Kindness Follow Up

I know I’ve been on a kick lately about “kindness” at Christmas. Our family has been blessed by all sorts of kindness over the years, so I don’t want to come off too cynical. It’s not really the kindness that bothers me, it’s the apparent motive. I firmly believe that true kindness comes from a transformed heart and that can only happen once the Spirit of God is moving and working in us – transforming us with His kindness, His compassion and His love.

Here is an illustration. Suppose I randomly pick ten guys off the street – from graduate PHD students to blue collar labor. Every morning I gather them together, give them each some Nerf footballs and tell them they each need to throw the ball through a hoop 50 times before we move on to anything else. After a week of this, I realize that some are doing OK, most are still struggling. To help out, I take away the Nerf balls and invest in NFL regulation pig skins. After another week, a few of them just aren’t going to make it – they usually give up after struggling to get just 10 “completions.” A few of the others are starting to excel, but most still falter. As a next step, I hire John Elway and Troy Aikman to work with them on arm strength and throwing technique. At the end of the week, there are only two men standing. One shows up early and throws extra passes, while the other still needs a wake-up call.

What’s the difference in the two? One obviously has a passion for throwing footballs – he is doing it from the heart - and the other is simply going through the motions. No matter what rules were established, equipment purchased or training given, it all boiled down to what was going on in the hearts of the players.

So I shouldn’t be surprised when the world isn’t kind or when they turn their noses up at the “good” things the church often pressures them to do. To expect anything different would be asking for results where the passion does not – even cannot - exist.

While there is only so much that can be done to nurture a passion for football, there is a way for passion to be re-built into the hearts of people, only it’s not our job to do it! Christ came to restore a relationship that allows the Spirit to dwell in us. Transformation from self-centered, hard-hearted men and women to passionate, loving believers is His specialty.

Truth be told, as Christians we aren’t simply kind at Christmas – we are kind because of Christmas.

Have a merry Christmas and a “kind” new year.

“In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:16

The Problem With Kindness at Christmas

I was with my two younger kids the other evening at a middle school production of “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Clause.” If you’re not familiar with the story I’ll summarize it for you: girl is growing up and questions the existence of Santa Clause, after seeking advice from everyone from parents to siblings and friends, she is in the end advised by a down-on-his luck reporter that there is a Santa Clause as long as there are people with hearts good enough to believe in him.

I’m going to resist the urge to address the “good enough” and “believe in him” notions. Instead I was taken back at how moved I was by a scene when the well-off Virginia gives away her gloves and scarf to a friend whose family was standing in the soup line. What is it about Christmas that makes a simple act of kindness seem so touching? Hollywood has been capitalizing on the seasonal sentiment for decades, but what about kindness at Christmas moves us, even confident grown men, to tears.

Then I had a more disturbing thought: it’s not the kindness that stands out, it’s the fact that kindness has a season! It’s the fact that for a few weeks every year we prove that we are capable of caring, of putting others first and thinking beyond ourselves while the other 40+ weeks a year we what? Choose not to care? Don’t see it as a big deal? Are too busy to stop and notice?

The problem with kindness at Christmas is that it stands out as an exception. My hope and prayer is that Christmas becomes less sentimental – only because our kindness has become the rule.

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39

It's a year round commandment!

Merry Christmas.

May you know Emmanuel – God with us – in a very real way.

Time Goes Faster at Christmas

With schedules filling, events and holidays piling up like little league linemen, and no less normal stuff going on (haven't the kids had enough candy? Do they really need us to fix them dinner too?!) - it's very easy to let the big stuff slip away from us. Investing on our spouses, withdrawing for times of quiet listening and reflection - just resting in God's unending presence are all keys to health living and managing the stress that consumes this time of year.

At Redeemer Church, we've been focusing on Celebrating Emmanuel: God With Us. If we forget that he desires our company, then there way not much point to the manger, the cross, the Pentecost or your own journey to come to know Him.

I had a great ride on the North Pole Express with our 6 year old and her fellow first graders today. It was a great moment to see God's presence with us as we shared this memory making moment!

P.S. - If you've been following the great Floods of Thanksgiving 2011, the adjuster came out and they are going to replace all the flooded areas and then some! HUGE answer to prayer.

Floods of Thanksgiving

What do you get when you cross a frozen turkey, a bathtub, a to-do list and a man whose multitasking skills are only so-so? Answer: a flooded bathroom, master bedroom, 6 year old's bedroom and hallway!

That's right, after turning the water on to allow the turkey to thaw, I was called away by the kids then absent mindedly went on to the next thing on the list - which happened to be removing the broken pieces of the old play-set in the back yard. As best I can figure the water as running for nearly an hour and a half!

The carpets are now draped over ladders in the back yard, the carpet pads in a soaking pile ready to be discarded and the concrete floors are nearly dry. Not the way I planned to spend Thanksgiving eve, but I'm sure God has a great way for this to turn into a blessing. I look forward to posting exactly what that turns out to be!

But for now it is 12:01 - officially Thanksgiving. So here it is: I'm thankful it was a flood, not a fire; I thankful for neighbors who lend a helping hand; I'm thankful for kids who will pitch in when the going gets tough; I'm thankful for a wife who knows me, understands me and loves me anyway (it's not our first time around this block. There was an incident with a fish tank a few years ago, but that's another story!).

Hope you all have a great, safe and DRY Thanksgiving!

Pre-Thanksgiving Gratitude

It continues to be a time of taking new ground in our lives. Both Meryal and I are very grateful for the opportunity we have to serve at Redeemer Church, for the great effort all three of our kids put into everything they day and for the little ways that God shows us that He is present each and every moment - whether we bother to acknowledge Him or not!

Next week officially kicks off the Holiday season and along with it most us will be putting our schedules into high gear - and many of us don't have much margin in our normal schedules to crank things up at all.

My prayer for our community (geographic and virtual) is that we will not sacrifice the Joy of the season in the name of perpetuating the season itself. In that sense the holidays are very self-defeating!

Have a great week and enjoy the world God put you in for what it is.

Exciting Times at Redeemer Church!

OK - here it is again - another attempt at becoming an avid blogger. I have a great deal of admiration for those of you out there who have mastered this communication tool. I'm praying for an extra measure of grace to follow through this time! So here's the goal - once a week church update and once a week family/spiritual journey stuff - sound like it should be doable!

One thing that I'm hoping will help me stay on task is all the things going on at Redeemer Church. Since July, we have been more and more engaged with the church and are working toward a part-time and then full-time position on the staff - still working out the details of what the title for the position will be, but the focus is simple - let God work through me (us) to build His Church. I just plan on being surprised quite often at what that means on a daily basis. It's a very young church, so we have some big hills to climb - that's really when we start to seek God at work with no ability to take credit for anything that is happening!

This week, we are going to welcome back Robbie Buie to lead us in Worship. Please be praying with us for a leader that is in a place to commit to serving and growing with us over the long haul. We've had some great guests over the past few weeks, but we really need someone who can be a part of our community and engage in this journey with us.

We are also in the throws of planning for our Christmas Eve service and should have some announcements about that time-table with in the week.

Have a blessed week and be a blessing to someone else while you're at it!
-B