Christmas Chaos

OK, so Sunday's sermon was called Christmas Chaos--Where we see Chaos God sees Christmas--great subject for this time of year with all the "stuff" that dominates our lives. Christmas shopping, parties, school & church plays, family events...you know chaos! The focus verse for the sermon was Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him..., we had some good laughs about the things that happen during this time of year and an earlier experience that I had this week with our family’s Christmas tree as well as the thought that every tree that I’ve put up this year appears to have a slight lean to it (to the right of course). Then, that evening, we had our children’s Christmas program, For the Glory of the King, a great production by our children’s choir and Chris and Shannon Shuford (and all the people that made the production possible). During the program a certain little shepherd (*cough* Cade Marlowe *cough*) managed to run into the church’s Christmas tree causing it to shake back and forth (and my heart to skip a beat). The tree would stop shaking and remain in its upright (if not somewhat leaning) position, and after the laughter died down, the show would indeed go on—all in all, a great time of worship and fellowship at Tuckaseege.

 Fast forward to 3:55AM this morning, there's a crash from downstairs in the Marlowe houses hold. Like any normal person, I grab the .45 and toss Emily (my lovely wife) her .38—just in case whatever/whoever it is makes it past me (you should note here that the Marlowe's do not mess around). I go downstairs ready to extend the love of God to someone and what do I find? An 8ft tree lying on the ground, water, lights and broken ornaments everywhere—you know chaos. I would have preferred to have shot something and to be honest if it wasn’t for the extra clean up and the sure to follow discussions with local law enforcement, I probably would’ve shot the tree. Em and I now work in the wee hours of the morning spending quality time together, cleaning up broken glass (it's surprising how compact 50 or so ornaments become when crushed). Once the house is back in some order (very relative term here) Em returns to bed to try and catch a quick nap and I begin my day by reading a daily devotional book (a neat little book that was a gift to us from dear friends). As I read through the devotional, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young, a great 365 day devotional written as if Jesus is speaking to you, I am once again amazed at the uncanny timing of God. Putting all of our morning “festivities” into perspective as well as the sermon I had just preached the day before, here is what the devotional entry was for December 12^th:

“I AM TAKING CARE OF YOU. Feel the warmth and security of being enveloped in My loving Presence. Every detail of your life is under My control. Moreover, everything fits into a pattern for good, to those who love Me and are called according to My design and purpose.

Because the world is in an abnormal, fallen condition, people tend to think that chance governs the universe. Events may seem to occur randomly, with little or no meaning. People who view the world this way have overlooked one basic fact: the limitations of human understanding. What you know of the world you inhabit is only the tip of the iceberg. Submerged beneath the surface of the visible world are mysteries too vast for you to comprehend. If you could only see how close I am to you and how constantly I work on your behalf, you would never again doubt that I am wonderfully caring for you. This is why you must live by faith, not by sight; trusting in My mysterious, majestic Presence.      (Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, p.363)

So there it is, my morning in a little under seven hundred words. I hope that my family’s little bit of Christmas Chaos brings a smile to your face—and I hope that you have the opportunity to see the true story of Christmas even through all of the chaos—and to know that God has a plan and a purpose for your life...even in the chaos.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

The One You Don’t See

“It’s not the gator that you see that you have to worry about, it’s the ones you don’t that you need to be worried about.”

 

I don’t have any idea where that thought came from. My only guess is that it sublimely made its way into my mind during one of the many “Swamp People” marathons that I’ve watched on the History Channel. It just sounds like something that Troy would say while surveying the muddy waters of the Atchafalaya River Basin swamp, the sun setting behind him and some great music playing in the background as the scene slowly fades to black…what a great show! However, or whenever, the thought originally came into my subconscious (I say this, because there is no way I could/would come up with anything like this on my own) it made itself known this past week as I went for stroll around the subdivision where my parents have a beach house. You see the area around the subdivision (like most of coastal Carolina) is riddled with swamps and marshes. It is in theses swamps and marshes that the local American Alligator makes its home. So as I meandered around the subdivision I paid careful attention to the sides of the road and the marshes, with that singular thought repeating itself in my head, reminding me to be ever vigilant. 

 

*(a note of disclaimer, this is the part of the blog where thoughts get deep—and another note, I never saw an alligator…sorry.) 

I must be completely honest; I didn’t just take off for a nice quite walk as part of my everyday physical routine, or even to have a deeper more spiritual encounter. No, this was one of those walks you take as a parent—when everything is getting crazy and you may on the verge of losing your cool (yes, this happens to pastors too—hello, normal dude here!). It was a cooling off walk, a step back and take a deep breath kind of walk, maybe you’re a better person than me and you’ve never had to have one of these, or maybe you’ve felt the consequences of not taking the walk and wish you had—whatever your position, this is where I was and what I was doing. As I walked (and thought about alligators) I started to really think about things. I was mad and it wasn’t really at anything that had just transpired, I was just angry and I began to really unpack my anger and try to find a genesis for it. As I rolled through the many issues that I have going on (I’m sure if you’re in some sort of management possession you can really relate to that) I began to see my problems as alligators, and really started to think about the alligator/problem that I wasn’t able to see. This was going to be the one that gets me, or judging by the way I was feeling—the one that had already got me.

This is when it occurred to me, the one place that I wasn’t looking as I laid out my laundry list of problems and issues was in the mirror. Maybe my biggest problem wasn’t everyone else, maybe it was me. I began to think about different situations, what remained the same? Me. I was the one common denominator. Now at this time I was reminded of another saying, “everyone else is crazy, and I’m the one on medication!” But I couldn’t shake the thought, what if my biggest problem was me—well not really me, but my misguided focus. It’s very easy in life, especially in the ministry, to spend the majority of your time pouring into other people and trying to fix everyone else’s problems to the point that you allow no time for healing or refreshing for yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I have my quite time and spend my time in prayer and reflection, and I love what I do, counting it a privilege to serve as I do—but something was missing.

I had allowed my relationship with God to erode and grow cold. My “quite” time had become just a process, a mechanical thing that I did…mere religion. There was no true seeking Him out and letting Him work in me. My focus had been moved from what should have been the most important part of my life, my personal relationship with God. It was not from God’s side, it was me. I had become apathetic or maybe just complacent in my approach to a personal time with God. This gross oversight on my part had not only affected me, but had crept into other parts of my life, my relationship with my wife, my kids, and was overflowing into how I saw everything. None of this means that my other alligator/problems weren’t real and didn’t need to be addressed, but what had happened was that the one that I didn’t see, the erosion of my personal fellowship with my Creator, was the one that snuck up and took a big bite out of me.

Everything that I am, partner, parent, pastor is shaped by what happens to me as a person. In life we have the tendency to get our priorities out of order. I (we) must be very aware of my (our) priorities and to keep them in their proper order. You may say to me, “but shouldn’t the needs of my wife and my kids come before my own?” and I would agree—but not before your personal relationship with God. Your personal relationship with God will trickle down into every other aspect of your life and shape the way you handle everything from your partner, to your kids, to your profession. If you are not careful you will allow other things to take away from your personal time with God, and as your personal relationship with God grows cold, you will find that it won’t take long until the other priorities begin to be affected. Then the next thing you know, you’re walking around a subdivision looking out for alligators trying to figure out how you got there, and where everything went wrong. Never realizing that it was the alligator you didn’t see that ended up getting you.

The Necessary, Unnecessary

If you have children you have no doubt found yourself sitting in the living room floor surrounded by a thousand little pieces, countless screws, nuts and bolts trying to discern directions that read more like an IRS tax return manual instead of anything that could be considered even remotely helpful to the task at hand. After many hours of work (and a prayer or two of repentance) you finally finish the project. Filled with joy and a sense of accomplishment you bring together those you love to display your masterpiece. As you proudly display the work that you accomplished with your own two hands—your mood of jubilation quickly comes to an end when your audience notices a small pile of various screws and other obviously unnecessary parts laying on the floor behind you. At least you thought they were unnecessary, I mean it “looks” like it’s supposed to, what’s the big deal…right? 

I would love to say that my experiences with the above scenario are few and far between, but with a seven and a two year old the stream of “some assembly acquired” toys seems never ending, and so too is my constant battle to make sure every piece is in its place. However, it never fails that there always seems to be some little piece that is left out. So I find myself thinking, really how important could this piece be. My wife is always quick to remind me that when the project in question will be carrying around our children, there are no unimportant parts. When it comes to their safety, she reminds me, it must be done right.

That’s the thing about my “projects” they always look good. The completed Power Wheels car looks just like the one on the box, and if not for the few left over pieces you would never know the difference. Except there is a difference. The company that produces these toys has a small army of very well trained engineers working on their toys to make sure they will be safe for children. They designed the toy to fit together in such a way, with all of the included and necessary pieces, that it should provide hours of not only fun, but safe entertainment. Who am I to overrule the judgment of such highly trained individuals, while I have my own collection of degrees I assure you that none of them are in mechanical engineering! So, I begin to slowly read through the instructions one more time, checking every step for the proper location for each of my “necessary-unnecessary” parts. Not until every piece has found its proper place will my wife deem my creation “assembled” and ready for use by our children.

It seems to me that a lot of churches are operating without all of the necessary pieces. Oh, they look put together, from the outside. It seems able to continue in the functions that God has created and designed it for, but something is missing. Sitting on the pews are a lot of “people pieces” that have been left out. Sometimes they have been simply overlooked by the leadership within the church, or even (and I wish that this weren’t true) overlooked by the church as unnecessary. It may be that the “pieces” themselves feel unnecessary or useless within the structure of the church. Whatever the case and despite what these people have been told or believe, they are essential…they are necessary to the operation of God’s creation. You see God is the “great engineer”. He has created His church to function in a specific way with a specific purpose, and while it may look like a church, and it may even be able to function in a way that we think is pretty productive, it will never be able to live up to its full potential while it still has missing parts.

It could be that you are one of those missing parts, that you feel that you have nothing to offer the church—His church. Maybe you have been told as much all of your life, that you have nothing to offer and that you are worthless, maybe even by people you trust and love. Let me assure you that you are not. Someone once told me that the true value of an item is never known until a price is actually paid for it. That is to say, the value is ascertained by what someone is willing to pay for it—you my friend have been bought for a very steep price. God valued you so much that He bought you with the life of His Son. He did not purchase you to sit on a pew and gather dust, but to be an essential piece of His plan, His purpose, His Church. 

Maybe you find yourself in the place of my wife, looking over what has been made and noticing the pieces that are missing. I pray that as you recognize these pieces that have been left out of wherever it is that you serve and that you would seek those pieces out— working diligently until you help them to realize their full potential…to help them realize that there is no such thing as an unnecessary part in the body of Jesus, that there are no unnecessary people in the Church. Then, and only then, will we reach our full potential and fulfill the purpose that God has for each of us and His Church.

Untapped Potential

It seems that technology changes daily. As I look around the local coffee shop, I find myself becoming envious of all the new “techno-gadgets” that surround me. I see iPads and the latest Microsoft tablet computers, and don’t even get me started on the phones. Smart phones, iPhones, Droids, 3G, 4G….the list goes on and on! The truth is even if I had the newest and greatest gadgets (and believe me not a day goes by that I’m not trying to convince my wife of the absolute need in our life of an iPad and all things Mac!) I probably would never have a clue of how to fully use them. Now I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I’m not tech-illiterate—I’m just not as versed in the ways of technology as this new generation is…you know, like my 7 year old daughter!

The truth be told, I’m probably not utilizing my own BlackBerry to the fullest of its potential, and I know that my laptop yawns in boredom every time I log on. There is untapped potential in the technology that I already have—untapped potential right at my fingertips, I just don’t know how to make it a reality.

Sometimes I think our lives are the same way. We slink around going from one humdrum day to the next, never fully recognizing the power that God has given us. As a follower of Christ, you have access to the Creator of the universe—in fact, I believe (and the bible teaches) that the Spirit of God actually dwells in you. Think about that, you have the Spirit of God in you! The Apostle Paul reminded his young apprentice Timothy that indeed God has not given us a Spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). I believe, just like young Timothy, we need to be reminded of how awesome the power of God that is working through us really is.

Think about this for a moment, we quote verses like Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”, but do we truly live a life that reflects the power that we claim to have? We move around this world with our heads down and looking defeated, searching out the newest and greatest thing that might bring us happiness and joy. We’ve lost sight of the power that is already in our lives, through Jesus Christ himself. This “power” was best demonstrated in Jesus’ own resurrection. As the bible describes it—God wants us to understand the “incomparably great power that is available for us who believe…a power that is the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19-20a). As we celebrate the Easter season may we never lose sight of the sacrifice that was paid at Calvary—and may we be reminded on Easter Sunday that the same power that was employed in raising Christ from the dead, is in us—waiting to be tapped to make a difference in our life and those we will touch.

The question then is, how do we tap into this power that is in every believer? The answer is as simple as the old Nike ad--"Just Do It." The power of God is exerted in our faith and actions. A person who moves in the power of God, moves out with only the simplest commands from God—“come” and “go”. When we move out in faith, we know that no matter what our enemies place in our way, we will overcome--not through our own strength or might, but through the power of God. 

The true power of God will never be realized if you continue to play it safe. If you never venture beyond your own circle of Christian friends and co-workers that you have used to insulate yourself from the worries of this world, how will you ever understand the power of God? The true power of God in a believer’s life is not realized until you make the conscious decision to “go” and “to tell”. Then despite what the world sees as overwhelming opposition, you see opportunities for the power of God to be revealed in your life and to others around you. Go out today—live out your faith and fully experience the power of God in your life. Utilize the untapped power of God and live the life that He has destined for you.

What price for love?

What would you give up for someone you loved? Everyday people all over the world are giving up something for those that they love. Some people give up their dreams so that a child can realize theirs, others give up a hobby, or a way of life so that they can meet the needs of someone that they love. The truth is, when it comes to love there’s not much we wouldn’t do.

Now let’s re-examine that question with a new twist, what would you give up for someone who didn’t love you? How far would you go to show someone who doesn’t even love you, or even know you exist, the love that you have for them? Would you be willing to risk it all? Would you give up everything that you were—leave your family, friends, everything that you are and have ever known for someone who could possibly never even return the love you have showed them, and never appreciate the sacrifices that you made?

Although the majority of us would be willing to sacrifice whatever we could for our loved ones, I bet not too many of us would be willing to make those same sacrifices for people who may or may not ever love us, or show us the same love we have showed them. I must admit that I find myself in that majority more often than I would care to admit. I would give anything for my wife and my children, they need only ask and anything within my power to accomplish is at their command. Heck, for the most part I like to think of myself as a caring person—I like to think that I do make sacrifices for others, but my sacrifices for others are truly “peanuts” compared to what I would for friends and family.

Did it ever occur to you all of the things that Jesus left to come to earth, what about the things that He “gained”—sorrow, pain, heartache, temptation, and stress. The bible explains it this way:

 though Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross(Phil 2:6-8NIV)!

Think about it, Jesus left everything that he was to come to earth, take on our humanity and live, suffer and even die—all because he loved us. The creator of the heavens and the earth put aside his glory to dwell among his creation. He did not come to be worshiped, but to serve and to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin. One of my favorite verses in the bible describes the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation (the taking on of humanity):

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is the devil (Hebrews 2:14NIV)

I love that he calls us “children”. Think back to my earlier question, “What would you give up for someone you love?” Jesus loves us and he made himself “nothing” so that he could come and be the person that we could never be; that pure sacrifice for our sins. Why? Because we are his children…and a parent would do anything for his children.

Reclaiming that Loving Feeling

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to pick out newlyweds? They walk around completely oblivious to anything or anyone else around them. They are in their own little world, lost in each other—completely enamored with one another. Ah, love! The misanthropic among us will look at these newlywed couples and scoff that they are still in the “honeymoon” phase of the marriage—wait until things get hard, wait until the bills are piling up, the kids are in trouble and the dog is in the trashcan, just wait until “life” happens then we will see how they act. The sad truth is that many of our marriages and relationships move through a sort of downward spiral never recapturing the devotion and intensity of their earliest days. It’s not that we don’t love our significant other—it’s just that the “awe” is gone. We still do all of the same things, we may even do a little more than we ever did before, but the enthusiasm that was there at the beginning is missing.

Unfortunately this type of “love apathy” is not relegated to our relationships with other people—it also finds its way into our spiritual lives and our relationship with God. Jesus, in the book of Revelation, addresses just such a situation. In His “message” to the church in Ephesus Jesus begins by acknowledging all of the good works of the church, He then admonishes them for their failure to remain true to their “first love” (Rev. 2:1-7). Even though they were busy doing great things, they had lost the true focus of why they were doing those things. They had moved out of the “honeymoon” stage of their relationship with Jesus. The awe was gone. They had forgotten what it was really like to be in love.

Too many of us find ourselves, like the church in Ephesus, forsaking our first love. We have lost the intensity and enthusiasm for Christ that we once had. The works are still there, but the focus is not. Fortunately Jesus provides us with a formula for reclaiming that “loving feeling” (with apologies to the Righteous Brothers): Remember, Repent and Do. First we need to remember and reflect on the early days of our relationship with God, the “honeymoon” days, and compare that to our present situation—how does it match up? Next we are to humble ourselves and admit that the intimacy that we once had is no longer there. We need to seek Him like we did in those first days, with an all-consuming desire. Finally, we are to continue in our good works, not motivated by conscience or tradition, but by an intense, awe inspiring love, for a Savior who loves us with a never wavering love.