Living Unloved

I have been reading, experiencing, and contemplating numerous things in the last few weeks all with good intentions of sharing some thoughts here, but time hasn't been my friend lately. I have found myself using the few extra moments to soak up time with Claire and Charlotte, which is definitely a good thing. Perhaps this week I will have some time to catch up on my blogging. I did want to share one story that I read in e-mail preaching journal sent out by Walter B. Shurden, Minister at Large, Mercer University. Buddy Shurden was the chair of the Christianity department when Cyd and I were at Mercer. He holds a special place in our hearts as a teacher, a mentor, a pastor of sorts, and a friend. The following is actually his response to a section of The Shack. His thoughts on living unloved spoke to me when I opened the e-mail last week. I have already used a variation of it twice in preaching and teaching, it's that good!

Years ago when I was a very young pastor, I encountered a college student who had been sent my way “for counseling” by a member of my church who was also the dean of students at the local university. I know of no other way to describe the college student: she was a wreck of a human being.

For an hour I made absolutely no access to her soul. But as she grabbed the door handle to leave, I said, “Let me ask you one more question.” “Shoot,” she arrogantly shot back. In as pastoral a way as I knew how, I quietly asked, “Who loves you?” “That’s a stupid damn question,” she countered; “Why do you ask?” “Because,” I said, “My business is to tell people that they are loved.” I pressed the issue: “So tell me who loves you.” Long, long pause with obvious pain and then sadly: “My brother . . . maybe.”

When we live unloved lives we end up overreaching like Adam, lying like Eve, manipulating like Jacob, being fearful like Saul, living unbuttoned like David, amassing like Solomon, denying like Peter, boasting like Paul, and killing ourselves like Judas. Living unloved, we end up puking in alleys, bed-hopping, living self-destructive lives, buying till it hurts, climbing ladders made of others’ heads, building barns too big to live in, confusing ambition with vocation, hoarding rather than sharing, hating folk who don’t look like us, driving by Lazarus, and using rather than serving people. To tell the truth, we end up on trash heaps on the southwest corner of Jerusalem. They called it Gehenna. We call it Hell! We end up as waste, and we waste the only life given to us. That is hell: waste.

But here is the Good News: God is for you! God loves you! You don’t have to live your life hating yourself! To believe all of that is much harder for most people to believe than doctrines of the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, etc. God welcomes you! God accepts you! And Fred Craddock closed his sermon on this theme with: “Can you BELIEVE THAT?”

Powerful thoughts indeed!

Thoughts on God

The prophet Hosea provides a challenging look at faith. Some scholars believe Hosea's marriage to Gomer is purely metaphorical, representing the waywardness of Israel and their affairs with other God's particularly Baal. What strikes me most is not a matter of interpretation in terms of historical event or hyperbole but the ever-true message of God's faithfulness in the midst of our unfaithfulness.

Hosea 13:4-6 (The Message)

4-6"I'm still your God,
the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I'm the only real God you've ever known.
I'm the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn't need me.
You forgot me.

God proves himself true over and over again as he demonstrates his faithfulness in our lives daily. We take for granted the little things, like breathing each morning when we awake, even if the wake-up call is because of aching muscles, alarm clocks, or an energetic 3 year old. What about food to eat each day. Or perhaps an encouraging word from a friend or a smile from a stranger as you pass them in the grocery store. God is faithful to provide for us and meet us right where we are.

Hosea 14:4-5 (The Message)

4-8 "I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
He'll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He'll put down deep oak tree roots,
he'll become a forest of oaks!
He'll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
From now on I'm the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
Everything you need is to be found in me."

There is this print my mom has in her house of a historic oak tree in Savannah. The oak has this huge sprawling canopy of branches complete with Spanish moss hanging from the limbs. The beauty and grace of the Majestic Oak above ground is only made possible by the deep roots beneath the surface. Roots that run long and deep down in the fertile soil of the Georgia coastline. That root system serves at least 2 purposes. 1) It provides the groundwork for the beautiful vegetation of the tree and 2) a strong support system so that the tree isn't toppled by winds and rain and other potentially dangerous elements. Isn't it great to know that God provides the strong support system we need to face each day of life! He is our protector, our shield, our defender....He is our REFUGE!!

Helping Mom Ice Her Birthday Cake

Claire's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe that Claire finally turned 3!! I feel like we have been celebrating her birthday for a month. We had a great day on Monday. She and Cyd made a chocolate cake, then Claire licked the icing until she had it all over her face. The pictures are great. I will get them posted soon. Then we had some company. Kate, our family friend and the former Assistant Student Minister at FBC came over for a few hours. We hadn't had a chance to catch up with her lately so it was good to do so. Claire loves to spend time with "her Kate!" Then Cyd's parents and aunt Carolyn from Texas came over for a birthday dinner. We had a wonderful time together.

There's lots on my mind but not much time to share it right now, so I will hopefully get caught up soon.

How to Help Students Navigate Ethical Situations

The following op-ed piece is from today's edition of USA Today. I received an email with an link to this article from The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. I thought it was interesting to hear different sides of this debate. I am inclined to agree with statements of being able to serve in the military, vote, etc. as equal footing as the legal drinking age, however the argument that making something legal will allow it to loosen its stranglehold on society or a portion of society. All one has to do is look at the tobacco industry or perhaps a better example would be pornography. Just because something is out there and legal for people of certain ages to do doesn't make it good, beneficial or moral for anyone!! I'm not endorsing the consumption of alcohol by anyone, but I have witnessed far too many 18-20 year olds make poor, dangerous-even life-threatening decisions under the influence of alcohol to support the college presidents and this push to lower the legal drinking age.

Don't lower drinking age; teach value of waiting

Derek Melleby, director, College Transition Initiative, Center for Parent/Youth Understanding - Elizabethtown, Pa.

The recent movement by some college presidents to reduce the legal drinking age to 18 is shortsighted. Trying to lower the drinking age is a superficial response to a deep issue ("College presidents want lower drinking age," USATDOAY.com, Aug. 18).

(Photo - In praise of drinking: The Booze News, a satire, was founded by Derek Chin and Atish Doshi in 2004 at the University of Illinois / Dan Gill, AP)

It is unlikely that the law would be changed, no matter how many college presidents join this movement. So why are they getting involved?

Know this: Not all students go to college to drink. I've talked to countless students across the country who long for their college experience to be different. They are developing virtues of delayed gratification, self-control and sacrifice. They are students who want to think more deeply about the goal of education and the meaning of life. Some are students who have been hurt by the effects of alcohol abuse. Many didn't mind waiting a few years to drink legally and have learned to do so responsibly.

Developing students such as these will require college presidents with the moral clarity and courage to make strong decisions about what is acceptable behavior at their colleges.

What is needed is an atmosphere on our nation's campuses conducive to shaping students' character so that waiting to drink until the age of 21 wouldn't seem like such a sacrifice.

Colleges and universities used to pride themselves on fostering a countercultural ethos. Today, what would be more countercultural than a college or university committed to educating students to be responsible and virtuous?

Students are mature

David N. Laband, Professor of economics and policy, Auburn University - Auburn, Ala.

As a 27-year university professor with a reputation for not being drinking buddies with college presidents, I support 100% the college presidents who have proposed that the drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18.

I routinely discuss drinking behavior with my students. They are, to say the least, candid. They are mature enough to be asked to risk death in Iraq or Afghanistan, mature enough to vote, mature enough to sign contracts, get married, drive automobiles, but not mature enough to have a beer?

This is oxymoronic and, therefore, insulting.

In response, they simply evade the law, with sometimes dangerous consequences. For example, because students are not permitted to bring alcohol into Auburn University's football stadium, they either front-load their consumption before entering a game or sneak in smaller containers of considerably more potent alcohol.

Either way, from a health standpoint, the resulting alcohol abuse must be much more damaging than the casual consumption of beer that occurs when the individual does not feel like a criminal. Consumption of four or five beers over several hours, in addition to a couple of slices of pizza or other food, has a much lower toxicity impact on an individual.

The Europeans have it right with this one: They treat alcohol consumption by young people as a normal activity and, so far as I am aware, their colleges and universities are not plagued by destructive binge drinking.

Limit change to beer

Frank Glamser - Hattiesburg, Miss.

The university presidents who have recommended a discussion of lowering the legal drinking age are on to something if the change is limited to the consumption of beer.

Drinking has been an integral part of college life for centuries. Attempts to suppress it have driven drinking underground to private spaces where abuse is common and unobserved by people in authority. It also might be increasing the interest in hard liquor, which is easily transported and hidden.

It would be much better if students were consuming beer in a campus pub or commercial establishment where behavior could be monitored to some extent. Also, beer consumption is somewhat self-limiting because of the volume of liquid involved and the tendency to become ill when consumption is excessive. This is unlike hard liquor, which is often the source of alcohol poisoning cases that plague higher education.

Posted at 12:10 AM/ET, August 25, 2008 in Education - Letters, Letter to the editor | Permalink

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Renewing the Center

Recently, I finished reading Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era by Stanley Grenz. The book offered a sweeping history and analysis of evangelicalism, even recounting key figures that represent two ends of the spectrum within evangelicalism. In fact, some readers would argue that some of the people that Grenz defends as evangelicals are in fact outside of the realm of evangelical theology, which in many ways illustrates the purpose of this book to call evangelicals to a renewed vision of a "generous orthodoxy" that will reclaim the truth of the gospel while moving forward to engage an increasingly secular and postmodern culture. There were many things that were encouraging to me about this book. First, the rich theological history that I have by being a part of evangelicalism. Second, the shape of Protestantism to be a people who are constantly reshaping and revising the implications for living out the gospel. Third, the importance of being shaped by scripture and the biblical narrative rather than shaping scripture to meet my own needs and agenda. Stanley Grenz writes, "A renewal of the center, therefore, calls the church to the ongoing task of doctrinal retrieval and reformation, under the normative guidance of Scripture and Spirit, for the sake of the furtherance of the gospel of God's transforming grace freely available in Christ" (p. 345). The challenge for me and every other believer is to move forward in reaching people for Christ without compromising the center that drives us, THE GOSPEL!!

Gaining the World

I was listening to a playlist on my iTunes entitled Troubadours that has music from Neil Young, Bill Mallonee, Bob Dylan, Mo Leverett, and Edwin McCain, and The Lost Dogs. This song by Dylan came on entitled "Masters of War". The song obviously deals with his opposition with war in general and perhaps specifically the escalating nature of things in Vietnam (original release was early 1960s), but it has some piercing comments that grabbed my ear. One verse of the song challenged me to reexamine my own thoughts about money and material possessions.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

We live in a culture full of greed. We bas our society on the American Dream that has morphed into the American nightmare of debt. People are selling their souls for money and stuff that won't mean a thing when they die. Is it worth it? Didn't Jesus ask "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul?"