Jesus Loves Perpetual Groove

The picture below is from December 30th, 2010, at a Courtyard Marriott in Atlanta, Georgia. I met four of the seven not-me people in it the night it was taken. The other three I met back in May, at Amberland.

The whole reason - in fact the only reason - that I know any of these people is because we all like Perpetual Groove. PGroove played a two-night New Year's Eve run at the Variety Playhouse, in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta, and that was how I rang in 2011 - listening to my favorite touring band doing what they do best. (What they do best, by the way, is "be awesome.")

Originally, my sister was going to come with me to both shows, but things happened. No big. Then, I was planning on meeting two very good friends for the NYE show, but work came up. No big. At one point, when Mom realized that I was going to be driving down to Atlanta (6 hours) and going to two concerts by myself, she said, "Oh, that's sad!"

I quickly replied, "No... It's fine. Don't worry. I'll be alright."

And those people in that picture are just a part of the reason why.

Do I wish my sister had been there? Definitely. Do I wish my friends had been able to come up? You bet. But even in being "by myself," I was never alone.

I'm fairly new to Perpetual Groove. They've been around since 1999-ish, but the first time I ever heard them - heard of them, really - was September of 2008. In the year and some change since then, I've seen something that really just completely blows my mind. The crowd that follows PGroove is something completely unbelievable, and it's almost impossible to explain, but I'll give it a shot anyway...

Imagine a group of people who love you unconditionally.

They accept you, completely, for who you are.

There is no judgment.

There is no exclusion.

There is no jealousy.

There is no elitism.

There's just love. Love, love, love. My goodness, the love. There is some real love with these people. Sacrificial, open, warm, compassionate love.

And it's based on what? Liking the same band?

Wow.

Jon - the not-me big guy on the left of the picture there - refused to let me pay for my own tab at the bar we stopped in before the show on the 31st. I met Jon on the 30th. Rick - the tall guy behind me on the right - refused to let me chip in for the cab fare on our way back to the hotel. I met Rick back at Amberland, and I've seen him three times since, counting New Year's.

And yeah, it's just a few bucks... But what about all the free food and drinks that both guys have thrown at me already in the short time that I've known them? What about the completely free, no-strings-attached ride Rick gave me from Nashville to Chattanooga back in July? What about the sincere, heartfelt, open support and encouragement for the prospect of my job with the church in Oregon?

That last one, by the way, is not at all limited to Jon and Rick or anybody else in the picture, but extends out to everybody else I've encountered in the PGroove circuit. There's even a few folks who've started referring to me as "preacher man," which suits me just fine.

Now, I am not going to go so far as to say that every single person I've met in the PGroove family is a regular Sunday morning attendee at the local congregation of their choice. For a lot of them, I know that's actually not the case, like... on purpose. There are, believe it or not, people in the world of jam band followings who don't necessarily believe in the Biblical definition of God, much less Jesus as Christ.

And yeah, I'd love to talk to them about that. I'd love to show them what I see. I'd love to give them a kernel of the Truth that I've found to be so amazingly powerful in my life and see if they don't find it to be just as amazing for them. I firmly believe they would. I firmly believe that an active, sincere, deep relationship with God, through Christ, would change their lives for the better.

But at the same time... I believe that their lives are already pretty good, because whether they follow Christ or not, they've managed to figure out one gigantic thing that the rest of the world is a little behind on: Love everybody.

Something else that happened to me while I was in Atlanta... I got to talking to Debbie. I love Debbie, and Debbie loves me. We met in the first wee hours of 2011 and talked about Jesus.

Debbie is a sweet, wonderful, kind, compassionate, caring, amazing woman. But she ain't too cool with Jesus. Why? More importantly, how?

According to Debbie, Jesus is just another reason for people to divide themselves, and that's not OK.

And you know what? She's actually right. Well, about the divisions part. Not about Jesus Himself (sorry, Debbie - but you know I love you).

In Debbie's view of Christianity, she sees nothing but the infighting, the self-righteousness, the arrogant judgmental attitudes, the hatred of sin and sinner...

It's bad, you know.

So I'd like to start the year off with a challenge to all the Christians reading this: Let's do it right.

If a group of people who only know each other because they - again - like the same band can get together in a community of completely open, heartfelt, genuine, sincere, unconditional love... Why can't the children of God do the same thing?

Why can't we show the world what Love really means?

Aren't we the ones who are supposed to be instantly recognized by our Love for each other?

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

- John 13:34-35

(I think that's a yes.)

Folks, I am not saying that there aren't churches in the world today that get it right, because there certainly are. I am fortunate enough to attend a very loving congregation in Nashville - West End Church of Christ, feel free to come with us sometime - and the Madras congregation is so openly loving that it's easier to think that they are literally a blood family than "just a church family." There are folks out there who do it right.

But man, there are a lot of folks out there who do it wrong, too. There are a lot of folks out there whose actions do not at all point towards the reality of the singular, unifying, transcendent and immanent, all-encompassing Love of God for all of His creation.

And then there's Perpetual Groove.

There's some crazy people in the PGroove family. But they're loved anyway. And they're loving anyway. And they're lovable anyway.

I'm not gonna lie... I want to have a lot more conversations with a lot more of the PGroove crowd about Jesus. I want to talk to folks about Christianity. I'm a preacher. It's what I do. There's no point in hiding it. Yes, I want to help people come to see Christianity as a better way of life.

But at the same time... Man, I sure do want to help a whole lot of Christianity come to see "loving everyone you come in contact with" as a better way of life, too.

As Christians, should we be trying to make "the World" happy? By no means!

But if "the World" is calling us out - and Debbie is not at all the only person saying this - for not loving others, for being a force for division instead of unity, for quite frankly bringing shame to the name of Christ by warping His message of Loving God and Loving others... Then yeah, I think we've got a little bit of work to do.

If it's been with love, things that you've done

Then you did all you could do...

If it's been with love, things that you've done

It can save you...

- Perpetual Groove (who else?), "Andromeda"

Is "Not Bad" Good Enough?

When I was five years old, my family lived in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. During that year, we made plenty of trips out to the beach - more than I can remember. One thing I can say I remember about our beach trips, however, was the sandcastle bucket.

It wasn't anything fancy - just a cheap little plastic pail with a handle and a shovel, and on the bottom of the bucket were little indentions that were meant to mimic the battlements of a castle tower.

There were two primary uses for the bucket when we went to the beach. I seem to remember that Lyn, who would have been two at the time, preferred to simply use the shovel (or her hands) to fill the bucket with sand. The purpose seemed to be to just have a bucket of sand. I'm not really sure. But whatever the purpose, the bucket's function was limited to one thing - keeping the sand in one place, not letting it get outside of a certain pre-defined set of bucket-shaped boundaries.

The other use, however, was to mash the bucket down on a big pile of sand, so that when you picked the bucket up, there now sat one of the many towers that would be added onto the glorious sand equivalent of Windsor Castle, with a construction vulnerable only to the erosive powers of the pounding surf or the boredom-borne destructive whims of a five-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister.

Can the bucket be used to just keep sand in one place? Sure.

But it's actually meant to be used to mold the sand into a desired shape. That's really the whole purpose of its specific design.

And in fact, the same thing is true for Christianity.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

- Matthew 5:17-20

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

- Matthew 23:23-24

Matthew 23 is one of the most powerful chapters in all of the Gospels, because it is nothing but Jesus telling the most super-religious people of His day that they were completely missing the point. A life of holiness isn't just about avoiding sin - and this is what the Pharisees were so very about, adding their own layers to the Law in order to keep themselves miles away from the possibility of sin - but at its core, a life spent in pursuit of God's righteousness is actually about being good.

Just like the bucket could be used to simply keep the sand in one place, Christianity could be seen as a way to set up parameters that define our lives by what we are not allowed to do, where we are not allowed to go, and words we are not allowed to say. But - just like the bucket - that's not what it's actually designed to do.

"Not bad" isn't good enough. Living a life free from sin isn't good enough. We've got to go the extra step and be proactively good, pursuing righteousness above all else.

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

- Luke 6:27-38

As Christians, we know that it is wrong to murder, steal, rape, lie or cheat. But doesn't the world know that, too? No civilization in the history of ever has said that it's just OK to wantonly kill anyone without reason. Murder is bad on a universal scale. So just avoiding murder isn't enough to make us different from the world, is it?

What about loving our enemies? Is that what makes us different from the world?

By and large, the world is satisfied with a definition of morality that says "Just leave me alone and don't get in my way." That's not good enough for a Christian. We are called to something higher - Love.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

- Matthew 22:24-40

Notice that nowhere in either of those two greatest commandments did Jesus mention not sinning. Why is that? Is it because avoiding sin isn't important?

Oh, heavens no.

Maybe it's just because if we're focused on actually living a life filled with righteousness, holiness, Love for God and Love for others, we're not really going to have a lot of room in our lives for sin.

Will we still occasionally mess up? Sure.

But isn't that the whole reason our sins were forgiven in the first place?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

- James 2:8

What else do we need? A life focused on avoiding sin is a life fearfully focused on rules. A life focused on Loving God and our neighbors is a life joyfully focused on God and His wonderful creation.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

- James 1:19-27

Keeping ourselves free from the pollution of the world is awesome. It's a big deal. It's very important.

But it isn't the end of the story.

Love for others - especially those who cannot provide for themselves - is the work of God in this world.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

- James 2:14-26

It doesn't matter what you believe if you don't do anything about it. You can believe all you like that Jesus is the King of the Universe and that your sins are forgiven through His death and resurrection - but the demons of hell believe that, so who cares? The difference is entirely based on what you do with that belief.

You can believe that a traffic light is red all day long and it won't make any difference unless you actually stop.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

- James 4:17

There are plenty of verses in the Bible that I like to think of when I'm dealing with particularly difficult people because I know that God will deal with them far, far, far better than I ever could. This, however, is not one of those verses. This one, quite simply, scares me. This might be one of the most damning verses in the entire Bible.

It's not enough to just be "not bad" - we actually have to make it far enough up the ladder to be wholly in "good" territory. And if we're not being good... THAT'S BAD!

Spending our lives only avoiding sin is sin itself. If we are not focused on attaining righteousness, we are falling short of the name of Christian.

A Simple Prayer

Dear God, Merciful Father, Heavenly King, Lord and Creator of All...

Forgive us.

Forgive us, God, for messing it up.

I don't know where we went wrong, I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I look around and I see what Christianity has become today and I can't help but think that we're not doing it quite the way You planned.

We've come to a point where You are not the foundation of our lives... You're more like the spackle, filling in the cracks that bother us enough to do something about.

We've come to a point where we've decided that the way we're supposed to Love others is by making sure we tell them they're wrong before anything else.

We've come to a point where we don't ask You what we should do, but instead we ask You to bless what we've decided we're doing anyway.

It's almost like we don't even think You're actually there anymore.

It's almost like we're following You just to be on the safe side.

It's almost like we've let Christianity become an abstract idea to be argued and debated instead of lived out in a very self-sacrificing, very loving, very real way.

It's almost like we've started using You and Your Son as an excuse to be indignant towards The World, trying to force it to conform to our sensibilities and morals so we don't have to struggle with the temptations it provides, instead of us being the ones who show The World what it's like when You are actively involved in the lives of the people who have chosen to follow you.

God... Help us.

Help us see each other as equals in Your sight - all equally sinful on our own, and all equally worthy of Your Love.

Help us see past the divisions that we've set up for ourselves - divisions of denomination, of politics, of economics - and unite in Love.

Help us see the Truth that You laid out for us - that You Love us, and that our one task in this world is to Love You.

Dear God, I look around me and I see the world hurting and I see the church failing in its task to show the world Your presence in Love.

I see cities with more churches than gas stations, but the cities are still overrun with people without homes, without clothes, without food, without hope... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

I see churches fall apart from the inside out because of power struggles and stubbornness and selfishness... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

I see people on TV assuring me that if I'll just put my trust in You, You'll make me rich and comfortable in this world... Or, even worse, I see people buy into that idea... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

We complain about the state of the world and we pray for You to be swift in Your judgment of it... but we're not taking the time out of our day to clean the place up before You get here.

We come together in our churches and huddle together to remind each other of how bad it is out there... and then we go home to watch the game, never thinking that maybe it's gotten so bad out there because we've dropped the ball.

We tell each other to trust in You... but we won't trust You enough to take the small steps outside of our comfort zone to interact with The World that is so desperately in need of Your Love, the Love that is our one single task in this world to show.

God...

I don't know how you do it. I look around and my heart breaks, and I know that I'm every bit as much a part of the problem as anyone else.

I can't even imagine what it's like for You.

I can't even imagine how much it hurts You to see Your children - Your CHURCH - sitting on the sidelines, turning a blind eye to the suffering all around us, ignoring the constant plea for help coming from every street corner on the planet.

I can't even imagine what it would look like if we actually decided to do what You asked us to do by Loving others the same way that You Love us.

God... I still believe in You. I still believe in Your power. I still believe in Your presence. I still believe in Your Word, Your Spirit, and Your Love for me and all of mankind.

Help me show the world what You mean to me.

Help me show the church what You mean to me.

Help me show my friends and family what You mean to me.

Help me be the man that You want me to be.

Help us all be the church that You want us to be.

Help Christianity be what You set out for it to be - Love, changing the world.

Father... On my own, I'm tired, I'm scared, I'm lonely, and I'm weak.

But with You... I can climb the highest mountain, I can face the fiercest lion, I am surrounded by Your presence, and I am filled with Your might.

God, please... Show them. Show them all. Show them Your Face. Show them Your Hand. Show them Your Love.

I need You, God. I need You more than I need air, water, food... even my life. I need You.

I want to be Your instrument in this world. I want to be a herald of Your Kingdom. I want to be a servant at Your table. I want to be Your worker.

Please, Father... Show me how to be the man You made me to be.

Show the church how to be the church You designed it to be.

Show us all how to live our lives centered on the Love that You first showed us, the Love that created us, the Love that spared us, the Love that redeemed us.

And please, God... Please... Forgive us.

In Christ's Holy and Wonderful Name,

Amen

Rules of Engagement #4 - Eating Meat (and the Eternal Consequences Thereof)

So this "Rules of Engagement" thing... I've been trying to focus on things that I at least know that I personally need to put into better practice when it comes to trying to reach out to the lost and bring them closer to God's vision for their lives.

In the first part, I talked about how it's important to actually stick to the discussion at hand. If someone asks me about my belief in God and the first answer I give them is just that God doesn't like them, then I'm probably not going to be the most effective champion for the cause of Christ.

In the second part, I talked about how it's important that we all understand that my sins, your sins, his sins, her sins, their sins... it's all the same. Once we understand that all of us have committed the exact same infractions against God and are definitely all worthy of the exact same punishment, it's a lot easier to think about everybody getting into the exact same grace and the exact same Love.

In the third part, I talked about how it's important that we all really grasp the idea that it's OK if somebody's Christianity is a little different from ours. For starters, it's not my responsibility to make sure someone else's faith is perfect - that decision is ultimately their own, as is mine when it comes to my own faith. Beyond that, Jesus says in Luke 9:50 that "...whoever is not against you is for you," and I think it'd be a good idea to remember that.

So here in this 4th (and final) part, I want to actually lay down what I've been building towards, built on all three of those things before it. So get your head ready, because I'm actually very scared of what I'm about to say, and I realize that it's a fearful topic for a lot of other people, too.

Let's start off with a story.

Just a hair over 9 years ago now, I threw a shindig at a family friend's house with some friends to celebrate the end of the school year. I was grilling hamburgers and we were all going to watch a movie. The movie we wound up watching was Tombstone. If you've never seen Tombstone... oh, you poor soul. It's a fantastic movie. It's a fairly historically accurate account of the events that led up to and came after the infamous shootout at the OK Corral, with Kurt Russel as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp, and Sam Elliott's Mustache as Executive Producer.

Oh, and it's rated R. That's important here.

It's not porn or anything - it's a cowboy movie. People shoot each other. The bad guys are REALLY bad. Cuss words a'plenty.

And yeah, it's totally one of my favorite movies.

So we're watching Tombstone for this thing, and I told everybody who was coming well in advance that we were watching Tombstone. I hold the friends from my freshman year in college very dear to my heart, but some of them just were not the kinds of folks who'd dig on a cowboy movie, so I wanted to give them all a chance to bow out gracefully if that was going to be a problem for them.

One friend of mine took me up on that offer, except for the gracefully bowing out part. She informed me that she wouldn't watch any movie that's rated R. I told her that Tombstone is, in fact, rated R, so it looked like she wouldn't be watching the movie, then, didn't it?

The night of the cookout rolled around and we'd all enjoyed my - quite frankly - awesome burger skills and sat down to watch the movie. The girl who'd objected to an R-rated movie was still with us at this point, but another friend was not staying for the movie and offered to give her a ride home. She declined, said she'd stay, and we started watching the movie.

Tombstone does not start off gently. Less than 10 minutes into the movie, there's already been a shootout where something like 10 Mexican police officers are killed at a wedding, a priest is killed, and the bride - kicking and screaming - is dragged off-camera by the bad guys. There's not really any question that these are the bad guys for the movie.

But as soon as the shootout started, Monica (not her real name, I just got tired of vague pronoun usage) let out this loud gasp of shocked protest and said, "Are they killing those people?!?"

Wait, what? Yes! Of course they're killing them. They're the bad guys.

"Well, I just can't believe we're watching this."

At this point, Monica's roommate realized she needed to leave and offered Monica a ride back to campus. Monica refused, decided to stay.

A little later in the movie, when we're introduced to Doc, Monica let out her indignant gasp of moral outrage once again and blurted out "SHE'S NAKED!"

Alright, look... The first time I saw Tombstone, I was maybe 13 or 14 years old. I'd already seen it a thousand times by the time I got to college. Believe me, if there was a naked "she" anywhere in that movie, I'd have picked up on it. But right now, I was looking at Val Kilmer, who is most definitely neither a she nor naked. So I asked what on earth Monica was talking about.

"The painting! Behind him! On the wall! She's naked! I can't believe we're watching this movie!"

Wait... WHAT? The painting? You're upset about the painting? It's not like it's erotic in any way whatsoever... It's just a kind of Renaissance-y painting with a naked lady draped out under a fruit tree and chubby little baby angels floating around... whatever. And for all the times I'd seen the movie, I'd actually never noticed it until Monica pointed it out.

So my buddy Matt offered to leave the movie (which was pretty chivalrous of him, considering he loves Tombstone as much as I do) just to give Monica a ride back to her dorm. We were barely 30 minutes into the movie and it only gets more violent from that point. Monica, once again, refused the ride and chose to stay.

We finished the movie in relative silence. Monica didn't say anything else, but she did gasp indignantly and glare at me every time somebody used profanity or got shot. So there was a lot of gasping and glaring, but she didn't say anything else...

But the next day... Oh, goodness. I still look back on the event with a whole lot of incredulity, but in the middle of it, I was just flat out FLOORED with confusion. See, what happened was after we got through with the movie and went on back to campus, apparently, I was painted up to be the villain of the century because I showed Monica this movie.

Now... I'm not looking for absolution, I'm not looking for anybody to take my side, I'm not looking to be proven right... Largely because I already know that wasn't my fault. At all. I did nothing wrong in that... with the possible exception of even inviting Monica in the first place.

One of the other guys that had come to the cookout actually told me, "I can't believe you showed her that movie. She's the weaker Christian, Aaron, and you caused her to stumble."

What? Seriously?

She knew before we even got there that the movie was rated R. She was given a chance to leave before the movie started and two other chances to leave during the movie, yet she stayed parked right there on that couch, shooting daggers at me from her eyes and voicing her disapproval every time somebody pulled a trigger.

And it's my fault?

"Why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?" - from I Corinthians 10:29

Lest you think this whole post is just to defend my actions at a cookout 9 years ago, here's where I'm going with all this and why it applies to me and you today.

In issues of conscience where the "weaker" Christian is unsettled, offended, whatever'ed by the actions of the "stronger" Christian, it is the responsibility of the "stronger" Christian to be sure that his or her influence does not cause the "weaker" Christian to stumble.

BUT.

It is also the responsibility of the "weaker" Christian to realize that his or her own personal moral code is not applicable to anyone else, Christian or not.

"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

- I Corinthians 10:23-24, 31-33

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written:

" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,

'every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will confess to God.' " So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food [footnote: nothing] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

- Romans 14, emphases added

There are some things in life that I quite frankly just really enjoy. Man, they're nice. Dig 'em. Some folks, however, are not quite so big on those things. In fact, for some folks, some of the things I enjoy doing might be a sin.

I understand - fully - that it is my responsibility as a Christian who has the maturity and clarity of mind to enjoy those things responsibly (in regards to my responsibility towards God as well as to my brothers and sisters in Christ, strong or weak) to make sure that my influence is not spread in such a way that, through exercising my freedoms to do these things, I cause another to stumble.

But where I think a lot of people kinda glaze over and stop paying attention is the part where it's the responsibility of the "weaker" Christian to realize that he or she is "weak" when it comes to a particular issue and just know to not do it.

Just to get rid of the vague "thing" issue while at the same time keeping the integrity of my example to other Christians intact, let's put an example on this that could not possibly cause anyone to stumble one direction or the other. Let us assume, then, that driving a 1992 red and gray Ford F-150 is a questionable moral issue for some people. (Hey, guess what! That's my truck!)

Now... In knowing that driving my truck causes some people to stumble, I will take precautions to avoid that happening. For instance, if my truck drove people to sin, I wouldn't drive my truck to church. I'd take a different car, I'd hitch a ride, I'd walk... But I wouldn't take my truck.

The thing is, though... It's still my truck. I still really like driving my truck. I know that I can drive my truck and still live my life completely focused on a pursuit of the Kingdom of Heaven. Me driving my truck does not get in the way of my walk with God. (In fact, it lets me go further faster.)

So let's say I'm in my truck, just tearing around the back roads by the house. I'm not out where people are going to see me unless they come looking. (Seriously - it's some pretty country out here, and you can go for miles and miles and miles without ever seeing another car, if you go to the right places. I go to these places regularly.)

That's all between me, God, and the gas pump. As far as God is concerned, yeah, driving my truck is A-OK, so long as I do my part to keep someone from stumbling.

But if you come to my house and see my truck sitting in the driveway, it looks kinda bad if you just immediately start smashing up the windows, busting the headlights, cutting my brake lines, pouring sugar in the gas tank...

It's my truck. I'm the one driving it. I'm the one with the keys.

My truck has nothing to do with your spirituality.

If you think that your driving of my truck is a sin, don't ask me for the keys.

Man, I really hope this is still making sense.

The responsibility of the "stronger" Christian is to remove any possible stumbling block in the path of the "weaker" Christian. But it is the responsibility of the "weaker" Christian to grow stronger and understand that there are some things out there that might not actually be sins for everyone, even if it is a sin for me or you.

Jesus turned water into wine. The host of the feast said, "THIS IS REALLY AWESOME WINE!" Grape juice is not really awesome wine. Really awesome wine has alcohol in it. Really awesome wine has the potential to get you drunk if you misuse it. Therefore I have absolutely no qualms about saying that yes, I believe it is possible for a perfectly strong Christian to drink alcohol and still be close to God. Jesus Himself drank enough that the Pharisees used His party-guy demeanor as an accusation against Him and the Apostles more than once (Luke 5, Luke 7, lots of other spots).

If you don't think it's OK for you to drink, hey, that's cool. Don't.

If you don't think it's OK for you to watch R-rated movies, right on. Don't.

If you don't think it's OK for you to drive a 1992 red and gray Ford F-150, that's your thing. Don't.

But even as much as it is the responsibility of the guy who can drink, watch an R-rated movie, and drive a 1992 red and gray Ford F-150 (not all at the same time, of course...) to not put the stumbling block in the path of the one who cannot do those things in clear conscience, every bit of the same burden is laid on the one who cannot do those things to not judge those who can.

When we are trying to bring people in from The World to The Father, we're encountering them as people with a set code of morality that may not actually have anything to do with Biblical foundations whatsoever. And that's OK. God can use that. God can reach those people. God can get into their hearts and their minds and their souls and show them that He really is the point of everything. He can rewire them to be absolutely charged up with the energy of the Holy Spirit and set them on a path that brings them closer to Him, and pulling other people along as they go.

But when He does that, He might not do it the same way He did it with you.

There are going to be things that other Christians, both young and old in their faith, do that you can't, because it would be a violation of your conscience.

That's OK.

Don't do those things, and don't judge them for doing them.

We don't have to try to get to the point where we're strong enough to do those things. It's OK for me to believe that I should not do certain things that cause me to stumble. But there's nothing at all in Scripture that says it is my responsibility to get other people to stop doing things that they can handle with perfect maturity and clarity of mind... just because I am the one who can't handle it.

So go ahead. Do what you want. If you're living a life focused on God, what you want to do will change anyway.

But remember - and this part is actually really scary for a lot of people... It is ultimately your own choice what you do. If you choose to look to me as the "stronger" example, you just may see me doing some things that you don't like, some things that you can't handle. My influence over you is not totalitarian. You still have your own free will independent of my actions, good or bad. Know your conscience. Know the Spirit. Know the Bible. Don't violate any of those and you're good... no matter what you're doing.

Rules of Engagement #1 - Stick To It

If you ask me who my favorite band in the world is... Well, I think most of you can finish this sentence by now. It will do you no good - avail you absolutely nothing in the slightest - if, during our discussion, you insist that Screeching Weasel (this is a real band) is better than Led Zeppelin, especially if your evidence is the Screeching Weasel song "I Hate Led Zeppelin" (which is also real, not that any of you should go listen to it, because it's also real bad).

When discussing whether Rick Deckard is a replicant or not (spoiler: he is), it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever to ask whether Han or Greedo shot first. (Han, and I don't care what your fancy-pants special edition DVD says.)

I wish I could come up with examples for this that aren't completely nerdy, but hey, I'm a nerd. It's what I know.

But the point - nerdy or not - is entirely the same across all of everything: if you're talking about oranges, apples do not bear much relevance to the topic at hand.

Guess what?

Strangely enough, that is still true for discussions about God.

Storytime!

When I was up in Kansas a few weeks ago for my friend Sarah's wedding, she was THE only person I knew there. Like, in the entire state. I knew ONE person, and that was the bride. I didn't have a car, and I'd missed my opportunity to be out for the night, so I was definitely in... watching Sarah and her bridesmaids sew dresses and enjoying the BBC Pride and Prejudice. The one with Colin Firth.

Let me clarify this: Sarah and her bridesmaids were enjoying it. I was not. I do not like Mr. Darcy, I do not like Elizabeth Bennett, and I do not like being the only guy in a room full of women swooning for a guy who isn't me. That he is fictional only adds insult to the injury.

It so happened that one of Sarah's bridesmaids, Kimi, brought along her fiancé, Kevin, who was also one of the groomsmen. This guy SAVED MY LIFE. Finally, in the midst of this rampant chick-flickery, I get to hang out with a dude. And what a dude he was.

There was little time lost between our introduction and a deep conversation being struck between myself and Kevin. We talked about a great deal many of the things that two men talk about when the women are off being "the women," but our conversation eventually wound up circling around a discussion of morality, religion, and the social progression of humanity.

My goodness, it was a fascinating conversation.

We talked for what seemed like hours! We covered so many different ideas and understandings and points of view, and the entire time, we just built off of each other and leapt to new ideas and new ways of seeing exactly what the other was talking about... It was wonderful!

And the fun part of it was that Kevin is an atheist.

I've got atheist friends. Having a discussion on these topics with someone who does not believe the same things I believe is not a foreign idea. And it's not even that this conversation went so well that is particularly what matters, because I've had that happen before, too.

What really tickles me about it is actually what happened the day after the wedding. I was talking to Jimbo, Sarah's ridiculously cool husband, for what was really the first good chat the two of us had been able to share. I'd met him for about ten seconds on Thursday, the wedding was on Friday, and Saturday's the first time he's actually had a minute to breathe, let alone talk to some dude his wife went to college with.

As Jimbo and I were talking, I was surprised when the conversation Kevin and I had shared came up. Specifically, it came up when Jimbo said, with a strong note of astonishment in his voice, "So I heard you talked religion with Kevin the other night! I am impressed."

"Wait, what? Why impressed?"

"Dude. NOBODY talks religion with Kevin. It is just IMPOSSIBLE to do."

"What, are you serious? That guy was so chill! He wasn't a jerk about it, he didn't try to shove his beliefs down my throat, and he respected that we can talk about what we agree on and what we disagree on without having to demonize the other guy."

"Hey, he said the same thing about you, man."

"Really?"

"Well, kinda. When we were getting ready for the ceremony, I asked him, 'So, what about that Aaron guy?', and the first thing he said was, 'Man, that Aaron guy is one Christian I can talk to.'"

True story!

How about that? I managed to talk to a guy I'd never met, never even seen before in my life, for a solid three hours about a topic that we completely disagreed on. And all the while, both of us have a reputation in some circles for being difficult people to discuss that topic with! I know for sure that not all of my conversations with atheists have gone as well as that one did, and I know Kevin's had some difficult conversations with Christians, as well.

It's hard sometimes to talk to someone whose fundamental definition of reality is different from yours. But I think that if you have a certain attitude in mind, it just gets a lot easier.

I think Kevin and I were both really rockin' on that attitude that night. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm bragging about my insane skills at talking to atheists or anything... #1, it's not like that field is gonna be getting its own merit badge or anything anytime soon, and #2, "bragging" implies that I did this on purpose, like I had some kind of clue what was going on. No, no... That was not me. I did not have my hands on the wheel at that point. The Spirit was definitely working in me.

And who knows? Maybe it was working in Kevin, too. I have a feeling he'd doubt that, though...

(For the six of you who will get the joke, I'm gonna pull a Jonathan Storment here.)

I tell you that... to tell you this...

I think the reason Kevin and I were able to have such a great discussion (through the working of the Spirit or through whatever else might have happened) was that we both managed to actually stick to the discussion we were having.

When Kevin asked me a specific question about my beliefs, I was able to give him an answer that didn't include a sermon, and I didn't go outside of the question by trying to bring up other beliefs he didn't ask about. He asked me about oranges, I talked about oranges. And I wasn't a jerk. (Woo! Go me!)

When I asked Kevin a specific question about his view of the God he doesn't believe in but I do, he was able to give me an answer that wasn't disparaging of my belief, and he didn't bring out his (dis)beliefs with an aim towards heating up the conversation. I asked him about apples, he talked about apples. And he wasn't a jerk. (Woo! Go Kevin!)

Man... I really ought to try to be like that every single time I talk to people. That would probably be pretty cool.

I think that's the first rule about talking religion with somebody. Whatever the question was, your answer has to stick to it. Be specific, be honest, and don't bring up the things that don't matter for that question.

If you ask me who my favorite band is, I will talk your ear off about Led Zeppelin, not The Firm. Yes, there's a fairly decent connection between the two, but it's not at all the answer to the question you asked.

This may seem like a pretty obvious thing to say, but I really think we (I) could use somebody writing some of this stuff down, because we're kinda bad at this. And not just on the Christian to atheist front. We're bad at this with fellow Christians.

If someone asks you about your beliefs on the nature of God, an answer about the evils of adultery is not going to be a whole lot of help. We get lost in the distractions instead of sticking to the point.

And the worst part about that is that the point is really simple.

BE GOOD.

That's the point.

The point is not that we all agree 100% on the interpretation of every single passage of scripture. The point is not that we all go to the same building every Sunday morning. The point is not that we all clap-or-don't-clap during the singing.

The point is that you behave yourself. That's the point. God set up everything in the world to show us who He is, and once you know who He is, you behave yourself.

So stick to that.

Don't worry about what other people are wearing, or saying, or doing, or thinking, or believing if it doesn't take away from the glory of God.

If they're not Christians, you're not going to convince them that we're the team to join if you're frothing at the mouth because they don't believe the same things you believe. And if they are Christians, you're not going to score any points with anybody by insisting that we all read the same version of the Bible as you and burn the rest.

Again, this may sound basic, and even pedantic, but I think it's worth laying out, because it lays the foundations for a couple of other things I really want to talk about.

But uhh... I guess I'm done for now. Next week, we'll talk about the nature of sin. That's gonna be fun.

Bold As Love (Just Ask the Axis)

So there's this gas station a few miles from my house, out in Fairview, on Highway 100. It's just a little country store gas station, one of the few that's open 24 hours in this neck of the woods, and it's got a sign out front that normally displays people's birthdays or anniversaries, or some prayer request for a family touched by grief, or some other little personal message. The last time I drove by, it was showing one of those personal messages, and here's the message:

ID LOVE 2

GO WITH

U

SASHA

Now, I don't have any idea who put this up, what he'd love to go to with Sasha, or who Sasha is, but I sure hope she liked it. I hope she melted into a puddle of goo. I hope she had to park on the side of the road, take a picture, upload it to Facebook, and then wipe the tears from her eyes while calling her best friend just to say "Oh, he's just so sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

But I'll admit it: even though I'm a die-hard romantic, I can understand that it might not have gone quite the way I hope it did - or quite the way the guy who put it up had hoped it would!

It's entirely possible that Sasha saw this guy's bold declaration and was embarrassed by it. Maybe she was embarrassed that the whole town of Fairview saw it. Maybe she was embarrassed by the fact that it was on the sign at the gas station. Or maybe this guy who put up the sign is just completely nuts and she was embarrassed by having this weirdo publicly longing for her.

But in either case... Good for him. Good for that guy having the guts to put something like that out there in public for everyone to see. It thrills me - as a romantic and as a Christian - to see that there's still at least one dude out there who's not afraid to show love in a public way - boldly, even.

Love is tricky stuff. For those of you who know me, whether it's personally or just through this blog, you'll recall that I'm not exactly lucky when it comes to romantic love. (I'll fully grant the possibility that I'm not "lucky" in romantic love for the same reason I'm not "lucky" in Calculus - I could very simply just have no idea what I'm doing.)

But despite my failures and/or shortcomings as dating material, I think I'm starting to figure out some stuff about the Love that is all you need, which is - in fact - everywhere.

One of the things I've learned - I think - is that there is a certain boldness required in Love. A lot of times we see in TV shows (like House the other night) or movies where there's a guy completely lovestruck, but he's too afraid for whatever reason to confess his love for this girl who is just aching for him to say something, this girl who would love to be in love with this guy, but she won't say anything about it, either.

Now, I think it's fairly safe to say that I'm not taking any notes from TV in that area. Girls that I'm fond of tend to find it out. Sometimes it has worked for me. I basically made a bet with my ex-girlfriend Michelle that us dating would be a great idea. And it was, for a few months! But other times it just winds up being the elephant in the room, you know? There's a genuine friendship connection built up, and then "Oh, hey, here's a... ummm... poem. For you. That I wrote. Because apparently I do that?" But since we're already good friends... Yeah, it's a thing. (That one doesn't have a good track record so far.)

But the point is not that I share my dating woes with you (but I do hope you're laughing at them), the point is this boldness in Love thing. It might not be the greatest approach when it comes to romance, but I believe that when we're talking about the Love we should have for everybody, there's really no other choice.

In the first few verses of John 5, Jesus heals a paralytic at the pool. One of the things that I find interesting about this healing in particular is that Jesus just up and does it. In a lot of the other specific instances we have recorded of Jesus' healing miracles, He is asked to perform the healing, usually by the sick person, but occasionally by a family member of the sick. But in John 5, Jesus just walks up, sees a man, and goes out of His way to heal him.

In Luke 13, we see another instance of Jesus healing without being asked. This time, it's the story of the woman who was bent over and couldn't stand up straight - Jesus saw her, called her over to Him, and healed her.

So Love, right? Love means you go out of your way to make someone's life better. Love means you don't always have to wait until people ask - when you see something that you can do, you do it.

But even then, there's another miracle of Jesus that I really like. In Mark 10, Jesus and the disciples were leaving Jericho, and they come across a blind man named Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus, and when Jesus talks to Bartimaeus, the first thing He says to him - and this is in verse 51 - is "What do you want Me to do for you?"

This is the first time Jesus ever met Bartimaeus, and the first thing Jesus asks is how He can serve Bartimaeus - how He can show His Love.

So Jesus sets a pretty solid example for how we ought to Love people, especially when gifted with the miraculous powers of healing. Snag is, I don't have that one.

But thankfully, the book of Acts is absolutely stuffed with examples of the apostles and early church showing Love through their actions, boldly preaching Christ, and serving one another in Love.

But it seems to me that we've lost sight of something in the years since. It seems that we've lost some of the edge, some of the boldness that Jesus and the early church displayed.

Love is not self-seeking, according to I Corinthians 13:5. But I look around - and look at myself - and see a Love that is hindered, a Love that seems to be sleeping, and that's not OK.

We've let the world talk us into shutting up. We've let the world talk us into calming down. We've let our own fear of looking weird or being mocked or persecuted push us back into our own little comfort zones where we don't step out and really confront people with the Love that we have been shown from God.

I know that I'm guilty of it, at least. I know that I am paralyzed by my own fear when it comes to showing Love for others. I'm weird enough as it is, there's no reason to go throwing fuel on the fire. I can't just go out of my way to be kind to strangers, can I? I can't make it a point in my life to improve the lives of those around me with every move I make, can I? I can't unashamedly speak the truth with every word, can I?

How would the world react to that?

Oh, yeah, that's right - they'd crucify me.

And I think that's part of why we've lost our edge on Love. I think that's part of why we're not being as bold as we should be. I think we've seen the world crucify one too many.

I think we've seen fellow Christians crucify one too many.

I think we've let sin and complacency and the love for "religion" rule our lives instead of the genuine Love for God, Love from God, and Love for His world. And I don't mean that to say that every one of you, any one of you, or really even myself, is guilty of some heinous sin where we've ignored God's commands to show Love. I think we're just holding back.

And I'd like to see that come to an end.

I'd like to see the body of Christ, His church, His people, His children, rise up in unity and in strength and say, "Hey! I'm gonna Love you, no matter what!"

And I'd like us to keep doing that even after the first shots are fired.

Because if there's any one thing that I've learned, it's that Love can be a tricky thing.

And sometimes even when you're showing Love to someone, they don't want it. Sometimes they can't see it as Love. Sometimes they do see it as Love, but still don't want any part of it, because Love is contagious, and Love means putting others before yourself. Love means sacrifice. Love means doing the hard things to help someone, even if they don't want it.

How do we show Love to someone who's crippled by a heroin addiction? How do we show that person Love when the very thing they want the most in this world - the thing that they in fact physiologically need - is also the very thing killing them?

How do we show Love to someone in an unhealthy relationship? How do we show them Love when their current idea of love is filled with manipulation and fear, jealousy and insecurity, or lies and pain?

How do we show Love to someone who is blatantly, knowingly defying the word of God in the pursuit of their happiness? How do we show them Love when their idea of love is one that allows complete moral freedom without any reproach? How many times have you heard this? "If God/Jesus/you really loved me, He/you would let me do what I want, because it makes me happy. That's what love means - making other people happy."

Say it with me everybody! No. That's not what Love means. Letting others do what they want isn't Love, it's apathy. Love means helping others be their best. Love means showing others how to care for themselves as well as those around them. Love means all of us working to make everyone's life better today than it was yesterday, and then making sure that tomorrow is even better than today.

And sometimes that Love means telling people things they don't want to hear.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

Jesus looked at him and Loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

- Mark 10:17-22, emphasis added

What happened there? This young man, obviously enthusiastic about meeting Jesus, obviously enthusiastic about seeking holiness, obviously enthusiastic about knowing the heart of God... This young man comes up to Jesus and says "I want to do it right." Jesus checks him and finds him to be a righteous young man - except for one thing. And then, in the perfect Love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He tells the young man the last thing he wanted to hear. Jesus - in perfect Love - wrecked this guy's world. Jesus - the embodiment of Love - said something that made this guy sad! Jesus - who Loved us enough to die for us, even while we were still sinners! - showed this man Love, and in Love, told him the truth, even though the truth hurt.

So I don't know about you, but I've got some adjusting to do. I've got some learning to do. I've got to figure out how to Love people better. I've got to figure out how to get up the guts to tell people what they need to hear - in grace, truth, and Love - instead of just letting them live their lives in sin, deception, and pain.

I've got to move past my fear of the world and embrace the spirit of courage that I have been given through the power of Christ's redemption into the Love of the Father.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of Love and of self-discipline.

- II Timothy 1:7

Love others. Love all others. Love your family, Love your friends, Love your church, Love your co-workers, Love your enemies, Love everyone you come in contact with. Love them whether they're ready for it or not. Love them whether they LIKE it or not! Love every single person you come across in this world with the Love that has been shown to you, the Love that laid down His life for us, the Love that bled for us, the Love:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made Himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled Himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place

and gave Him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

- Philippians 2:6-11

God Loves you. YOU. You reading this right now. You, personally. YOU are His special child. YOU are His, forever. YOU have been bought for a high price. God loves YOU enough that He took on flesh and died for YOU.

And to the best of my limited abilities, I Love you, too. Yes, again - YOU. I Love YOU. Which is why I'm telling you to go out and Love others. Love them like you mean it. Love them like your very soul depends on it - because it does! Love them the way that you have been shown, with the Father's Love, through the Love of the Son, in the Holy Spirit of Love.

Next week, I'll be writing about how Love can save you. So look forward to that. (Also, I wanted to throw in one more tune.)

How Do You Not Get This?

You can ask anybody who really hung out with me when I had my (completely awesome) apartment back in Searcy... Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii was a thing. I would say that it's entirely probable that there were stretches in that year where the boys and I watched Pompeii at least once a week. And it wasn't just so much that we were all so eager to experience it again (even though there were definitely never complaints from any of us), it was just that every time we turned around and realized that another of our friends had never had Live at Pompeii happen to them yet... Well... We just had to fix that mess, immediately!

Apparently Live at Pompeii struck my friend Lane's resonant tone. He just DUG IT. Got big into the Pink Floyd. Actually had Pompeii on his iPod when he went to Europe over the summer and got to listen to the whole thing in the same ancient Roman amphitheatre where the show was recorded, in Pompeii. I envy him on so many levels for that.

I have been known to say that I would break up with a girl for the Beatles, and this is an entirely accurate statement. It's not so much that the Beatles have to be her favorite band or anything - they're not my favorite band. It's just that there are some ground rules for what constitutes "good music" as far as I'm concerned, and if a girl can't at least get on board with Revolver or Abbey Road, then we just ain't gonna have a whole lot of common ground to work with as far as music goes, and - call me a jerk if you must - I'm just passionate enough about tunes that I can't have a woman that doesn't get "She Said She Said" and really expect her to get me. It is just a thing that is.

Back in August I gave my friend Rebecca a copy of Revolver, which was her first exposure to the Fab Four... She is now a bigger Beatles fan than I am.

The other night my buddy Will and I met up for a few oat sodas and barley pops. Right about the time we were letting "Albatross" by the original Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac do all of its good stuff to our ears, I looked over at him and said, "Man... I just don't get how Rory Gallagher doesn't completely blow your mind. I know you like Peter Green, I know you like Jimmy Page, I know you like Eric Clapton... How does Rory not grab you?"

He looked at me for a second with a puzzled expression and said that he honestly couldn't recall ever having been exposed to Rory Gallagher. Now... that just ain't so. I know I'd played Rory for him - I've played Rory for everybody who'll let me. When I first heard Rory Gallagher about two years ago, I completely lost my mind. But when I first played Rory for Will, he just wasn't impressed. It didn't grab him, and I could not possibly wrap my mind around that.

But he said that he was willing to listen to it again. So once we hit the road, I fired up Rory Gallagher on the ol' iPod and cranked it up good and loud.

This time, Will got it.

After we'd parted ways, I got a text message from him which read, "I apologize for ever claiming that this is anything but epic."

He got Rory Gallagher.

All I did was turn it on for him.

Rebecca got the Beatles.

All I did was turn it on for her.

Lane got Pink Floyd.

All I did was turn it on for him.

Now why in the world can I not do the same thing for my God and Savior?

I fully realize that there's a bit of difference between introducing someone to a band or an album and introducing someone to Christianity. It takes an hour to watch Live at Pompeii, thirty-five minutes to listen to Revolver, and somewhere in the neighborhood of ten seconds for Rory Gallagher to completely wreck your mind.

But how long does it take to show someone the picture of Christ in my life? At what point in my friendships do I say, "Hey, wait, you're telling me you're not a Christian? Dude! You have no idea what you're missing! We gotta fix that RIGHT NOW!"

I can't help but think back to what I talked about last week with the guy driving by and verbally assaulting me and the guys with the Gospel... I really don't think that approach works, and I would be surprised to learn if it has ever actually worked on anybody.

Even Jack Chick tracts at least make an attempt to convince audiences of their sin and its consequences, and Jack Chick tracts are unbelievably horrid.

I've had evangelism sitting on the back burner of my mind for a while now, and with all the other stuff that's been thrown in over the past few weeks, it's finally all boiling over.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me.

"Now My heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name!"

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to Him.

Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not Mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

- John 12:20-32

There is a school of thought among smaller, more conservative churches - especially within the church of Christ (not like I know much about how other churches operate anyway) - that basically goes like this... A member from congregation "A" will state that if congregation B has more than X members (where X equals congregation "A" plus 15), then obviously congregation "B" is diluting the truth of the Gospel. There's no way the Gospel can possibly be presented in its full form and actually attract hordes of people. After all...

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

- Matthew 7:13-14

So - obviously - if there's "many" people at a church, then they're on the broad road to the wide gate of destruction, and the sign of a good church is that "few" people are there, since it's the narrow road and small gate.

I really hope you've never personally encountered this, but I assure you, it's real. And the saddest thing about it is that there's this underlying mentality that focuses not on the amount of people we could be bringing into the church and introducing to God and His awesome love, but instead, on keeping all the other people out, never opening up arms and hearts and homes and kitchens and minds and conversations to show people "Hey! This is what it looks like! This is what Jesus was talking about! This is how this is supposed to work!"

And the thing is... I really think that once everybody starts showing that...

Oh, man...

Then we'd just be irresistible.

Jesus said it - "...when I am lifted up from the earth [I] will draw all men to Myself."

So... Are we gonna take Jesus at His word here or what?

In the current socio-politically correct pluralistic world climate where there are no absolutes when it comes to philosophy, morality, or theology, it's kind of an unpopular position to say this, but yes, I do believe Christianity is better than every other religion on the planet.

I don't just believe it's better for me... I believe it's better than any other option out there.

And - through that - I also believe that if we were to actually show the world what Christ's message really meant, if we can get over ourselves and really love each other and love our neighbor and love God and feed the hungry and clothe the naked and care for the sick and visit the lonely and the prisoners and look after the widows and the orphans and keep ourselves from being polluted by the world...

I really think that when that happens... The whole world will get it.

I think that too often our approach to evangelism is simply to talk to people - or even shout at them - about Jesus instead of just showing them who He is by showing them who He's made us.

I can talk to you about how awesome Live at Pompeii is for longer than it takes to actually sit down and watch the thing. I can show you, literally, entire books worth of material talking about how incredible Revolver is and the impact it has had on music. I can tell you stories about the reactions I've gotten from every person I've sat down and shared Rory Gallagher with.

Or I could just sit down with you and watch Live at Pompeii. I could just play Revolver for you. I could just let you actually hear Rory Gallagher.

See, the thing is... I'm not gonna be able to represent any of those three better than they already represent themselves. It doesn't matter how much I tell you how awesome it is until you actually experience how awesome it is on your own.

So what I am attempting to do when it comes to giving you the blessing of awesome music is to just shut up, push play, and let the music do everything for me. There is nothing I can do to make what comes out of the speakers any better than it already is.

And that's how I think it's gotta be with Christ. I can't make Christ any better. I can't show you anything about Jesus that He didn't already put out as complete perfection. I can tell you about Jesus all I want, but it really doesn't matter until I show it.

Turn to Me and be saved,

all you ends of the earth;

for I am God, and there is no other.

By Myself I have sworn,

My mouth has uttered in all integrity

a word that will not be revoked:

Before Me every knee will bow;

by Me every tongue will swear.

They will say of Me, 'In the LORD alone

are righteousness and strength.' "

All who have raged against Him

will come to Him and be put to shame.

- Isaiah 45:22-24

It seems to me that there is an inevitability to the recognition of God by everyone in the history of ever. I will just go ahead and say right now that I don't understand a whole lot of the Revelation to John, but it really doesn't leave a lot of room - in my understanding - for atheism or anything else other than the absolute recognition of God and His Son.

So here's the way I see it....

Everybody's eventually going to recognize that God is real anyway. That's just gonna happen. I hold the belief that once someone experiences God, sees God, knows God... well, that's it. It's not like you've got any options after that. You can listen to Revolver and still like Abbey Road more. I don't personally understand it, but hey, it's not like I can say I don't completely love Abbey Road a whole lot anyway. But once you know God... I don't see how someone walks away from that! It's GOD! He IS Absolute Truth! He is Absolute everything! Everything that is is because He is! There aren't options! His business cards read "I AM" for a reason!

And so, we chosen, down here on the ground, are meant to serve as guideposts - no, as lights! Lamps on the tables, cities on the hills... We're meant to shine a light that shows everyone the Truth. We're meant to shine our light - which comes from God - straight back to God to show the entire world how He meant for this to all work out, how He had this planned from the beginning.

There are some folks who aren't gonna get it.

There are some folks - close friends of mine - who weren't impressed by Live at Pompeii. I still love them, but... Man... I just don't get it.

There are folks - not as many of them on the "close friend" side here - who don't dig the Beatles, whether it's Revolver or Abbey Road or anything else. I just don't get it.

There are folks out there who don't dig Rory Gallagher. I don't know that I've actually met any of them, but I'm kinda forced to assume that to be true because there are way too many people on the planet who've never heard OF Rory Gallagher, much less ever actually heard his music. I still just don't get it.

There are some folks out there who - for one reason or another - don't get God. They don't get what this is about. I think that, in most cases, the only reason people don't understand it is because they haven't actually seen it.

Yeah, they may know Christians... But they haven't known Christ's universal love.

Yeah, they may have been told the Gospel... But they haven't been shown the effect the Gospel has on someone's life.

And what's worse is that there are folks out there who - for one reason or another - almost got it, but then lost it, or walked away, or gave up, or moved on... And I still think that the only reason that ever happens is because they still haven't actually seen it.

Yeah, their parents may have taken them to church when they were kids... But I don't think they ever really experienced a connection with the Father that changed their life.

Yeah, they may have studied the Bible, may have read it all the way through, may know every word it says... But I don't think they've ever actually heard God speak to them in a way that redefined who they are.

God still works wonders in this world today without our help. He does not need us for anything. He can accomplish everything on His own just fine.

But since we're already here...

What if we started showing people what God is really all about? What if we really lived out the life Jesus prescribed for us, the way He meant it to be, not filtered through some political label or national identity or social status?

What if we completely died to ourselves and took on the very identity of Christ in this earth and spread a message of love and peace and holiness and patience and understanding and kindness and gentleness and joy and self-control and faithfulness and mercy and truth and everything else that God calls us to be?

What if I did that?

Would the people around me get it? Would it finally hit them? Would they finally see it? Would they finally go, "Oh, man! Aaron! You weren't kidding! This is awesome!" and let God change their lives the way He's changing mine?

I guess there's only one way to find out.

Drive-By Evangelism and the Good of Guilt

So I drove out to Arkansas this past weekend to visit my sister and some friends. On Thursday night, I met up with a few of the guys out at the fishing pier in Searcy.

Now, if you're not familiar with Searcy, it's kinda hard for me to explain "the dock," as it is called (even though there is no dock). It's just a nice little pier that stretches out across this little pond between the highway and a car dealership. I don't know how it is for fishing. All I know it for is what I've always used it for - a place to get away from everybody else, talking about the things you don't want to talk about in the Waffle House, occasionally spooking the ducks.

So that's where we are. And that's what we're doing. We're just standing around, cutting up, not bothering anything or anyone, just catching up. It's the first time I've seen the guys in 2 months, and we're just enjoying each other's company, when this big truck with insanely loud pipes and an insanely louder driver rolls by. Without stopping, or really even slowing down, the driver leaned out of the window - seriously, from nearly his stomach up, both shoulders fully out of the window - and bellows to us, "JESUS IS COMING SOON, REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED!"

At first, we were just stunned into silence, but after a second or two, we all started laughing. There were just so many things about that scenario that struck us as absurd.

For starters... Yeah! We all know Jesus is coming. We already did the "repent and be baptized" bit. Got it covered. Thank you for your concern, sir, but you are literally preaching to the converted.

And then, beyond that... Does this guy actually think he's reaching people with this method? Does this actually work? Is his church just packed with folks who come in off of the street saying, "Well, some guy drove by and shouted at me, so I figured he was right"?

The next day, I spent some time with another friend, and while we were hanging out, I shoved my foot so far into my mouth that I still have teeth marks on my kneecap. Everything I said made sense just before it left my lips, but once it was actually floating out in the air... Oh, man... It was ugly. Just ugly.

When I came to my senses - several hours after I should have - I felt like a big ol' flaming bag of not a very good person. I realized that I had been judgmental, arrogant, rude, and a whole bunch of other negative adjectives that apply to me far more often than I wish they did. And it absolutely tore me up. I couldn't get it out of my mind until I really apologized, but even then, I still felt like a jerk.

(And really, writing this and remembering everything, I actually still feel like a jerk even now.)

I knew I had messed up. I knew there was a problem that needed forgiveness. I took what steps I could to make sure that things were made right...

But I'm still holding on to it...

And I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing just yet.

Let me get you into my headspace with this. It'll be kind of a convoluted metaphor, but I hope you follow.

Let's say I'm down at the range doing some target shooting. I'm holding the butt of the rifle against my forehead, I've got one of my eyes closed, and I'm pulling the trigger with the big toe on my left foot. BANG! Well, I broke my glasses, I'm bleeding from the bridge of my nose, my toe is stuck in the trigger loop, and I think I just killed a cow. Not really a surprise. There's a right way to shoot a gun if you want to hit the target, and this is definitely not the right way.

Now let's say I'm at the range again, but I've got the butt of the rifle nestled firmly against the muscle of my shoulder, I've got my cheek lined up on the stock, I've got my breathing slow and steady, I've got my sights lined up, I've got my finger squeezing the trigger... BANG! Bullseye. Nailed it. Go me. Again - not really a surprise. I did it right, so I got the right results.

So if I want to be a better shot - if I want to more consistently hit the target - I've got to learn how to shoot right. There's a right way to do it, and everything that isn't that, isn't right.

It seems to me that there is an inescapable, unavoidable relationship between guilt and the Christian life. A healthy amount of guilt is necessary in order to attain salvation, and once that threshold is broken and there is a dedication to Christ, there is still a purpose for guilt. The trick is just making sure it's that "healthy amount of guilt" and not a self-inflicted beat-down.

For someone who's not yet a Christian, guilt is absolutely necessary. How else can people know that they've got sins that need forgiven if they don't feel any guilt for their sins? How can someone repent without knowing what to repent for? The recognition of guilt - the awareness of falling short of God's standards for Man's life through sin - is key to being able to accept and understand the grace of God through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

And so, to that end, you can't just drive by a group of dudes hanging out and cutting up and shout out to them that Jesus is coming and that they should repent and be baptized. There's nothing convicting in that.

But what about someone who's already a Christian? (More to the point - what about me?) What good is guilt for someone who is forgiven? What does guilt accomplish when sin is no longer held against you?

I'm not entirely sure I have a good answer for that one yet.

I believe that it would be a mistake to hold onto guilt in such a way that it impedes my acceptance of God's grace. There is no sin that I have committed or could possibly commit that cannot be washed away by God's forgiveness. So there's no point in me hanging on to something for days, weeks, years past my recognition that it was a sin and asking that God (and any people I offended) forgive me.

But I still want to do better. I still feel like I'm occasionally holding the rifle up against my forehead and firing with my toe. That's where I think guilt is still good.

I realize this may seem like a really elementary point, but it's what I had on my mind. I don't want to hold on to guilt as a burden, keeping me from fully appreciating the gift of grace, but I do want to use the guilt when it hits me to push me towards being a better Christian.

I'd like to think I've got a fairly well-adjusted moral compass. I try to base my actions on my understanding of the Spirit, Will, and Word of God. I realize I'm not perfect, and I don't think I'm holding myself to too high of a standard. But at the same time... when I get good and stupid and really mess it up, I feel terrible! Just awful all over.

So I try to learn from it. I don't always know what to learn, exactly... But I try.

I want to be better. I have a goal in mind: pure love. I want to exist as a man who is singularly dedicated to love. Love for God, which manifests itself in love for people, is my one true aim, and I regret to inform you that I fall short of that goal with alarming frequency.

I want to make it clear that I'm not wallowing in guilt. I know I've been forgiven by God. I'm pretty sure I've been forgiven by my friend. But even beyond the forgiveness, it still breaks my heart that I messed up so bad (believe me - SO BAD) with someone I really care about.

But I'd like to get to the point where it breaks my heart when I mess up with someone I don't even know.

I'd like to use my guilt to learn from my mistakes and continue my push towards being the man God wants me to be.

Please pray for me as I do this.