Ray Lewis' Chase

It won't surprise anyone who knows me that I didn't watch the Super Bowl the other night.  My top ten favorite sports are college baseball.

But yesterday I did see a clip of Shannon Sharpe's interview with Ray Lewis during the Super Bowl pre-game show (see the video below).  I do watch The Daily Show, which is where I saw the clip.

The Baltimore Ravens' linebacker was involved with the wrong people in a bad situation in 2000, and found himself involved in some way with the murder of two people.  He pleased guilty to obstruction of justice and testified against others who were convicted of involvement in the murder.  Many people still think he was more involved than he admits, and literally got away with murder.  

I certainly don't know the truth, and neither do you. But questions remain, and Shannon Sharpe asked Ray Lewis about those allegations in his his pre-game interview with Lewis on Sunday.

Ray Lewis has since become a Christian and has been involved in many activities expressing his faith.  Like happens with a number of celebrity conversions, sometimes it seems like humility is the toughest spiritual battle Ray Lewis faces.

I can't come down on him too hard for that, since I have my own spiritual battles to fight.

I reacted with quick anger, however, to one of his statements in the interview. Part of Lewis' explanation of why we should believe he is innocent of the murders is because God is using him in so many great ways.  The quote, and the video:

"If you really knew the way God works, He don't use people who commits anything like that , for His glory.  No way. It's the total opposite."

I've been involved in prison ministry for the past 8 years, and I would very much like to introduce Ray Lewis to some of the murderers I've known.  I've changed their names.

He should meet Alice, who spent over three decades in prison for the murder of her husband.  For much of those 30+ years she quietly set an example of patient faith and endurance, and was responsible for bringing dozens of convicted women to a conviction about their sin and God's grace.

Among the women who followed Alice to God were Beth, another battered wife who killed her husband, and Charlotte, convicted for conspiracy to commit murder.  Both of them carried on Alice's ministry of bringing other women to the Lord.

I could introduce Ray Lewis to Martha and Nancy, both in prison for causing the death of their own children.  Both arrived in prison totally wrecked, consumed with guilt, and a bit mentally unhinged over their experiences.  Both found forgiveness in the arms of the Lord, and both have been used by God in very powerful ways as witnesses to other fallen women of the truth that God will forgive and can work in the life of any one, no matter how heinous their sins.

And Althea, the church lady, the grandmother, the Sunday School teacher, who found herself in a horrible situation and made the wrong choices, resulting in being sent to prison for conspiracy to commit murder. As soon as she landed in the county jail, she began reading her Bible every day, which drew attention from other women there.  She would read with them and explain what she was reading, and answer their questions.  

In the state prison, she opened her Bible again, starting with Day 1, and again drew interest and questions.  She spent her time in the prison as a spiritual mother, teaching dozens of younger women about the Bible, answering their questions, counseling them, helping them to get through their shared ordeal with faith and a heart of peace.

In the final 30 days of her sentence, she was moved back to the county jail back home, where she began reading her Bible as always.  there was one other young woman in the pod with her, and she asked Althea to read to her.  Over the next thirty days, other women came and went, and they all would sit and listen to Althea and pour their hearts out to her and to God.

On the day Althea was finally scheduled to be released to go home, the only woman left was that same young woman that was her first pod-mate a month earlier.  She asked Althea, "Who is going to read me the Bible when you're gone?"

Althea closed her bible and handed it to the young woman. "You keep this," she said.  "I can get another one."

The young woman thanked her, but said she wished Althea could stay and read with her.

"No," she answered, "it's time for me to go.  I know now why I ended up in prison all these years.  It was for you and all the other girls like you.  But I've done what He asked me to do, and now it's time for me to go home."

Ray Lewis says he wants his epitaph to say "A man chasing after God's own heart."  If he truly is that man, he'll learn that God can indeed use people who commit things like that, for His glory.

And he can use you and me, too.

Doom's Day

Doomsday is only a prophecy of doom to those who don't know and aren't eager for what happens after the doom.  The day does not belong to the Doom, but to a Whom:  to Christ Jesus and to those of us who have heard His call..

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3

Making Black Friday a Good Friday

I've written before about my family's Holiday Curse.  We have been stranded far from home due to car breakdowns, wrecked our cars (twice on a single holiday weekend), been violently ill, dealt with deaths in our extended family, wound up in the emergency too many times to count, and on and on and on.

It took me many years and many unexpected holiday situations to finally realize the lesson God was trying to drill into my head. 

When those "curses" happen, they nearly always put us in a location where wouldn't otherwise have expected to be on a holiday, encountering people who are either forced to work on a holiday or are themselves dealing with some sort of cursed holiday.

What if, instead of lamenting finding ourselves in yet another un-festivity, we would open our eyes to see the opportunities He has place in front of us?  The people He wants to bless, the struggling holiday nomads who need a touch of God's grace, the opportunities to actually do something for someone.

Black Friday is coming, a day many people approach with dread.  It's the topic of negative Facebook status posts and complaining tweets, blogs devoted to the frustrations of the commercialization of Christ's birthday.

Perhaps we should see Black Friday as an opportunity to live out a Good Friday:  Go to the mall or other stores with no intention of shipping (unless you happen to discover an Avengers Christmas tree skirt you just can't resist). 

Spend your time intentionally looking for the people who need assistance with something. Lend a hand to someone who looks lost.  Strike up a friendly conversation with the sad-faced husband who is worn out from being the designated pack horse.  Speak of word of thanks and encouragement to the employees who have been on their feet all day. 

Share a table in the cafe court with a harried shopper and help them with their kids while giving them a chance for a few minutes of conversation with a cheerful adult.

Live incarnationally among the people caught on the Black Friday treadmill.  For a few moments, make a memory with them, a blessing for a Good Friday.

Confessions of a Curmudgeon

Mnemonic of the Day from
theyuniversity.tumblr.com

The other night I told my dear friends in our Life Group that I have decided to stop being the Church Curmudgeon.

As is typical of our laid back group, this led to several minutes' discussion about the fact that nobody except my wife and I (the old people of the group) know the meaning of the word curmudgeon.  And so I offer the graphic definition above, for their education.

I told them that I am a cynic in regard to the church.  None of them gasped in surprise.  These people know me.

They have all heard me say that I go to the church that I find least annoying.  While I consider this to be high praise for the congregation that has won this honor, most folks don't see it that way.

I also told my friends that I expect I will always be a cynic.  I will likely always find things about the programs, the methods, the priorities or the preaching that nag at me like a cockle-bur down my sock.

But I am resolved to no longer allow there to be a direct lineage between the cynic in me and the curmudgeon hiding behind the cellar door.

Toward that end, I'm trying something new.  I'm resting my curmudgeonly finger on a different sort of trigger, if you will.

Whenever I'm sitting in church and the cynic threatens to transmogrify into full curmudgeon mode, I will press the pause button and try to think of some way, some action requiring effort on my part, to get involved in the very thing I'm inwardly grumbling about.

Which is why I'm sitting  here in our church building at 2:15 AM writing this blog post, having spontaneously volunteered this past Sunday to be the midnight-to-5 AM "security guy" who is letting people into the building every half hour or hour for the congregation's 24-hours of continual prayer on the National Day of  Prayer.

This is my penance.  

I'll keep you posted on further acts of anti-curmudgeonly cynicism.

Sundry times far and between

I began this blog at the beginning of October last year, intending to be a faithful blogger - in more ways than one.

And then my life took a few detours down those diverse ways.  My elderly mother became very sick.  My time  became dominated by her long stay in a hospital, followed by a rehab center (where she and I both knew there would be no actual rehab), followed by a couple of months in a long-term nursing home (which we both knew would not be all that long term).

Around Thanksgiving time, I was blessed with contracting the same bacterial affliction that she he had caught in one of the healthcare institutions, whereupon I battled with severe illness through three holidays (holidays are not fun times in my household).

About the time I was finally in view of recovering from the sickness, she had been so debilitated by it that her body lost the battle.

At the funeral we sang and praised God for allowing her to trade her sickness for the joy of the Lord.

And now, 4 months later, I'm starting to feel like my body and my soul are ready to live again.

And perhaps to blog again.

May God's power be made perfect in my weakness, and may his grace be sufficient for me.

Psalm 119 Heth: God Seeks You

Psalm 119 Heth ח

You are my portion, LORD;

I have promised to obey your words.

I have sought your face with all my heart;

be gracious to me according to your promise.

I have considered my ways

and have turned my steps to your statutes.

I will hasten and not delay

to obey your commands.

Though the wicked bind me with ropes,

I will not forget your law.

At midnight I rise to give you thanks

for your righteous laws.

I am a friend to all who fear you,

to all who follow your precepts.

The earth is filled with your love, LORD;

teach me your decrees.

There's a new book out titled, Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine (Eric Weiner, Twelve, 2011)

In the end, Weiner didn't come away with something entirely new to believe in. Instead, what he found is what he calls an "IKEA God."

"Some assembly required," he says. "[The] idea is that you can cobble together your sort of own personal religion, a sort of mixed tape of God."

What he concluded is that you need a foundation. In his case, that foundation was Judaism and Kabbalah.

"But on top of that foundation, you can add all kinds of things," he says. "So I'm sort of in perpetual seeker mode, but I think that's OK." (npr.org, 12/5/11)

At first glance, this section of Psalm 119 could bear the same title: Man Seeks God.

When David says God is his "portion" he's saying that God is all he needs out of life.

He seeks Him with his whole heart.  He examines his life and lives intentionally for God.  He hurries to learn and live out His commands. No matter the situation, no matter the time of day, he is eager to seek God and honor Him.  He begs to be taught more.

We need to notice, though, that woven into David's story of seeking God, we see the parallel tale that God seeks us.

The very fact that God has entrusted us with His words should reveal that He cares enough to communicate His will to us. As David acknowledges, God has made promises to be gracious toward us - something He is under no compulsion to do. All of those commands and laws and precepts were cataloged for our benefit, and for the purpose of drawing us back into a close relationship with Him.

To many, God is a being of wrath, someone to avoid. Or they see God as a capricious, indifferent or elusive deity.

But God has reached out to us, has made a connection with us "at sundry times and in diverse ways".

The earth is filled with His love. He not only reaches out His hand to grant us the spark life, as pictured in the famous painting. He continues to reach out his hand toward us, eager for us to reach our hands back to him in fellowship.

He seeks you.

Lunatic Fringe

It could be that our faithlessness is a cowering cowardice born of our very smallness, a massive failure of imagination.  Certainly nature seems to exult in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy.  If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed.  In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade.  The whole creation is one lunatic fringe.  If creation had been left up to me, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the imagination or courage to do more than shape a single, reasonably sized atom, smooth as a snowball, and let it go at that.  No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe.

Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek