In 2016, I Am Asking You This

John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease".

First, to all of you armchair theologians, yes, using this as an instruction for all Christians is taking the passage WAY out of context. These words were spoken by John the Baptist, and apply specifically to his ministry. So please don't take what I am about to say as in any way superinterpreting Scripture.

Now, with that tidy little disclaimer out of the way, let me tell you that those words are NEVER wrong when spoken from the mouth of (or typed from the keyboard of, such as the case may be) a believing Christian.

So in 2016, I am asking you to think less of me. It is my goal that my words, my actions, and my thoughts become more closely conformed to those of Christ. That I become more of an image bearer, and more focused outwardly than inwardly.

Think less of me, and more of Christ. This is my admonition to you in the days and years to come. And I pray that my life be lived in such a manner as to make that much easier for you.

Blessings and peace in the coming year.

If We Make It Through December

WARNING: DO NOT READ if you feel that venting is the same as whining, or if you are inclined to condemn rather than console. I'm really not in the mood!

When I came to a saving faith in Christ back in 1988, I would describe myself as being a very enthusiastic convert. In the intervening years, a lot of the enthusiasm changed, but has not waned.

But right now, sitting here today, I am asking myself where the church is. Not just for me; my needs do not matter...but for the hurting world around me that we are called to serve.

I've heard miraculous stories of how someone was in need and that need was suddenly and inexplicably met by someone who didn't know them, or that need. I've heard that, but honestly rarely seen that. Yes, I have seen needs provided for, but never in the miraculous, mysterious manner we so often hear about. It is enough that I understand the skeptics' questioning the existence of God.

As I sit here typing this, we are in a world of turbulent financial uncertainty. We're planning a move, and we know that tax time is less than three months away (sooner, if our W2s get in time). But holidays and medical expenses have depleted our already lean emergency funds (our holiday spending was quite modest -- about $25 per person, but our shopping trip included an unexpected stay way from home due to some wild and unforecast weather....then the medical emergencies hit!)

But still, I know the God in whom I put my trust is able -- and I know that we will get through this, as everything else. I am finding it impossible to obtain work locally at any wage, and if it weren't for my wife's income, we would not have had a Christmas at all. In about 2 weeks' time, I will be staying 120 miles from home while I seek out work down there. Anything to keep the lights on.

But I'm honestly wondering about those "miracles". As I have driven a good amount, I've noticed people are less and less inclined to pull over for someone in need. We allow cynicism to guide our decisions rather than humanity, and it is small wonder why people are finding the Church as less and less an answer to their spiritual questions.

I am realizing in the midst of this that it is impossibly easy to be homeless in this culture. Yet we give token compassion to the homeless, we show up for photo op feeds on holidays and give our canned beets to the food banks thinking that our work is done. Yet somewhere between homeless and lower class, there exist scores of people for whom a major medical expense would be devastating. Our family is not one of those, but we're closer than I'd ever hoped to be.

The Merle Haggard song, "If We Make It Through December" seems stunningly appropriate right now.

Still, the heaters are running and we're able to keep the home modestly comfortable. But when those utility bills hit, it won't be quite so rosy. I don't even want to imagine what it's like for those worse off.

But I do, because I remember it is those people I am called to serve.

So have a blessed 2016 -- I know I will. But let's resolve this next year to focus less on the material and more on what matters. There are lives that hang in the balance.

A Sad Journey

It started innocently enough. A few oped pieces and cartoons that I admittedly found humorous even though they disagreed with my political ideology. And, of course, the flood of Facebook memes.

I knew being a political progressive in an evangelical church would be challenging. But, I would not sacrifice the sound doctrine, and besides, I felt that with a little perspective, there would be a change, where people realized that they don't need to abandon their faith to support programs to help the poor out of poverty, a living wage, universal healthcare, those kinds of things.

I could live with that. After all, we can disagree on some things. Still, it was an uphill battle.

The tipping point came when a man named Donald Trump entered the picture. Most people in the churches made it clear in 2012 that they no longer wanted a Christian candidate, but this was ridiculous. Thrice married, no political experience, his foreign policy experience comes from "Meet the Press". And his much touted business acumen includes a string of bankrutpcies.

He called Mexicans rapists and thieves. People roared. He said wages were too high, to thunderous applause. But when two people in California went on a shooting rampage, everything changed.

Suddenly, in the wake of that, it was no longer expedient to be silent. As Trump's fanbase insisted on a war on refugees, a war on Islam, the voices coming out seemed hauntingly familiar. And rather than decry this hate from the pulpit, the conservative church condoned it, and in some cases, encouraged it.

It became clear that the time to separate is now. The time for tolerating dissenting opinions ends when real threats are waged against people. The time for unity ends when The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are no longer relevant, but rather the Almighty Dollar becomes king. When Mammon is worshipped rather than God.

I would rather it not come to this end. I would rather have a home to worship. But until the Church regains its sanity, I will not be there. Until we serve unapologetically, unceasingly, and unwaveringly without fear, I will worship in my own way with those who believe as I do, that God's Syrian and Palestinian children are as important as His American and Israeli children.

I did not come to this position lightly, nor will I abandon it lightly. I love the Church, but I also love the children of God, and when there comes a conflict between the two, I will serve the latter.

I am still a part of the Church, still a part of the Body of Christ, just an outcast one that folks aren't going to recognize.

And I can dig it.

Why I'm Glad We Don't Teach Our Kids About Santa

This Christmas morning, I'm thankful. My wife spend her birthday last week in the hospital. She wound up being hospitalized for two additional days, and the very last of our emergency funds were exhausted between that and the lost income for the hospital stay.

Still we are blessed. We live in a nation of abundance, and have so much to be grateful for. We had already purchased Christmas gifts for the family, so we didn't have to worry about there being no Christmas because of the latest developments.

Still, a look across my friends' pages reminds me of what a starkly different life we lead than they do. Not a better one, not a worse one, but a different one. And one for which I am immensely grateful.

Growing up, I was pretty much aware of the nonexistence of Santa Claus by my kindergarten year. As we sat together in class, and told each other what gifts we had, I noticed that socks, secondhand books and toys with most of the parts missing didn't compete with the Evel Knievel stunt bikes, and later, Atari, then Nintendo systems that my friends received. It was clear that Santa had a different sack of toys for those of us who lived in government housing.

I resolved to save my children that embarrassment, because I was pretty sure we would never be wealthy. I am thankful that I've never planned for wealth, because, while we enjoy a life of abundance, it is not one that most people in the US would envy. But we have been blessed in so many ways that never show up on a balance sheet.

We spent about $200 for Christmas. That's it. No, not per person, for all 9 of our family members. Well, that's not quite true; we put in another $65 in stocking stuffers from Dollar Tree. It is the only time of year that we buy candy, and you can get dollar store candy pretty cheap, so we do.

So many pictures and videos, though, of expensive presents and gifts. I don't begrudge those families that; again, they live a different lifestyle than we do, and that's OK. What I don't like about it, though, is that when I go to the Bible and teach my children to be servants of God, to give sacrificially, and then have to explain to them why Santa gave them that $10 magic set despite their abundantly giving hearts, but gave one of their friends an IPad.

I'm not encouraging anyone to give differently; we all have different resources, and different things to give. And certainly we should celebrate our family as we see fit. But if we teach them that these gifts come from "Santa", we are teaching the wrong message; that one's worth rests in their wealth. And that somehow, those kids in the poor families don't measure up, and no matter how sincerely they plead, Santa will not have room on his sled for their gifts.

And if we teach them that Santa is deaf to the pleas of the poor kids, how, then, will they view God?

A Messy Divorce

In this advent season (which I don't really celebrate as such, but understand the desire of the Christian community as a whole to do so), it is wholly fitting that we should see the Syrian refugee crisis emerge. Never has a call been more clear to serve God and testify to His love than when we see the throngs of people attempting to escape oppression and look for hope beyond their borders.

Never has the need for a true evangelist been more obvious.

But a lot has changed within the church. Instead of evoking an image of Mother Theresa embracing the hurting, the needy, feeding the hungry, and clothing the poor, we have Christian leaders promoting the image of a Commando Christ, with the worship of guns rather than God, attacking the people who need Him the most.

That is not the God I understand. And that is not the God I will serve. Yes, I have watched patiently as we have engaged in wars, trusting that our leaders had intelligence that I didn't, and refusing to wage a full scale war on foreign policy right here at home. I believe an opposing voice was needed, but unless I felt the call was clear, was not willing to BE that opposing voice. In the wake of this current crisis, that has changed.

Jesus never promised the way would be easy. Quite the opposite. We revere people like Corrie Ten Boom, whose family suffered greatly in their display of Christian faith in the face of Nazi terror. We champion disciples like Bonhoeffer, who led the Confessing Church in the very midst of that tempest. We extol the Quakers and their involvement in the Underground Railroad. Yet we insist in the face of Islamic extremism that the answer lies in carbines, not in Christ.

How differently would history have been written if Jim Elliott and his crew had pulled out the weapons (which they had) and swept the beaches clear of the attacking Waodani when they died for the Gospel in which they believed.

Understand, I am certainly prone to frustrated outbursts. But understand this is not one of those. In the 27 years since I have been a Christian, I have studied closely the lives of the martyrs, those whose faith weathered in the midst of persecution. And I know from those readings that the path the church leaders take is not always the correct one.

And so, rather than create division within the church, I will respect the leaders within those churches and take my leave. I will not allow the discussion to turn to the genocide, when we were called to REACH the people who hate us, when we are called to LOVE our enemies, even to the point of forfeiting our lives if necessary.

I cannot express, though, how difficult this is. I love the people in these churches, I just cannot agree with them on this extremely fundamental point of doctrine. The mainstream Christian response towards the refugees is wrong. I would bet my very salvation upon it, if it were mine to give. The Jesus who could have called 10,000 angels is certainly capable of defending my family even in the midst of the tempest.