Crash the Future

So, I’m reading in Second Corinthians yesterday morning and one of the verses… actually two of them… stuck in my mind. I’ve been letting them tumble around in my mind all throughout the day yesterday and today. It’s kind of cool but kind of not because I had several meetings yesterday morning and early afternoon. And in the midst of those meetings a couple of times, I found these two verses coming back to me, and I had a hard time redirecting my focus back to the meeting. I wanted to just run with them and spend a sizable chunk of time meditating on them and exploring the different facets involved. I haven’t had much chance to mull it over yet, but I want to just get down some of my initial thoughts, so here we go.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve not been great at journaling consistently in the past, and I’m using this blog as a form of accountability to write and process through some of the things about which God is working me over.

“For every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’ in Him [Christ]. He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.” -2Cor. 1:20, 22

Jesus is the “Yes,” the fulfillment of every single promise God has ever made. As I allow that to sink in more and more, it is starting to overwhelm my capacity to understand and perceive the immensity of what is before me. It’s like going into those stinkin’ cool caves that are National Parks like Jewel Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, and, I’m guessing, Mammoth Cave. (I’ve only been in the first two of those three.) You go way underground into what feels like the heart of the Earth, never mind the fact that you’re just barely scratching the surface of the Earth’s mantle. As you go through the cave you easily lose a sense of perspective. You can walk into a room of the cave and think, “Oh, this isn’t so big,” until you start descending the stairs to the cave floor and find that you started out several stories up. And as you advance further into this room you see that it is far more expansive than you even realized at first sight. And then, you start thinking about the map of the cave complex you saw at the visitor’s center. And you realize that this is just one of thousands of rooms in this whole complex. And there’s hundreds of miles of cavern already mapped with an unknown amount that is yet to be explored because they are still charting out where it all even goes. Maybe this is just the little boy in me, but at this point I get this almost irresistible urge to run away from the group and just start exploring! I tell you …one dream I have in life is to take one of the serious spelunking tours that leave you nasty dirty and take you through some crazy passageways that are no bigger around than a carry-on suitcase and into stalagmite forests only ever seen by a few dozen people! I’d love it! But, I digress.

That’s where I’m at with this verse. Jesus is the “Yes,” the affirmation, of every promise the Father has ever made! In the Garden, when God first promises that He will send the woman’s Seed to crush the serpent and make all things right, Jesus was the fulfillment of that Promise! God promises that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through the line of Abraham… Jesus was and is that blessing! God desires a relationship with us… that was seen from the beginning when He came to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening each day… and it was further affirmed by Jesus diving into the storm tossed, sinful sea of fallen creation in order to reestablish contact between God and Man… making it possible for us to be hoisted up from where we were floating face down in our own sin and instead have new life breathed into our souls! Jesus is God’s answer to all that enslaves us. Jesus is God’s “Yes” to our cry for help! Christ took on the Father’s greatest rescue mission! He, the Word, is the one who created the heavens and the earth and will someday return on the clouds of heaven to usher in a new reign of peace and to see justice done! Jesus is God’s affirmation when the hurting, broken, downtrodden, abused, neglected, poor, and oppressed cry out and scream, “God! If You are really there, how could You turn Your head?! Don’t You see?! Don’t You care?!” Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Immanuel, God with us is the Father’s answer to our every question in the uncertainty of life. We can look to Christ and that is the ultimate evidence and fulfillment of every one of God’s promises. It is all made possible through Christ.

And the Spirit is the down payment toward our full realization of these promises. God gave us the Spirit as an initial payment prior to our full realization of God’s promises in Christ. The Spirit is God’s good faith payment, reminding us of Christ and confirming that God will remain faithful to the promises that He made and that were fulfilled in Christ. The Spirit lives within us, and works to complete the good work begun in us, and will continue to work in us until the day when Christ returns or we see Him face to face. That’s why Jesus said in John 16:7 that it was better for Him to leave and have the Spirit come than for Him to stay and speak to us face to face. Jesus’ presence in our physical world and His death and resurrection made the fulfillment of God’s promises possible. But the Spirit is the initial payment and proof of God’s overall intent to have complete, unhindered communion with us. As long as Jesus was here in the flesh we would not receive the down payment of the Spirit indwelling within us. God reestablished physical communion with Christ, then spiritual communion with the Spirit, and there will be a day when we finally realize full communion with God in both body and soul!

These are the things rattling around in my head. And now… at this point... I hope you don’t mind if I run away from our little group and start exploring this cavern!

Today was a special day. I seriously doubt that I can do justice to it with a simple blog, but I can't really let it go unnoticed. Today was the day that our church celebrated our pastor's 30 years of faithful service to God in this congregation and community. In August 1978 (just a month and a half after I was born, I might add) Larry started pastoring our church. At that time it was a small church plant in TINY town Alaska. Today it is one of the largest congregations in the Mat-Su. And the reason for its growth is a simple thing... God has been at work.

You see, Larry isn't exactly a flashy pastor. He isn't the most entertaining or emotional preacher I've ever heard. But he is one of the most faithful pastors I've ever known. I am in awe of Larry's faithful service and am appreciative for the opportunity I have to be a recipient of his wisdom and guidance. Let me explain, at least in part...

In seminary I was told that a pastor should ideally spend an hour in preparation each week for every minute of sermon he preaches on Sunday. Now that's an ideal, and I doubt most preachers get to spend that sort of time in preparation, but it gives an idea of the time that goes into preparing to preach. Additionally, I know from experience that preaching is extremely mentally, emotionally, and spiritually draining. I've given plenty of briefings during my time in the military. I've spoken to various crowds and conventions, but nothing compares to the effort and energy required to get up in front of a congregation, bearing the responsibility to teach God's Word. There is a weight of responsiblity there that far exceeds even the sense of responsiblity I experienced planning and executing training and combat missions in the Army. And week-in, week-out Larry's been doing this for as long as I've been alive!

I am convinced that very few people, except those who have made this rare benchmark, fully grasp the amount of stamina and the faithful pursuit of a single goal that is involved in the faithful pastoring exemplified by Larry. A guy named Steven Furtick was talking about just this sort of thing, and this is a paraphrase of what he said... You may have some young preacher come in and preach at your church and think, "Man! That kid can preach!" And maybe he actually dishes up one fine spiritual meal of a sermon... But what you fail to realize is that the young kid has had weeks or even months to prepare for that half hour. On the other hand, the pastor who is faithfully serving up a solid meal every single week hasn't had that same benefit of time. Not only that, but often times that young kid hasn't had nearly as much on his plate pulling him away from sermon preparation as that older pastor. When you start to realize that, it brings a new perspective to things. And then, when you consider that for the first 15-20 years of his service Larry was the only pastor on staff... I don't have words for the admiration and respect I have for that.

Now, you may say it's not too hard to come up with something to preach on for a half hour each week, but let me just point out one or two things. Everyone who spoke today mentioned a single common element... that Larry consistently dug into Scripture and clearly and faithfully preached it every single week. Now let's just say that he only preached 45 Sundays a year and that he took almost 2 full months off each of those 30 years... he's still preached 1350 biblically sound sermons! I mean, if Larry were an NCAA basketball coach, he'd be the winningest active coach by a good 400 wins! The big difference is that the winningest coaches don't have to live with integrity on and off the court (just look at Bobby Knight) whereas pastors like Larry do! And we hold up guys like Coach K. or Dean Smith as role models when their records don't mean nearly as much. It makes me all the more thankful for the faithful pastor under whom I get to learn.

Anyway, for what this little blog is worth... Thanks, Larry, for your years of running hard after God! I pray that I might one day be able to look back and see a similar record of service to our Lord in my own life.

I just received a CD full of pictures from a week-long rafting trip I had with our current high school sophomores this past summer. This trip was extremely awesome for a few reasons, one of which I'd like to share.

I started out the trip with these students by gathering us together and praying before pulling out from the church parking lot. Among the things that I prayed for was challenges... that God would give us challenges to try us and to grow us in our faith. Yeah... there's the addage, "Be careful what you pray for..." Well, let me just say there's some truth to that addage.

We were going rafting down the Gulkana River, a remote, wilderness river in the interior of Alaska. (Only way in and out is by river or by helicopter.) A couple of days into the trip one of the girls sarted getting sick with flu-like symptoms. After she had been sick for two days and she hadn't gotten any better we started to suspect that there might be something else going on. She started suffering abdominal pain and so we decided to evacuate her. We ended up evacuating her back to the urgent care facility at Glennallen, the nearest town (really just a crossroads with a one or two stores, gas stations, and a medical center), with a couple of the leaders. She was then air evacced to Anchorage. Of course, after we had evacuated her, the rest of us still out on the river didn't know what her status was.

Fast forward 24 hours...

We had journeyed on down the river and found our next camp site. Shortly after we got our camp set up we got hit by a pretty crazy storm front. For about 10-15 minutes we had massive rain, hail, and probably 60 mph winds. (The winds were strong enough to grab our 16 ft. whitewater rafts and flip them end over end... fortunately their bow lines were firmly tied down.) Most of us spent the time holding on to some form of equipment or shelter, keeping it from flying away. When we came out the other side of the storm it was still drizzling and our camp was a mess. (Notice the pictures below of another leader and I working on straightening bent tent poles and duct-taping back together the poles that are broken.)












Needless to say we spent some time repairing the damaged equipment to make it through the night. But then we got an even greater blow.

I got news via our satellite phone that the student we evacuated was in critical condition. Her appendix had burst and the doctors were saying she had a 50% chance. Getting that news threw our group into a bit of a tailspin. The next hour was largely spent with students in small groups of 2 or 3... or just completely by themselves. Everyone was just processing the fact that one of them was in a struggle for life itself, when she had seemed perfectly normal just a few days prior. After about an hour or so, however, I got to witness something so amazing that it is actually bringing tears to my eyes as I write this.

A couple of students decided to grab a guitar that they brought and start singing praises to God. Other students gathered around and I got to witness an impromptu, completely student-led praise and worship service on the bank of a wilderness river in Alaska, as the rain was still coming down and our camp was a wreck. I pulled away from the group for a bit and sat at a distance thanking God for the growth of these students as I listened to them singing songs like "Blessed Be Your Name" and "Grace Like Rain." Faced with this situation they chose to respond with worship and admiration for the God of the Universe!

Not long after that the clouds began to break.

Last night we were at a training retreat for youth leaders at our church. It was held at a beautiful B&B in Big Lake, Alaska. The evening was gorgeous, and I had to sit in wonder at God's creation. In particular the thing that struck me was Denali. I think this is the first time that I've had a clear view of the mountain this summer. (It's been a cold, wet one.) And I was once again reminded, as the sun was sinking low on the horizon, at the immensity of our Creator. I mean, as an example, the picture below was taken on the bank of Big Lake, roughly 200-250 miles away from Denali. (That's like seeing a mountain in Asheville, NC from Raleigh or a mountain in Portland from Seattle.) The God that created Denali, and our world as a whole, is so far beyond what I can truly grasp, it's humbling. And so, I enjoyed taking a few minutes to gaze at Denali and sit in wonder at my Creator and Savior.

I found myself thinking back over Genesis this morning… in particular the third chapter.

After writing up my first posting for this blog last night, I guess my mind was simply working through why it is that the image of Barbarian Way or that we are Wild at Heart resounds so strongly with Christian men in America today, including myself. As I was thinking through this I thought about a tendency I have seen among men in American culture. This tendency also provides the fuel for other books like Raising a Modern-day Knight and Why Men Hate Going to Church. The tendency about which I am speaking is of course the tendency of men not stepping up to be men as God designed us to be. Basically, I’m talking about men being a bunch of passive me-monkeys.

(“me-monkey” - fool who is too focused on himself and doesn’t even realize it - see right for appropriate mental image you should be calling to mind)

Now lest I be accused of being full of old-fashioned, chauvinistic machismo and bravado, making a general statement blown totally out of proportion, let me just call to mind a couple of common scenes and points of reference.

-Depending on what stats you read, a marriage has roughly a 50/50 chance of lasting nowadays. I know it takes two to tango, but you gotta figure that means at least 1 in 4 marriages break up because a man isn’t stepping up to be what he’s supposed to be. (And I suspect even more than half of divorces would be averted if the man in the marriage would get his act together.)

-There’s the stereotype of the dad coming home from work, grabbing the paper, sitting down in front of the TV and zoning out for a sizable chunk of the evening because he “just needs to unwind.” I know it’s just a stereotype, but there’s a reason that stereotypes develop. They're common enough that they stick.

-Look at your typical church congregation in America. 9 times out of 10 I guarantee you’ll see more ladies there than men. You’ll also see more single moms and single ladies heading there than you will single dads or single men. Additionally, look at the volunteer rosters of your church. I’ll bet that there’s a really good chance the ladies outnumber the men.

-Check out our prisons, men drastically outnumber women, especially among more violent criminals.

-Ask a teenage or twenty-something guy you know, “What does it mean to be a real man?” There’s better than even chances they wouldn’t know what to tell you or even where to start. And the thing is that most middle age guys aren’t any better. Just look at the whole middle-age crisis thing. It’s fueled by a guy achieving a certain level of success that he thought would somehow bring him significance and worth, only to find it futile, spurring on a renewed quest to prove that he really is a man.

And these are just a few of the things I could point to that tell me there are plenty of boys and guys out there, but there are very few real men.

I know… there are lots of cultural, spiritual, emotional, environmental, yada, yada, yada factors that contribute to this. I willingly acknowledge that. BUT… I would also point out that each of these things has at least one common factor that I’m thinking of right now. Each of these would be corrected if you had a man stepping up to be what God meant men to be. Each of these situations involve men who are passive toward God's intent for their lives. They’re content sitting back and letting someone else do the hard work God has for them. They’re more focused, selfishly, on what they think will make them happy at the moment, rather than being the protectors, providers, and leaders God intended. And it all starts back in Genesis 3.

See, Adam and Eve were in the Garden. Adam was the one God told about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God didn’t tell Eve; she wasn’t even made yet. God gave ADAM the responsibility to make sure that things were taken care of in this area. (Check out Genesis 2:15-25 if you haven’t noticed this before.) So what was up with Adam when the serpent came to tempt Eve? Why didn’t he help? Where was he at? I’ll tell you. He wasn’t gone. He was right there beside her, but he wussed out and didn’t do a thing! He should have opened up a can on the snake… or died trying, but he sat back and watched the game instead! And so Eve eats the fruit then turns and hands some to Adam, “who was with her.” (Gen. 3:6) And if you’ll notice, their eyes weren’t opened when Eve ate from the fruit. They were opened when Adam ate. That’s why Rom. 5:12 tells us that sin entered the world through one man. God had given Adam, not Eve, the responsibility of leadership. And when the moment of testing came, he wimped out. And since that day we men have struggled with the same sin… the sin of being a wuss when it comes to areas where we need to stand strong.

Hear me in this. I’m not saying that if men want to be godly we’ll all go around flexing our pects, driving fast cars, and talking two octaves lower. That’s an artificial compensation for the fact that we don’t really know how to be a man, or we’re too lazy and intimidated by what it would actually take to be a real man. Instead, what if we just took the simple step of taking responsibility for ourselves and for those around us, even at the expense of our own interests? What would it look like if we actually followed the guidance of Ephesians 5:25 and we loved our wives like Christ loved His people, for whom He died? What would it look like if we came home from work each day, manned up, and played with the kids, listened and talked to the wife, and kept the TV off? What if we realized that the next generation of young men and warriors are in Sunday School, wanting to learn what it means to be a man... and all too often they find themselves surrounded only by godly women with no men in sight? What would happen in our community if real men started making sure justice was done, taking care of the needy, mentoring young men without a real man for a father, and actively rebuilding a sense of chivalry and respect for all women?

I don’t know. Call me crazy, chauvinist (ladies), boring (men), whatever. It really doesn’t matter what you think of me in this regard. All I know is that I’m going to teach my son, Liam Gabriel, to live up to his name... Guardian – Valorous warrior of God. And with God’s grace I pray that he will one day be a real man who serves the Lord of Hosts (The Commander of the Heavenly Armies) instead of passively sitting back watching the battle of life in this world pass him by.

So, you may be asking why the title of this blog is "Crash the Future." Well, it's an analogy from a book which I enjoyed, The Barbarian Way, by Erwin McManus. He is discussing the names given to groups of animals and centers in on what a group of rhinos is called, and the significance of this name. He explains:

"My favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos. You see, rhinos run at thirty miles an hour, which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they're pulling. They're actually faster than squirrels, which can run at up to twenty-six miles an hour. And even then, who's going to live in dread of a charging squirrel? (Sorry - that was a bit off the point.) Running at thirty miles an hour is faster than a used Pinto will go. Just one problem with this phenomenon. Rhinos can only see thirty feet in front of them. Can you imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what's at thirty-one feet? You would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam, that their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to immobility. But with that horn pointing the way, rhinos run forward full steam ahead without apprehension, which leads us to their name.

"Rhinos moving together at full speed are known as a crash. Even when they're just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they're called a crash because of their potential. You've got to love that. I think that's what we're supposed to be. That's what happens when we become barbarians and shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes a crash. We become an unstoppable force. We don't have to pretend we know the future. Who cares that we can only see thirty feet ahead? Whatever's at thirty-one feet needs to care that we're coming and better get out of the way.


"We need to move together as God's people, a barbarian tribe, and become the human version of the rhino crash. The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There's a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full force because of what we do know."

This analogy reminds me of Philippians 3:13-14, where Paul says that he has forgotten everything that is behind and strives for what is ahead, God's promised prize in Christ. Paul is like that rhino crash. It doesn't matter what's at 31 feet. All he knows is that he's headed after Christ and he's not going to let anything get between him and the goal of knowing Christ to the fullest. I hope and pray that I might be able to live in the same way. My desire is that I will be a part of a human crash, tumbling headlong down the path God has laid before us, not giving any heed to what lies behind or what is to either side.

I intend to use this blog to chart at least a part of that journey. I'd be lying if I said I know what is at 31 feet, but I am confident that whatever God has in store will be beyond my wildest expectations. And so I intend to run full speed ahead and say with Paul that, "My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead." If you're reading this blog, I hope that you'll choose to do the same, running headlong down whatever path God lays before you.

By the way, the two pictures in this posting are also posted on my sidebar. They're original artwork by Joby Harris from McManus' book. One is entitled "The Barbarian Revolt." It contains the Lion of Judah, a horde of barbarians storming the spiritual realm as His mane. (It's inspired by Matt. 11:12 - "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.") The background is that of a Greek manuscript... the gospel of Christ. The other picture is entitled "The Barbarian Invasion". It illustrates a heavenly warrior confidently standing firm. A compass is emblazoned on his heart, providing consistent God-ward direction, with the silhouettes of two white rhino heads in the background.

I love these pictures, I'd love to have full-size prints of them in my office someday, but for now they'll just have to remain on this blog.