Category: Faith

Unsearchable? … !

dustinbrysonLeave a comment

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” – Jeremiah 33:3

When I first grappled with the notion that there is a King and I am not He I dove headlong into a book Christians read called ‘The Holy Bible’. While I wasn’t aware of the substance that made this book ‘Holy’, while all others remained just bookly, I was hungry to find out.

One of the first pieces of scripture to captivated my heart was Jeremiah 33:3, and while I knew absolutely zero about Jeremiah and I was slightly confused by all the numbers embedded into each paragraph of the book I was interested in the wording of this particular verse non the less. I remember reading it the first time through and stopping, deadpan, on the word ‘unsearchable’.

Up to this point in my life I was always taught that, with enough research, we could find out anything about anything. As a matter of reference the encyclopedia sales man that came to our door once a year said his books had all the knowledge of the cosmos, so I figured with enough digging any fact could be unearthed. So you can imagine my amazement when I found out that this King had this ‘unsearchable’ information and He was willing to share it with me. I felt honored!

It wasn’t until sometime later that I found out that God (the King) was speaking to Jeremiah and that Jeremy was a prophet and God gave him the insight to speak to the nation of Jerusalem. God wasn’t directing his ‘unsearchable’ statement to me directly, but you can see the effect it had on my life.

One sentence captured my heart and I began to read and study, and now some 15 years later I have a hundred verses that have come to life in my heart and head. Some of them have helped me through rough times while others have encouraged me from day to day. God speaks through these sentences, through these chapters. Wouldn’t it would be a pity if you chalked the whole thing up as ‘unsearchable’?

The Power of Tradition

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

You know…Christmas is a wonderful holiday.  I know that many have said that a war is being waged on Christmas, citing the new trend of shoppers being greeted with “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas”…and other strange little insignificant issues that people seem to love obsessing over.  In reality though, Christmas itself is a strange mish-mosh of pagan and Christian symbols, replete with syncretism and outright mythology.

One interesting bit of mythology is the ordinary Nativity Scene.  A typical Nativity Scene looks like this:

It has Mary, Joseph and Jesus, which is a good place to start, but what’s really interesting is all the stuff that has been added which is, as far as we know, pure fiction. 

WHAT?!!  How can you say that?

Well…just hang with me here.  As I said, the main characters are right…but in addition to them, we have three wise men (when the Bible just says “Wise men came from the east”….no number given.  There were three gifts mentioned, but that is no proper indicator of how many made the trip.  Also, we are told that the wise men came and visited the “young child”…which most scholars seem to think indicates this was 1-2 years after his birth).

Also in addition to Mary, Joe and Jesus is a group of animals.  I had always heard the wonderful stories of the animals all bowing down to the Little Lord Jesus and always was fond of them.  They are nice…but totally fabricated.  There’s no scriptural indication that any such thing happened.

Actually, the stable which houses this nice Nativity Scene is apocryphal.  The language the Bible uses doesn’t indicate a western style wooden stable at all, but more likely is referring to the lower room of a family house, where much of the cooking was done, and where smaller animals would be housed and fed during the cold months.

Other things like the Innkeeper (which isn’t in the scene above but is usually part of the story), and even the idea of a traditional western style “inn” are fabrications as well.  Joseph was heading to his ancestral home for the census…he would have had family in Bethlehem.  The word translated as inn is really quite nebulous in our language, and is also the word used to describe the upper room where Jesus met with his disciples and families for the last Passover meal they shared.  The word used for “inn” could just mean there wasn’t any room left in the guest room of Joseph’s family when he came to Bethlehem, so he and Mary had to go to the lower room and bunk there…oh yeah, and birth a child.

It’s kind of strange, isn’t it?  All the stuff of tradition that seeps into our understanding of a story, which really alters the original quite a bit.  There are a LOT of things, just like the Nativity Scene, that have been reverently placed in the concept of church which have no basis in scripture for their origin.  That’s why I still insist that simple is safer.  We know Joseph was there….and Mary was too, and best of all Jesus was.  All the other stuff is just along for the ride, we can take it or leave it.   So with the church.  We know Jesus is there…that he died on a cross to save us and draw us together….beyond that, most stuff is based on cultural preference and view.  If we hold to the peripheral stuff loosely, we’ll stay with the simple….and to me, that’s where its safe.

 Merry Christmas! 

(by the by, here’s an interesting site to read about how the birth of Christ may have gone down)

Prayer

Luke Benson1 Comment

  Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who told me a story I would like to share. This friend of mine is active in a ministry that takes him around the country and the world in his travels. Because he is always traveling he lives out of a combination of suitcases and a storage unit. He is currently taking an expensive medication prescribed for him to relieve his high blood pressure. In his recent travels he misplaced a three-month supply of the medicine, which equates to a large sum of money and would leave him without his needed medication until he could obtain another prescription. After making calls to all the places he had been that week in his travels he unfortunately couldn’t locate the lost medication anywhere. Passing through Atlanta on his way to Panama City he was able to visit a doctor who renewed his prescription and he quickly obtained another three-month supply. Safe once again from the dangers of high blood pressure he continued on his journey to Panama City. After a few days in Panama City visiting here and there, moving things in and out of his storage unit and unpacking his belongings for what would be a three-week stay, he realized he had misplaced his medicine again. He immediately panicked and started tearing through the room he was staying in and all his belongings there. The thought of having misplaced another supply of medication was creating an overwhelming amount of stress for him. Unable to find the medicine in his room he frantically searched through his car, then after not finding it, he drove to his storage unit and spent a good part of the day tearing it apart in search of the missing medicine. He told me that after what had been about six hours of frantic searching he conceded to losing another expensive supply of medication. Getting back into his car and wondering how he would go about arranging to get more medicine something inside him urged him to pray, which through all the frantic searching had never crossed his mind. He said that after about three minutes of praying he was given the thought of searching in the zipper of a travel bag that had been in his possession the whole time, less than two feet away from him in his room and again in the car. The medication was recovered and the trial had come to end.

  So often when faced with stressful situations, trials and challenges prayer is our last resort. It is so often an option only after we exhaust all other options. As we rummage through our baggage trying to fix what’s been broken or replace what’s been lost we often forget we have a loving Father who is above all things and in control of everything. A loving Father who finds the lost and mends the broken. Who wants to be our hope in the troubles that we face and our joy in the victories we embrace. We see over and over in the story God is telling how prayer brings peace to panic, insight to difficulty, healing to illness and joy to hopeless situations.

 

 

  Philippians 4:6-7  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I like monuments

Luke Benson2 Comments

   

  Usually the first thing I think of when someone announces that they have seen the likeness of the Virgin Mary or Jesus in something is, what do they base the resemblance on? There are for sure no pictures of them in the Bible and the pictures in all the history books are only drawings. Are they basing the resemblance on those yard statues? Maybe it’s based on some visionary artwork by DaVinci or something. I am not even going to get into the whole graven image thing. The thought of that makes me tired and queasy.

  The reason I am wondering about this stuff is because it’s happened again. The likeness of the Virgin Mary has been found in a glob of chocolate. The worker of a candy factory spotted the sugary glob at the end of the mixing vats spout.

 “ Its an absolute miracle “ says Jacinto Santacruz, the women who discovered the 2.5 inch statue.

  She has now constructed a shrine to house the miniature Mary and the faithful are making the pilgrimage to come worship and adore it.

  

   At this point I would like to thank God for not revealing Himself to me in food. Chances are I would overlook the message God was sending as I hurriedly gobbled it down. I would also like to thank Him for not revealing Himself in things I would have to build shrines for. I don’t like shrines. To me the idea of a shrine conjures up images of something that has to be cared for. It has to be brought flowers and dusted and maybe I would have to burn some incense on it or something. It seems fragile and would easily be knocked over in a storm or destroyed by the invading enemies fiery ray guns.

  

   I like monuments. Monuments tell a story. They are strong and durable. I especially like the monuments God has constructed to Himself in my mind and in my heart. The times He revealed Himself to me through answered prayer. The times He showed me His love when I didn’t deserve it. The times He faithfully guided me when I was lost. These monuments weather storms, the raging sea cant harm them. I visit them often and when the enemy comes with his fiery ray guns I usually hide behind them. The monuments seem to threaten him and his attacks don’t hurt as bad. There are times when my faith wavers or the events in my life are confusing and I visit them. The monuments tell a story, and the story goes something like this;

   

There is God, He is in control, He is good and He loves me.

  I like monuments.

On Becoming Real

Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

In the book The Velveteen Rabbit, a little stuffed bunny is given as a Christmas present to The Boy (as he’s called in the story).  During his time in the nursery, he is befriended by another toy, The Skin Horse.  The Skin Horse instructs the toy bunny about what all the toys of the nursery are really waiting for, and that is, becoming real.  When the Velveteen Rabbit asks the Skin Horse what this means, here is the reply:

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” …

The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.

Welcome to the world of the Christ Follower, on a journey to know the transforming power of Love.

Sacrifice Simplified

Luke Benson5 Comments

 In the dark days of Israel before the time of Christ, the law called for a sacrifice to atone for ones sins. I get the idea from scripture that the right thing to do was with a good and giving heart bring God your best and offer it to Him at the Temple in Jerusalem. That meant that a family would raise an animal (their best animal), treat it probably better than they would treat their own kids and when the Day of Atonement would draw near they would make the long trek to Jerusalem and offer it up in sacrifice to God. They didn’t have station wagons in those days so if you lived far away you may have to travel across mountains, deserts and other obstacles the wilderness of Israel might hold. I can only imagine the sacrifice families would have to make to accomplish this. Maybe making sure the animal ate well before the family ate or using all their resources to bring the animal to the Temple. Always trusting God would forgive them and continue to provide for them.

 

 

  

 When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and went to the Temple He was angered by vendors offering to sell people animals for sacrifice. I don’t think it was so much the fact that money was changing hands in the Temple. I think it was because of what the vendors had turned the act of sacrifice into. Sort of a fast food, drive up mentality to getting your sacrifice to God over with and out of the way. This meant the family no longer had to worry about raising an animal to give to God they could just buy one when they got to the Temple. No longer thinking of God daily as they raised and cared for the animal they were to bring to Him.

 

 

As followers of Christ we realize Jesus is the complete sacrifice and atonement for all our sins.

 

 

    The other day I read an article about a church that has purchased three ATM/ offering machines for their lobby. The pastor was quoted as saying “Its like an ATM for Jesus”. They are located so that they are the first things you see when you enter the church, just like the moneychangers at the Temple. One of the people who attend the church said it was much easier for her to break down to the Lord (whatever that means?) These card readers also known as Giving Kiosks and tithing machines have increased revenue for the church and made it so much easier for all the attendees to give. Even if they didn’t think about the Lord all week they could remember Him by swiping this Sunday. It makes me wonder if Jesus visited that church if He would turn over those machines? Maybe when people get those micro chip thingy’s implanted in them they could just pass a small scanner down the aisles of the church to make it even easier to give God their best.

Is There Music on a Printed Page?

Rob Woodrum3 Comments

The band Pieces of the Wreck is going to play a little “mini-show” on December 31st (New Year’s Eve).  We’ll have our Burning House service, and then roll right in to a Sounds of Thunder/Pieces of the Wreck concert. 

It’s sort of funny though, because they are almost the same band with the exception of just a few members here and there.  Same bassist, drummer, guitarist…the only thing that will distinguish us is the band name.  Heh.

Anyway…this all means that we have to practice, which is always a combination of hilarity and extreme frustration.  Last night, we were working on a cover of the Train song “Calling all Angels”.  It has been a while since we last did that song, and I had a little trouble at times trying to keep the rhythm, vocally.  I had the words right, and the tune was correct, I just had the wrong emphasis going, which put me out of sync rhythmically.  When I realized it, I hurried through the vocals to catch myself up…you know, just sort of droning through them quickly with no emphasis or passion at all. 

It got me thinking about the Bible.

“Doesn’t EVERYTHING make you think of the Bible?”

“No…well, maybe, I don’t know.  Stay out of this.” 

Maybe part of the problem that seems inherent in the 21st Century
American Church© is that we’ve worked so hard to get all the words right that we’ve lost the proper emphasis over time.  Is it even possible that having all the words just right may not be the most important thing?

If you look at a sheet of music, with lyrics and musical notes printed on it, does that piece of paper accurately convey the song the composer wrote?  It does potentially, but not in practicality.  How could looking at all the notes in place and all the lyrics written out ever reveal the beauty of a song?  Is it even music if it’s not performed? 

But when it’s performed, it must be done with more than just the right notes and the lyrics properly in place…it must carry the right emphasis and passion in the expression of it.  Think of how a singer can do a cover of another artist’s song.  He makes it distinctly his own while not doing damage to the original tune.  The cover artist can only do this by retaining the original emphasis, and taking the song into himself and then expressing it with his own passion.

As we come to God’s Word, our interest has to run deeper than just getting the words right.  It’s more complex than just parsing out proper context and interpretation.  We must take it in, find the rhythm of it, find the emphasis, and then express it as our own life.  Otherwise, it’s just words on a page.  Is there really any music if a song isn’t performed…is there really inspiration if the Word isn’t lived out?

Just some thoughts over my coffee this morn.

Are You a Purple Cow?

dustinbryson2 Comments

Seth Godin wrote a book called Purple Cow “Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable”. In short the story of the purple cow goes like this.

Seth and his family were on a road trip and his kids were in the back doing what kids do, fight, and his wife was zoned out. As the road stretched on they came across some cows and suddenly the fighting sounds ceased. Seth looked in his rier view mirror to see his children starring at some cows. Then just as quickly as the punchfest ended it began again. Seth then asks the readers why this happened and what would happen if those cows had been purple instead of normal old cow color. He says not only would the kids stop fighting and stare, but he would have pulled the car over. The whole family would have gotten out and many photos would have been taken. They would have most likely jumped the fence and petted the purple cows. Those cows would have been remarkable. In other words they would be worth speaking about again (re: marking).

What about our faith, our church are they remarkable? Are you a purple cow? If you take the whole marketing thing away and apply it to our faith it really does take on a whole new meaning. Our faith is worth discussing, it seems our “leaders” are remarkable as of late, unfortunately. Eastgate is remarkable! The people that fill the big room and corner every Sunday are genuine and loving, and that, to me, is remarkable. You are remarkable, if you choose to love others more than yourself. If you don’t think Jesus was remarkable consider this, more books, songs, poetry, and speeches have been written about Him than anyone else who has ever walked this marble. I would say that makes Him ultimately remarkable.

What about Jesus, Christianity, Eastgate is remarkable to you?

On Purpose

Luke Benson3 Comments

 We are coming to the end of a study I have been participating in centered on the book, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It really is a great book and has some wonderful insights into the journey a follower of Jesus is on. There have been a few things that I find myself wondering about though. One of the things is in chapter 38, titled “Becoming a world class Christian”. In this chapter he encourages readers to go on an overseas mission. He goes on to say we should shift our thinking from local to global and from making excuses (lack of money, language barriers ect.). to thinking of creative ways to fulfill our commission. Is it really our commission to go on overseas mission trips? He uses the verse from the book of Acts;

  Acts 1:8  “But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  

  He then interprets the verse as Jesus giving the command that we should be witnesses in all theses places as individuals simultaneously and not sequentially. Maybe I am wrong but I don’t interpret that piece of scripture to mean that at all. What do you think?

  Maybe Jesus was telling us to go hold the hand of someone who is alone and scared, growing old in a nursing facility down the road from our own home. Perhaps He was talking about visiting and encouraging someone who is recovering from drug addiction in the local jail or serving food and cleaning rooms at the local rescue mission. Maybe He meant to be a witness by just loving our neighbors, coworkers and everyone we come in contact with in our own daily lives. You wouldn’t even need to raise any funds for this type of mission. One thing that I see consistently throughout scripture is that when Jesus gives a command to us its always something that all of His followers can do. I don’t think He expects someone who is economically incapable of going overseas to do so. I look at it this way; this is not my home anyway so I am on a mission trip wherever I go.

 K.P. Yohannan of Gospel for Asia is an advocate of native missionaries. His view is that the best way to reach people is with believers who are a part of the culture they are trying to reach. That makes a lot of sense and if we support missionaries like that we are after all thinking globally and perhaps using our resources in the best possible way.

  Anyway you look at it the needs are great everywhere. Should we make a point of caring for the needs of our own community first and then think globally?  Has Jesus called everyone of His followers to overseas missions?