In this post I want to tell you about my favorite book from 2011: Tim Keller’s King’s Cross

It’s hard to really articulate how much I’ve appreciated this book.

The flow of the book is as a very short commentary on the Gospel of Mark.

In short, Keller goes through Mark, and writes a few pages of exposition on each story told.

But more comprehensively, he turns the traditional understanding of almost every story on its head.

He shows how every story is really about us, and our need for the Gospel, and how Jesus consistently pointed our need for something that only He could every provide.

This book is so densely saturated in the Gospel!

Even after reading through the whole book, I can still pick it up, turn to almost any page, and find a challenge to my pride and yet a hope for my soul.

I keep writing and then deleting examples because any one paragraph doesn’t get the point across…

For what it’s worth, here’s an example from today:

He’s in the end of Mark 10, where the disciples – James and John in particular – ask Jesus if they can sit on His left and right hand in glory.

Basically, they are asking to be vice president and CEO of Jesus’ Kingdom.

Jesus responds that they do not understand what they are asking. He asks, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptized with?” Of course, we know that He was talking about going to the cross, but the disciples didn’t, and they responded affirmatively.

Keller goes into some detail dissecting this, but he eventually ties this passage to humility. Referring to how the disciples didn’t understand that Jesus was going to establish His kingdom not through power, but through sacrifice, he says:

Because God’s manner of revelation is characterized by hiddenness, reversal, and surprise, those who follow Jesus find themselves repeatedly failing to understand the will of God… [therefore] there can be no place for smugness or dogmatism…

If our sensibilities are formed by this narrative, we will learn not to take ourselves too seriously; we will be very self-critical and receptive to unexpected manifestations of God’s love and power…

When you see how James and John respond [to Jesus], and you realize how hard it is for anybody to take in the magnitude of what the cross really means, you will be on your way to attaining the gift of humility.

At some level, your normal assumptions, your pride and your egotistical way of thinking, are blinding you to the truth.

The application that Keller comes back to over and over again is simply: stop looking at yourself and your circumstances and the people around you and start focusing on Jesus and His redemptive work.

Surrender to grace.

I know I will read this again and again.

He said something along the lines of, “Growing up, somewhere between the picture books and flannel graphs, I got the impression that Jesus was a feminine hippie with a lot of hair product. One day, I realized: I don’t have respect for this guy because I could beat him up.”

He went on to point out that, even during Jesus’ first visit to Earth, he had many ‘manly’ characteristics. He was a carpenter, so likely strong and rough. He spent most of his time camping with His disciples, and the pharisees made Him so angry that he consistently mocked them to their face.

But, more to the point, when He comes again, there will be nothing soft or ‘hippie-ish’ about Him. He’s coming to start (and finish) a war.

Revelation 19:

Then I saw^(W) heaven opened, and behold,^(X) a white horse! The one sitting on it is called^(Y) Faithful and True, and^(Z) in righteousness he judges and makes war. ^12(AA) His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are^(AB) many diadems, and he has^(AC) a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³He is clothed in^(AD) a robe dipped in^[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is^(AE) The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies of heaven,^(AF) arrayed in fine linen, white and pure,^(AG) were following him on white horses. ^15(AH) From his mouth comes a sharp sword^(AI) with which to strike down the nations, and^(AJ) he will rule them with a rod of iron.^(AK) He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh^(AL) he has a name written,^(AM) King of kings and Lord of lords.

So, just a quick recap: A warrior on a horse with a sword coming out of His mouth, with a robe dipped in blood, a name tattooed on His leg, and itching for a fight with everything evil.

Add an announcer and you have a scene from WWF smack-down.

Put that on a flannelboard….

I’m writing this because I’ve been reminded of it lately as Josiah has grown up a little bit.

The other night, at the dinner table, Josiah looked up and said, “Dad, I love good people. But I don’t love bad people. I will KILL them!”

Now, clearly, we have some serious work to do. I need to teach him that there is no such thing as a good person, and that Jesus already died FOR the bad people.

But he explained himself. I asked him, “What kind of bad people?“. And he said, “Like Goliath“.

What my son was saying that day was, “Dad, I want to be brave and I want to stand up against the bad guys! I’m not afraid. I’m a warrior!”

It’s in his DNA as a little boy.

Just like Kharis gets all of her shoes out and tries them on even though nobody taught her to, Josiah beats up imaginary bad guys with invisible swords.

There’s some part of my parenting instinct that winces every time he does. I can see him at the playground getting carried away with “playing swords” with some kid who doesn’t understand the game and then trying to explain it to their parents.

But the last thing I want to do is try and suppress that natural desire that God gave him to be brave, strong, and to fight against “the bad guys”.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks…

Josiah and I were driving to the store and we were rocking my new favorite windows-down-and-radio-up song, The Lord Is A Warrior by Matt Papa.

In it, he simply celebrates how God is the ultimate warrior and the ultimate Savior – both by dying for our sins and then by promising to destroy all evil that rejects His reign. It’s basically the resurrection plus Revelation 19 put to music.

You can listen to it here:

(And once you realize that it’s awesome, you should go buy it.)

Anyways, back to the story:

Josiah asked me, “What’s he singing about?”

I said, “He is singing about how the Lord is a Warrior. Do you know what a warrior is?”

“No.”

“A warrior is like a strong fighter.”

“Jesus is a fighter?!!?!?!?”

“Yeah buddy. Jesus is the strongest fighter. He is the best hero ever.”

“YEAH! The best HERO! And whenever the bad guys want to hurt you, He will KILL THEM!”

We came home and Josiah ran in and told his mom, “Mom! Jesus is a fighter and he gets ALL the bad guys and He ALWAYS wins!”

Theologically, my son is learning (and very excited about) God’s sovereignty and justice.

Now we just have to figure out how to communicate about grace, sacrifice, and love….

But I think most of us could use a little more of that perspective.

When is the last time you went up against something scary (illness, difficult relationship, financial hardship, etc) and pictured Jesus the warrior riding in front of you to fight your battle?

Kind of makes me want to break out my action figures….

He gave what was probably one of the top-five best sermons I’ve ever heard.

Carve out an hour and check this out:

Now that they’ve had a memorial for him in California, I figured I’d post it here for anyone interested.

We miss you uncle Jamie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDzRa3uRfwA

Below is the text of the eulogy I gave during his funeral.

I would post the video, but I cried a lot trying to get these words out.

———————-

C.S. Lewis, somewhat famously once said,

“If in me I find a longing greater than this world can provide, then I know that I was made for more than this world can provide… more than this life.”

I am not a pastor or a preacher, but there is a reason that I’m standing here. For me, the man we mourn and celebrate today was never “Jamie St. George”. He was always “uncle Jamie”.  He was probably the second most influential man in my life, behind my father.

In fact, there probably isn’t anyone in this room whose life was more profoundly blessed by Jamie than mine.

For me, Jamie was a man who believed his Bible… and read it in front of me. He prayed with me. He prayed with strangers. He was there when I was baptised. He bought me my first bike, and taught me to ride it.

He took me to the mountains. He took me to the beach.

He took me to work with him, and paid me, and then took me shopping to spend my money!

I remember one particular occasion when he came to the house and we rode our bikes to a local park. The park had a strange architecture, such that the basketball hoops were all down in a huge concrete bowl. So people could play basketball in the middle, and skaters could skate around the edges.

Jamie helped me setup a ‘jump’ at one lip of this big bowl, and then he stood waiting to mark my distance as I flew down one side of this bowl and up the other, trying to jump as far as I could on my back. He marked my landing with a stick and then sent me back to try again.

I was 12, at best.

And there were 200 other days like that one.

He did his best to live his life in front of me, and utilize every teachable moment.

He was a giant… ten feet tall, at least.

And for a season of my life, he was probably my best friend.

If there were more ‘uncle Jamies’ in this world, it would probably be a much better place to live.

And yet, many people in this room never knew the ‘uncle Jamie’ who so profoundly influenced my life.

The man who moved to North Carolina five years ago was badly wounded, and much worse than I think any of us could have understood.

So my first goal today is to attempt to paint an honest picture my uncle Jamie.

Jamie was the 2nd-youngest of 12, and the youngest among five other brothers.

When he was about five years old, his dad packed up the family in a (slightly) modified school buss, and moved them all from Wisconsin to California. They lived in that bus for several weeks…

From conversations with Jamie and his siblings, it seems that, as the youngest brother, he was considered somewhat as the ‘runt’ of the family. And he didn’t like it.

Maybe that’s why he become very athletic.

And as he transitioned out of high school, he developed an interest in body building, and took it very seriously for several years, competing at state levels and beyond. Family legend has it that he could have gone ‘all the way’ if he had been more willing to use the steroids that all the champions used.

Even though he stepped back from competitively sculpting his body, he never put the weights down for very long. Even in his late forties, Jamie had a beach body that any 20-year-old would kill to see in the mirror.

It wasn’t long after he stepped back from body building that Jamie discovered the Gospel.

There are some people who ‘get saved’ or ‘find religion’, and it becomes an important footnote in the story of their life.

Not so with Jamie.

I honestly don’t know how he ended up in Harvest Christian Church that first time, but when he learned that God loved him, and had purchased his life through Christ’s death on the cross, he never looked back.

At age 25, the good news of Jesus seemed to redefine Jamie’s whole life.

It didn’t take him very long to scribble ‘Jesus’ over every aspect of his life.

Every-other word out of his mouth was ‘Jesus’. A skeptic would have called him a bonofide ‘Jesus Freak’, and Jamie would have been very, very grateful for the compliment.

He was even somewhat legalistic at first. My dad loves to tell the story of a road trip to San Francisco when Jamie refused to drive faster than the 55mph speed limit while everyone else was going 80.

Jamie was somewhat legendary for riding his bike everywhere. I can picture him on his mountain bike, wearing his headphones with some kind of 1980’s contemporary Christian music playing. And a fanny pack full of Gospel tracts that he would hand out to anyone who would pay attention.

I know because he usually took me with him, and taught me how important it is to make sure people know about Jesus.

But he didn’t just minister to strangers. He prayed for his extended family. Reached out to them.

Many of us here follow Jesus because of Jamie.

When our church would have an evangelistic function, Jamie would plaster posters and graphics all over his van and drive around town, looking for someone to invite.

He had that van because, for a season, he and his wife worked at a group home, pouring their lives into teenage boys who were close to ending up in prison.

He lived with them, at meals with them, cried with them, broke up fights, brought them to church.

Then there was the year when Jamie took so much time off work to help take care of his dad, who suffered from Parkinson’s. We can’t remember whether it was 9 months or a year. Jamie’s goal was to make sure his dad knew the good news about Jesus, and he patiently worked with him daily trying to communicate it. Feeding him. Walking with him. Being there when he woke up. Being there when he needed someone to love him.

Jamie seemed fearless to me.

I remember when he got to know a neighbor who was far from Christ. The guy coached a traveling basketball team. So what did Jamie do? That’s right: assistant coach.

Or the time he brought a homeless man in to live with him and his wife until he could get on his feet.

Whatever it took earn the right to make sure that people knew how much God loves them.

During all this time, Jamie was best with kids.
He seemed unusually aware of how significantly a person’s life is shaped during their childhood.

I think there’s a clue to his life there…

He took every chance to positively influence the children in his life…. his nieces and nephews, the kids in his neighborhood or apartment complex.

If Jamie was around, there were kids laughing and fighting for his attention.

There was one time when he had Katie and I at his appartment, and we were all swimming in the pool, and so many kids were fighting for his attention that Katie got to far from the edge and started flailing her arms.

But we don’t hold that against him because he dropped everything and swooped her out.

And after what must have been something like 8 or more years, he and Patti finally had kids of their own.

And just like we all expected, Jamie’s parenting was the stuff of legend. It’s hard to imagine that anyone ever loved their kids like Jamie loved his Austin and Jenna.

Many men sacrifice their families on the altar of professional success, but not Jamie. If anything, it was the other way around. He did everything he could to spend as much time with his kids as possible.

But when he had to work… you should have seen him. Maybe it was all the years fixing things at his dad’s rental equipment business, but you’ve never seen anybody who could fix or build something quite like Jamie.

He was a true artist.

The mcguiver of handymen.

Give him 2 ruberbands, a welding iron, and job to do, and get of the way.

Even as I walk around my own house, or my parents’ house, I can’t escape his fingerprints. They’re everywhere because he could fix anything… even if he didn’t know what it was.

Or go visit his home. The whole thing looks like an infomercial for a master craftsman.

Friends, this is who we honor today.

He was a faithful husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend.

And, my dad will want me to mention this: he could smell a good barbequeue from 20 miles away.

We don’t have to exaggerate or invent anything to fondly remember or celebrate this life.

His life ended under a dark shadow, and some day, in heaven, he will help us understand what these past couple of years were like.

Something broke…. in his soul or in his mind… but his faith never did.

And that’s what so poetic about today.

Jamie taught me about Jesus, and today, I want to remind all of us as we cope with the loss of this hero.

I know that many of us heard or believe a version of the Jesus story.

That version goes something like this: Jesus died so that if you pray a prayer of faith you won’t have to go to hell, and you can go to heaven instead.

And I suppose there’s truth in there…

But it’s painfully incomplete.

The Bible paints a much bigger picture.

The Bible tells us that God made us… He crafted us…. in His image. And for a purpose.

He made us so that we could be ultimately satisfied by Him. And that satisfaction leading to our joy, and our joy leading to His joy. And the reciprocation of that joy leading to more joy.

He made us so that He could be the ultimate father to us forever.

And being a tender Father, He gave us a choice about whether to take Him up on his offer.

And way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam, our father, turned his back on God.

He chose death.

And ever since then, the world has been falling apart.

We all know it.

Every person in this room is hurting.

There’s sickness, cancer, abuse, loss, bitterness, unforgiveness, broken marriages, war, greed, pride…

In a way, as Adam’s seed, we all get exactly what our hearts want: freedom from God.

Which is freedom from joy.

Which is death.

But…

From the very beginning… from the very moment we rejected God, He was already working a plan of redemption.

In Genesis 3 he told the serpent that Eve’s offspring would one day bruise his head.

We know that the climax of this story was when Jesus came to earth, God in flesh, and in the ultimate pursuit of his enemies, suffered the death we all deserve on the cross.

He was the perfect sacrifice to pay for our black hearts.

But he did so much more than save us from hell that day.

He restored us to God.
The Bible tells us that because Jesus suffered for our sins, it is now possible for the perfect, holy God to live IN US, through the person of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s how Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world… and you were by (very) nature children of wrath…
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came, not to save us from hell, but to restore us completely to the soul-satisfying relationship that God created us for.

And Jamie knew that. He believed it in his bones… in his soul.

He also understood that the Bible tells us that Jesus will come to this earth twice:

The first time was 2,000 years ago, when his death on the cross removed the curse of death for all those who would put their faith in his name.

When he comes for the second time, he will restore everything.

He will destroy everything that causes pain.

And he will recreate the earth as it was meant to be.

And we will once again be fully satisfied, in our souls by the pure presence of God.

This creates a tension.

The contrast of this broken world and that perfect paradise can be overwhelming.

Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8:
The whole creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God… And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

I believe that Jamie understood this better than anyone.

His heart ached for the day when Jesus would make all things new.

His favorite word was ‘maranatha’, which is an Aramaic word that means, “Lord, come!”

I believe that was his constant prayer.

I don’t think he wanted to escape from this world, so much as he wanted to finally be at home. With his heavenly father.

For Jamie, the promise of perfect fellowship with God was so precious. And his spirit became so tired of waiting.

In John 16, Jesus was nearing the end of his last day with his disciples before going to the cross. He told them, “A little while, and you will see me no longer. And again, a little while, and you will see me.”

In a gentle way, he was telling them that we would be going away, but coming again.

And many of the disciples became discouraged and confused, and Jesus said to them:

You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Jamie fought for joy with all his might for the last several years of his life. He fought until he couldn’t fight any more.

But today, he is with Jesus, and nothing will ever take his joy again.

Today, Jamie gets to experience the ultimate fulfillment of what Paul wrote in Romans 8:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died -- more than that, who was raised -- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jame fought the hardest battles I’ve ever seen. He battled depression and nightmares, and crushing grief.

But in the end, all those things are swallowed by the hope of the cross. Every foe was defeated once and for all at calvary.

And now he stands victorious, in the embrace of Christ, and proclaims:
Death is swallowed up in victory!
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

No.

Let us not grieve for Jamie.

He is the happiest he has ever been today.

Instead, let’s grieve the loss of such a precious man.

Let’s join him as we groan inwardly for Jesus to come and make all things new.

Let’s join him in the mission of proclaiming this hope to everyone.

I offer Hebrews 6:19-20:
(the hope of the Gospel) is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf…

In the coming days, as we ride the wave of emotions that come with our loss, let us remain anchored to the hope of the Gospel.

Let us plant ourselves in the hope of a coming redeemer.

I would like to end with a poem, a prayer, and then a video to remember uncle Jamie.

This poem is very precious because it was written by a man named William Cowper.

Like Jamie, Cowper was a man of God who battled dark depression for most of his life, and yet, like Jamie, he left a huge footprint in our world. He wrote 66 hymns that are commonly found in modern hymnals. I believe he wrote from a place that Jamie could identify with:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Our pastor often refers to him as ‘Yoda’, and I have to agree.

This stood out to me this morning:

Imagine sitting down with a sever-year-old and saying to her, “I’d like you to write me an essay on what you think it’s like to fall in love and be married.”

When you read the essay, you will say it isn’t very close to the reality. A seven-year-old can’t imagine what love and marriage will be like.

When you start to follow Jesus, you’re at least that far away. You have no idea how far you’ll have to go.

He just released a new single called It Is Finished.

Put on your headphones, sit back, and meditate on these lyrics:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LyKwgYhP6I

the earth shook and trembled

the sun bowed its head

the veil of the temple was open for man

as Jesus went down in the cold of the grave

defeated the darkness when He overcame

the keys of the kingdom were placed into hands

of children and priests and of fishers of men

through all generations His will be heard

creation resounds the victorious words:

IT IS FINISHED

IT IS DONE…

Events like ServeRDU are designed specifically to build intentionality into how we interact with the world and put Jesus on display.

This month, the Summit church is partnering with Pregnancy Support Services of Wake Forest through an event called 4,000 Steps.

Our small group has formed a team with the goal of raising $1,000 by the end of the month.

This is where you come in:

There’s already a slick little website setup where you can contribute to this goal. If every reader of this blog this month gave just 10 bucks, we would blow our goal out of the water!

AND if you sign up to give a repeating monthly gift, it will be doubled by an anonymous donor (and that isn’t code for me and Steph). That means that your $10 per month commitment would add up to $240 towards the goal this year!

So, please give it some thought, and when you’re ready, head on over to this link and click “support Zack”.

Thanks!

The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.

I don’t know much about the church, but I love the way they start this: “Before we tell you who we ARE, let us tell you who we WERE.”

This is the story of every honest follower of Jesus.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wgaVk_o8G8

(warning: what began as a short reflection on 2010 became a full-fledged brain dump – continue at your own risk)

2010 was a tough year for the Rieslands.

Not tough as in somebody got really sick or someone lost their job — I realize a lot of folks had those kinds of years, and I’m definitely grateful that we didn’t have anything tragic to overcome.

And I don’t mean tough as in bad either. It really was a wonderful year. Maybe our best yet.

I just mean tough. Hard. Stressful. Exhausting.

The first half of the year found Steph trying to take care of a very active one-year-old while finishing a very difficult pregnancy. And the latter half of the year has been six months of doing just a little better than treading water — trying not to be overcome by the responsibilities of raising a 2-year-old and an infant and still living a somewhat normal life.

And also trying to do all that on one income.

And also trying to do all that without just surviving — doing our best to enjoy this season.

Let me pause at this point and clarify: I’m not complaining. Not at all.

In fact: this year has gone at least as good as we hoped it would. Seriously…

We signed up for this with our eyes wide open. Like a runner at mile 18 of a marathon: he doesn’t regret his decision to run the race. He doesn’t want to quit (except for brief moments of self-doubt). And in a weird way, he is kind of enjoying it — he knows that it won’t be long before he crosses the finish line, and the race will have been worth it — and that motivates him. But if you ask him at mile 18, “How do you feel?”

Well, he’s not likely to sing his favorite piece from The Sound of Music.

And for us, this year was very much a marathon.

My routine has been:

• wake up between 5 and 6
• do freelance work until 8′ish
• (maybe) have some time to read my Bible or meet someone for breakfast
• work an 8-hour day
• go home and help cook dinner, feed it to our son, eat it, and clean up
• spend as much quality time with Josiah as I can before his 8:00 bedtime
• bathe Josiah, read him his bedtime stories, and put him to bed
• and then I have 8:30 until I pass out to spend time with my wife and my daughter

And Steph’s has been:

• wake up and feed Josiah (which usually a battle because he doesn’t want to eat his breakfast, he wants to play)
• feed Kharis
• feed herself
• play with Josiah
• play with Kharis
• keep their diapers clean
• pick up around the house
• make lunch
• feed Josiah
• feed Kharis
• feed herself
• read Josiah bedtime stories and put him down for a nap
• put Kharis down for a nap
• (maybe) take an hour for herself (nap, bathe, etc)
• then basically repeat all of the above through bedtime

And these are ‘normal’ days.

Factor in that once a week our small group will be coming over, so the house has to be clean.

And once a week we try and have a date, which means the house has to be clean (for whoever is babysitting) and details like meals and baths need to be lined up.

And then there’s making time for the grandparents, keeping the bills paid, keeping the lawn mowed and gutters cleaned, building relationships with our neighbors, finding time to cultivate our relationship with God…

Like that marathon runner, there have been plenty of days where I basically just put one foot in front of the other. Forget taking in the scenery or noticing who else is running the race. Sometimes it feels like the only goal is: don’t quit.

At this point, our fellow parents will roll their eyes and say “join the club”, and those without kiddos will roll their eyes and say “well you signed up for this”.

And to both I say: Yep! Absolutely! I would not trade any part of our life right now for anything. I love everything about it!

I love coming home to a new craft on the fridge that Steph came up with for Josiah to do that day.

I love how Kharis will jump so hard in her bouncer that she can’t stop laughing.

I love how Josiah wants to be just like me… how he would rather go buy groceries with his daddy than watch any movie or do anything else.

I love seeing 20 people in my living room discussing the latest sermon at church.

I love how my parents’ faces light up when we bring the babies around.

The sacrifice doesn’t shake a stick to the reward.

But here’s my reflection on 2010 (seriously, this is it… Kharis is about to wake up, and I’m out of time to reflect!):

I see lots of t-shirts and bumper stickers that say “Life is good”, or “Blessed”.

We live in a culture that truly believes that life is supposed to be easy and painless. And whenever something difficult or painful happens, people FREAK OUT. We look at the grass on the other side of the fence, and wonder what life would be like over there.

We spend our whole lives chasing idols that we hope will make our lives less complicated and more enjoyable.

If I could just be married to THAT person.

If I could just sleep with THAT person.

If I could just attain THAT income… drive THAT car… get an audience with THAT leader… have THAT job… if I can just make it to NEXT year… maybe that will fix things…

Then maybe I can wear the “life is good” t-shirt without being a total fraud.

But here’s the truth: life is HARD

It most definitely has its moments, but mostly, life is really, really hard. Even in the good seasons when nobody is sick or out of work or addicted to drugs (see above).

Life is hard. But God is good.

God gives me grace to be a good husband when I don’t have the energy.

God gives me the grace to play baseball with my son when all I want is a nap.

God gives me the grace to pay my bills every month.

And God has created this story we’re living in where the earth is not our home. He has gone to prepare a place for us. He will come and take us to be with Him. And a day will come when our whole existence will be wrapped up in Him, and we will be able to say, on that day, “Life is good” and it will mean the exact same thing as “God is good”… and it will be true for every single second of all eternity.

And between now and then, and forever after, God is the hero.

I’m looking forward to more restful days in 2011 (please Lord!!!!). But I know I’ll realize new ways that I need God’s grace. I know that in my future, people I love will get sick and die… I will make mistakes…. people who I love and trust will hurt me….

There will be many days when “Life is good” will be nothing but a lie.

But “God is good” never, ever will.

2011 isn’t my savior.

I already have one.

*Three quick footnotes:

1) I know that your life is hard. It’s not pop-psychology — the Bible tells me that this world is broken and so is everything in it. So next time we talk, let’s not beat around the bush. It’s not complaining – it’s reminding each other how badly we need Jesus to restore everything.

2) If you live in denial about how badly you need a Savior by constantly trying to convince yourself that “life is good”, knock it off. Denial isn’t your only solution to deal with all the broken pieces in your life. Jesus wants to take them and build a beautiful mosaic. (And He makes sure that He is ALWAYS the hero.)

3) Did you have a similar 2010? Feeling exhausted? Take heart: life is full of seasons. As a pastor at our church encouraged me: “This will probably be the only time in your whole life that you are the father of a 2-year-old and a 5-month-old. Make it count.”

]]> http://www.therieslands.com/2011/01/01/2010-a-reflection/feed/ 4 http://www.therieslands.com/2010/12/23/cnn-article-on-francis-chan/ http://www.therieslands.com/2010/12/23/cnn-article-on-francis-chan/#comments Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:02:13 +0000 Zack http://www.therieslands.com/?p=5193 You’ve seen me write a handful of posts (like this one) about Francis Chan over the past couple of years.

His podcasts and books – Crazy Love in particular – have been a huge blessing to me.

You may or may not know that a few months ago he walked away from his church. No scandal, no controversy or drama – he just abruptly announced that he would be moving on with no specific plans about where.

Now that the dust has settled a bit, he has transplanted his whole family to an ‘undisclosed’ city in Asia, where nobody cares that Crazy Love just hit the NY Times best-seller list, and CNN wrote a pretty interesting article about the whole thing.

The clencher for me:

Before selling his house and packing up his wife and three children, Chan was becoming “Christian famous” in Evangelical circles.

“Even in my own church I heard the words, ‘Francis Chan’ more than I heard the words, ‘Holy Spirit’,” he said.

That was a big part of the reason he walked away at the peak of his professional career.

“I think there has been too much emphasis on me. I want to be used by God, but I think we have this desire to make heroes out of people rather than following God and the Holy Spirit.”

He quotes the apostle Paul, who told his followers “I didn’t die for you.”

Wow.

He may or may not have gone a little overboard, but either way: I think he’s on to something.

Check it out.

It’s a track that some really talented hip-hop artists put together to help raise some money for aid to Sudan.

After you give it a listen, cruise over to iTunes and search for “Actions Speak Louder“, and download it for a buck. 100% of the proceeds (after apple takes a big ol’ chunk) will go towards helping those who are suffering for lack of basic human resources in southern Sudan.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8oBEkOCFk

Oh, and if hip-hop isn’t really your thing, all the lyrics are below ;0)

Swoope
If I’m honest I’m tired, hungry, I’m frustrated, all of the above/
A little sore from civil war when all I seen was blood/
I shed tears, heartbroken, all I need is love/
Im Drowning fast in my sorrow, all of me is flood/
I’ve seen hurt, seen death, seen slaughter. Now I need some clean water, all I see is mud/
It’s like nobody out there cares ’cause all I see is shrugs/
It’s like nobody out there hears ’cause all their ears is plugged/
(Psalm 34)
Man I’m feeling like a lion whose hungry and weak/
So it’s the mighty God of Zion who humbly I seek/
I stumble and weep/ with the tears running from cheeks/
Each moment I wonder if he will ever so subtly speak/
And I’m confident He will so I’m confidently still/
Deliver me from sickness Lord conquer what is ill/
I still stand, and when I’m rescued is His choice/
I stand still and know my refuge is His voice//

Tedashii
God, today another home somebody owned is now a puddle/why the rain came I wonder while they wander through the rubble/
Why me, why now, should they think why not/
Is everything against me to take everything I got/
Someone got out the bed this morning some got of the floor/some went off to work this morning some went off to war/
Some ate half a plate and trashed it just to get some more/but trust me that’s not an option in places like Darfur/
Vision blurry as the skies cries like my eyes/
In despair I cast my cares as I cry to the sky/
I never hope in man, though some are willing they’re unable/
But I’m the kind who’ll be fine with crumbs from the Master’s table/
I know this situation hasn’t caught you by surprise/
In fact it’s with faith I choose to walk instead of sight/
I know that you love ‘em, since the womb you knew them/
You never forget/so may the grace that drew ‘em, renew ‘em/

Lecrae
I don’t have the words to articulate
the way you let me drown in your never ending grace
how my crimes are covered and washed away in blood
There is nothing in me conditioning you to make you love
I cant attract, impress or try to win your heart
but you give it all and you been involve
and your never change even when I’m wrong
your love still goes on to make an atonement
love infinite and unconditional
nothing can separate us cause now I live in you
there is no amount that can calculate your divine love
its so much that Christ was given to die for us
Its stronger than death, deeper than the ocean
bigger than the night sky the earth could never hold it
and its not impulsive, its holy and pure
its not a weakness or soft its sharp as a sword.

Lyrics From RapZilla

Last year alone, THREE different members of our worship team released new albums, but you won’t find them in Walmart or on the radio, so I want to make sure you know about them.

First up: Sam Fisher

You can find Sam leading worship most Sunday mornings at the Summit church‘s Cole Mill Campus.

Sam has been a full-time musician since I was in high school and his newest project, From Age To Age, is a neat intersection of rocking tunes with God-glorify lyrics.

Here’s one of my favorites from the album, called Beyond The Ordinary:

Next: Matt Papa

You can find Matt leading worship at our brand-spanking new North Raleigh campus.

Matt’s new album, Your Kingdom Come, is a great combination of Gospel-centered lyrics and high-quality, Beattles-esque music style.

My favorite song from the album is called Open Hands. It’s a great song for corporate worship, expressing surrender to God. Check it out:

Last (but not least) is Aftermath:

“Aftermath”, AKA Jonathan Edwards, can be found leading worship many Sunday mornings at our Brier Creek campus.

He has a really unique sound, and his new album, The Aftertaste Of Abandonment, is one of those catchy CDs you leave in your car CD player for weeks at a time.

Check out one of  my favorites, Airplanes and Airwaves:

Give these guys a try and let me know if you what you think!

If you read this blog much, you know that I spent most of a year in Uzbekistan, and that the situation there is not a good one.

Islam Karimov is a murderous thug who rules through fear and intimidation, and millions of people suffer every day because of him.

Christians are routinely arrested and harassed, and prisoners are treated terribly.

This is an unexagerated reality for anyone who has spent any time there, yet the United States continues to maintain that they are our “partners in trade” and “partners in freedom”.

The recent wikileaks release of diplomatic cables shows that Karimov’s corruption is well-known among those who deal with him.

Check out this article where diplomats compare Karimov to a mafia thug.

Or this one, which includes a section from an actual cable:

Corruption is rampant in the GOU. Tenders and government positions can be fairly easily secured by paying the right amount of money to the appropriate individual, leading to a situation in which unqualified individuals have every incentive to engage in further corrupt activity to pay off the large debts they usually incur making down payments on the jobs.

Or this one, which begins:

The post-Soviet state of Uzbekistan is a nightmarish world of “rampant corruption”, organised crime, forced labour in the cotton fields, and torture, according to the leaked cables.

But the secret dispatches released by WikiLeaks reveal that the US tries to keep President Islam Karimov sweet because he allows a crucial US military supply line to run into Afghanistan, known as the northern distribution network (NDN).

Did you catch that? Basically, Uzbekistan is one step above North Korea, but our government says we need to be nice to them and ignore it all so that we can have a military supply line.

Sigh…

Please pray for this broken country, plagued by an evil ruler and hundreds of years of demonic oppression.

Pray for the thousands of believers who suffer daily for their courage to follow Christ.

Pray for 30,000,000 lost people with no good access to the Gospel of Christ’s saving work.

And pray for God to destroy the work of Karimov’s hands and open doors for a flood of missionaries and aid groups to come bring life to this dark place!

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