Hide and Seek

I have fond memories of outdoor games when I was a kid. We spent hours after church events or during Wednesday night choir rehearsals playing games like Red Rover and Capture the Flag. It's one game that sticks out, however. I'm not really sure why; perhaps because we played it in the yard of our pastor's house or because it included a huge number of kids of all ages. The game was Hide and Seek.

You might think it silly that such a simple, pervasive game grabs my memory. I wonder about that, too, but I can almost feel my heart pounding as I hid in some dark corner among the bushes waiting to be found. The sound of "All-y, All-y outs in free!" meant sweet victory; I wouldn't be "it" for the next round AND my hiding place was still hidden.

In subsequent years, I have frequently experienced again how children LOVE to play Hide and Seek. A succession of young ones has visited our house and played with me, hiding in various spots. No matter how familiar they get with every available hiding spot in our house, they want to play every time they come. Our Hide and Seek adventures have held a few memorable moments, like the evening the kids' mom decided to hide. She pulled a hoodie over her head and sat like a statue against a bedroom wall. Her kids walked right past her again and again and couldn't find her! Maybe there is such a thing as hiding in plain sight.

I'm convinced, though, that Hide and Seek is a much more popular game for adults than for kids. The adult version has our Creator, the lover of our souls, seeking to "find" us and give us the experience we were designed for: intimacy with Him. We hide, though. Any thrill we might undergo as He seeks us out is quickly swallowed up in fear. "What if He finds me? Will He be as disappointed in me as I am in myself? Will He take things away from me that I love? Will He send me to Africa?"

The more He seeks, the more we tend to hide. We think of the shadowy corner of our existence as preferable to the light and freedom He offers. We don't usually begin the "game" with the thought of it lasting a lifetime, but we grow increasingly comfortable in our dark place. Deep down, we sorta hope that He will shout "All-y, All-y outs in free!" at the end...but He won't.

More this weekend at Stone Ridge. Can't join us? Catch the podcast here.

 

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Beauty Worth Recognizing

The desert has a beauty all its own.

Not everyone believes that at first; for instance, my sister-in-law, who is a mountain girl at heart. She fully believed that the 115 miles from Gila Bend, Arizona to Yuma was the longest stretch of highway in the world the first time she traveled it. Those whose idea that nature's beauty involves trees and lots of green would quickly agree with her. But, the desert has a beauty all its own.

In fact, some of you who are desert newbies are about to get a surprise. Our violent rains last week are waking the desert up. Seeds that have long lain dormant under the sandy topsoil have received a drink of water. Even as you read this, some of them are splitting open and little green shoots are leaping toward the surface where they can gain energy from the sun. Literally millions of them will rise up and turn the tan desert floor into a lush green. They will stay that way until the lack of water brings them to the end of their short life, but they will leave behind seeds that are their children of the future.

The desert has a beauty all its own.

I know people who adore the desert. Somehow they have learned to "see" something that others don't. The see the hardy life of plants and animals whose design is to live in such places. They find themselves in awe of each unique species. They spend huge chunks of time simply experiencing the desert.

It's similar that some people adore God while others struggle with that idea. The hurts of their past and the struggles of their present make them wonder if there is any beauty to find in Him. "If He is really a good God," they think, "then surely I wouldn't be living through such a dry time." Perhaps they have forgotten that He is the God who sends the rain...spiritual rain to awaken what was long ago planted in them.

The question for us is, "How do we adore God, even in the dry times?" That's the subject this weekend at Stone Ridge Church. Can't be there? Catch the podcast here.

 

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Hearts Set Free

The end of WWII in Europe was a scene both devastating and marvelous. Amidst the rubble of cities and bombed-out craters that once contained the bustle of civilization, cheers mixed with tears to welcome the Allied forces who had dropped the bombs. Those same Allies had toppled the power of tyranny, then arrived to replace it with freedom.

I love those historic accounts. Something within us wants to leap and shout when captives get set free. In Luke 4, a local boy returned home and caused a clamor among residents of his village. He had begun to do miraculous signs, speak life-changing words and collect an ever-larger group of passionate followers. The leaders of his local synagogue invited him to a place of honor, having him read something from the old prophets. He took a scroll from Isaiah, unrolled it and began to read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord ’s favor has come. ” (Luke 4:18, 19 NLT)

"Good news! Captives to be released! Blind people will see! The oppressed will be set free! It's the time of God's favor!" Everywhere Jesus went, His actions demonstrated the power of those words. He declared AND demonstrated what He called "God's kingdom."

As powerful as was 1945's destruction of the kingdom of tyranny by the kingdom of freedom, it pales to what happens when the kingdom of God arrives in a human heart. Free societies are often choked with hearts held captive by forces too great for any human military to conquer them. No amount of political representation nor equal justice nor establishment of human rights can truly free such oppressed souls. One can breathe free air, enjoy a life filled with creature comforts and move about in limitless directions, yet be bound with hurts, habits and hangups that suck every drop of joy out of every moment. Only Jesus can conquer that kingdom!

The amazing thing is that Jesus offers to not only set up God's kingdom in our hearts, but to include us in His declaration and demonstration of the kingdom to those who are still captive. Advancing the kingdom is the most rewarding lifestyle on the planet and Jesus calls us to join Him in doing it!

 

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Relaxed-fit or Skinny?

Jeans.

I showed up to preach last Sunday in jeans. One of my friends commented that I had worn jeans at the Global Leadership Summit, for whom our church is a satellite site. It must have been okay because some of the speakers who were communicating to about 75,000 people (live and via satellite) were wearing...you guessed it...jeans.

Our church has a ministry partnership in the Dominican Republic. I once heard that jeans can be quite expensive there and are a sign of affluence to them. To us, they just feel more relaxed than slacks or dresses so we like to wear them.

But, have you noticed (I know you have!) the many varieties of jeans these days? When I was a kid, we called them "Levi's" for a good reason; that's all we had. Then, someone came along wearing "Lee" jeans and the denim war was on. Fast forward to now and we don't just have brand wars, we have style and color wars. We have long since lost our amazement that "stone-washed" jeans -- jeans which have traded their trademark blue for something near white and come from the store full of holes -- are more expensive than ones made with brand new material.

But the jeans phenomenon that really gets me is the fashion swing back and forth between "relaxed fit jeans" and "skinny jeans." Let's be honest with each other. We have seen people in skinny jeans that should never wear anything skinny. And we have seen very petite people swallowed up in relaxed fit jeans. Wouldn't it be better if people just wore jeans that fit them? Couldn't we leave style out of the equation for a minute and use our obviously generous jeans-buying resources to wear something that fits us?

All of this brings to to an important point about the way God made us. We each have a divine design. We are unique; some of us may be "uniquer" than most, but God designed us intentionally with great hope and intent. One of the tragedies for those who follow Christ is to think we serve a "one size fits all" God. If He designed us as a "relaxed fit" person in the spiritual realm and we insist on cramming our life into "skinny jeans", we will end up less than comfortable and far less productive than He had hoped. The key is to discover our design.

Discovery can be a journey that takes years, but every time we get a little closer to the perfect fit, we end up with more joy.

Is it time for you to have a spiritual garage sale and let go of those of those old jeans? If they don't fit you, why not let them go? Don't spend your life wishing God had given you a different design. Letting go of the old opens the door to discover the truth. It will set you free!

We will talk about God's design this weekend at Stone Ridge. If you come, feel free to wear jeans...that fit.

 

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Throw-away Relationships

Appalled. That's a good word. "Filled with consternation; dismayed." That's exactly what I felt recently when Cathy did her usual perusal of the "Births" section in the Yuma Sun. After the initial look to see how many new babies were born to families at Stone Ridge (we are FREQUENTLY blessed with new babies!), Cathy grabbed her pencil and began making marks in the column next to the list. Finally she looked up and said, "There were 53 new babies born in the past couple of weeks in Yuma Country. Only 13 of them have a mother and a father with the same last name." Many of them named only the mom.

Now, I'm not a sociological relic. One of our daughters chose to keep her maiden name when she married and we are fine with that. On the other hand, I am certain that many of the couples with different names are not married and likely will never be married. The vast majority of them will choose at some point in the future -- many of them in the near future -- to end their relationship and move on to someone else. It's safe to say that well over half of those 53 babies will grow up with only one parent or with many different "parents" as the adults in their lives change partners about as rapidly as what happens in a square dance.

Like I said, I was appalled. I suddenly realized that we live in a culture where "throw-away relationships" have become the rule rather than the exception.

How come we can instantly communicate with people all over the planet (I'm still amazed at the level of inter-continental communication I participate in via email, Twitter and Facebook), but we can't seem to develop rich, stable relationships with the people we see face-to-face? What happened that we so easily bought into the lie perpetrated in the popular song: "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." We traded away the security of life-long marriages and decades-long friendships for the loneliness of surface-level connections. Don't get me wrong. I'm full of compassion for those who endure the pain of divorce; some of my dearest friends have walked through that quagmire. And not a single one of them would wish that pain upon their friends!

After five days of creation in which everything He had made was good, God was faced with a quandary: "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'” (Genesis 2:18 NLT) God's designed solution was about far more than physical connection and procreation; He designed us to develop deep and lasting relationships at the psychological and spiritual levels. He wanted us to "finish each other's sentences" as we get old. He meant for us to marvel at the depths of His workings in the hearts of people we come to know. He meant for us to be there for our children and for them to grow up in the security of a home in which NOTHING threatens to shake it apart save a death we cannot control.

Instead, we have settled for "throw-away relationships." Our relational landfills are heaped with the smelly baggage of our past and we keep piling more on...unless something happens to break the cycle. Jesus came to mend broken relationships. It was the last promise of the Old Testament prophets; a promise that would be fulfilled from the heart and by the power of God. "His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:6 NLT)

The question is, "Can the church do something to help us deepen our relationships?" Surely the answer is, "Yes!" It's what we will talk about this weekend at Stone Ridge. Bring a friend! Can't be there? Catch the podcast of the sermon online or download it.

 

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Celebration or Desolation?

The old couple sat down with a large photo album. Page by page, they relived their memories. There they were on their first date. He was shy and awkward; she had a mischievous smile. Then came a few wedding pictures, so young, so innocent. The old woman choked back a sob and her husband wiped off the tear coursing down his cheek as they looked at the pictures of their children growing up. A tragic accident had taken the life of their third child; their precious daughter. They relived the awful memories of that fateful phone call and the hopelessness they felt. After that, they struggled in their marriage for awhile. They were both lonely, longing for the comfort they each needed to receive, but neither seemed able to give. They weathered that hard season, their love rekindled and they smiled as they looked at the family around them on their 50th Wedding Anniversary. All in all, the years had been good and they were grateful.

Celebration. Desolation. Life is full of both in this broken world. Long relationships, like the one that old couple enjoyed, are but a thumbnail of the earth's march through history. From the beginning, when forbidden fruit ushered our first parents out of a Garden, humankind has been in an ongoing love-hate relationship with our Creator. Some eras have been buoyed by the warmth and intimacy for which we were designed. Others have been as full of friction as an electrical storm on a summer day.

All of Scripture lends credence to the reality that the biggest Storm is ahead. By the time it is over, the earth as we know it will have come to an end. Those final moments will be met with celebration by some and desolation by others, depending on which side they have choosen as the last grains drop through the hourglass. Which side will you be on? Are you sure that you are ready?

Joel was an Old Testament prophet who lived in the days of King Joash, a man who ascended to the throne at ripe age of seven. His nation was in turmoil. God used that desolate time to craft a message to Joel: "Get ready; the End of Days is not far off!" 2,800 years later, we still echo that message. Are we really near the end? We are certainly almost three millennia nearer than Joel was! The larger (and much more important) question is, "Will that day be one of celebration for you? Or desolation?"

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No Tomorrow

40 years ago next week, the Sunday comics carried a "Peanuts" edition in which Charlie Brown was watching a golf tournament and the announcer said, "He's down to the last putt...there's no tomorrow!" Sally walked in during that last phrase, then ran out screaming, "There's no tomorrow! There's no tomorrow!" (View this classic here.)

For some crazy reason, that one comic edition has stayed with me all these years, causing an occasional story and frequent laughter on my part. The idea of "Judgment Day" has been the subject of innumerable books, movies and jokes. In reality, though, Judgment Day will be no laughing matter. If you think the power clash that results from a warm front colliding with a cold front is a big, stormy event, it will pale next to the ultimate clash between light and darkness.

Last week we admitted that darkness pushes back. Any time the power of God begins to light up a person or a church or a region, it gets the attention of the powers of darkness. Simon Peter wrote, "Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12 NLT) Peter had discovered up close and personal that following Jesus can result in great hardship at the hands of a dark enemy who is "taking names."

Those who choose to reflect the light of Christ, though, must remember that the darkness won't gain the final victory. The sunrise every morning is a reminder that light ultimately triumphs over darkness. That judgment day clash will be massive and deadly, followed by the reality: "There's no tomorrow!" When that happens, all the jokes and snide comments will be lost in the cacophonous cries of those who aren't ready. For them, "no tomorrow" will be final and hopeless.

Joel, like other Old Testament prophets, described what he saw. He didn't always know if his visions would take place right away or in some far-off century. In the end, both are true. Most prophecies have been fulfilled in ways large or small over and over again in preparation for the final, cataclysmic end of this world. On that day, darkness will be complete and permanent for those who walk in darkness. Light will be eternal for those who have chosen Him who said, "I am the light of the world."

More about it this weekend at Stone Ridge Church. If you can't be there, catch the podcast online here or download it here.

 

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