Keeping Focused in a Mixed Up World

The BWCA is one of my favorite places. It is great to get away from the crowds and spend some time in the beauty of the creation. One of the things that I have learned (and relearned) is the importance of using a compass and a map. Sitting low in the water it can be difficult to determine just where you are. On a cloudy day it can be maddening to keep your sense of direction. In fact, most people discover they don't have one.

That's where the compass comes proves itself to be indispensable. By carefully studying the map and the compass, you can pick a point and head there, confident that you are going the right way. Mistrust your map, or your compass, and you will quickly become lost. Actually, I've never been lost, but I've taken a number of detours as I searched for the right way. I like to call them short cuts.

Psalm 73 is a psalm that talks about the disorientation that can occur when we take our eyes off of God. Suddenly the world around us appears alluring and we begin to wonder if following God is "worth it."

This week we will look at the importance of allowing God to be our compass and map as we navigate the wilderness of life.

The Prayer Room

The alarm clock went off at 1:15am Tuesday morning. I was sleeping in the living room so I wouldn't wake my wife up at that early hour. I dressed, put a english muffin in the toaster and ran a comb through my hair. As I headed out the door I thought about how most of the sane people in the world would be sleeping, but I was heading off to church. It was foggy so I had to drive slowly. That's a good thing, because I would have hit a raccoon and two deer if I had been driving my normal speed through the woods. I guess they were surprised that anyone was out at that hour.

I pulled into church and relieved the person in the prayer room. It was a familiar place, yet somehow at 2:00 in the morning it was different. There was something radical about being there. After pouring a cup of coffee, I spent a few minutes reading the prayer requests and the scribbles of the people who had been there before me.

I tried to pray, but I found it hard to focus. My mind kept wandering. Finally I asked God, "Lord, what am I doing here? Why am I here in the middle of the night? I could come here anytime and pray. Why 2 in the morning?"

It wasn't an audible voice, more of a sense in my spirit of what God wanted to say to me. It was only four words, yet it cut through all of my defenses right to the heart of the matter. "Do not be afraid." As I sorted through what I had been experiencing over the last days, it became clear that I was full of anxiety. Things are in flux here at church. We have programs starting up, there are a lot of people I'm trying to connect with, counseling I'm working on, a construction project starting as well as working on the sale of our current building which could upset all of our current ministry plans.

In the midst of that uncertainty the four words "Do not be afraid" pierced me. I sat down and remembered that those words are the most frequent command in the Bible. And why not? After all, we are called to walk by faith, not by sight. I thought about the many times God said "Do not be afraid" to people. There's no reason to fear if we recognize that God is with us.

I had to repent and confess to God that I hadn't been trusting him with the future. As I did, a tremendous peace filled me. Suddenly, I knew how to pray. I began to pray for the people I knew. I prayed that they would not be afraid. I prayed that they would be able to put their anxieties at the feet of Jesus, look into his face, and realize that He is in control. I prayed for people facing sickness, struggling with their marriages, their kids (or their parents), their jobs. I prayed for the missionaries God laid on my heart who are ministering in difficult places. I prayed for my family.

The doorbell rang. My two hours in the prayer room was over and it was time to head home. My fears were gone. I had experienced a touch from God and had spent time in intercession. I sang a praise song as I drove through the woods, "God is good, all the time..."

The Corner Gas Station

You know you are getting old when you start remembering the "way things used to be."

Yesterday I was thinking about the service station a couple of blocks from the house where I grew up. I'm already dating myself because they don't call them service stations anymore. In fact, the old service station was torn down years ago and replaced with a more modern "convenience store." I'm really not sure why they are called convenience stores. The old Marv's Phillips 66 service station was the pinnacle of convenience as far as I am concerned. Rain or shine when you pulled up Marv would come out and fill your tank, wash the windshield, check the oil, fill the washer fluid and check the air in the tires. He'd then return with your change or credit card slip and a kind word. He wasn't done, though. After you rolled up your window, Marv would listen carefully as you started your engine and if it passed his audio test, he'd give you the "thumbs up" and send you on your way. What could be more convenient than that? Well, it would be convenient if he also fixed your car if there was something wrong with it. Guess what? Marv did that, too. In fact, Marv was an excellent mechanic. He was an even better person.

One day Marv taught me a lesson that I have never forgotten. It was late afternoon and I stopped by to see if he was finished with the brake job he was doing on my first car (a bright yellow Plymouth Arrow). He had sent the other employees home for the day so it was just the two of us. We were talking as he worked when there was a loud "ding" as a car pulled up. Marv wiped the grease off his hands and went out and pumped gas. In a few minutes he was back and resumed working on my brakes. We talked for another two or three minutes and there was another "ding" and Marv went out and pumped another tankful of gas. It seemed like every time Marv started progress on my brakes, a car would pull up and Marv would have to go pump gas.

I wondered how he could stand it. The interruptions seemed constant. Finally I said, "It seems like every time you are set to get down to work you have to stop and pump gas. That must drive you nuts."

He looked at me and said simply, "Pumping gas is my business, its not an interruption at all."

That simple sentence has been a constant companion of mine. Its so easy to get locked into some project that we are working on that we forget that the greatest ministry we have is frequently in the "interruptions" of life. Sometimes we pray that God would allow us to have a greater impact and we dream of doing something "great" for God. We get frustrated when our daydreams or our "work" gets interrupted by people who call or stop by with a problem or a question. God may very well be expanding our impact, but not in the way we expected. The interruptions of life are our ministry.

I also have thought about what it must have been like to have a college student standing there watching you work. We had a pleasant conversation, but my standing there certainly wasn't speeding up the brake job. If I were Marv, I might have been thinking, "Why doesn't this kid know how to do a simple brake job?" or "Doesn't this kid have something else he could be doing?" Instead Marv saw the opportunity to build a relationship and without knowing it said something that I've carried with me for many years. I try to remember the possibility of being a "Marv" for the people that cross my path.

The old service stations are mostly gone now. Its too bad, I learned a lot there.

What is Sin?

Lately I've been reading "Lectures on Systematic Theology" by Charles Finney. Okay, that probably qualifies me as a nerd. Actually, I find it kind of interesting because Finney was one of the greatest evangelists the United States has ever seen. One of the things that he stresses in his writings is the importance of understanding what we have to do versus what God has to do.

While this could very easily slide into a Calvinist/Arminian debate, I think that it is really worth pondering. Finney was concerned with the matter of our will or the choices that we make. He would argue that sin is a choice. We choose to disobey what we know to be God's will. He would say that we sin by making a decision to live by our desires rather than God's will. Rather than choosing to live a life of loving God and others people choose to live selfishly.

Conversion and regeneration happen, according to Finney, when we choose (under the influence of the Holy Spirit), to live a life of loving God and others supremely, rather than living selfishly. As I understand him, he would say that someone who "prays a prayer to avoid going to heaven" has not really been converted, because they are still acting selfishly. True repentance occurs when change happens at the root of the problem. We need to choose to love God as the foundational principle of life because it is the right thing to do, rather than the emotional response or the future security it provides.

Finney was adamant that too many people are expecting God to do for them what he cannot possibly do: repent. God has given us the means and the opportunity to repent and return to a life of obedience, but he cannot do it for us. He would also argue that to believe that one is "secure" when living a life of sin is foolish. A person who is content with sin believing that "God will make everything okay" is headed in the wrong direction. God, according to Finney has done all he can to make things right...but they won't be right until we do what we must do: choose to obey. In fact, Finney would argue that a selfish Christian is a contradiction in terms. A true Christian, according to Finney, has chosen to live a life of "disinterested benevolence"... meaning that they have chosen to love God supremely and love others regardless of what they themselves get out of it because God and others are worth loving.

Its an interesting thought, and one that I will be studying more carefully in the weeks to come, but I would appreciate any feedback you could give me.

The Impact of a Life

This morning I sat out on the dock visiting with a longtime friend. She shared the story of how her pastor had left a note a church one day saying that he resigned, was leaving his wife and family and moving in with awoman in her early twenties. He had officiated the woman's wedding about a year before. The devastation that this man left in his wake is incredible.

Sadly, we've all heard stories like that. Some of us have been personally affected by the flagrant sins (not "moral failures") of Christian leaders. Those who are closely affected are hurt and their trust destroyed. Those who are more distant wonder how things like this can happen. Non-Christians openly mock the church.

Christian leaders fall for a number of reasons. First, there is a false understanding of what the Bible means when it says that Christian leaders are to be "above reproach". This has been interpreted to mean that the Christian leader must not struggle in any area of his life (with perhaps a little tolerance for overeating). As a result, many Christian leaders do not feel that it is safe for them to admit any problems that they are having. If their marriage is struggling or if they are having problems with their thought life Christian leaders feel like they can not bring it up for fear of losing thier job. As a result, they ignore the symptoms that could have led to healthy preventive action. This needs to be replaced by an understanding of what Christian leadership really is: demonstrating what it takes to follow Christ. This means being willing to deal with sin issues in an appropriate way. At the same time, churches need to be safe places for leaders to admit and deal with struggles in their own lives. I'm not saying that churches should excuse sin, rather that churches need to be willing to help pastors live holy lives. I have to wonder if my friend's pastor had elders that he could have turned to when he began having ful thoughts long before he destroyed his marriage and his ministry.

Second, we have created in many churches and atmosphere where the pastor is put on such a high pedestal that no one dare question him about anything. I know of one situation where staff members "knew" something was going on in the life of their senior pastor, but no one had the courage to talk to him about it or to share their concern with the elders of the church. The church culture prevented them from acting. This needs to be replaced by an attitude of encouraging one another and active concern for one another. Pastors need true friends who are willing to come alonside them and ask them important questions. The relationship needs to be solid enough to insist on an honest answer.

Third, pastoral minsitry is draining. The pastoral calling is not a 9-5 proposition. I've noticed that I can put all of my energy into the church and there will still be more to do. There is a real danger here. The desire to help other people can lead to the neglect of family and personal emotional health. Spend too many hours away from home and the pastor's wife can become resentful. The pastor then begins to wonder why she isn't so supportive of the ministry. The pastor feels that she doesn't appreciate how hard he is working. Suddenly a beautiful young woman comes along who laughs at his jokes, strokes his ego and an affair begins. This is not the fault of the pastors wife. It is the pastor's fault. Believe me, you are warned about the danger many times in seminary. That's why I am so grateful for this church. I've got a team of elders that care about me. At times they have told me, "Karl, you need to back off a little." Their advice has always been right on time.

I cannot leave the subject of failure of Christian leaders without reminding us that all of us are leaders. Each of us is having an impact on the lives of the people around us. Other believers and non-Christians are watching our lives. How are we doing? Do we think that we can tolerate sin in our own lives without it having an impact? Are we whitewashing the sin in our lives hoping that no one will notice? Are we demonstrating to others how to deal with sin? Are repentance, brokeness and accountabilty words that describe how we live? What kind of impact are you having?

Why I Run

I am a runner. It's a strange breed, not normally seen on northern Minnesota's Iron Range. So why do I run? Certainly it isn't because I am fast. In fact, I was usually a back of the pack runner in school. No one would ever ask me to be on the track team. Nor is it because running is a highly social sport. I rarely see other runners out running. It's not in an attempt to be part of the in-crowd. Most of my friends think I am a little nuts. So why do I run? There are several reasons:

• A healthy lifestyle. Both my father and his father died at a relatively young age from heart attacks. Both of them were smokers and lived sedentary lifestyles. An occasional walk around the block was the limit of their exercise program. By keeping active and trying to keep the weight off, I am trying to outlive my ancestors who shortened their lives by unhealthy lifestyles.
• Physical fitness. I suppose that some people would think that being a pastor is a relatively sedentary life, but I find that there are times of tremendous physical, spiritual and emotional exertion. For example, studies have shown that preaching a sermon requires an effort equivalent to working a physical job for eight hours. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that during the years that I stopped running and put on a few pounds preaching became exhausting work. Now that I am more physically fit, I find preaching to be less draining.
  
• Leadership. We live in an era of excess. All of our meals are super-sized and we don't even have to walk across the room to change the channel. Obesity is a major problem. Diabetes, hypertension and heart problems all stem from a lifestyle that way out of balance. Perhaps by setting an example I can inspire others toward a more healthy and more fun lifestyle.
  
• Endorphins! Believe it or not, there really is a "runner's high." It's not something you encounter on your first run. Your first run consists of gasping for air, sore muscles and a side stitch. But once you have achieved a degree of physical fitness and can run a long ways with minimal strain, you discover the exhilarating euphoric effect of endorphins. It really is hard to describe what this zone feels like but it is wonderful.
  
• A time to think. When you are out running there are few distractions and it gives a person a chance to think about things. Sometimes I will meditate on a Bible passage. Other times I will be thinking about some situation that I am dealing with. Usually I just enjoy being in the outdoors.
• Discipline. There is value in living a disciplined life and forcing yourself to do something that is a little uncomfortable. I've run three marathons and I can tell you that the hardest part of running 26.2 miles is not hitting "the wall" at 20 miles. The hardest part of running a marathon is getting out of bed in the morning...every morning...getting your shoes on and doing your training runs.
  
• A Love of Athletic Competition. I enjoy being around athletes. One of the great things about road racing is that 99% of the runners are not expecting to actually win the race. That is reserved for an elite few. Instead most runners are seeking to beat their own personal record. That means that before the race they have put in the grueling efforts to train. During the race it means knowing what pace you can reasonably keep up. And yes, it means taking aim at that person up ahead and trying to beat them to the finish line. You might not win the race, but you can still beat that runner and perhaps set a personal record. Not only that, there is a camaraderie among runners on race day that is a lot of fun.
  
• A sense of accomplishment. There are few things better than setting out to achieve a big audacious goal that will require enormous effort and accomplishing it. Every marathon I've finished and every personal record I've beat has brought tears of joy to my eyes.
  
• It's God's will for me. Perhaps the major reason I run, though, is that I sense that it is a part of God's plan for my life. In the movie Chariots of Fire there is the line, "When I run, I feel His pleasure." That's certainly true for me as well. It's one of the reasons that I unashamedly make running a part of my routine. I want His will for my life. Right now running is a part of that.
  

Years ago I cut out a Nike ad and tacked it to the bulletin board above my desk. It's still true today.

He's fat
and he's soft
and he's wearing your clothes
and he was born on your birthday
and you are afraid if you stop running
he'll catch up with you.

Just do it.

A Full Speed Ahead Summer

If you are a pastor, summertimes in the northland can be a downer. Momentum seems to build in the throughout the winter and spring but then summer comes and people disappear. Camping, vacations and baseball tournaments seem to steal people away from church. Most churches experience a drop in activity, attendance and giving during the summer months. Looking out and seeing a half-filled sanctuary week after week causes many pastors to battle depression during the last weeks of July and the first weeks of August.

I have struggled with the summer blues as well. Over the years, though, I've discovered that there can be a healthy rhythm to life of a pastor. There are periods of intense activity followed by periods of relative calm. I've learned that the midsummer blues can be avoided by remembering that it can be a time of rejuvenation in preparation for the hectic days of autumn. This has allowed me to relax a little and recharge my batteries during the time that many pastors become depressed.

Back in May I figured that this summer would have even more time than usual for fishing and working on some projects around the house because the boys decided not to play baseball. I was wrong.

There hasn't really been much of a summertime slump this year. While I still look out on Sundays and notice that some of the regulars are missing, the sanctuary has been full. We've had a lot of newcomers this summer. Not only that, but the Great Northern FallFest is coming and we've had a lot of special meetings to get ready for it. The counseling load hasn't dropped much. The building project has been moving quickly forward. Now we are in the middle of VBS which will be followed by the Trap Shoot and the last minute flurry of preparation for our fall programs.

Then things will get really crazy.

The fact that there wasn't a slowdown this summer is another sign of the growth that is taking place in our church. I'm excited about it because I believe that God is calling us to have an even greater impact on our world. Growth will mean changes in the way we've done things in the past. That can be uncomfortable. For example, I've enjoyed the green pasture of midsummer in the past, but it really hasn't happened this year. That creates a little anxiety in me, but I know that I can trust God to have a different pasture up ahead. He is the good shepherd.

I also have to realize that God may be calling me to do things differently this fall. That there is a limit to the craziness that I can handle effectively. The reality is that as I look around me I see many people who are ready and willing to handle some of the things that I have been involved with in the past. Growing in delegation will be important for me and the growth in the ministries of the people around NAC is going to be awesome to see.

Through all of this, I am excited to be surrounded by friends that encourage me, inspire me, laugh with me and urge me on in the Lord.

I cannot wait for summer to be over. Let the craziness begin!

Create in Me a Clean Heart

This week we are looking at a powerful Psalm of repentance...Psalm 51. This psalm is written by David after he had committed ery with Bathsheba. It was a sin that he thought he had "gotten away with." Perhaps he thought that no one knew about it. I think it is more likely that he believed that he was "man enough" to handle the situation without consequences, much like a person takes up smoking and believes that it won't hurt them. It took the prophet Nathan to expose his sin and bring him to his knees in repentance.

When we lived in Chicago we attended a church that would occasionally have guest speakers come in for a weekend of ministry. One of the men that would come had a prophetic gifting. When he prayed for people God would often reveal things to him. Normally these things would insights into a person's situation that would give the person a sense of hope or direction, but sometimes there would be a revelation of hidden sin. It would be a powerful time of ministry that brought great healing and cleansing in a person's life.

As I look back on it, I can remember that I attended those meetings with anticipation and fear. Before I went, I would always spend time searching my heart to see if there was an area of sin in my life that I was hiding. The threat that my sin would be exposed led me to repentance. It was like going on a diet before the doctor's appointment.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Heb 12:1). I sometimes wonder how much sin we tolerate in our lives. Do we really think that sin is no big deal? That's what David thought.

He learned that sin had consequences. When he faced his sin and saw its horror, he repented. He asked God for mercy, cleansing and renewal. He discovered that when he repented, God forgave. He found joy and his relationship with God moved to an entirely deeper level.

What about us? Do we think that we can live with sin and avoid its consequences? If a Nathan came to church this Sunday what would he say about us?

Before you come to church this week, take time to read Psalm 51 and ask the Lord to search your heart. Get right with him.

The Falling Bridge

By now we have all seen the pictures of yesterday's collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis. Before we left for Reynosa, Janet and I crossed that bridge during rush hour. I can remember passing all of the construction equipment including huge cement trucks and feeling a little uneasy. I wondered what they were fixing. It looked to me like they were resurfacing the bridge deck. They were pounding out the old concrete and replacing it with new concrete. We all know how brutal winters can be on the roads. Like everyone else who was on the bridge that day, I shrugged of any reservations I had and continued on my way. I figured that the experts knew what they were doing. How wrong we all were.

In the conversations I have had with people today they all remark about the uncertainty of life. "You never know when you're going to die," they all say. And while that statement is true, my thoughts have been running in a slightly different direction. I've been thinking about the foundations that people build their lives on. How can we know that we are not only heading in the right direction, but that our road is safe?

Simply following the person ahead of you is not the right answer, nor is following a large group of people. 140,000 cars a day drove on that bridge. There is comfort to be found in the crowd, but not security.

The prophet Isaiah wrote this,

"The Lord will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure" (Isaiah 33:6).

The only solid foundation for life is the Lord God himself. He is the only one who knows the best and safest road for us. His Word (the Bible) and the Holy Spirit will guide us through life and cause our lives to be secure.

That doesn't mean that the road he will lead us on will be easy. Frankly, people yesterday would have been safer parking their cars, walking to the river, swimming across and hiking home. Others might have laughed at them, but who would have been right? Remember, Noah was right and everyone else thought he was crazy until their "bridge" collapsed when it started to rain.

I just want to encourage us to think about the foundation of our lives. Is it really secure? Only a life built on the Lord God and his word, the Bible, is secure. Are we building our lives on that foundation or are we simply following the crowd assuming that "everyone" must be right?