A 20 Second Prayer Life!

Dear Friends,

At the risk of offending my liberal progressive friends, I describe myself as a biological male (your gender nowadays is not how God created you but is based on how you “feel” about yourself) and I’m physically attracted to women. Always have been. Always will be. (Another dicey admission to make in these #MeToo days particularly if you already have one strike against you by being a white male). But that’s how God created us. Two biological genders attracted to each other and Voilà!; here we are today – 80 billion humans later. God’s plan obviously worked! But many decades ago, I was struggling, as so many Christian men do, with God’s gift of having a strong natural attraction toward women, but what the heck.. I’m not actually lusting; I’m only looking! Right? Then one day I came to a red light. 

I had stopped behind a white van and paid absolutely no attention to it because over to my right, an absolutely gorgeous woman in a very short skirt stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street. As my eyes followed her, she disappeared out of my sight when she walked in front of the white van. My vision started to sweep past that darn van in front of me so that I could see her as she continued to cross the street. My eyes froze. Centered high on the back of the van’s doors was a bumper sticker. White with a blue border. There was just one word in red letters. “JESUS.” At that very moment, I heard the still, small voice of the Lord, “Keep your eyes on Me.” I didn’t look at the woman. In fact I could barely breathe. 

Those words came at the very instant I saw the bumper sticker and didn’t come from my mind or my imagination. To those of us who are spiritually sensitive, God can whisper to our soul and we know that feeling or thought that we have is from Him. For the rest of us, who can be a little dense, God sometimes needs to give us a holy smack-down and do something so dramatic that He gets our attention and we know it’s Him. He most definitely got my attention. From that day to the present, when I find my eyes drawn toward an attractive woman, I look away and pray for them. For their family, their health, that they will come to know and love God, or if they already do, they will come to love Him even more and that they will experience His grace.

My prayer life changed at that red light. In my Evangelical Pentecostal church tradition, a “Prayer Warrior” who would pray fervently for extended periods of time every day – sometimes for many hours – was the coveted goal for those of us who admired these spiritual giants. And for me, especially as a pastor, I was embarrassed to admit that, when it came to sustained, fervent prayer, I was a spiritual midget. As little as ten minutes of prayer was even difficult. I’d pray for the needs of all those I knew and then simply ran out of things to say. 

After my “red light” experience, I had asked the Lord to show me how to keep my eyes on Him when attracted to a woman and was convicted in my spirit that I needed to pray for them. I soon began to pray for others I encountered during my day as well. I was also desiring to simply be with Him more on my day-to-day journey. 

We Protestant Christians are not taught and encouraged (like the Orthodox and Catholic) to live our life in God’s presence during our day. Even for highly-engaged Protestants, church service on Sunday, a short daily prayer for family and friends and we’re good. But more and more of us are tired of just being a “Sunday Christian” and hunger for living our days in the presence of God. We’re not sure how to do this since it’s not something normally taught in a Protestant church and some of us have even had pastors who scorned and discouraged any of the ancient devotional practices because they looked “too Catholic.”

The prayer practices of the ancient church drew His followers into the presence of God, and I found that as I would talk to God, worship Him and pray throughout my day, it was becoming easier and easier to keep my eyes on Him and walk in His presence. I pray the Orthodox Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me) and sing worship songs as I clean the horse corrals. I pray the Jesus Prayer working around the house. The sirens remind me to pray for the sick and injured who are in the ambulance driving past my house to the hospital. 

I wave a hello at Nacho my postal carrier and pray for him. I see my neighbor Heather across the street with her year old baby and pray for them. She’s a nurse and I pray for her health and safety. I pray for the Jimenez family next door who recently moved in. This morning I prayed for Mike, the normally upbeat checker at Smart & Final, because when I asked him how he was doing, he sounded down and depressed. My prayer list is in the “Google Keep” app that syncs to all my devices. If I know you personally, your name is in there along with pretty much everything you’ve ever asked me to pray about. Answered prayers have checkmarks – praise God for all the checkmarks! 

A Greek Prayer Rope – a “Komboskoini”– is in my pocket. Made of wool with fifty knots, the Orthodox use it while saying the Jesus Prayer much in the same way a Catholic uses a rosary. I don't use the prayer rope that way to “count” my prayers but keep it in my pocket because when my hand touches it, I’m reminded to pray. Before that, I carried a small smooth stone in my pocket that I’d found at Saint Andrew’s Abbey, that reminded me to pray and brought me into His presence when I touched it. Some people wear a special bracelet for the same reason. The cross I always wear is a constant reminder of His presence and His love for me. My phone plays the sound of a church bell at the ancient church prayer times of 6 am, Noon and 3 pm. I pray at the sound of the church bell. 

We were created to love God and live in His presence and the things we do during our day will draw us closer to Him, or keep us spiritually sluggish and stagnant, or pull us further away. Paul says to “pray without ceasing” and these short ten or twenty second prayers throughout my day keep me centered in Him – I’m keeping my eyes on Him.

Jesus keeps it simple for us pilgrims who are on this journey to a holy place. He gives us two commandments, “Love God and Love Others” Mark 12:30-31 Our prayers throughout our day to God and for others focus our worship on Him and fosters spiritual growth that brings about “theosis” – a process of transformation that helps us to be less like us and more like Jesus. 

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, “theosis” is union with God which starts with truly worshiping Him. Here’s why loving God was the Son’s first commandment: because without having a solid relationship with God and living in His presence, I’m spiritually impotent. If I have a feeble faith, I’d be out of God’s will for me, complacent with my sins, my prayers for you would have little effect or actually.. to be honest.. I probably wouldn’t be praying for you at all. 

But we would err by obeying only the first commandment to love God. We are not monastic hermits living in a mountain cave who direct their thoughts and prayers only on God and themselves. We also err with a militant focus on the second commandment to love others that’s encouraged in social justice churches which often produce strong activists but ambiguous Christians. 

Our faith is a well-balanced focus on 1) God and 2) Others. We must develop an ambidextrous prayer life, moving effortlessly from prayers that unite us with God, like the Jesus Prayer, to 20 second intercessory prayers for someone and back again. In this AMEN Corner you're reading about my personal prayer practices that I’ve gleaned from the ancient church and which may be unfamiliar to most Protestants. Look at what works for me -- this one imperfect pilgrim -- and if you think something might also work well for you, give it a try. As I study and learn, my prayer practices are ever evolving. Yours should too. Growth can only take place in change and I heard a cowboy pastor say one time, “if you ain’t changing you ain’t growing.” 

“..but grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
To Him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen”

2 Peter 3:18

☩   ☩   ☩

Are You A Worshiper?

Dear Friends,

She sits quietly, listening to the relaxing smooth sounds of her favorite worship music. Eyes closed, head nodding in time with the rhythm, a sweet smile on her face. The resplendence of the music is bringing warm, pleasant thoughts and feelings of love for her Holy Father and she weeps. She is feeling connected with God. The music has taken her into the holy of holies. She sits reverently in the Presence of God. But is she actually “worshiping” Him?

The pastor stands on the stage partially hidden by the drum-set as he scans the mega-congregation during the opening songs. His praise and worship band just released their third album and every Sunday the church is packed with a young and excited crowd. Only a few of them are singing. All are drawn to the charismatic lead singer and the band’s rock sound – the guitar riffs and the drum solos. They love the music! It’s like going to a Christian concert every Sunday! Is this church worshiping?

At the cathedral-sized church, the congregation reverently listens as the 100 member choir flawlessly sings sacred music from the 12th century. In church jargon, these are known as “performance choirs.” The music is ethereal, elegant and exquisite. Is this church worshiping?

A mainline congregation opens their service by singing “contemporary” praise songs from the 70's. Some people are quietly singing while others are greeting each other and talking. A woman turns to the back of the bulletin to find something to read. Some of the older people are shifting restlessly in the pews – they only sing the hymns. Some younger people are playing video games on their phone. Is this church worshiping?

We can self-define “worship” to be whatever we want it to be, but if we’re relying on our Bible to define authentic worship and allow scripture to provide the framework for a worship service, then the answer to the above scenarios may surprise you.

It might help to separate what is worshipful from what is Biblical worship. “WORSHIPFUL” is a feeling of reverence and adoration. Listening to worship music may engage your senses and take you into a worshipful place in your spirit. So may reading scripture, burning incense, lighting candles, walking into an old California Mission or seeing a spectacular sunrise. Biblical “WORSHIP” is something entirely different. 

In the Bible, worship is always
something you physically do. 

It’s participative.

It is never passive. 

It’s not a performance or a programming element in a church service. It’s not singing a couple of songs to warm people up for the service that follows. Worship is not seeking a feeling or experience but is expressive, authentic, heart-felt worship directed to God that takes you into His presence.

In the Bible, “worship” is always an action verb. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “Shachah” translated as “worship” is used over one hundred times. In the New Testament, the Greek word “Proskuneo” translated as “worship” is used fifty-nine times. Both words mean the same thing: to bow down, raise hands, kneel or prostrate oneself before a Superior Being while verbally expressing our reverence to Him. Remember, by definition, Biblical worship is always participative. Look at the four scenarios again and ask yourself, “Is this person/church ‘worshiping’?”

Worship is not our good thoughts, warm feelings or groovin’ to a guitar riff. Worship is using our voice and our posture to express the worthiness of our triune God. “Make a joyful shout to the Lord.. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise!” Psalm 100 is not an instruction to the priests but to the people. Singing out loud, verbally praising Him, bowing, kneeling, shouting, standing with hands raised – that’s worship! And when we worship, the glory of the Lord will fill the house of God! 2 Chronicles 5:12-14.

Some traditions teach that proper worship can only take place in a clergy-led church service with other believers. So we hire worship leaders, choir directors, priests, pastors and praise bands and then sit back to enjoy the service. In doing so, we have, in essence, “out-sourced” our worship which was never God’s plan for you. God created you for worship. “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.” Isaiah 43:21 You were created to worship God and praise Him in church, out of church, in your home, your car, your backyard and on your morning walk.

What happens when we praise God and worship Him? An early church father said our relationship with God, “through desire we already possess the object of our longing.” How much this rings true for us when we express our heart’s desire for the Lord in our worship. We long for Him and reach out and touch Him as we speak forth His worthiness to Him. And in that moment of intimate worship, as we possess the gift of His love, He reaches out to touch and possess us. We are owned by Him. We belong to Him. We are His.  Amen?

Getting There From Here!

Dear Friends,

Please don’t feel bad if you’ve already broken the New Year’s Resolutions you made only a few days ago! A Gallup poll revealed that 71% of people who make resolutions keep them for less than two weeks. And only 8% will actually keep them for a full year. The same poll also listed the most common resolutions that people make. Number one was to lose weight and number two was to exercise more. No surprise there. But the third most popular resolution people make was to “be a better person” and the sixth most popular one was to “get closer to God.” Those two stood out for me because they go hand in hand. The way to be a better person is to get closer to God. That’s because the more of God we have in our life, the more like Christ we become and the changes in our thoughts, words and behaviors take place without effort on our part. The Holy Spirit is the One doing the “work” on us. 

When we held services at the assisted living home, we’d end every service singing “Day By Day.” That’s an 18th century Anglican prayer put to music for the musical “Godspell” and goes:

Day by Day.. Day by Day.. 

Oh dear Lord, Three things I pray.

To see Thee more clearly.

Love Thee more dearly.

Follow Thee more nearly.

Day by Day! 

That’s how we get closer to God; that’s the “resolution” that is guaranteed for you to keep, because that’s been God’s desire for you from the time that He hand-formed you in your mother’s womb. Mark 12:30; John 14:23; Psalm 139:13 And my prayer for all who made a resolution to get closer to God is that they will yield to the calling of the Holy Spirit who will enable and empower them to love God more and become more like Him in this new year than ever before!

On this journey toward knowing God, loving Him more than ever and following Him more closely, there may be things He wants us to leave behind. Things that may “sinful” and things that may not be sins but are just not helpful for us.  1 Corinthians 6:12 And that can change our whole idea of what a “New Years Resolution” should be. Resolutions are our commitment to change. We have a new year. New opportunities. New possibilities. A new season. There is a freshness of new beginnings. God wants to do new things in your life and so we say “yes and amen” and resolve to do better and then...nothing changes. 

We’re still stuck in the sameness and the problem is not God. The problem is that we’re holding onto the old so tightly that we don’t have room in our lives for anything new. Perhaps the secret to bringing about the changes we desire is not what we resolve to do but more about what we resolve to stop doing. It is so often our human tendency to cling to our past that prevents us from stepping out into our future, and yet it’s what we leave behind that will result in a changed life.

This is exactly what God was telling the Israelites when they were in captivity. “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing..!” Isaiah 43:18-19 The people of Israel were at their lowest point. Israel is focused on their past transgressions; they are possessed by those failures. God gave them the Temple and instead of worshiping God, the faithless Israelites worshiped idols. God gave them commandments and they lived as if they were optional suggestions. God gave them Himself and they rejected Him over and over again. And God in His goodness, says to them, “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.  Forget about your mess-ups. Don't obsess about your past mistakes and poor decisions, I am giving you an opportunity to start over. I will do a new thing..” (my expanded translation)

We speak of our Christian faith as “walking with Jesus.” We don’t talk about “standing around with Jesus.” Standing means we're still. Stagnant. Not moving. Walking means a forward motion. Walking with Jesus means moving forward with Him on the journey we call “life.” But Jesus gave us a warning about following Him. Jesus and His disciples were walking down the road when someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 Jesus was saying that to follow Him we need to let go of the things that anchor us to our past and instead we must focus fully on Him. We need to be looking ahead at the One we are following.

Life is a journey and every new year God gives us a fresh start – a new beginning. His promise to the Israelites and His Son’s warning to the disciple, applies to you and me because God is still the Creator of all things new and all things good. He is unchanging – the same yesterday, today and forever. If your resolution this year is to become a better person by being closer to God, “To see Thee more clearly. Love Thee more dearly. Follow Thee more nearly” here’s how that works. 

God is sovereign (all-powerful) and He can do anything He wants, but He has given us willpower and allows us to make choices. That means that you can’t do it without God and He won’t do it without you. Before He will do something new in your relationship with Him is there something(s) you must choose to give up? Something that comes between you and Him? Priorities? Habits? Lifestyles? People tell me they have no time to read the Bible or pray and I have to watch their discomfort when I ask them how many hours they watch TV or spend online. 

What are the things that distance you from God? Be willing to let go of those old things to make a little more room for Him in your life! Become closer to God in 2023 and watch Him do the new things and make the changes that you've been struggling to make in your life!

Can We Really Rejoice Always?

Dear Friends,

One of my favorite high-tech devices is the Bluetooth Mobile Phone Headset. That’s the device that people wear in their ear to be able to instantly answer their mobile phone and engage in a loud conversation when they’re in back of you in the line at Starbucks. I should quickly say that I don’t use one of those wireless headsets myself. I’m just not important enough to need to be immediately available to my people. Okay...the truth is I don’t even have “people.”

But the cool thing about wireless headset technology is that it has allowed me to now be in public without frightening others. I’m now able to walk down the street without mothers clutching their small children to them in fear. People no longer quietly edge away from me when I’m in line at the bank and I can now even go into retail stores without a clerk quickly slipping behind the counter to stand near the red emergency button.

Because sometimes I engage in what others might describe as “bizarre behavior.” I’ll be in my yard cleaning the horse stalls in the early morning hours singing praise songs. I’ll be walking down the street and praying quietly to myself or softly singing a worship song out loud. I’ll think of something and under my breath be praising or thanking the Lord. And so now, thanks to the popularity of those wireless headsets, people no longer look at me as if I could be psychotically dangerous. They just assume I’m on my phone.

One time I was browsing in a thrift store and softly whistling “IN CHRIST ALONE.” A bit later, when I brought my stack of used books to the cash register, the lady asked if I was the one who was whistling. Not realizing I could be heard, I apologized and she quickly said, “No, no..it was nice to hear someone happy!”

Seeing a cross around her neck, I knew she’d understand. So I replied, “That was a worship song and when I praise God, He always makes me happy.” That began one of those conversations where I was thankful that God had brought me into an uncrowded store and into a quiet conversation with this volunteer who was going through a difficult time in her life.

We can find ourselves living in a constant state of brokenness from our past, commingled with too much dysfunction in our present. Where stress and anxiety clutter our mind and prevent us from finding any joy in our day. Where we’re struggling with our present circumstances. Where we might even find ourselves mired in what King David called the “pit of despair.” Psalm 40:1-2 NLT

And then we read something in our Bible that seems laughably impossible for us to do. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always? Even in the middle of what may be lousy circumstances? Yes! And sometimes that’s indeed very difficult to do, but with God all things are possible. Those Biblical instructions or commandments that raise the bar for our behavior are not just directed toward the spiritual saints who have it all together. They’re also directed toward people like you and me.

So, how do we “rejoice always” in the middle of difficult circumstances? Not though any mind-games, psychological techniques or religious formulas. We simply praise God for what He has done for us and worship Him for who He is. King David found himself in that pit of despair and cried out to the Lord. God lifted David out of the mire, set his feet on the “rock” and put a new hymn of praise in his mouth! Psalm 40:3 NLT 

Do I get discouraged, worried and stressed at times? You bet I do. And singing praise songs to the glory of God will always bring me out of my Eeyore-like, self-centered gloom. Praise and worship takes you out of yourself and into the Presence of God. When we are filled with the awe of God, we become less full of ourselves and our self-important problems are put into perspective. 

Our praise rises up to the heavens like sweet incense and He reaches down and gently lifts us into His Presence. Praise and worship are not just what we do on Sunday morning, it’s a lifestyle. When worship is an attitude of our heart, then our lives are lived as an act of worship to Him. Praise comes to our lips, prayer flows out of our heart and in that moment, God meets us right where we already are. We rejoice. Always!

Be Good!

Dear Friends,

For many years now the most popular New Year’s resolution has been “Be a better person – be good.” But as a result of Covid, lockdowns and inflation, the most popular resolution for 2022 is “Better finances.” My prayer is that God will provide for all of us in this coming year, but as we one day stand before Jesus, I’m thinking that He won’t be judging us based on our financial investments and the cash value of our Estate that we just left behind. That’s why for those of us who are Christian believers, being sanctified (made holy) by God and becoming less like us and more like Jesus, the resolution I believe God would want us to make is still “Be a better person – be good.”

According to a recent survey, only 44% of us will make resolutions this year, and of those who do, only 10% will stick to them. That means for those who decide they want to be a better person, as soon as February rolls around, the vast majority of these well-intentioned people will have thrown up their hands in despair, decided that it’s futile to become a better person and “being good” is an elusive and unattainable goal! But is it? Not if the power of God is active in your life! 

We’ve seen that in our culture today, right and wrong have morphed into subjective opinion and there are many contradictory beliefs about what is good. We know that only the true and immutable (unchanging) word of God can define what’s is “good” for the believer and if we want to be a better person, we must read our Bible to find out what God’s definition of a good person really is. Then to be a “better person” we need to next place God first in our life and make it our passionate desire to do the will of the Father. Only then can we look forward to the day that Jesus says to us, Well done good and faithful servant.

While we all sin daily in “thought, word and deed,” for many of us, it’s our words that can cause the most hurt in others. There is life and death in the power of the tongue Proverbs 18:21 and our words can crush the spirit of another. We’ll use as an example a sinner I know all too well. Because I have been, thus so far, unsuccessful in convincing my own loved ones that my sarcasm is a spiritual gift from God, this is one area of my personality with which I do struggle. When I pray the prayer of self-examination at the end of the day, the Holy Spirit will replay the tape of any unkind words I’ve used. Many years ago I was convicted by Ephesians 4:29 and I began to pray that scripture every morning and throughout my day: “Lord, let no corrupt or unwholesome word proceed forth from my lips but what would be for the edification of others, according to the need of the moment, that it would impart grace to the hearers.”

But my flesh still occasionally pulls me toward thoughtless and graceless words, as evidenced by a certain loved one giving me a book for Christmas: “TAMING THE TONGUE – How The Gospel Transforms Our Talk.” I wish of course that I didn’t need to read this book, but those of us who are human beings still sin, and the biblical concept of “sanctification” is not a one time event but a process of change that takes place during your lifetime journey. 

How we change to be a better person is through reading the Gospels and allowing the Holy Spirit to change our heart as we read the words of our Lord. If we want to change our words to be words of grace and life to others, we first need a heart transplant. Jesus said that, “What you say flows from your heart,” Luke 6:45 NLT and what we think and how we behave flows from our heart as well. We need God to transplant in us a heart passionate about following His will.

In a recent survey, 48% of those who did not carry out their New Year’s resolutions confessed that it was lack of motivation to succeed. Our passion is the most powerful motivation for success that we can possibly have. My brother wanted to be a bull rider. Seriously. We grew up in Los Angeles, but he went to every rodeo in Southern California. He studied the moves and techniques of the famous, top-money-earning, celebrity bull riders. They were his mentors and he wanted to be exactly like them. And yes he rode bulls until God gave him a holy smack upside the head to knock some sense into him and he got a job with the DWP instead. But his passion for learning how to ride bulls by studying those at the top of the game shows us the passion we must have to become a better person. 

God already created you to be a good person and do good things with your life. Ephesians 2:10 You thought it was a New Year’s resolution, but it’s been God’s plan for your life all along! It’s your God-given destiny! But how do we turn that promise into a practice that changes our lives? Whether you’re a ballet dancer or a bull rider, you’ll need a mentor to emulate and look up to. You and I also need a spiritual  mentor to study and only one Person fits the bill – His name is Jesus Christ. We are told to “be imitators of God” Ephesians 5:1-2 and “walk in the same manner as God does” 1 John 2:6 and then God sent His only Son as the perfect image of the God we are to imitate. Colossians 1:15 

Become passionate about seeking out your mentor Jesus Christ and becoming like Him! Know Him. Study Him. Meditate upon Him. Follow Him. Seek His will for all things in your life. Give Him your heart and let Him change you from the inside out. Let’s all be a better person in 2022. It’s not just a resolution. It’s a promise from God! It’s our destiny!

Wired For Worship

Dear Friends,

A few years ago when I was doing a sermon series on the original twelve disciples, I discovered that in 1964, the head of the Apostle Andrew had been a thoughtful gift from Pope Paul VI to a Greek Orthodox church in Patras, Greece. The body of Saint Andrew had been cut up and distributed as relics to other churches who claim Andrew as their patron Saint. Relics are typically a body-part of a Saint and it is believed that their presence consecrates (makes holy) a Catholic or Orthodox church. The faithful are to venerate the relics meaning they bow down before them, kiss them and revere them with ritual actions. Catholic Church teaching is that when you venerate a human relic, “..many benefits are bestowed by God on men.” 

In actual practice, there is little difference between “venerating” and “worshiping” and the veneration of human relics is practiced by Catholics, Orthodox, Buddhists, Shamanism, Hindus, Santeria, and Wiccans. Whether Christian, pagan or atheist, we all have an innate and intrinsic need to worship something or someone.

In the early days of Hollywood, movie stars and singers were described as “goddesses” and “gods” with spell-binding power over their audiences. If you’re of my generation, you might remember hysterical, screaming girls watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show or the Farrah Fawcett poster that hung in nearly every teenage boy’s bedroom. If you’re younger than me and can’t relate to the worship of John, Paul, George and Ringo, then think of the young girls (and their mothers) still screaming at Justin Bieber concerts. The only thing that’s changed from one generation to another are the faces of the celebrities we worship.

We even collect their relics with the same fervor as the early Christians sought the relics of Saints. In 2002, a former barber of Elvis Presley sold a clump of the singer’s hair for $115,000. A lock of Justin Bieber’s hair was a comparative bargain at only $40,668. A piece of bubble gum chewed by Britney Spears sold for a more affordable $160. And a tissue used by actress Scarlett Johansson went for $5,300. Lady Gaga’s autographed toilet seat was auctioned for $460,000 and one of her broken acrylic nails sold for $12,000. Perhaps the best celebrity relic was a kidney stone passed by Star Trek actor William Shatner that sold for $25,000 which was probably a good deal considering the price of celebrity kidney stones these days! 

We are wired for worship. It’s in our DNA. That’s why we have that intrinsic desire to worship something or someone. Yet, only someOne can truly satisfy that desire. Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician and philosopher, put it like this: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” If we try to stuff anything but God into that God-shaped hole in our lives, we'll end up dissatisfied, restless, and  discontented. But when we fill that God-shaped hole with God Himself, we will always find the completeness that we had been seeking all along.

Listen now to the Apostle Paul debating in Athens with the philosophers and polytheists about God: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn't live in man-made temples, His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him – though He is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:22b-24,27 NLT

Paul told them that God does not live in temples, He lives in our hearts. In the 4th century, a bishop named Augustine wrote, “Lord, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find You.” We have an emptiness inside us that cries out to be filled. “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,” sang the Irish band U2. We have an aching loneliness without God. A restless search for something to fill that void. We try to fill that void with New Age or pagan religions, material things, shopping, drugs, alcohol, eating too much or unhealthy eating, parties, pets and other people. And yet we remain empty and find ourselves restlessly seeking. We may even religiously and faithfully attend a church and still find that something seems to be missing in our lives.

God said, “You must not have any other god but Me,” Exodus 20:3 NLT and then our Heavenly Father designed and created us so that only the one true God clicks into that God-shaped void. And when we say “Yes God, fill my heart with You!” and we then truly desire and worship Him alone, our searching for that missing piece is over. Yes, it really is that easy!

How Much God Do You Have?

 Dear Friends,

There was a time in my life, back in my twenties, when I had too much God. Honestly. The Deity was really making me very uncomfortable. I was technically a born-again Christian believer but seldom went to church. I was barely getting my feet wet in the shallow end of the spiritual pool, and there was still too much God in my life. My difficulty with God was that in order for me to live the good life my way, I needed a little less of Him in it. I wasn't what the good Christians called “walking with the Lord” and my problem was that the Lord had not walked away from me. That whole “I will never leave you nor forsake you” promise to us? Hebrews 13:5 God really meant it. And it's uncomfortable when you're trying to live a nice, carefree life of unrepentant sin with God watching over your shoulder. 

We seem to fall into one of three categories of relationship with God. The first category is what we’ll call having “too much God.” It may be that He's calling us to a more righteous way of living and we don't like the cost of that call. There are things we say, do and think that we don't want to give up. Let’s face it. Most of the sins we commit are those we enjoy doing. And let’s get real here. If we were honest, most of us would admit that we would much prefer to ignore or hate our neighbor than to love them. And despite what Jesus said, there is just absolutely no way we're going to forgive those people who have done us wrong. And that whole Matthew 25:31-46 thing about doing for the “least of these”? Forget it! And then suddenly, we're painfully aware of the pesky Holy Spirit convicting us of our sins and calling us out to live like a Christian. See what I mean? Too much God!

Then there are those Christians who honestly believe that they have “just enough God.” Let's do the math: You spend two hours in church on Sunday including the hospitality time. There are 168 hours in a week so two hours in church is 1.2% of your time engaged in a religious activity. But if you watch an hour internet service, that’s only 0.6 of your time. You’re like most Christians who pray for about 4-5 minutes a day which we’ll average at 30 minutes a week. Few Christians actually read their Bible, but you’re an exception and you spend 30 minutes each week reading God’s Word. So let’s see now.. An hour or two of church, another hour of prayer and Bible reading and we’re up to two or three hours a week practicing your Christian faith. Whew! Let's see.. That's about 1.2% - 1.7% of our life that we’re doing a religious activity and that's just about enough. Don't need to be a fanatic about it! Hey.. I’ve got a life to live! So I’ve got enough God now, thank you very much!

Of all Christian believers, the second category of having “just enough God” is by far the largest. The first category of “too much God” is the second largest group of believers. And then there's that small group of radical Christians...

Those who just “can't get enough God.” They long for more of Him. They thirst for His presence in their lives. God is never far from their thoughts. Prayer to Him is not a brief, compulsory religious ritual but an on-going conversation with a friend that they periodically enter into throughout their day. They are spiritually refreshed through prayer and filled with the peace of God. They also find themselves singing hymns and worship songs; sometimes not even aware of it. Hymns and worship songs have become the intrinsic background music of their lives and often spring spontaneously to their mind throughout the day. They read their Bible daily, not as a spiritual discipline, but because they hunger for that connection with God through His Word. In every disturbing, stressful or worrisome situation, the first thing that they typically will do is to pray for guidance and often a Bible verse will come to their mind that is specific for what they are experiencing and feeling. They find themselves being effortlessly thankful to God in all things for there is always something in every situation to be thankful about. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 If you were to call them a zealot for God, they’d blush at such a high compliment. Their faith is their passion and priority, and if you were to ask them, they’d answer that they never have enough God and wonder if it is even possible for them to have “too much God” in their lives.

Let’s put the rubber to the road as the old expression goes. Think about it.. Which category are you in?

❑ Too Much God.
        ❑ Just Enough God.
        ❑ Can’t Get Enough God.

Which category does God want you to be in? Do you have a faith that’s alive and powered by the Holy Spirit? Are you enthusiastically walking on a spiritual journey with Jesus becoming more like Him every day or are you just napping by the side of the road? Too many good church-going Christians have left their love of God behind and simply become dedicated patrons in the museum of religion on a Sunday morning. Do you have a “church” relationship with Jesus or a deeply “personal relationship”? Or maybe you’re like me back when I had too much God and wanted to just be left alone, and now you’re the one annoyed that Jesus persistently stands at the door knocking! Rev 3:20-21.

Too much? Just enough? Not enough? Take a moment now.. Give yourself a gentle timeout here and seek God’s presence.. I believe that God wants to say something to you...

He Calls You His Friend..

Dear Friends,

We read in last week’s AMEN Corner about having a “personal relationship with Jesus” and, depending on your church tradition, you may have found yourself confused or doubtful about a “personal relationship” and perhaps even distressed or offended by my narrative of what took place at that Lutheran memorial service. (Why I was the one who had to do a memorial service for a Lutheran in a Lutheran congregation is a long sad story.) If you attend a mainline Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal or Lutheran church, having a close, personal relationship with the Lord is not the orthodox doctrine (teaching) of your denomination and you might have heard this denigrated as heretical doctrine.

Many years ago after recounting the memorial service experience to an ELCA (Lutheran) pastor, who at the time was a close friend, he told me that Lutherans do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and their relationship with Him can only take place through their church. He explained that we can only become a Christian by baptism into the church and it’s through the liturgical church services that we are then relationally connected with God. A Lutheran theologian addresses this personal relationship “heresy” and explains mainline Christian doctrine: “(God’s) people are washed together into a body by baptism and we are shaped by Him into a community of believers. Here’s the thing: Christianity is not about a personal relationship with Jesus. The phrase is never found in the Bible. Christianity is about a church relationship with Jesus.”

In the past few decades we’ve seen mainline churches wither and die while Evangelical churches have experienced healthy growth. While there are many reasons for the diminishment of mainline churches, most of those who left have joined an Evangelical church in their search to find a vibrant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In the Evangelical tradition, the emphasis is not on liturgical rituals but on a personal relationship with our God who transforms us into becoming more like Jesus and less like us. This concept of a personal relationship with our Lord is even expressed in Evangelical contemporary praise songs as we sing to God and declare our worship of Him. (Church hymns were written to teach us about God). An Evangelical theologian writes: “I believe the phrase ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ correctly expresses the biblical idea of an ongoing life of discipleship that includes the gradual transformation into the image of Christ.”

Like the Evangelical church, the Catholic church teaches that our faith is more than just attending church. From a Catholic theologian at the St. Paul Center of Biblical Theology: “Those of us who have heard and accepted our Lord’s summons to follow Him are invited to an intimate, personal relationship with Him. Unfortunately, some Catholics may be put off by this “personal relationship” terminology. Yet, Christianity is not a mere moral code, ethnic club, or cultural phenomenon; rather, at its very core is the acceptance of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as our personal Lord and Savior. At the heart of the Gospel is the clarion call to follow Jesus, to become His disciples.” 

My Lutheran pastor friend also told me that the phrase  “personal relationship with Jesus” is not mentioned in the Bible and my response to him was that the word “Trinity” or the accepted historical doctrine of the Trinity is not specifically stated in the Bible either. But the doctrinal concept of the Trinity is embedded throughout the New Testament as is the concept of having a personal relationship with our Lord. In fact our entire Bible shows our Creator as One who desires to abide (dwell) within and with us. Our Heavenly Father desires a close, loving relationship with us in spite of our messy sinful lives, and a significant aspect of our salvation is having that personal relationship restored through Jesus Christ on the cross.

Would you describe your relationship with the Lord as “personal” or “distant”? Let’s see which one Jesus would choose to have with you. He said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23 “..he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest (show) Myself to him.” John 14:21 “..you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, "Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 NLT “So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:11 NLT 

Can you really have a personal relationship with Jesus? That’s the only kind of relationship with our Lord that’s described in our Bible. Don’t get me wrong. I love the church. But the church was created by Jesus to teach and encourage our personal relationship with Him and, several centuries later, the Church and clericalism imposed itself between us and our Lord. Look up Psalm 23 and reread this beautiful Psalm that describes, not a relationship through a church, but a close personal relationship with the Good Shepherd who is ever tending to those for whom He deeply cares and loves. That’s why Jesus calls His followers (both then and now) His “friends.” John 15:15

If you believe the words of Jesus and would like to experience an intimate relationship with Him, then just open up your heart and tell Him that you desire a close personal relationship with Him. You don’t even have to join an Evangelical church! When you fully give yourself to Him, He will reach out and enfold you in His arms right where you’re at!

Are You A Hot Christian?

Burger Wrapper – Rev 3:20

Beverage Cups – John 3:16

Milkshake Cups – Proverbs 3:5

Double-Double Wrapper – Nahum 1:7

Water Cups – John 14:6

French Fry Tray – Proverbs 24:16

Dear Friends,

She and I had just polished off a gourmet meal catered by IN-N-OUT. (Yes.. I know their hamburgers have enough fat and cholesterol to drop a horse, but we really only go there a few times a year.) And so now I’m picking through the wrappings trying to spot the Bible verses. Did you know that IN-N-OUT was established by a Christian family and still today, every paper container has a Bible reference printed on it in tiny letters and numbers? There it was on the hamburger wrapper: Revelation 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Do we really know what is being said here? Well-meaning pastors, including this one, have slyly lifted this verse out of context as we use it to encourage non-believers to open the door to Jesus and invite Him into their lives. But while we have applied this verse to non-believers, the truth is that Jesus was not talking to them. Go get your Bible and read Revelation 3:14-22 for yourself. Go ahead. I’ll wait right here for you...

In these scriptures, Jesus is rebuking the “lukewarm church.” We’d love to translate that word “church” to mean the institutional church so that we can pretend it doesn’t apply to us, but the word used is “ekklesia” meaning the assembly of Christian believers. The body of Christ. Us good, church-goin’, lukewarm Christians. The hard truth Bubba, is that Jesus may be talking to you and me. 

Jesus is saying “Your faded faith has closed a door between you and Me,” and He’s talking to Christians who were once on fire for the Lord. Believers whose passion for God once burned hotly in their spirit. The scriptures came alive for them and they were excited when God’s Word spoke to a specific circumstance or a situation with which they were struggling. They were not just spectators at a Sunday service, they were participants in their church’s ministry. They enthusiastically supported their brothers and sisters in the body of Christ with their time and energy and finances. And then the fire cooled and the passion faded. Their Bible was no longer on the table by their chair, but lived in the back seat of the car where it could be easily found on a Sunday morning in the rush to church. And then the Biblical plague-like pandemic closed our church. We missed church but most definitely liked sleeping in on a Sunday and watching a church service while still in our pajamas. But that got old and everything we liked about church, especially seeing our church friends, was no more. And then... we just found something else to do on Sundays. 

A recent survey found that 30% of church-going Catholics will not return now that churches are reopening. It’s estimated that 15-20% of Evangelical Protestants and 35-40% of Mainline Protestants will not return. We’ve been reading about the long-term physical effects related to Covid-19, but what may be even more devastating are lockdown-related, long-term effects of spiritual apathy. And to apathetic Christians who have become comfortable in their complacency, the words of Jesus are disturbing and direct. “..because you are lukewarm..I’m going to vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16.

But wait a minute! I thought Jesus loves me? Yes He does! And it’s because of His love for you that He wants you to passionately embrace your faith. That’s why He says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent and I’m going to stand right here until you do.” Revelation 3:19-20 (my translation)

Where are you on the “Zealous Scale”? Are you filled with a burning passion for your Lord with a constant desire to be in His presence? Are you immersed in the Word of God daily? Is your prayer life vibrant and alive? Are good works flowing out of your faith? Are you other-centered? Matthew 25:31-46 Do you do all you can to help the poor and needy? Luke 3:11 Or do you roll over and go back to sleep whenever you hear the knock of Jesus trying to wake you out of your spiritual slumber? Thank God that Jesus patiently waits for us. There were times in my life many decades ago when I deserved to be spit out of His mouth, and through His grace, He patiently waited for me. But there’s a limit to God’s patience, even for us believers. Matthew 7:21-23 

God allows us to keep the door to our own heart closed with the deadbolt snapped in place if that’s our choice. But if there is any part of what you just read about being a complacent Christian that resonates in your spirit, then it’s not too late for you. To you, Jesus says, “Therefore be zealous and repent” Revelation 3:19 and then He will persistently knock on that door to remind you that He’s still there and He’s waiting for you to reach out and turn the knob. 

The mystery of God is why He has not already spit us out. The mystery of us is the most puzzling of all. How are we able to remain so complacent in the face of God’s over-whelming love and His goodness to us? But when we do overcome our lethargy and run back to Jesus, He tells us, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." And then He says to us.. "He who has an ear let him hear...” Revelation 3:21-22

How Much God Do You Have?

Dear Friends,

There was a time in my life, back in my twenties, when I had too much God. Honestly. The Deity was really making me very uncomfortable. I was technically a born-again Christian believer but seldom went to church. I was barely getting my feet wet in the shallow end of the spiritual pool, and there was still too much God in my life. My difficulty with God was that in order for me to live the good life my way, I needed a little less of Him in it. I wasn't what the good Christians called “walking with the Lord” and my problem was that the Lord had not walked away from me. That whole “I will never leave you nor forsake you” promise to us? Hebrews 13:5 God really meant it. And it's uncomfortable when you're trying to live a nice, carefree life of unrepentant sin with God watching over your shoulder. 

We seem to fall into one of three categories of relationship with God. The first category is what I’d call having “too much God.” It may be that He's calling us to a more righteous way of living and we don't like the cost of that call. There are things we say, do and think that we don't want to give up. Let’s face it. Most of the sins we commit are those we enjoy doing. And let’s get real here. If we were honest, most of us would admit that we would much prefer to ignore our neighbor than to love them. And despite what Jesus said, there is just absolutely no way we're going to forgive those people who have done us wrong. And that whole Matthew 25:31-46 thing about doing for the “least of these”? Forget it! And then suddenly, we're painfully aware of the pesky Holy Spirit convicting us of our sins and calling us out to live like a Christian. See what I mean? Too much God!

Then there are those Christians who honestly believe that they have just enough God. Let's do the math: I spend two hours in church on Sunday if I include the hospitality time. There are 168 hours in a week so my two hours in church is 1.2% of my time engaged in a religious activity. But I'm a good Christian so I pray for about 7 minutes a day which is 49 minutes a week. And sometimes I pray longer if there are a lot of things on my list to ask God for so let me round up my weekly prayer time to one hour. And then there’s my devotional reading and sometimes I even read my Bible so let me add another hour to my spiritual balance sheet. So now.. Two church hours, an hour in prayer and an hour reading and now I'm up to four hours a week. Whew! Let's see..That's about 2-3% of my life I'm doing a religious activity and that's just about enough. So I'm good! Don't need to be a fanatic about it! I mean really.. I got a life to live! So I’ve got enough God now, thank you very much!

Of all Christian believers, the second category of having “just enough God” is by far the largest. The first category of “too much God” is the second largest group of believers. And then there's that small group of radical Christians...

Those who just can't seem to get enough God. They long for more of Him. They thirst for His presence in their lives. God is never far from their thoughts. Prayer to Him is not a brief, compulsory religious ritual but a conversation that they periodically enter into throughout their day. Whether their prayers are extemporaneous or from a prayer book, they find themselves spiritually refreshed and filled with the peace of God. They also find themselves singing hymns and worship songs; sometimes not even aware of it. Hymns and worship songs have become the intrinsic background music of their lives and often spring spontaneously to their mind throughout the day. In every disturbing, stressful or worrisome situation, the first thing that they typically will do is to pray for guidance and often a Bible verse or thought will come to their mind that is specific for what they are experiencing and feeling. They find themselves being effortlessly thankful to God in all things for there is always something in every situation to be thankful about. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 If you were to call them a zealot for God, they’d blush at such a high compliment. Their faith is their passion and priority, and if you were to ask them, they’d answer that they never have enough God and wonder if it is even possible for anyone to have “too much God” in their lives.

As we begin the year 2020, which category are you in? Stop for a moment. Think about it...

❑ Too Much God. 

❑ Just Enough God. 

❑ Not Enough God.

Which category does God want you to be in? Do you have a faith that’s alive and powered by the Holy Spirit? Are you enthusiastically walking on a spiritual journey with Jesus becoming more like Him every day or are you just napping by the side of the road? Too many good church-going Christians have left their love of God behind and simply become dedicated patrons in the museum of religion on a Sunday morning. Or, are you perhaps at a stage in your life where you just want to be left alone and are annoyed that Jesus persistently stands at the door knocking? Revelation 3:20-21.

Wherever you are at, on your spiritual journey today, as we step over the threshold of 2020, I believe that God wants to say something to you at this very moment...

Grace! It's What's Before Dinner.

Dear Friends,

When I was a kid, we said grace at every meal and our family tradition was for us to take turns. My mom and dad said the traditional prayers of the Episcopal Church that were found in the back of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and my dad would solemnly intone: “Bless O Lord, thy gifts to our use; And us to thy loving service; And make us ever mindful of the needs of others; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”  

While I would like you to think that I was a deeply spiritual lad, the truth is that in my haste to eat, my prayer was a fast, three second one-word ritual: 

“GodisGreatandGodisGoodandweThankHimforthisFood!”

My sister’s grace was “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub! Yay! God!” which was definitely not found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

Saying grace before the meal was so important to my family that on Thanksgiving and Christmas they even called in a professional. Well, sort of.. My mom's cousin was a Congregational Church minister so when their family came to dinner, he always became the designated “pray-er.” His church was the oldest (founded in 1867), largest Protestant church in Los Angeles and I looked up to and admired this man of God. He didn’t just say grace. He would incorporate a three-point sermon into a Thanksgiving prayer with words of thanks for everything and a word of blessing for everyone. By the time he was finished, the turkey had grown cold, a fatty layer had congealed on the now-chilled gravy and his own children would be looking at each other and sneaking glances at the dining room clock. But when you said “amen,” the meal had been sanctified and so had the family time. Our dining room had become a church and God had been invited to join us at the table. 

Giving a blessing after a meal comes from Jewish Law: “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” Deuteronomy 8:10 But in the New Testament, we find Jesus giving thanks to God before the meal. “And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples...” Mark 6:41 And then when Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” Luke 24:30 Jesus’ prayer of thanks to the Father before meals became a Christian liturgy taught by His disciples and we read, “And when he (Paul) had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.” Acts 27:35

Saying grace is the spiritual time-out between the flurry of activity before the meal and the meal itself. It's the quiet moment at home when the food has been brought to the table. It's the moment at the restaurant when the waiter has hustled off to fetch ketchup for the fries. We pause and bow our heads in prayer. We ask God to bless and sanctify our meal in remembrance that all that we have, including all that we eat, is from God, and we are thankful to Him for His good and perfect gifts to us. James 1:17 

It's also the pause to remember that our meals are not magically transported to our plate after being created in the "StarTrek Replicator." Someone grew, raised or caught your food. If you are eating vegetables, someone spent all day bent over at the waist in the hot sun to handpick them for you. In the grocery store, a minimum-wage produce clerk carefully arranged those veggies on the chilled shelves and perhaps someone other than yourself prepared and cooked your meal. We are thankful for them. And as we sit down to an abundant meal, we are also mindful that according to Christian agencies, 925 million people in the world will go to bed tonight still hungry. We pray for them. Perhaps we even pray for God to show us how we can help someone in need.

If you don't normally say grace, start a new tradition in your life and express your gratitude to a gracious God before your meals. Extemporaneous prayers from the heart are wonderful and so are the timeless traditional prayers. You just read the Episcopal prayer in the first paragraph and a traditional Catholic prayer is “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord.” Methodists pray, “Be present at our table Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in fellowship with Thee.” A beautiful Eastern Orthodox prayer is “O Christ God, bless the food and drink of Thy servants, for holy art Thou, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.” A traditional Lutheran prayer is “Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed.” (Unless you’re a youth pastor at a Baptist Bible Camp you may not want to pray my sister’s prayer and I know you can do better than my childhood grace!) But no matter how and what you pray, this Thanksgiving make sure someone says grace before you tuck into that plate of turkey because “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

Religious Fanatics?

Dear Friends,

Those of you who are a better Christian than I am may be horrified to hear that there have been times in my life when I've said or thought unkind things about another person’s faith and made fun of them. Let me embarrass myself by giving some examples.

Several decades ago, I used to make fun of an older woman in my family who was Catholic. She had married into my extended Protestant family and she went to mass every day. Every single day. Her priority was not her family but her faith and we all had lots of unkind things to say about how she cared more for church than she did for her husband. She prayed her Rosary three times a day. What a crazy old religious fanatic she was! She loved her Lord with all her heart. She adored Jesus. She was absolutely devoted to God. What a nut, we all thought.

And there was that time we went to the San Fernando Mission. In the back, there's a small private cemetery in a walled-off garden area where the rich and famous, like Bob Hope, are interred. We had noticed a private security guard in the little garden when we first walked in and as the mission bells began to ring at noon, he took out a prayer carpet. He gave us a glance then carefully unrolled it on the ground facing East and got down on his knees to pray his Muslim prayers toward Mecca. 

What a zealot! To be obsessively controlled by your religion to the extent that you publicly embarrass yourself like that was just bizarre. Can you imagine if we Christians were at the food court when the mall clock chimed noon and we had to stop what we were doing to say our prayers? Like that would happen! I was critical and made fun of that Muslim security guard for the rest of the day.

When I was young, I also used to make fun of monks and nuns. I used to believe that the only reason a woman or a man chose monastic life was that they were so unattractive or had such an unacceptable personality that no one would want to marry them. Now I certainly wasn’t the most attractive guy in town, but I did want to live a normal life. Because a normal guy could have a job and earn lots of money to buy really cool stuff. He could go wherever he wanted and pretty well do whatever he wanted. He could marry a beautiful woman, buy a fast car and live the good life that the good Lord intended for him to have! 

Or a guy could trade it all to live the rest of his life in a small room with just a bed and a Bible in a monastery. He'd have to wear a heavy brown wool dress with a hood and live with a bunch of old guys and spend all his days for the rest of his life in church praying. When I was young, the idea of becoming a monk would have been like volunteering for a life-sentence in prison.

I made fun of the Catholic woman, the Muslim and the monks, but now I want to be like them. I don't want the Catholic woman's religious traditions added by her church but I do want her devotion to God. I want her deep committed faith. I want my adoration of Jesus to be as strong as hers was. I don't want the Muslim's skewed doctrine in the Qu'ran but I want his commitment to prayer. I want to have such a strong commitment to God that whenever and wherever I am, I would interrupt my day to pray. I don't want the monk’s physical lifestyle but I do want their spiritual lifestyle. Like the monk, I want to spend the rest of my life living daily in the presence of God.

At some point the Catholic woman, the Muslim and the monk crossed a spiritual line in their lives. From a normal faith to an abnormal faith. From a cursory and casual relationship with God to one deeply meaningful. They crossed that line where they moved from the secular into a sold-out, God-centered lifestyle. And, when they crossed that line, they made God so important to them that they began to structure their life in a way where they would set aside times in the day to intentionally come into His presence. I used to make fun of the super-spiritual. Now I'm trying to learn from them.

Who have you admired for their faith? What is it about their spiritual walk that seems to be different from others? If you could sit down with them and ask them to tell you the one thing you could do that would make the greatest difference in your spiritual journey today, what do you think they’d say to you?

Jesus: More Than a Facebook Friend

Dear Friends,

Years ago, a teenage girl named Marianne lived with her family in Sylmar and went to First Lutheran High School. Marianne was a very pretty girl, one of the most popular girls at First Lutheran and in her senior year was the head cheerleader. Her girlfriends were the most beautiful and popular girls in the school and were also on the cheerleader team. Marianne and her friends were the ones the popular boys wanted to date and these cheerleaders were the ones the not-so-popular boys could only dream about. The boys that were shy, nerdy and tongue-tied around girls, all knew the cheerleaders were way out of their league.

Damian* was one of those boys. He was a shy Mexican boy in a school that was still mostly white. The other kids teased him and called him a nerd. And then Damian became very sick and started missing school. Damian had leukemia – a very fast acting cancer of the blood cells. He started receiving chemo-therapy and First Lutheran sent one of the teachers to his home to help him study. His mother was a young single working parent and so Damian spent his days alone, sick in their apartment. That's when Marianne and her friends decided to visit him. One Saturday, they all showed up. Imagine Damian's surprise when the most beautiful and popular girls in his school came to see him. And as his cancer progressed, they visited him, played games with him and watched TV with him. They brought pizza and had pizza parties with him. A couple of times they spread their sleeping bags down in his living room and even had a sleep-over at his house. Damian had gone from the nerdy guy all the other guys had teased and made fun of, to having the most popular girls in school as his best friends. 

When Damian died, the entire school was shut down so that the faculty and students could go to his funeral at St Didacus Catholic Church here in Sylmar. I was there too. The first pew was filled with the teenage girls grieving over the loss of their best friend. Into Damian’s life at the end, these girls had brought great joy. Marianne and her friends lifted up his spirits and encouraged him. They gave him gifts and hugs and love. And at the same time, God was giving each girl the most precious gift of all. Their priority had been clothes and cute boys, but God was showing them what a sacrificial, other-centered friendship looked like. The girls now set their own lives aside and focused on making life better for Damian. They could have been spending time with any boy in school and they chose Damian. They had a choice of parties on a Saturday and they went to Damian's to watch movies and eat popcorn. At the end of Damian’s life, God him the best friends he could ever hope to have. And to these young teenage girls, God gave each one of them a best friend who would change their life forever. To God be the glory!

There are three kinds of friendships. There are friendships based on what the other person can do for us. We see that in business and politics where you are not my friend unless you can do something for me. The second kind of friendship is one that brings us pleasure. Those are not deep friendships. We just like being with that other person. We enjoy their company. The third kind of friendship is based on an unconditional love and a commitment to care for one another. We may have only one or two of these “best” friends and are blessed when we do. But the one true best friend we could ever have is Jesus. 

Jesus calls those who believe in Him and who follow His commandments His friends John 15:10-15 and we love to sing the hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. The song  brings us consolation, comfort and encouragement. We sing that He’s a friend we can cast our sins and grief upon, and sing that it’s a privilege to carry everything to him in prayer. We love that Jesus calls us His friend. But can we honestly call Jesus our friend? For too many of us, if we treated any of our other friends like we treat Jesus, we'd have no friends at all. We spend time with Jesus for about an hour or so on a Sunday morning and ignore Him the rest of our week. Jesus wants us to come before Him and talk to Him through our prayers, but there are so many more important things for us to do. Jesus told us to love others like He does, and instead, we justify our reasons for hating others. Jesus treats us like He is our one true best friend forever, but are we treating Jesus more like a casual Facebook friend? Someone we know slightly, if at all?

A friend of Jesus will weep and pray with Him over a hungry child anywhere. A friend of Jesus will weep and pray with Him over those in Las Vegas. A friend of Jesus will weep and pray over those suffering from the earthquake in Mexico City and the surrounding towns. A friend of Jesus will weep over those in Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico. A friend of Jesus will pray for the poor, the outcast, the addict, the homeless and the lost. Because what is important to our good Friend is important to us. And when we are truly following Jesus, we will be called to feed the hungry who will never know of our sacrifice to do so. We will be called to pray for those who will not thank us for our prayers. We will be called to care for the sick who will die anyway. And we will be called to forgive our enemies who will continue to hate us. That’s what the unconditional love of Jesus looks like. And as those young teenage girls learned two decades ago, following Jesus means setting yourself aside and loving and caring for others just as He does. And when we do that, that’s when Jesus tells us, “I’ll be your best friend forever!” John 15:12-14 Amen?

* Some names and details are changed to protect privacy