler said of yoga, “That’s just not Christianity.” After attacking yoga in a recent essay, Mohler was bombarded with letters from Christians who defended the practice.

“I’m really surprised by the depth of the commitment to yoga found on the part of many who identify as Christians,” Mohler said in response. Gosh, I’m sure he was equally appalled to discover the number of Christians who buy organic food. I don’t even want to know where he stands on Zumba, but all that hip shaking and dance music surely are of the devil.

So, again, I ask you…how many Christians who practice yoga are doing so with intentions to replace, supersede or block out God?  My wife has practiced yoga for years, and it has been instrumental in strengthening her health and all but eliminating pain associated with a herniated disc in her neck. Not once has she looked at yoga as a spiritual outlet or attempted to ascend to an equal plane with God. Mental and physical therapy? Yes. But that is it.

I don’t think it does Christianity any favors for Christian leaders to march against things like meditation and yoga. Why don’t we also attack Halloween, Santa Claus and Disney World? Oh, crap, never mind. We’ve already done all that.

For me, it all goes back to intention. How are you approaching the topic at hand? There’s a great ad slogan that says, “Guns don’t kill people. People do.” In the same way, yoga isn’t brainwashing unsuspecting Christians and leading them away from God. In fact, I’d argue that meditating and yoga are two exercises that enable most people to get more connected to God.

I’m not suggesting you go blindly into a practice like meditation and chant a bunch of things you don’t understand, but at the same time, I am under no delusion that clearing your mind for 30 minutes or going through a watered down, popularized version of meditation is going to lead you to the gates of Hell. And neither is downward dog, for that matter. With all this, I’m not saying meditation and yoga (and whatever is next on the protest list) are categorically okay. What I am saying, is that they definitely aren’t categorically wrong. 

I truly wish our Christian leaders could find more appropriate issues on which to focus. There is so much to discuss and debate. I’m just not sure why we need to spend time bending ourselves over backwards for something that is closer to weight-lifting than devil worship.  Meditate on that, Mr. Mohler, if you can.

Great Sheryl Crow song. I saw her in Arby’s once, buying roast beef with two huge bodyguards. Still find that a bit weird. But anyway…the first cut is the deepest. The first step is the hardest. The first of anything is the most difficult. Hurts the most. Holds the most resistance. Last Tuesday, I finally took the first cut at my book, the one I recently promised I would write. And it hurt. It was painful. I slogged through 15 pages and left myself underwhelmed. The lies ensued. The distractions began. The adversity within myself and beyond myself.

But Saturday night, while watching college football with some friends, a buddy asked me if I’d ‘started the book yet. I grinned as I said, “Yes, yes I have as a matter of fact.” I have broken the seal. Taken the hardest step. Being able to say that to my buddy took me from discouraged to encouraged in six seconds or less. I still am not thrilled with the first 15 pages, but that’s what editing is all about. I have a long, long, long way to go, but I’ve taken the first step, made the first cut, felt the initial pain and pushed through it, at least for the moment.

If Sheryl is right, and the first cut truly is the deepest, that’s good news. However, this theory doesn’t suggest that subsequent cuts don’t hurt. I expect to hit walls and hear lies all the way through this project. But there’s something about knowing you’ve already taken the opposition’s best shot that is invigorating. I say bring on the second cut. I feel certain I can manage the pain.

I guess I’ve procrastinated long enough. I”ll share the grand plan with you now. When I first started writing this blog, it was mostly a way for me to journal and reflect on my journey. It quickly became a way for me to motivate myself and hold myself accountable by opening it to a handful of people around me. Just the idea that someone might check back in to read the blog was enough to spur me into maintaining it. Over time, I’ve been led to believe that someone out there might benefit from some of the things I’m going through, the insights God is sharing (no matter how simple), the struggles I am wrestling. And now, here I am, contemplating my next move.

Those who know me well, know that I am a self-proclaimed writer. It’s been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, both professionally and personally. I’ve started and stalled on half a dozen novels, numerous collections of poetry and even a few non-fiction projects. I have enjoyed short stints as a freelance writer for sports publications. I even made it two years into an engagement to co-author a public relations textbook before pulling the plug because of “irreconcilable differences” between me and the publisher.

I’ve also internally debated how to use my interest in writing for a greater cause. I’ve talked to charities and causes. I’ve pitched books. I have burned endless brain cells with little in the way of breakthroughs. And now I am sitting on a pile of blog posts.  A year or so of actively pursuing a deeper spiritual walk. Lots of mini epiphanies and glimpses of God. And finally, a realization that maybe this is the writing project I’ve been seeking. That maybe I should be taking the issues and insights I’ve discussed in this forum and further develop them into something more formal and constructed. So, looks like I’m writing a book on the topic of seeking God. Wish me luck.

In the name of full disclosure, I’ve been dreading posting this, saying it “out loud” because as usual I immediately am waging battle against the lies. Here are a few I’m hearing loud and clear, trying not to believe.

1. You aren’t a good enough writer to make this work. It’s not like you’ve been tremendously compelling with the blog so far. What makes you think you can complete a book on this topic?

2. What are you going to offer that isn’t already out there? The bookshelves are fully stocked with advice and guidance from leading experts, pastors, academics, celebrities, theologians, etc. Your “expertise” pales in comparison. Your story isn’t all that special.

3. Your motivations are not pure. Do you want to write this book to help others, to share what God has blessed you with, or are you just seeking validation? Are you just looking to have a sense of accomplishment? To hear people tell you that you’re a good writer? To be successful?

I could go on, but these are the three that dominate my daily thoughts. I share this because I have an unprecendented desire to be transparent and real, something that is missing from your average, everyday Christian. I have flaws. I have wounds. I have failures. I have doubts. I am human. I am a writer.

I am going to write this book, no matter how pervasive these lies become. No matter if some of them play out to be true. No matter if obstacles and roadblocks and challenges create a difficult path. And once it is done, I will give it to God and see what He has in His plan for it. Whether it was just to fuel my own personal walk or whether others will benefit from it, I will accept it fully with praise.

I work in an industry where measurement is a really big issue, one that is hotly debated at every turn. If you can’t measure results, you can’t prove value, and if you can’t prove value, you can’t continue to collect checks from your customers. The problem is that measuring the outcomes related to the services my company sells is horribly difficult and, even worse, sometimes subjective.

One of the side effects related to the measurement challenge is that sometimes you default to measuring what you can measure, even if you are only measuring things you think are simple proxies that create plausibility. What happens next is that it is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the proxy measures and managing to their achievement, which can be fine but often takes your eye off the ball. Eventually you look up from your work and realize that you aren’t even close to achieving the results you were after in the first place because your focus has been set too low.

I think sometimes measurement can get a church stuck as well. Not too long ago, I was home visiting my family, and I was able to visit the church where I grew up worshiping. It’s a small church. A Southern Baptist church. It was (and is) legalistic, well-intentioned, terribly traditional. In the hallway (pictured above) there still remains a “big board” that tallies all the mission critical stats for the church body. Enrollment. Attendance. Tithes. Bible read daily. Disregard the fact that the previous Sunday they only had 11 in Sunday School. I’d be making the same point if attendance had been 1,100.

I’m sure the church means well by tracking these statistics, and that they felt it was important to put them up on the wall. But I ask you, what in the world does it have to do with the mission of this church? The near-term success of this church? The legacy of this church? I know the next level of measures is much harder to account for and to verify, or possibly even to articulate, but if the church is focused on these measures to tell them how they are doing, they are going to fall miserably short of what God has for them.

Another common measure I see plastered in bulletins and on church walls is professions of faith. Which in some cases is THE ultimate medal of measurement. I’m not saying that leading people to Christ is inconsequential or not worthy of tracking. It just feels like an incomplete story for a church body if they are focusing their efforts on racking up as many salvation stories as possible without giving the same attention to growing Christians and serving their communities.

It’s always dangerous to start measuring. You can’t always effectively get to the right measures. You can’t always contend with vagueness around cause and effect. You can make misinformed judgements about what the measurements mean. You can misguide your focus. Numbers can play 1,000 tricks on you, which is why I despise math.

That being said, I’m not asking churches everywhere to take down their big boards, necessarily.

I’m just suggesting as a Christian community we think a little longer and a little harder about the things that matter most and if/how we can measure them.

I don’t think the secret lies in counting those who show up at the door or crack open their wallets when the plate comes down the line.

In a very roundabout way recently, I was introduced to the work of a prolific Christian author named A.W. Tozer. From what I have learned, I’m probably in rare company being a lifelong Christian and having no idea who this Tozer guy was. In his lifetime, Tozer wrote more than 40 books and served in ministry more than 40 years, all without formal seminary training. He is best known for the spiritual classic: The Pursuit of God.

Early on in that book, Tozer says the following:

“Christian theology teaches the doctrine of provenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.”

He had me at hello. And so I’ve been diligently reading two different books by him the past few weeks. You will no doubt witness me citing Tozer in upcoming posts, possibly wrestling with some of the insights he provokes in his writing. All in all, I believe he was graced with the gift of prophecy and has significant wisdom to pass along from God. It also seems to me that at times his take on things can be a bit fanatical and overly zealous. I’m not sure I’m ready to blindly follow everything he has to say, but he has helped me think differently and to challenge some conventional wisdom.

Since my jury is still somewhat out on Tozer, I’d love to hear how others feel about him. Have you been inspired by him? Believe he’s brilliant? A quack? Has it all right? All wrong? Somewhere in between? In the meantime, I’ll keep going deeper into The Pursuit of God and The Purpose of Man and let you know what I learn, both about Tozer and myself.