As Father's Day Approaches

This past Sunday, I was asked to give the message at a small farm church in Waterloo called Mount Hope United Methodist Church. It was a great experience, as it reminded me of my grandfather who often was asked to do the same during his preaching days. The following is what I talked about with my new friends. Much of it comes from ideas learned in the Emerging Journey’s course Katie and I took at Orchard Hill, and the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

As we are coming up on Father’s Day, I wanted to talk with you all about our relationship to God as our father. Father’s day has a special significance to me, because 2 years ago, July 31st, my father unexpectedly passed away. The relationship and experiences I shared with my father greatly affected the way I relate with God as my heavenly father, just as the way everyone relates with their own father, or parental figure, affects the way they relate with God as well. In some ways, and in some circumstances, these earthly relationships strengthen our ability to understand and relate with God, and in other ways and in other circumstances, these earthly relationships greatly hinder our ability to have the relationship that God wants to have with us.

I want to back up a bit, and ensure that we are all on the same page of understanding the adoption process that God has gone through to ensure our place in His family as his true sons and daughters. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” In Roman law it was a recognized practice for an adult who wanted an heir to carry on the family name to adopt a full grown man as a son. This is a lot different than the common infant adoption of today, but the apostles saw Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as a way for them to be purified and able to be adopted by God. This same adoption is the offer that is given to everyone who places their faith in Jesus. When we can really begin to realize that God is our adoptive Father, we then can begin to understand Him, and the relationship He wants to have with us, in a very tangible way.

We have all had different experiences with our earthly father’s, or parental figures. Some good, some bad, some loving, some hateful, some present, and some virtually or literally non-existent. My father was a cold, quiet and angry man for the majority of his life. I had trouble relating with him on any level, because I was afraid anything out of my mouth would not be worth his time. However, no matter how much I resented him, there were two things that I always wanted: to know about him, and to make him proud. I think that is pretty common. We want to know our family history, and that starts with our parents. We want to know their passions, the story of how they met our moms, what they did when they were our age. We want to know what makes them who they are. We also want to make them proud. We want to know that they are happy we are their kids. We want them to see the best in us. I think that if we can have those same two desires in our relationship with our heavenly father, we will be on the track to a truly amazing relationship with our savior.

First off, we need the desire to know our Father. I don’t know about you, but my biological father was a complex man. The last few years of his life threw everyone for a loop, as he became a practicing Christian and actually started smiling, crying and liking people. But, even before that, I could never figure out really who he was or why he acted the way he did. One thing that made him a little different than most dads was he was obsessed with instruction manuals. This is pretty counter intuitive to the normal manly concept of, “Who needs directions?” When he brought home my first car, he made me read the instruction manual from cover to cover, and then gave me a test on the material before I could drive the car. He not only made me pass the test, but get 100% of the answers correct before I could touch the keys. What I really wish was that he would have written and instruction manual on how to interact with him. You may already see where I am going with this, but our heavenly Father gave us an instruction manual. He gave us His Word, the Bible. It tells us His history, it gives us insight into why He does some of the things He does, it gives us a firm knowledge of His love without having to wait for an awkward hug at your high school graduation or your wedding day. So, if we realize that God has adopted us into His family, and we want to know about our Father, than lets read the instruction manual. Let’s read His word. Let’s make time to get into the Bible and find out all we can about our Father.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that the bible is deep and often times very hard to comprehend. It has many layers and intricacies that know lay person, pastor or theologian will every fully understand. However, we have been provided with an opportunity to see into the heart of our Father, and it is our responsibility, as His children, to take Him up on the offer.  Also, the bible is the main source of our knowledge of God, but it is definitely not the only source. One thing the Bible tells us that God created everything. He is omniscient, omnipotent, ever present and timeless. Once again, the verse Jeremiah 29:13 comes to mind that says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” The key point for this message is that if you seek you will find. There are no boundaries of where to seek, only the call to seek. The promise is that no matter where you look, if you are looking for your Father, you will find Him. As you know if you commonly read this blog, I could write forever just about that idea, but I better move on for now.  

I believe it is an inherent instinct to want to make your father proud. I know that no matter how much I disliked my father’s actions or words towards me, I still wanted to make him proud.  Back to that first car. I remember one night sitting at the dinner table and my dad began to tell me how proud he was that I had been driving the car for a little over a year and had done no damage to it. This was pretty spectacular since it seemed pretty much any gift given to my brother or me was broken within the first couple of months. What he didn’t know, or maybe he did knowing my father, was that the night before I had been trick-or-treating for cans for a high school food drive and brushed up against a post in a person’s drive way with the side view mirror on the car. It left some scrapes that were really no big deal, but my heart sunk to my stomach when I knew I had to squash his prideful thoughts of me.  After I told him, he said that it wasn’t a big deal and he was just happy I was honest.

 A lot of my friends throughout the years have had a tough time reconciling James’s words in the second chapter of his book that, “faith without works is dead.” I think that we have a tendency to take this verse out context and assume that James is saying that if you aren’t putting enough money in the plate, or you aren’t volunteering every spare moment at the food bank, you might not make it to heaven. Well, if we really believe that we have become adopted children of God when we put our faith in his Son, this just cannot be the case. I believe that when James talks about faith, he is talking in some ways about our relationship to our heavenly Father. Let’s look at my first car as our faith, or our relationship with our heavenly Father. The scrape on the side mirror is an act of disobedience. This could be a sinful action or an omission of a good deed when the opportunity was made available. By going to my father quickly and telling him about the scratch, he is able to comfort me and fix the damage. Now, if I am constantly ignoring the commands of God, I am outwardly living in sinful nature, and I am constantly ignoring opportunities to feed the hungry, help the sick or provide comfort to the widow, it is like taking a sledge hammer to my car. The windshield is broke, the tires are flattened, and the bumper is torn off. It is a lot harder to go look your father in the eye at that point and ask him to fix the car. The relationship has been damaged, your faith has been damaged, and now there is this awkward space between us and our heavenly Father.

Those situations when we feel like we have messed up beyond repair are when our relationships with our earthly parents can really get in the way of what God desires us to know about our relationship with Him. We may fear that God, like some earthly parents, won’t fix the car, they won’t forgive us, maybe what we have done is so damaging that they kick us out of the house, remove us from the family, sever our relationship and retract their love. The amazing thing is that is not how our heavenly Father works. Once we are His children there is nothing we can do that will take away His love. There is now damage that is beyond repair. We have an eternity warranty on our relationship with God. He will always be there with His arms spread open, running towards us like the father to the prodigal son. However, what James wants us to know is that we have an opportunity and a responsibility to have a close and gratifying relationship with our heavenly Father by making him proud. To figure out how to make Him proud, we just turn to one of the hundreds of pages in His instruction manual that tells us how. My favorite is when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is.  He responds with an answer of how we can make our Father proud, and strengthen our relationship with Him. Mark 12:30-31 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

So, with Father’s day quickly approaching, remember that you have a Father that loves you beyond any love we can ever comprehend. Then out of respect and  honor of that love, begin to get to know Him more by reading His word and make Him proud by honoring His commandments through loving Him and loving your neighbor. The relationship, and eternity of forgiveness, that is offered in return will be well worth every second spent worshiping your Father. 

Quick Rant

***I have amended this post to hopefully remove any personal shots at the radio station or DJs. Using negative comments about fellow Christians as a base for my writing is not a path I want to begin, and is completely unnecessary in sharing my beliefs. I apologize to any staff or listeners of the organization that were offended.***

I wouldn't normally post anything so quickly after a previous post, but I heard something this morning that I just have to write a quick rant about.

I was listening to my local Christian radio station on my way to the River Bend Food Bank this morning, and they were talking about  as an abundance of media coverage of "natural disasters" lately.

One of the morning DJs was feeling anxious about the number of natural disasters that have occurred lately, and was asking callers to help her with her anxiety. I believe this topic to be an extremely worthwhile discussion to have, and is a constant conversation in many Christian circles. However, the comments from callers were driving me up the wall. One man called in and literally said when he hears about earthquakes, sink holes and floods that kill massive amounts of people he gets happy and excited because he knows the rapture is coming! I think there are a couple of HUGE issues with this comment, and others that were said on the show.

1. Natural disasters occur all of the time, and it does not mean the rapture is going to happen in our lifetime. I completely agree with the callers in there equating the disease of sin to the gradual decline of the earth. However, somewhere the callers missed a couple of important facts about God and his timing. First of all, I am not talking in Pat Robertson terms that the direct action of a specific group of individuals causes an earthquake in their community, but in terms of the overall sin of every human being having an effect on the earth since the first bite from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, remember that God has said his return will be like a thief in the night. Mathew 24:42-44 says, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." So, if he is coming like a thief in the night, do you think He is going to give a bunch of blatantly obvious warning signals before he shows up? Is a thief going to sit in your drive way and lay on the horn a few times before he busts down your door?

2. "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." If Jesus did happen to show up right after a natural disaster, do you think He would be happy if He found you reclined in front of a television grinning at the despair of Haitians who were killed in masses by a horrific earthquake? Do you think He would commend you for predicting His return, and deciding to just be happy that his children, your brothers and sisters in Him, were starving to death because you knew it meant the end was near? This complete ignorance of our call from God boggles my mind. How Christians can sit back and delight in the pains of others because they see visions of God's return in their moans of agony is absolutely disgusting and sacrilegious.

Stop waiting for God to return from your living room, and start serving the people who God has called you to love. Whether His plan is to return tomorrow or a million years doesn't matter. What matters is what you are doing to show your love for Him and His creation TODAY!

Plans for the Summer

Just so you know, I actually began writing this on May 6th, but once again busyness got in the way. For those of you who don’t know, I have a new job as the State Director of the Iowa Food Bank Association. So far it has been an exciting change, and I look forward to seeing how God can use me to serve those in need in Iowa.


I want to give everyone a glimpse into my plans for this summer. Well, not all of my plans, but the ones that will affect this blog. I always enjoy the summers when I don’t have class, because I can actually read what I want. This year I am deciding what to read through a slightly different method than normal. I have asked two of the teachers at my church, who have had a large influence on my faith journey recently, to share their top 10 favorite books with me. They graciously gave me there list, and there looks to be some great summer reading ahead. I am basically deciding the order of reading by when I get the book. I order some every once in awhile on Amazon, and then number them in the order they come. As I read, I am confident that God will bring to light ideas in my head about Him and His Word that I hope to share with you all. I know that if I seek Him in any book that I read, whether it is C.S. Lewis or Steven King, I will find Him and want to seek Him more.

The first on my list is Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I am over half way in, and it has already challenged me. I can’t say as I agree 100% with every word written, but that is the glory of God’s word. He allows us free will to interpret His word, and I do not think that was a mistake. In our own interpretations come our own opinions, and through discussing these differences in opinions we are forced to strengthen our knowledge in His Word. We get in to trouble when we dismiss others opinions because they are not our own. Instead, we should listen and research other’s opinions. We should find the verses that make these opinions real to them, and really think about how those verses affect our own interpretation of His Word. If something drives you to looking deeper at God’s Word, it cannot be a bad thing. So, if you disagree with me PLEASE share. I would love to look in to your opinion, and be forced to know the Word of God more.

The Basis of Packer’s book is obviously knowing God, and he does a great job at using scripture to share with the reader a comprehensive view of what God shared about Himself in His word. Once we know God, we cannot help but want to know more about Him and desire to be closer to His presence. One of favorite concepts of Packer is what I will term our degree of celebrity status given to God, or how we see ourselves in relationship to God.

It is no secret that the majority of American’s are celebrity crazed. Whether it is actors, musicians, athletes, or politicians, we are obsessed with every part of their lives. There are books, magazines, movies and television show chronicling the lives of these individuals, and millions of dollars are spent just trying to be informed on what celebrity is dating, marrying or divorcing another celebrity. So, imagine a time when you were going to meet a celebrity. For this example, let’s use the current or past President of the United States, depending on which one you would be more excited to meet. You would probably try your hardest to make a big impression, and hope that for some reason this person who you feel is “above” you would take an interest in you. If he decided to only say hello and ask minimal niceties, you may be disappointed but would understand that the President has no responsibility to be your best friend. However, imagine if the President took and instant interest in your knowledge and ideas, and continued from the first meeting to ask you to be available to continue to share ideas in the future. You may feel like your life has made a turn. You would want to tell all of your friends and family of the new friendship you have made with the President, and may feel like you have “arrived.”

If this is how we would feel about coming into a friendship with the President of the United States, how should we react to being asked to come into a relationship with the God of every living thing, the God who can crush all nations with the snap of his finger, the God who created all? 1 Corinthians 3:9 says, “For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.” God has asked us to be his partner. He has asked us to do His work, and to be His co-worker. He doesn’t need to even bother with the niceties because He knows us to the core. However, instead of treating God with the nervous anxiety and constant desire to impress that we would treat a celebrity, we take His desire to be in relationship with us for granted. We want Him to know us from the inside out so that He can answer our prayers and support our desires for life, but we stop short of a reciprocal relationship. We make excuses for why we don’t know Him. We assume that His words are hidden from us because we are confused by certain scripture; we can’t find the time in our busy lives to read His word and search for Him in our lives, or we just think that the creator should be more concerned with His creation than we are concerned with Him.

Jeremiah 9:23-34 says, “This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. “

I know it is hard to believe, but celebrities mean nothing in God’s eyes. Their riches, fame or political power are worthless compared to knowledge of God. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to be in the right place at the right time, go to an Ivy League school or be born in to money to have knowledge of God that is worth more that all the money in the world. The knowledge is offered to everyone who searches. The power of God is available to all of those who ask. God, the most famous entity to ever exist, want you to be His partner, His coworker, His friend, His child. Please don’t take advantage of this offer, please don’t expect everything from Him but offer nothing of yourself, please begin to seek Him. Your knowledge of Him will give you more happiness than any celebrity tabloid I have heard of, I promise.

-P.S. – The running season is here, and the Des Moines Marathon is on my horizon. Be prepared for the next blog to have more details about the amazing opportunity you have to help us build a school in a community in Mozambique, Africa.

The World is our Church

Last time I posted I got a little distracted by the current events of the week, and was taken off course from where I originally wanted to head with the Blood Bank concept. There are so many directions I would like to take, so I think I will come back to it often in the way I came back to Elijah.

When I think about the similarities of human existence, and the story of creation, I see so many contradictions in the way we perceive each other in common society. I also see numerous contradictions in the example of leadership that Jesus taught us, and the way we commonly define a leader today. One of the biggest issues I have been feeling called to write about is the idea that the leadership of Jesus was somehow tied to Him being a man, or maybe better stated, tied to Him not being a woman. We truly miss out on the teaching of Christ when constrain Him to the common understanding of masculinity, and we miss out on a wealth of wisdom when we ignore the voice and leadership of women.

When I was thinking about how people attempt to differentiate ourselves from one another I was struck with the difficult idea of our calling. I would guess that some people feel that the calling of women is different than the calling of men. Well ,do I have a surprising thought for you…that is not the truth. There seems to be a lot of discussion about finding our calling, or our purpose in life, but I have an idea that will clear the whole mess up for you. Just like we are all the same, each of us has the SAME calling. That calling is to learn about the love of Jesus and share it with the world. Easy as that.

I always wanted to be the host of Blue’s Clues. I loved it when Steve would ask questions to an audience that didn’t actually exist , and then act like he heard an answer. So that is what I will do here:

How did we learn about the love of Christ?

Through His death and resurrection.

Who was the first person to learn about His resurrection, and share it with others?

Mary Magdalene

To be a little facetious…what sex was Mary Magdalene?

Female

Who decided that women were no longer worthy of being the champions of the good news that God loves us? Why would they make such a decision?

The answer to the first question is the church, not God. The answer two the second is one I cannot be certain of, but I have some ideas. The idea that brings me the most angst is the idea that Jesus was masculine in nature, so the person at the pulpit should be masculine as well. I am going to list 4 words, two commonly masculine characteristics and two commonly feminine characteristics.

Gentle

Strong

Meek

Bold

Generally, people would probably define gentle and meek as feminine, and bold and strong as masculine. Let’s turn to the Bible to see how Paul describes Jesus. 2 Corinthians 10:1, “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you.” We have a meek, gentle and feminine Savior. If you have heard it preached that Jesus was not meek or gentle, you are among peers, but you should know it is a lie. Now, of course , Jesus was all powerful and came at some situations with great boldness, but that is not at all surprising when we remember that Jesus is God incarnate. If Jesus is God, then it would serve to reason that He too embodies both the male and female attributes of God.

So, again, why have we told women that they are not allowed to pursue the calling of every follower of Christ? I guess the only other answer is sin.

Romans 8:2 says that “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” The old law has gone, and now the Church, with Satan’s nudge, feels the need to make new laws to suppress the word of God from entering freely into the world. I refuse to allow the Church, or Satan, to put knew shackles on my wrist and ankles. I refuse to allow the Church, or Satan, to guide my faith with manmade rules and regulations that are not in line with the life and teachings of Christ. I refuse to let the Church, or Satan, continue to suppress the voice of any believer of God’s love. Sin has infiltrated the Church by creating new laws to suppress the word of God from entering the world, and I refuse to comply.

Women of God, I have hope for your ministry: Just as laws are manmade so is the pulpit. Jesus didn’t spend a majority of his time behind a pulpit; He spent it out in the world. He wasn’t a member of a particular church, and He wasn’t constrained by any denominational rules. These restraints are all manmade, and sometimes do as much harm as good to the people of the Church. We are all the same in God’s eyes. He has given us all the same calling, to share His love, and the world is our Church.

My desire for my readers is for you to also refuse to let manmade rules to guide your faith. Focus on Christ, and refuse to be shackled to the law of sin. You have been set free and your calling is clear. We are all the same, and we all have the same right to learn about God’s love and share it with the world. Follow that calling, no matter what the Church, or Satan, tells you.

Quick Note

I started a blog a couple of weeks ago, but just have had no time to finish. So, in lieu of a full post for now, I have a quick note on a thought that came up in my head yesterday.

It is not a secret that capitalism propagates poverty. Therefore, it is the responsibility of those who benefit from capitalism to support the impoverished. Of course, there will be those who take advantage of the social service system, just as there are those who take advantage of the capitalist system; those individuals who focus on their own personal gain while ignoring, or disregarding, the effect it has on their fellow man and woman. However, our call is not changed by the actions of others. We are not called to judge why someone is hungry before we feed them, why someone is ill before we care for them, or why someone is poor before we help them make ends meet. When we begin to discuss the reason why someone is in the position they are, we begin to step on Gods toes. We are a part of this world, but we are not of this world. We have freedom to choose, but we do not have freedom to change the commands of God depending on how we feel about the choices others have made. Please, do not judge God’s people before you love them. God says to love others like He loves us. If He were to love us like we love the poor in our country, Hell would be a vacation from this life.

The Politics of Love

This weekend I was listening to the song Blood Bank by one of my favorite artists, Bon Iver, and thought, "Wow, I have to write a blog about that!" The part of the song the inspired me is the first verse that reads:

Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags


You said see look it that's yours
Stacked on top with your brothers
See how they resemble one another?
Even in their plastic little covers


And I said I know it well

Do we all know it well? And if we do, do we understand its implications? I am not sure, but I am willing to share the thoughts that were stirred up in me by these provoking lyrics.

First of all, let’s not get hung up on the weirdness of two people meeting at a blood bank. I see it as a story telling tool used by the artist to get him in a position to talk about a profound observation. So, this blog is not about how to pick up girls, or guys, while also supporting your local blood bank. It is about the often disputed, yet always true, fact that at our most basic level of existence we are all the same.

As the couple looks at the bags of blood stacked on top of each other at the blood bank, they realize that only by reading the names would they be able to distinguish their difference. Through their plastic covers, they look so alike, that any difference in race, ethnicity, sex, religion, political stance, sexual orientation, or any other label that we place on one another, is completely indistinguishable. The same blood flows through our veins, and is one of the cornerstones of our existence. At our most basic level of existence, we are all the same.

So, what does this mean for people of faith? Some of its meaning is common sense things that we all like to talk about, but often times have trouble with the follow-through. Some of its meaning is controversial, even though we know in our hearts it is what God commands of us, our pride, stubbornness or being fooled by false teachings gets in the way. Some of its meaning is a call to action, and those who are willing to answer the call will be blessed by the promises of God.

Even if you believe in the theory of evolution, the common denominator is that all humans are descendants of the original human. It is just common sense that it had to start somewhere. For most believers, we understand that we are all descendants from Adam and Eve of Genesis. We can get hung up on their names, or how they were created, or who was fooled by the Satan possessed serpent, but those things are not relevant in our understanding that we come from the same mold. The understanding of good and evil, and the existence of free will, leads us all down different paths, but we all start with the same blank slate. We all start with the blood of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, all the way back to the original man and women.

If this seems logical, then why is it so much easier to find the differences between each other than it is to find common ground? Why does hatred and violence seem like the right answer rather than love, compassion and understanding? We see this contrast of understanding and actions in all areas of our life. Whether it is having love for family members who you have no idea how you could be related to, having an open mind to someone whose understanding of their faith might be a little different than yours, or having love for someone who has a completely different set of values than you, it is so hard for us to remember that at our most basic level of existence we are all the same.

There are a lot of directions I wanted to go with how this idea relates to the Church, but based on the happenings of the last few days I feel there is one thing I must address, and the rest can be in another blog. It seems that we have completely lost sight of what it means to love one another the way God loves us in this country. There are hundreds of verses about love, but as I was researching for this post, a section from 1 Peter 3:8-12 really struck me:

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For,


"Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

The last couple of days, as I have read the news and seen the comments of people on Facebook, I have been appalled at the anger and hatred that has infiltrated our society. The most disheartening aspect, for me, is that the majority of this hatred is coming from individuals who would claim to be Christians. This isn't the beginning of this horrible separation of the Church and the love that God commands us to share with the world; it is only the most recent chapter. Throughout history Christians have been known to spur on hatred. In studying the Holocaust while in Poland, we were taught how the Catholic church preached anti-Semitism from the alter, and in the 21st century we have churches hell-bent on ruining the lives of homosexuals at whatever the cost to their families and communities. Now, we have politicians, whose books are sold in the Family Christian Book Store, posting maps with gun sights on the home states of politicians who voted for the health care reform bill, while others are making death threats, busting in windows and endangering the families of individuals because they disagree with their politics.

When did we give up harmony for discord? When did we decide not only to repay evil with evil, but be the people creating the space for evil to take hold? When did we forget that underneath our plastic little covers we are all the same? We are all loved by God and called to share that same love with each other. If the Church does not set this example, then who will? If no one sets this example, what’s next?

Please love one another! Jesus did not shed his blood to teach us a lesson of hate. Jesus died to show us what true love is, and He calls us to love one another as He loved us. It isn’t too late to decide to love.

"Is this a sales pitch?"

The following is a post I wrote in July of 2008. As the waters begin to rise again, it reminded me of this post, so I thought I would repost it on my new blog. Hope you enjoy!

“Is this a sales pitch?”

The reply was a stunned pause and a forceful, “No!”, but in reality it was. Was there any money needing to be exchanged? No, but there are costs; the cost of giving up control in a situation when many feel like they already have none.

The question was posed at a disaster relief meeting in Parkersburg, Iowa where an F-5 tornado ripped through the town, destroying homes and taking lives. It was asked to a group of good hearted people trying to help the community recover from its collapse.

Besides FEMA and the Red Cross, faith based organizations make up the majority, if not all, of the organizations that enter communities after disasters. They offer a myriad of helping services that in some ways overlap, but they all work together. At the table that day in Parkersburg there were four faith based organizations eager for the community to ask them for their services. The Lutherans, the Methodists, the Reform Church of America and Church World Services were all present. A virtual smorgasbord of service were presented, which all sound great, and all claim to be free.

However, as I said before, the cost is giving up control. Rural communities stick together. The community members at that table wanted to help their fellow men and women. They want to be the ones finding the needs and meeting them, but the fact is that they have the needs themselves and are underequipped to meet the needs of others. So, they give up control, reluctantly.

The interesting thing about the comment of, “is this a sales pitch?” to me was that I had heard something very familiar before. It took me back to the first day a newly created Young Life team and I entered the West High School cafeteria. We were prepared with fliers about club, information about camp at Crooked Creek in Colorado that summer, and a general excitement about meeting kids. After five minutes of talking with a group of kids at a table one kid stopped me and said, “what are you selling?” See, young people are in a similar position as those affected by a disaster. They have little to no control over their lives, and they are constantly on the lookout for the next person that wants to take advantage of them. They know that something is not right, but they have no idea where to turn. They are grasping for truth, but coming up empty handed.

When these thoughts were entering my head it brought me back to a very dark spot that I had covered up for a long time. It reminded me of my trip to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland where possibly millions of Jews were killed by means of gas chambers. As a college student I studied the Holocaust in Poland, and we concluded our studies with a trip to Auschwitz. It was a day that will forever shape my life. The entire tour was a heart wrenching experience for me. My hands and knees shook, I could not stop sweating, and tears pooled in my eyes and ran down my face continuously. I could feel the presence of evil in that place. Towards the end of the tour I approached what looked like a concrete shed sunk in to the ground. I knew what it was at first glance, but I tried not to think about it. I wanted to experience it, and if I thought too much I would have fled. As I walked down the couple of rotting steps into the dark, cold, musky room my legs almost fell out from under me. I went to find support on a wall but instead found images that haunt me. The claw marks of innocent Jews trying to escape something that they knew was wrong, but had no idea where to turn for truth. Lies were all they were told, there was no hope for future once they entered that chamber. Water would not come from the shower heads above them. Even as I write this now my chest tightens, and I feel the darkness that was so present there.

People need to have hope to let go of the reigns. They need to have faith that, because of their loss of control, they will find comfort. I was asked by a leader of another faith based organization why I want to help people. My answer was that I have seen the darkness in the world and it tried to drown out all of the light. I had to search long and hard to find a flicker of light to start the fire in my heart again. I want to make it easier for others to find light in this world that seems pitch black so often. I believe that is what faith based organizations are trying to do in our communities that are ravaged by disaster, and I know it is what we, as Young Life leaders, were trying to do at West High School.

Only when we have faith that something is bigger than us; that we are out of control in the first place; that we can have hope that there is a plan for our lives; can we truly begin to recover. Whether that recovery is from a natural disaster or from natural sin, we must give up control to faith. We must give up ourselves, everything we have, to God in order to give others hope that love can shine through the darkest shroud of fog that tries to envelope this world.

Philippians 3:7-11

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”