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:

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/2010/11/12/pray-for-persecuted-christians-in-uzbekistan/ http://www.therieslands.com/2010/11/12/pray-for-persecuted-christians-in-uzbekistan/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:46:36 +0000 Zack http://www.therieslands.com/?p=5110

(Those reading from email or an rss feed will need to click through to see the 2-minute video above)

This is very personal to me.

There are somewhere around 30,000 believers in Uzbekistan, which is roughly 0.001% of the population.

I know a handful of them personally. They have been arrested, interrogated, spied on, sabotaged, and end up forced to live on the run, often to other countries.

This video is not an exaggeration or an isolated case.

Openly following Jesus in this context will cost you everything.

Please pray with me for our brothers and sisters in this part of the world.

While waiting for something to compile at work today, I started playing with this picture in a photo editing program…

These are what I came up with:

And then a little more boldly:

Adding texture to photos doesn’t always make them look better, but I kind of like how these turned out.

If you do, and would like to use one for a desktop, you can download them in higher resolution here and here.

Like many people, I first discovered Donald Miller through the book Blue Like Jazz. He had written several books before that one ‘hit it big’, but for some reason, that one got our attention.

I enjoyed the book a lot — not nearly as much as some of my friends — but I love Don’s writing style. He has a tone that would fit perfectly if he were your good friend and sitting across from you at a coffee shop telling you the stories he writes about. Where some books engage me in a way that is a mental workout, Don’s books engage me in a way that is a mental stress-reliever. I can read his writing before bed and it actually helps my mind slow down and try and take myself out of my shoes and put on his for a few minutes.

So, I’ve been excited to get my hands on his newest work, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.

I won’t endeavor to write a significant review of the book — partly because I don’t have the time, and partly because several hundred other people have already done so (so why add to the noise?). I recommend Chris Brogan’s video review. Or, you can go here and read the first chapter online for free.

I will say that I think it’s a really neat concept, and it has given me another angle from which to view my experience of life. The book probably won’t change your life, but it will entertain you, engage you, and might even nudge you to dream a little better. I guess, in a way, all books change our life to a certain extent.

Anyways, the point of this post is to offer the snippet below from page 123. Every input we allow into our lives shapes our perspective and, consequently, our ambitions:

Before I started writing for a living, I had a job as a marketing guy at a start-up company that sold textbooks to the education market. In learning about my job, I had to read all kinds of other books about how to sell people stuff they didn’t need. As near as I could tell from reading those books, marking is a three-step process. The first step is to convince people they are miserable. The second step is to convince people they will be happy if they buy your product, and the third step is to include a half-naked woman in your pitch…

The thing I never realized while I was studying marketing was the process of advertising products is, in many ways, a manipulation of the elements of story. It’s like I was telling you about an inciting incident disrupting the stability of a character’s life, throwing him orher into a story. Advertising does exactly this. We watch a commercial advertising a new Volvo, and suddenly we feel our life isn’t as content as it once was. Our life doesn’t have the new Volvo in it. And the commercial convinces us we will only be content if we have a car with forty-seven airbags. And so we begin our story of buying a Volvo, only to repeat the story with a new weed eater and then a new home stereo. And this can go on for a lifetime. When the credits roll, we wonder what we did with our lives, and what was the meaning.

The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vaccuum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won’t work in a story, it won’t work in life.

The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vaccuum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won’t work in a story, it won’t work in life.

Interesting how they’ve changed their story over the years…

Their slogan back then was pretty interesting as well:  “Every child a wanted child”

I guess it just depends on what they meant by that…

(HT Z)

Piper taught for an hour on what he has learned from C.S. Lewis over the course of his life.

Almost every single sentence is quotable and I STRONGLY encourage you to go download it or watch it (for free, of course).

But if you only have five minutes, watch this clip, where Piper explains how a sense of duty in the christian faith is not only a waste of time — it’s just about the OPPOSITE of the Gospel:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T00199dEipc

Well, I guess it wasn’t new. Let’s say I was reminded of a good lesson recently.

Since it involves a moment of personal vulnerability in someone else’s life, I’m going to leave out lots of details that would probably make it a better story and just cut to the chase. If we ever get the chance to sit down and chat, you can ask me for the long version :0)

Here goes:

A couple of weeks ago I sat with a handful of brothers in a friend’s dining room.

We were sharing prayer requests and praying for each other, and a new friend of mine shared a short story.

You probably can’t fully appreciate his story without knowing him a lot better than it’s my place to help you here, but we’re talking about a guy who seems to really have it together. At a glance, he appears to fit nicely into lots of stereotypes, several of which us hypocrites love to judge.

You also need to know that he has been jobless for quite a while, although, pulling up in his driveway, you would never guess that the man who owns the house hasn’t had a consistent paycheck in over a year.

OK. So with that tiny snapshot, here’s what he shared:

He said that the previous week, his wife had been out of town visiting family for the holidays, so, with nobody in need of his attention, he decided to seize the opportunity to catch up on a couple of movies he had been wanting to see.

One of the movies was the Russell Crowe film “Cinderella Man“, which is based on the true story of Jim Braddock.

He said it was strange that he decided to watch it, because he had already seen it in the past, and he never watches a movie twice.

Nevertheless, he put it in late one night after staying busy all day.

If you haven’t seen the film or read the story of Braddock, the crux is that he couldn’t find work during the great depression, so he became a boxer in a desperate effort to keep food on his family’s table. The movie is very deep – the cinematography is kind of gray, representative of the period in American history that it represents. And you get a glimpse into this guy’s daily grind of getting up early and doing whatever it takes to keep his wife and kid warm and fed, even when this means literally taking a beating in the boxing ring.

My friend vulnerably shared that while watching that movie, he cried for the first time in ten years.

He said that he looked at a man who was desperate to provide for his family — desperate to be able to look into his wife’s eyes and see respect and admiration.

He said that after a year of spending all day, every day looking for full-time work, he knows exactly how that feels.

He said that what has been especially hard for the last year is that when you have a full-time job, there is a clear calendar of when to work and when to rest. There are weekends and vacations and holidays. But when you don’t have a job, and your job is to look for a job, there are no weekends, no holidays, no vacations. You are always scrambling to try and figure out how you’re going to land a salary — and with it, some sort of stability.

He said that though he hasn’t been boxing, he knows the feeling of emotional and mental exhaustion of the character in the movie.

This wasn’t some sort of tear-filled, heart-wrenching, lay-hands-and-pray-for-me moment. It lasted for 2 minutes and he wash just sharing the way that he would like for us to be praying for him.

But it was a wealth of an education for me.

So far, by God’s grace, I haven’t had to experience what it feels like to be unemployed while being responsible for a family.

And I never in a million years would have guessed that this friend was wrestling with the weight he carries on his shoulders.

Never.

You could fit my house in his living room. He seems to be playing a different ball game.

But at the end of the day, a man is a man. Whether he’s hunting in a field, or boxing in a ring, or filling out endless job applications and networking with everyone he’s ever known, he’s really just trying to be a provider.

In the end, my jump to conclusions where a great hindrance to my ability to effectively love this brother.

Who are you doing that to in your life right now?

It’s one of my favorite websites, and while some of the photos are beautiful and inspiring, some stop me in my tracks and remind me how big the world is and how small my perspective often is.

This week, they have a post titled “2009 In Photos, Pt. 1“.

The photos are super high-res, and there are a lot of ‘em, so it takes a while for all of them to load, but it is definitely worth the wait.

Here are a few of my favorites: