In the early morning hours on a recent trip to Mexico I was once again confronted with the heartbreaking reality of our world. As my wife and I walked the streets of one of the world’s most beautiful paradises, we were both feeling the peace of a good meal and the enjoyment of being alone together much later than we are usually out.  

It was during our walk that we came across the most beautiful little girl.  She couldn’t have been anymore than seven and she should have been safely at home sleeping the sound sleep that only children can have. Instead, here she stood on a street in paradise selling bracelets to passing tourists hoping to make enough to survive another day.

My wife and I have had far too many experiences like this through the years. I would think that my capacity to grieve would be lessening as I’ve confronted more than a bit of heartache around the world, but I began to frantically search my pockets to answer my wife’s call to give her money.  This was one little girl who would not go hungry that night if we could help it.

As I’ve reflected on that experience over the last few days I’ve found my mind wandering to the hopelessness of mankind’s struggle to survive. There seems to be no answers to the suffering. The news brings us a steady flow of images that you can’t turn away from even as they strike terror in your heart.

The instinct to hide your eyes and continue on without a backward glance is in some ways self-protecting. Unfortunately it is an unacceptable part of being a follower of Christ. It was Isaiah who wrote these words.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

These words haunt me. They offer a road map to a significant life if one is willing to open their eyes and understand we are citizens of the world. I, like many, have a national pride in my country but my true citizenship is to the world.

What hurts my brother or sister in the farthest parts of this planet hurt me also.  Just as God sees no denominational walls, He doesn’t see us by race, creed or gender. We are mankind and we are connected.

In this mad world filled with so much suffering, to turn away and leave the responsibility of caring to another is narcissistic, and for the Christian it is the ugliest form of self-absorption. I am well aware that I don’t possess the resources to fix this world but I do have the one component to start a change. I have a broken heart.

As citizen of the world the grief in Japan and New Zealand is my grief. The hunger in Africa and Latin America is my hunger. The oppression of abusive governments is my problem. The pollution of this beautiful planet demands my voice speak up. The horrors of this mad world are my problem…because God made me a citizen of the world.

That beautiful face still hovers just beyond my vision. A little girl so smart and filled with potential, yet I doubt anyone asked her if she wanted to be out on the streets in the middle of the night selling trinkets. God don’t let my heart grow hard…don’t let my vision dull with apathy…don’t let me forget that I’m part of all of this.  We are all your people and it breaks your heart to watch what is happening. You’ve always looked for someone to be your hands, your feet, your voice, and your heart.

             I can’t believe what I am about to admit to. I’m going to confess to something and then place it on the internet for all to see. My confession is probably going to cause some of you to question my hipness and to question the influence of pop culture on my taste. Well, here it is. I have been a long time fan of American Idol and I think this year is the best season ever.

            Wow, what a relief it is to get that behind me. After all these years of listening to people talk about the show and not interjecting my opinion I can now join in the discussion and speak my mind.

            Although the preceding few paragraphs where written in jest I do admit to being a fan of the show. I have always found it fascinating to see people get a shot at being heard when there are so few doors for talent to be recognized available these days.

            This season has been particularly interesting. With the departure of most of the judges and its major star, Simon Cowell, most assumed that the show would die.  Yet it is staging a remarkable resurgence in popularity and relevance. I believe there are several interesting factors for this that can be beneficial to anyone in any sort of leadership position.

            The first thing I have noticed is the tone of the program has become much gentler. Instead of the snarky comments in which performers are ripped to shreds, even negative feedback has come with kindness.

            This has led me to wonder. What purpose is served in building someone up and saying he or she is one of the top 12 most talented people in a competition then weekly humiliating him for his effort?  Certainly people will have good days and bad days but when we as leaders raise people up then do everything to shine the bright light on their flaws, in time the followers becomes consumed with their flaws.  This flawed side becomes the only side they will ever be able to show.

Criticism is part of growth but leaders need to offer it with hope. Demeaning people and their potential for growth, especially when you gave them the platform on which to perform, will bring your judgment into question. If you really thought the person was that bad then why did you give them this shot? The eventual winner of many American Idols have not done well after the show because I think the winner has become the person doing his or her best not to be criticized instead of pushing the envelope. Building a person to help them reach their potential takes nurturing, not abandoning them when they dare to step out and give their best only to come up short.

The nurturing aspect of this year’s season has also been interesting to watch. For the first time the contestants are not being paired with celebrity judges with products to hawk but with producers. These are people who have actually taken an artist into a studio and produced a recording that others wanted to listen to. This change seems so logical that I wonder why it has been so long in coming.

It is my belief that no one, no matter how talented, can reach his or her maximum potential without help. I look back on how many of the performers over the years were verbally destroyed yet were never given the resource of working with someone who knew what they were doing.

The greatest gift a leader can give someone is the knowledge they need to succeed. Unfortunately many leaders feel that if the instruction doesn’t come through them then they are not building loyal followers. This is a short sighted view that will in time cause a breakdown in relationship and then leave the follower either emotionally broken or forced to leave and look for proper nurturing.

It is a sign of strength in a leader to release those entrusted to his leadership to others who have the skills and knowledge to help maximize their potential. Watching someone bloom into the person you imagined when you first encountered his potential is one of leadership’s most rewarding gifts. This starts to happen when the leader realizes that if you want the best you have to bring in the best. You don’t look foolish for exposing your people to people with skills beyond your own.  You look foolish when you try to teach something that you don’t know.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into all of this. It isn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last. That being said, I think that maybe I’m seeing something I need to implement into my own leadership arsenal. Each person who looks to me for guidance is an investment worth protecting and nurturing and I have to constantly evaluate my effectiveness in this.  We all need a reboot now and then.

BTW while I’m at it could you move? ….the next singer is about to go on.

The conversation below is a factual account of my wife and son discussing his new shoes.

Jessica M. Morrow-Farley

Don’t try to figure out boys. I shopped for hours for the perfect brown dress shoes for Alex that he needed for school. Nothing was quite right, and because I thought it was a social anxiety thing (had to have the right shoes or get made fun of), I continued on this quest. Imagine my horror when we finally found them! What made these shoes the perfect shoes? They left a black scuff when he whacked the floor with them.

            When I read this I couldn’t contain my laughter. It was such an honest answer and so in-line with how nine year old boys think that all I could do was shake my head and say that’s a boy for you.

            As the day progressed I felt myself draw back to my son’s response and instead of making me laugh it made me think. The point that kept coming back was that all he wanted was to leave a mark. He was after a defining action that would be a reminder to everyone that he had past that way.

            The more I meditated on this the more I found myself thinking about the grand scheme of life. Aren’t we all, to some degree, after the same thing? Who among us doesn’t want to leave a mark to remind the world that we passed this way? Maybe the real point is who among is afraid that we will never leave our mark and if we disappeared today no one would notice?

            Within us is a desire to be noticed. It can drive people to do crazy things to be noticed. The desire can produce narcissistic and arrogant behavior in some and soul-deep desperation in others. It is a part of the human nature that I believe God has placed in us. Like many misunderstood gifts instead of being nurtured and taught its proper use it is either ignored or abused.

            I believe the desire to leave a mark with your life is what separates us from all other creations. God never intended us to be born and die anonymously - never having impacted our world in any measurable way. God created you to be a “difference maker” and this is why evil fights so hard to make you feel unimportant and insignificant.

            Imagine a world where we embraced the simple truth that our impact on life was to be driven more by what is inside of us than the external resources at our disposal. How often I’ve heard it said; if I had more money, or more time, or if I was better educated, I could do so much more with my life. Although all of these things can be very beneficial to us, you could posses them all and still never leave your mark. The true sign of a significant life is not going to be our accomplishments but the extent to which we allowed our heart to lead our way.

            We have become, as the Bible said, “sheep being led to the slaughter”. Days merge into each other, weeks become years, and so many of our lives stumble along lacking anything that resembles meaning. The sad thing is if we would open our eyes and let our heart lead us we could find purpose and meaning all around us.

In a world as filled with anguish, heartache, misery and hopelessness, has there ever been more of a time for people to slow down and really notice each other? It’s time to see the weary face of the single mom, the stooped walk of the forgotten elderly, the fearful face of the lonely, and the broken eyes of the abused.

Something happens when we stop and reach out to someone who has lost his way. The simple act of emotionally connecting to another person can provide comfort and strength that may be the difference between life and death. In the process you will never feel more like Jesus.

A significant life is measured by those you touch. We have been deceived to believe that significance is something that we can determine ourselves. In our deception we work too hard, worry too much, and strive to collect things that have no eternal value. As Solomon wrote, “all the striving of man is but vanity and it will all fade away”.

When we stand before God we will be judged on our heart. What did you do that resembles His Heart? How much did you care? How much did you give of yourself? Where you a person who was always too busy for others? Did people feel noticed by you or ignored?

It is a daily choice that we must make. Do we want to see through His eyes, to feel with His heart and to reach out with His hands? If you chose yes than a significant life beckons you. Reach for it. Being noticed because you act like Jesus is the greatest mark you can ever leave.

           As we move forward in the brave new world that we live in I find it increasingly important to examine how we’re to cope with the seemingly unrestricted access technology has to our lives. From the phone, which is in many ways an electronic handcuff, to social networking in its many forms, there is no end to the easy way with which we are contacted and engaged.

            I am not one who is anti-technology. In fact, I probably am more of a techno-junkie when it comes to gadgets and electronics than most, but I am becoming convinced that limits must be placed on their role in my life because they open doors to emotions that are not necessary.

            How many of us have sat with our list of “friends” on our social network and wondered why they were even there? When was the last time you went through your contacts on your cell phone and deleted someone because even seeing their name caused a negative reaction in you?

            Some may think that I am taking an unloving position. How can you say you’re acting with Godly love when you cut people out of your life who for whatever reason you no longer intact with? Aren’t we supposed to be forgiving people, forgetting their offenses and just moving on?       

            It is my deep belief that forgiveness is vital to our survival but that forgiveness is a process. We make the mistake as we heal from situations of allowing people, places and things to have too much emotional access to our feelings. To hit the delete button on a person can be one of the greatest steps to defending one’s peace that one can take.

            When we keep access to the hurtful past by internet stalking peoples’ social pages it is not God’s fault that we can’t keep our peace. It is ours.  It is yours. Keeping a phone contact because maybe someday you will reconcile with someone is a gateway to undermining your peace every time you see their name.

            It is part of our human nature to cling. We want to hold on because looking forward is not always easy. We cannot see the future clearly so we cling to a past that no longer exists. In doing so we stop defending our peace and throw open the door to be attacked again and again.

            God has promised us a peace that passes all understanding but I believe it is conditional. We cannot place the burden on His shoulders to protect us when we keep picking at an emotional scab - never letting it heal.

            So today I give you permission to hit the delete button. Clean out the closet and close the door to those who have moved on from you. Protecting your peace is possible but first you have to limit access to those who would only look to steal it.

            I find the study of the New Testament church, as documented in the book of Acts, to be one of the most fascinating studies that I have encountered as a minister. As one who has followed the calling like so many before, I find that being in the ministry and tracing the origins and actions of the Church of Jesus Christ to be a responsibility, even an obligation, of all who call themselves ministers. The study of the Church, though at times exhilarating because of the power of its inception, also leaves me disheartened to see the difference between who we were and what we’ve become.

            In place of a church that scripture says was “added to” daily and where the people lived in a state of expectancy, we have changed to the Church of the Next Big Thing.  For years I have heard of this outpouring and that outpouring and how so many Christians flock to experience the newest moment, yet I don’t hear the cries of our forefathers in the voice of the modern church. Instead of lives converted to Christ, we hear the voices of the Saved caught up in an experiential existence that sadly does not reflect New Testament church life, the fruit of which is a church shrinking in size and power.

            How many of you are tired of the latest teaching trend being promoted in your church pulpit that promises newer and greater places in God but yet you look around and the ones whose lives so desperately need change resist our God?  Is it possible that we have gotten so far from the power and simplicity of the Gospel and have become consumed with trend chasing that we are standing at a crossroads moment where the church is gasping for breath and we don’t even know it?  I wonder what Paul, Silas, Peter or John would say if they walked into many of our churches today and heard what we are preaching and calling the Gospel.

            I admit to a deep sense of concern for the church. We are not a might army - no matter how many times we gather into large arenas, singing and shouting our songs of worship and listening to one more sermon that gets us shouting - yet leaving us unable to remember a thing about it a week later. The days of us holding church services, where all we do is discuss with each other about how good the service was, must end and we must return to the cry of those whose work we now possess… “Give us souls, Lord, lest we die!”

            In my concern I also see hope. Many of the young generation of ministers rising to the surface seem to be finding a voice that has been long missing.  Instead of rallying the people to fight it out at the polling place they are calling the people to prayer. Instead of dancing around the altar and patting each other on the back they are sending their people into the streets to find the hurting to give them hope and a hand.  In place of preaching the latest message of the moment they are returning to the message of the ages… “Jesus saves and He wants to help you.”

            The Bible warns of a separation in the last day. Wheat would be separated from chaff. The good would be pulled from the worthless. The farmer will tell you that wheat and chaff grow together and it’s not until harvest time that you can tell the difference between them and only then are able to be separated.  It may be a bold assertion but I believe that day is upon us. God is pulling His people into His passions and the trend chasers are falling away.  Remember that putting God over the door doesn’t mean that God will be found in the house.

            It‘s time for the modern church to look back to our past and find the answers for our future. The Gospel has been preached and died for over 2000 years. Today is a day of visitation. God won’t be found in the voices of those calling the church to another trendy doctrine. He will be found in the cries of those who understand His passion for a lost and dying world. 

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) ¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

The only way to tell this story is in the order of events as it actually happened. 

Several months ago my mother-in-law was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer.  It had originated in the breast and had metastasized.  By the time the scan was done, the cancer had traveled from the breast, to the lungs, to the liver.  The meeting with the oncologist brought worse news.  The cancer she had battled over a year ago had returned, and it was aggressive.  To this point, the chemotherapy regimen was not working.  In a small percentage of patients this particular chemotherapy drug could damage the heart.  It had damaged her heart.  The oncologist sat in the room with my mother-in-law and told her that if she could find a cancer treatment center, such as Sloan-Kettering to treat her, this was her only avenue.  She couldn’t treat her with this cancer drug as it was not working against her cancer, and also because it was damaging her heart. 

That week I had a brief encounter with my mother-in-law at my home.  As she sat on the sofa in my home full of people, she wept.  She looked at me with the rarest form of fear I had ever seen in anyone’s eyes and with tears streaming down her face she said, “I don’t want to die”.  And then I heard my mouth says these words that I didn’t believe in my heart – “You are not going to die”. 

The tedious and practical tasks followed.  The insurance company was called, the scans were sent to Sloan-Kettering, and we awaited news.  The specialist’s answer to this case was to continue treatment as is.  There was nothing new they could offer.  With the cancer center’s recommendations to back her up, her oncologist agreed to continue with the same chemotherapy regimen that wasn’t working, and that was damaging her heart.  

The treatment was to begin on Monday.  On Sunday night we decided as a family to spend the day at my in-laws home, to eat, play games, keep each other company.  We also invited the two other pastors of the church to come and to pray with us at the end of evening.  We had a pretty clear image of the road we were about to head down.  There was fear and apprehension gripping our hearts.  There was sadness and sorrow consuming our minds.  In this state we came to God, and asked Him to do what only He could do.  Each one took a turn and prayed, each one offered what they had in their heart; and I will never forget opening my eyes and seeing the grandchildren gathered around with their hands upon their grandmother praying with the faith that had been extended to them. 

As a family, we can so clearly mark the change to that night.  Something shifted in the atmosphere.  There was still fear lurking and sadness creeping, but it started to be overtaken by something else.  Faith, hope, assurance?  I’m not sure I can name exactly what it was.  I’m not sure anyone could. 

My mother-in-law went to her treatment and came home feeling remarkably good.  She said probably next week she would be sick from the treatment.   She knew from experience how this worked.  But then the next week came and still, remarkably well.  She was eating well.  She was sleeping well.  The pain in her bones was starting to alleviate.  The scans were showing a healing taking place in her heart.  By this time she was feeling so defiant she went and got her hair done and declared to the family “I am not going to lose one hair on the top of my head”.  And thus far, not one hair has dared to fall.

The doctors were taking notice.  At first her faith made them afraid.  They knew the outcome; they had seen it so many times.  Her diagnosis was not good, and they were not going to encourage false hopes in a God they had seen remain silent all too often.  During one meeting my mother-in-law asked her oncologist “When this is all over, and when I am a miracle, can you promise me that you will write down my miracle just as it happened?”  And her oncologist said “Millie, if that is the outcome, I will write it down for you”.  But then her family doctor asked the other question, “Millie, what happens if this doesn’t turn out the way you want it to?” and she replied “Then God is still in control”. 

Last week, as promised, the full body scan of her body was done to determine if the treatment was working.  On Monday evening, the night before she was to receive the results, my family gathered together and we prepared a full Thanksgiving dinner. We gathered to give thanks. This unwelcome journey had changed us all in so many ways. We had all seen our faith increase as we cried out to God for her healing and in the process grew closer to each other as a family. Now there was nothing else to do but wait for the report and be thankful to the God who was in control. 

The words that keep running over and over in my mind are “regressed” and “resolved”, “no new nodes”, “no longer appreciated”, “no longer identified”, “favorable response”, “significantly smaller and less avid”, “previously there was evidence, currently not identified”.  These are words taken from the PET scan report I am holding in my hands.  The substance of things hoped for… 

I was asked by someone recently, “If God does this for your mother-in-law, do you know why?”  Can I say God did this for us because the elders came and laid hands on her?  Can I say God did this because my mother-in-law drew close to God during her time of great darkness?  Can I say God did this because we made a Thanksgiving turkey and we were thankful?  Can I say God did this because He loves us?  Why would He do this for her, and not another?  The answer to that question is easy.  I have absolutely no idea.  There is a peace in understanding that we can not muster up enough faith to wrench what we want out of the Hands of a Sovereign God. 

A little girl in our youth group last Tuesday night recounted the story of the loss of her cat.  She said she had prayed the cat wouldn’t die.  She prayed the cat would be found.  This cat meant so much to her and this cat was one of her closest friends.  God didn’t answer her prayer and she has had to suffer with this loss.  What she shared about this experience holds the key to so much for our lives.  She said “I realized that although I don’t know exactly why bad things happen, I believe this turned out the way it did so I would draw closer to God”. 

My mother-in-law is halfway through treatment.  There is another PET scan awaiting us near Christmastime.  We are not out of the woods and this is not over just yet.  My prayer is that we continue to draw close to the Only One who can heal us, the Only One who can set us free, the Only One who can provide true comfort … and that no matter what the Sovereign hand of God provides, we will know that He is in control.

Colossians 1:1 - 2 (NKJV) ¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ²To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father ^£and the Lord Jesus Christ.

            There are the moments when reading the Bible some small phrase or scripture has had the effect of messing up much of my carefully crafted life.  Something that may be to another inconsequential has at times steered me from the safety of the known and into a brand new place and experience with God.  I wish I could say it was a comfortable place but most often it leads me to ask questions that cause changes of significance in my relationship with God.

            This is one of those scriptures.  At first glance, and maybe even second glance, or even third it might not be evident.  What has caused me to question so much of what I am doing in life is Paul’s listing his qualifications to be an apostle of Jesus Christ “by the will of God.”  This phrase in which he lays out to those who read why he is an apostle has caused me to question just about everything I’m doing and ask the hard question.  Am I doing what I do because it’s the will of God or am I expecting God to agree with my will and call it His?

            I often wonder if Paul would have volunteered for the life he led if he knew beforehand what being a disciple would require.  He spent most of his adult life in jail.  He was beaten and chased from many cities.  He was shipwrecked, scorned, and the threats to his life were constant; yet, even though he never met Jesus face to face, his writings are the bedrock of our New Testament understanding of the message of grace.

            It is a mistake to see the great accomplishments of people and not consider the story of how they got there.  I believe that Paul is saying something very important when he establishes his apostleship by the will of God.  He is making a declaration that because of following God’s will he has become the man that he is.  That even means the bad stuff.

            My wife and I recently had a decision to make in our family.  As with most important decisions we sat and weighed the pros and cons.  In this matter the cons list was quite a bit ahead of the pros, yet we struggled for weeks about what was right.  Finally we sat down and made our decision.  In the end, however, there was one positive that outweighed all of the negatives.  We both felt it was God’s will for us to move forward and not look backward.            

            That brings me to my point.  God’s will and our will are not synonymous.  How many times do we talk our way out of great moments in our lives?  Times when our families, relationships, health and even finances could be divinely blessed but aren’t because God’s will doesn’t fit into our own and we chose to follow our path.

            Paul’s acceptance of his place in life because of being a follower of God’s will is a sobering challenge to me.  It’s the type of challenge that has me examining my life through a brand new set of lenses.  If I am to become something good because of His will, then as a disciple of Christ I must follow His will.

 His will isn’t always the easy road that the hot new preacher is proclaiming.  We are told that if we will just do a few easy things then all of this favor is going to land in our laps. Sometimes God does bring the good things, but like Paul, sometimes the road just isn’t that  easy.  It’s at those times that I want to be able to say I am here by the will of God.

There is a peace in that.  It’s a peace that if I am in God’s will then He knows the end from the beginning.  I might be shipwrecked at the moment but God has something for me to learn if I can look up.

My wife told me some time ago that she finds herself asking this question when faced with deciphering God’s will… “Does this fit the character of the Christ that I know?”  I believe that is our greatest challenge today.  Getting to really know who God is and how He thinks and what He’s passionate about is the key to walking in His will.  Whether through the valley of the shadow of death or standing on mountain highs we must know Him.

Today I pray that a supernatural desire would build in us all to know God.  It may require tearing down some things that we have held as fact and solidifying others to be deep convictions. When we know the character of God, the ability for others to bend us to things that may sound like Him but are not lessens and staying in the place of walking out His will deepens.

             Over the last few years I have seen the American church deteriorate into a very angry, vocal, defiant, bitter, name-calling throng with enough division to kill any chance that the command that we be known by our love will be achieved.  It not only seems, but is supported by numerous surveys of the American public, that Christianity has become known far more for what it stands against than what it stands for. This troubling occurrence and the continual decline in active church membership as well as conversions to Christ leads me to wonder if there is some link between the two.

            For many years I’ve been disturbed by the numerous conversations I’ve held with youth leaders regarding the young people leaving the church post-graduation.  As with many I held to the thought it was youthful rebellion and in time many would return. I’m not so sure that that is true anymore.

            I recently came across a growing movement outside the church realm know as the Un-Christians.  These are young people who have grown so disgusted by a church that is so indoctrinated in the causes they oppose that they no longer can tell you what they support. Instead they speak in clichés and platitudes, with condescending voices that look down at any one who opposes them or will not conform to their position. Unfortunately they take the same position with sinner or saint alike.

Recently the author Anne Rice very publicly announced her decision to leave Christianity.  In her statement she continued to say that Christ would be the center of her life but, in her words, “It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.  For ten years I’ve tried, I’ve failed. I’m an outsider.” Of course by that night bloggers all over the Internet were trumpeting her return to atheism with contempt and glee.  The fact that she said the exact opposite was forgotten.  Who cares what truth is as long as your agenda is moved along.

John 8:12 (NKJV) ¹²Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

            This passage has become a very deep personal journey.  It’s a journey that has cost me church members, friends, and the general acceptance of extremists in the Christian church.  It has cost me these things because I feel more compelled than ever before to be able to articulate and walk out the things that I believe. It is all too easy to become one more angry voice screaming the gospel of hate, but it is a dangerous and lonely road to believe that if Jesus was here He would lump them together with the religious establishment that He worked so hard to reform in the Gospels.

            So today I’m going to put a document on paper and into the free hands of the Internet. It is a statement of my convictions and beliefs. I imagine my critics may take this as proof that I have compromised and I am in theological error.  For the rest I hope you see it as one man’s attempt to speak life, because life comes from what you are for not the things you are against.

The “What I’m For” List

I’m for the sinner, the broken, the wounded, and the defenseless. I’m for the hungry, the poor and the destitute. I’m for the homeless and the wealthy. I’m for the criminal, the soccer mom and the cantankerous old man who drives to slow and always seems to be in front of me. I’m for my president and elected officials even if I didn’t vote for them and maybe never will. I’m for my critics and will bless those who curse me. I’m for social justice as well as the preaching of the Gospel. You can’t truly have one without the other. I’m for little boys getting in fistfights because someone said something about their momma on the playground. I’m for Democrats and Republicans and those who bravely try to stay independent. I’m for the single parent, the divorcee and parents who work so hard so that their children don’t have to know just how hard things really are. I’m for smooth jazz, love songs and slow dancing with my wife under the moonlight. I will pray for the peace of Israel but I will also pray for peace for their Arab brothers. I’m for religious freedom even for those who don’t worship the same god that I do. I’m for long dinners spent with old friends. I’m for women being used in lead roles in all five positions of the five fold ministry.  I’m for not touching God’s anointed, because I’m not the one to judge who the anointed are, and God’s not telling me who is. I’m for the homosexual, the sexually confused and the adulterer who has destroyed theirs and the lives of their family by their sin. I’m for the black man, the brown, the yellow man, the red as well as the white because the Gospel is for all people and is bigger than the cultural walls that divide us.

Today I reject the gospel of hate. The angry self-righteous words of those who scream for conformity over unity, ideology over discourse, and homogenized groups over any diversity that may challenge the norms of what they think they know. Most of all I’m for the one named Jesus. The one who when handed the opportunity to render judgment on a guilty woman caught in a horrible sin, chose not to pick up a stone but instead reached down into the dirt and restored the dignity and hope of this accused and guilty one that the religious were trying so hard to take. Today He is still giving that empowering grace. That’s my Jesus, that’s my God, and that is what I am for.

On a recent visit to Mexico I had the opportunity to visit the small island of Isla Mujeres. This small five mile island is just 400 yards wide at its largest section. As with many of these places, the ocean is warm and beautiful and the scenery is a tropical paradise in some places.

For a short time in the afternoon my wife and I wandered the streets of the island. The center of the small town on Isla Mujeres is one shop after another of people selling various items and small restaurants dispersed throughout between the many shops. The streets are narrow and packed with tourist from all over the world and the sound of Spanish music provides the soundtrack for the experience.

  I’m not sure when the experience began turning for us from one of pleasure to one of sadness, but we began to notice things which our eyes could not turn from.  Behind the brightly painted buildings of the street we started to notice the squalor of housing that those who sold to us their trinkets would return to at night.  There were stores with only a husband and wife operating it, with posted business hours of 14 to 16 hours a day. Or the two small children who played in the back of the truck as their father worked his day as a guard of the gate at the back of a hotel.  Maybe saddest of all was the quiet desperation I’d see in the faces of men and women hoping we’d enter their business and make a purchase and the resignation when we did not.  I found myself thinking in the shadows of the paradises of this world, you will always find the poor and abused who keep it running on their backs.

Some of you probably will tell me that I’m too sensitive. This is the way it is in the Third World.  These are the fortunate ones.  Maybe you’re right.   Yet I can’t shake the feeling that Jesus would want us to notice these things because it’s where you would have found him if he were there.

I am more and more convinced that Christianity is so much bigger than the Sunday morning experience. If we are to truly be like Christ we must feel like Christ. The message of the Gospel has always been easier accepted by the poor than the rich, and yet so much of the American church experience is being directed to the accumulation of wealth.  Is it just me that thinks we have grown terrible out of balance?

A passage from an autobiography of the great revivalist George Whitefield speaks to this issue so directly. This man who repeatedly was attacked and barred from the pulpit found his way by following the hard road. Listen to his words.

Before long, however, a scheduled execution brought it about. Whitefield’s heart had been broken by the coalminers at Kingswood, Bristol – men as violent as they were vulgar. Once the date for the hanging had been set the miners began anticipating the celebrations surrounding the entertainment.  When the murderer “cheated” them of their amusement by committing suicide, the miners dug up the corpse and partied around it.

They and their families were 100 percent illiterate, stuck in a degradation that defies description. Whitefield walked among them, in full clerical attire, and began speaking to them from Matthew 5:3  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Thoroughly despised and contemptuously shunned, these people found in Whitefield someone who loved them and therefore did not fear them. Grimy with caked-on dirt and coated in coal dust as they were, Whitefield wrote of them in his diary that as he preached he saw “the white gutters made by their tears down their black cheeks.”

            I ask you today… when was the last time you really saw the people in the shadows?  The people who the Bible calls the least of them?   I believe that if we could again see as God sees this country would experience one of the greatest revivals to ever happen.  Instead of us being worldly minded we would again be Kingdom minded and the effect on society would be astonishing.

            God help me to have your eyes.  Help me to smell the lost, desperate and broken as the sweet perfume they are in your nostrils.  Change my heart to one who chooses to walk in the shadows because there I will find you; changing lives, bringing hope, and healing the broken.

Isaiah 61:1 - 2 (NKJV) ¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

Leviticus 23:22 (TMSG) ²²“When you reap the harvest of your land, don’t reap the corners of your field or gather the gleanings. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners. I am God, your God.”

This scripture in Leviticus has helped me to put into perspective a recent law in Arizona that is being called the toughest immigration law in the country. In essence the law allows law enforcement to ask people for identification that authenticates their citizenship even without a crime being committed. Although those who wrote the law insist that racial profiling will not be targeted, how else can this be viewed when Arizona is bordered by Mexico and so many people cross into our country without proper approval from this country?

            I’m not naïve to think that illegal immigration doesn’t present tremendous problems in certain states. The arguments used by proponents to immigration do have merit. We can’t financially support those that come into our country and utilize the services of our country while not paying into the same tax system that citizens do to fund such services. Eventually we will run out of money if this is allowed to continue. The problem that I have with this is that it misses the point of what makes America tick. This is a great country and there are countless people who will risk death and imprisonment to be part of it.

            What is an American? We are the mutts of the world. We have so many different types of blood running through our veins that those who prejudice against the foreigners are hypocrites. This is the most unique country in the world because there is not native race outside of the American Indian who can claim the status of being a true American. We all have our roots somewhere else.

            That brings me to my point. In the law the Jews were told to leave the corners of their fields for the poor and the foreigners. I believe this was two-fold. One was that it was a moral provision to take care of these people. The other was that it was to leave a testimony of God’s grace to those who received the blessing. In the world that the Jews inhabited, friendly relations with foreigners was important because those who you took care of today may be needed to protect you tomorrow.

            The Jews were known by their God. He defined them. It was vital to God that He be known as a merciful and giving God. It also helped to ensure that the Jewish people would survive. What other nation has been afflicted such as the Jews, yet they remain one of the strongest and most feared nations in the world. People have risen to their defense time and again.  I would suggest that this understanding that you have to take care of more than your own has played no small part in their endurance.

            The Arizona law is flawed in that it opens a door for many innocent people to be harassed because of the color of their skin. You would think we would be past this point, but we are not. Even more than this flaw, is the image that it presents of an America that is hard-hearted and oppressive. Our forefathers gave up so much to find their way to America. We opened our door to people from all races and walks of life. No one was turned away because we understood that our country was worth the risk to get to.

            At the Statue of Liberty you can read these words on the grand lady who overlooks the great entry point to our country at Ellis Island.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

            I agree that we need a plan to allow for legal immigration into our country. It has to be thoughtfully constructed and implemented. The Arizona law in my opinion is an ugly law that has huge potential for abuse. Even more than that is my opinion that as a Christian I can’t support something that makes the alien even more unwelcome, afraid and hopeless.