Moments that Shape:
Praise for the Faint Spirit

I had been a believer for one entire week, or should I say a totally dedicated sold out Christ-follower? It was the summer of 1991 and I was living with my parents, trying to save some money for my final year of college. I remember having some very awkward phone conversations in those weeks. A lot of, “I’m not that person anymore.”

One phone conversation that I had not expected was from a young lady that I had dated in high school. She was actually spending a few weeks at her parent’s house while she waited for her next assignment from the mission board of her church. She was someone I had dated before I had thrown myself head long into all that was sin. I thought it would be nice to see her again, maybe this was one of those moments that God ordains.

Anyway, we went out to eat and she told me all about her mission work throughout the United States. She had worked in AID’s hospices and other places. I was fascinated with all that she was doing. I told her that I had just surrendered my life to Christ the week before.

We had a nice time, it was good to catch up with an old friend but then it happened. We were discussing faith or something, I still can picture the scene, and I made some comment about her not being properly baptized. Where did that come from? I was one week from giving my life to Christ but I still had a lot to learn about what that really meant. All of those years of programming didn’t get erased the moment I said I surrender.

She looked at me and asked what I meant. Well I was raised in the Church of Christ and I knew that no one on the entire planet baptized for the right reasons, only the Church of Christ. You can only imagine my surprise when she explained that her group of Christ-followers baptized for the remission of sins. I thought this has to be a trick. There is no way. I was raised with good and proper information, she couldn’t have been.

Well, I was bound and determined in my quest to share my new found faith. I asked her about the Lord’s Supper. I was pretty sure I would have her here. We would get to the bottom of this apostate group that loved people all over America in Jesus name, but whom failed to recognize the significance of eating a cracker and having a sprits of juice every week.

You can only imagine my expression when she explained that the group she fellowshipped with also took the Lord’s Supper each week. What was I to do? I was only a week into my fully surrendered Christ-life and God had brought me without question to a place of decision, a moment that would shape me in my journey of faith.

Here this woman sat, who in the name of Jesus helped widows and orphans, and I was too young in my faith to know what truly mattered. You may be reading this trying to guess which group she belonged to. Ha, I’m not going to tell. That way of thinking is what got me into the mess that day.

I was checking her brand and I had made some assumptions because her brand name was different. It was a moment that helped define my new found faith. It helped me see something very basic and true. It wasn’t about all those made up essentials, it was about my willingness to love more, care more, and help more. I saw in her a fully devoted Christ-follower not because of ritual repetition but because of a deep love exploding from her heart.

I began to read the Bible and it wasn’t long before I discovered a little book called Romans. I read it and I read it again. I remember wondering why no one else was reading Romans within the group I grew up in, all because a young lady was able to show me that we are not that different when we make love the measure of our faith.

Moments that Shape:
Beauty from Ashes

My dad and mom along with one of their foster children had come to visit us in Iowa. We lived in an older house and when my dad came around I usually talked him into helping me with some sort of repair. I don’t remember what we were planning on fixing that night I just remember that before we left I remembered I needed something from the basement. I thank God that I needed something from the basement that day.

As I went downstairs I almost immediately felt that something was wrong. Our basement was split into two halves. On one side we had my computer and a television. The TV had an old Sega Genesis hooked to it and you could also watch movies. There was a movie going but no one was watching it. This is what caught me off guard. My son was in the basement with my parent's foster child. A child who had been with my family for several years.

I immediately forgot what I was looking for and began to look for my son and the foster child. I went into the other side of the basement and the lights were off. I will never forget our sons face. The confusion in his eyes. The fear. I remember asking him why his shorts were not on right. I will never forget when the realization flooded over me as to what was happening.

In that moment I grabbed our son and ran. I could tell he was confused and I assured him that he had done nothing wrong. The only thing that mattered in that moment was our son. After several months, a police officer and a Christian councilor, we crossed over from victim to survivor.

To be honest I am a better parent because of that day. The naivety is gone. The hear no evil, see no evil attitude I had would have probably remained if I wasn’t so blatantly confronted with sin.

It is true when the Isaiah says God brings beauty from ashes, joy for mourning and praise instead of despair. Our son does not remember that day. We discovered through the long healing process that it wasn’t the first time. We are taught to guard our hearts but what will we do to protect those of our children? I fail at times and yet I get up, ask forgiveness, and focus on being the man God would have me to be.

Life gives no free passes. Our children need parents with discernment. Parents who are active in every aspect of their children’s lives. This past week I have been reading a book with our son entitled What’s the Big Deal: God’s Design for Sex. It is the third in a series entitled God’s Design for Sex. We began reading them with our children at the age of three.

There is a book coming out entitled Hearts and Minds: Raising Your Child with a Christian View of the World that sounds good. The author will even let you read the first chapter if you ask nicely on his blog. Our world is not a simple place. Our children can’t afford for us to stand on the sidelines because I guarantee that Satan isn’t. He infiltrated our basement, what makes you think he won’t enter yours?

In the end I became a much more intentional parent because of that day. I pray that it doesn’t take a similar experience to bring you to the same place. You may be saying my children have grown and to that I would ask, "Is it time to become an advocate for others?" I don’t share this story for sympathy, God is Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals. I share to motivate.

The final post dealing with the statement
Prove It: The Supernatural

It is the time of year when television programming turns to all that is unexplained. I don’t know about you but I use to think I had to prove every supernatural experience wrong. When the television came on and someone claimed a ghost lived in their home I discounted their experience. Every UFO story became someone with to much to drink or was caused by a momentary glance. They all had to have a logical explanation, certainly nothing could be unexplained.

Now I wonder why. Why did I feel the need to explain it all away? Why did I not think maybe just maybe some of them were true? I have been watching a lot on television this past weeks and some of those people who have witnessed UFO’s are not Billy Bob in his truck with a jug of whiskey out snipe hunting. They are astronauts and airline pilots. In short they are people who have been trained in the logical.

Why did I think I had to prove all of them wrong? Why did I have to dismiss every psychic who claimed an other dimension connection? Don’t I believe in the supernatural? Don’t I believe that there is something more than this? Isn’t the very center point of Christianity, the resurrection, supernatural?

Paul warned the church in Ephesus that the battle is not with forces of this world but with evil rulers and authorities that reside in the unseen realm. We learn from Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we put on the armor not to look good to others but for protection. He teaches us that there are unseen forces who rule this world and that spirits move in the heavenly realms. Why is it that I would discount something that proves Paul’s point? Why would I make fun of someone who believes they have experienced the supernatural? Why would I think I needed to prove it didn’t take place?

Recently we had lunch with our neighbor and her family. She was telling me about her mother and some of her own experiences with mediums. Instead of trying to prove to her that this couldn’t happen, that they were fakes and charlatans, I agreed that it could have taken place. Instead of arguing I warned her that she should test each spirit to make sure they are good and not bad. This led to a biblical discussion on how one could do and how both good and evil spirits are working in this other dimension.

We had a good discussion about what the Bible says about the supernatural. Our neighbor has been coming to our church now the past several weeks. Is that why? I can’t say, but I don’t think it hurt giving a strong biblical answer to her experiences instead of trying to prove her wrong.

So many people today are open to the supernatural and we have a book that is chalked full of unexplained events. Why allow ourselves to be pushed into proving something that doesn’t hurt the case for Christ, but only makes it stronger?

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 1:4

Prove It: The Earth

How old is the earth? It seems pretty old to me. At times in my life I have tasted dirt. It certainly didn’t taste fresh. It tasted kind of stale, nothing like fresh bread or hot pizza straight from the oven.

I am sure that I couldn’t put the earth on sale on EBay as new. It would defiantly have to be listed as used, and very used it would seem. I don’t think I could in good conscious put pictures of it and say it was in pristine condition. I don’t think anyone would believe a claim that it was only driven to and from church on Sunday. The earth is definitely high mileage.

I don’t have any idea how old the earth is and I wonder why people tell me I have to prove its age. Why does it matter? I realize when a company has in its name, “established in” that this gives one a since of dependability. They have been around for awhile so we know they can be trusted. Okay, but what about the earth’s age, would its age make it seem more dependable?

I don’t know why it matters. Can someone explain? It seems as old as dirt but that doesn’t really answer anything does it? I do know that I will never understand why people think they should use the Bible to date the earth. That would be like trying to use the notes I passed to the first girl I ever kissed for relational advice. It was not the purpose of the letters. They weren’t written to give people dating advice for the next 10,000 years. They didn’t even give good dating advice for the next ten days.

I didn’t write sweat nothings to be passed on to the love of my life for posterity to read and decipher. I wanted her to know something very specific, that I wanted to meet her behind the school by the jungle gym. It wasn’t so that others could equate the trip, measure the steps, and decide what an appropriate distance to walk for a rendezvous would be. No deep meaning of life or love or how to keep a romance for life.

Why was it written?

I become frustrated when people use the Bible in ways that it doesn’t seem intended. Do we really think those early genealogies were recorded so that someone could mathematically piece together the age of the earth? Do we think that it was recorded so that in several thousand years people could critique it against known science? It doesn’t make any sense to me.

It would seem to me that God was more concerned with making sure we understood why the world is broken. That would seem like a lot more help to me then arguing the dates of dirt. What am I missing? Maybe someone can point out what this does matter, why knowing the age of the earth is on the same level as knowing that Jesus was both human and divine. I would appreciate it because I just don’t get it.

Unless someone had a video camera or one of those camera phones I don’t think anyone is going to know for sure. I suppose if we found a cave painting signed Adam then that would certainly help. Of course than all you would get would be some mean picture of a woman, a snake and some fruit, or was that an apple.

The next several posts will be dealing with the statement
Prove It.

Do I have to? Do I really have to? People tell me I do but I’m not so sure. What should I do?

At times people treat me as if I have some obligation to prove to them that God exists. Do I really? Is it really supposed to be my obligation to give enough empirical data to every Tom, Dick and Harry who asks? Isn’t there an unwritten rule in there that says science is superior to the spiritual? I don’t think people in Hiroshima thought so. We have proven we have the ability to send a man to the moon and I’m still not sure how that has made the world a better place.

Am I going to quote scripture about a God they don’t believe in? Will someone be swayed by the inspired missives of a God they don’t think exists? I could tell them that God’s existence is evident from creation but they were living on this rock before we had the discussion and they will be on that same rock long after it has ended.

I am really open to someone explaining why it is my obligation to prove it. Paul never had to prove that God existed. People weren’t trying to subtract deity in his day, they were constantly adding them.

Every field and street corner had its set of gods. Each city was loaded with enough temples to various gods that it makes First Baptist, Second Baptist and Third Baptist look pedestrian. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe if Paul were here he would spend his time trying to prove God existed. What does everyone think?

Throughout the Bible the message is the same, if you seek you will find. Maybe I’m just trying to dumb it down, but can I not take God at his word? If a person is really seeking God won’t he find Him?

I may sound insensitive but I’m really not. I spent ten years working at advertising agencies and design firms and I had countless spiritual discussions. It just seems that there is a difference between a Prover and a Seeker. I don’t treat the Prover like a jerk, I just refuse to agree that their position is superior. I tell them it is their choice if they want to believe.

I think sometimes we forget that trying to show people God isn’t a way to validate our own beliefs, it is to connect them with their Maker. It is to give them hope and share with them redemption. In the end I told those that I discussed this with that I would treat them no differently either way, that I enjoyed working with them all. Did I handle this the wrong way?

Didn’t Jesus have to deal with both? Didn’t a certain group of Pharisee’s and Teachers of the Law approach him for proof? I think he treated them differently. Did he give them proof? Yes, from an agreed upon existence of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but to prove something don’t we at least have to have some foundational agreement? When someone doesn’t believe in God where do you start? If they come to me telling me I have to prove it I usually tell them that I don’t think I do. I often add more reasons for them not to believe.

Science and the Spiritual

At some point in time it would seem that people bought into the idea that science is superior or that at the least that science and the spiritual reside in two separate spheres that are equal. I’m just not sure that is true. It seems to me that all is spiritual, science itself exists within the spiritual realm. Have you ever seen two scientists with different opinions on a subject, different interpretation of facts? Look at Pluto. Science said it was a planet, now what? If science was so scientific shouldn’t they come to the same conclusion?

You see science does discover facts. The problem with those facts is they have always existed. Just because no one named gravity doesn’t mean science validated its existence. It existed no matter what scientists thought.

Science just discovered what already exists. Was Christopher Columbus a scientist? In that regard the useful parts of science seem more like math to me. I agree we can find equations that work, how else would the world hold together, and yet not everything works scientifically.

If science was that all knowing couldn’t it create a formula that would keep me out of my wife’s dog house? If I did something the same way every time it would always produce the same results? Instead I find my wife’s emotions, moods, time of month, and a host of other factors impact the way we interact.

In the end I am not trying to downplay science, I just don’t think that I have some obligation to prove everything scientifically for it to be real. Someone can insist I must, okay, insist away, I’m just not at a place in my journey where I feel obligated to agree.

"Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them." Job 38:2,3

There are other things that I want to discuss that people tell me I have to prove but I don't think I really do and I am interested in hearing what you think.

Spoiled Brats
Moments in a journey of faith


I must confess I wanted to ring his neck. If someone could have read my mind I would be in prison right now. You’ve probably witnessed the scene. The kid wants something and mom says no so the child goes off like a five alarm fire until he gets his way. You look at the parent because you feel their pain, no one wants everyone staring at them at the Piggly Wiggly check out line, and yet you worry about the message being sent.

No one wakes up in the morning and says, “I hope my kid makes a scene that shows up on the six o’clock news.” No one who loves their child sets out to do so in such a way that allows them to be manipulated like a ballot box in a Florida election. It is just not how we envisioned life, and yet I understand.

I love our kids. I want them to know they are loved. I struggle with balancing that love with the fact that I must raise up children who are selfless. They shouldn’t always get there way because it isn’t healthy. I know it isn’t really love to allow them to walk all over me and yet.

I sympathize with the mother in front of me, but I still want to ring her child’s neck. I want him to understand that his mother loves him but please that has nothing to do with you getting a candy bar.

Spiritually Spoiled?

My problem is that from time to time, even though I understand it is not healthy to spoil a child, I want my heavenly Father to spoil me. My tantrums are far more adult, I promise I don’t stomp my feet and turn my lower lip, but they are a tantrum none the less.

Why is it that I understand that a parent shouldn’t spoil their child all the while wondering why God won’t spoil me? When I have tough times what do I want? I want God to bail me out.

When I don’t have the things I want what do I do? I give God a side long glance as if to say, “I thought you would never leave me or forsake me?” When our children try to manipulate me I resist because I know it isn’t good and yet why oh why do I expect the same from my heavenly Father?

I rejoice today that my heavenly Father isn’t worried about what others will think. He doesn’t show any concern no matter how much I throw a fit. He being perfect always seems to know when I don’t need to get my way. He alone is doing a great job keeping me from being spoiled.

"because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." Proverbs 3:12

A Third Wheel
Moments in a journey of faith


There was an awkward silence, a pregnant pause. We each looked at each other, unsure of what would be said next. The waitress would soon arrive with our meal and I couldn’t wait. We were eating with my good friend Steve, we being the woman who would become my wife and I.

We were dating long distance. She drove down from Des Moines, Iowa to see me most weekends. I lived in Wichita, Kansas and worked for a design firm downtown. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together since my wife left her work at 5:00 to travel the six hours down I-35 to Wichita. She we retrace the journey each Sunday afternoon.

I had met Steve one Wednesday night at the young singles class I attended. Steve just walked off the street. He really new nothing about Jesus and had just felt compelled to come. He was a recent graduate of Friends University. We spent our time in my small studio apartment playing Sega Genesis and talking about faith.

It was hard because Steve needed a friend. He didn’t really have anyone. He needed believers who could come along side him and give him support. When my soon to be wife came to town we often included Steve in our activities.

But he had this way of getting me in trouble. He had this way of saying things that put me in the dog house, which led to pregnant pauses and awkward moments. But isn’t that what third wheels do? They don’t call them that because they add to the occasion. They don’t receive that name because they make things smoother. They get that name because they cause trouble and difficulty. They are tagged with that name because they confuse directions.

My Third Wheel Moment

I mention that to say that I have also felt the uncertainty of the third wheel. I gave me life to Christ in the summer of 1991. I returned to Oklahoma City for my last year of college with a lot of explaining to do. You see all my friends, coworkers and roommates new me as the life of the party, someone you could always count on to hit the bar or make a trip to a club.

I remember trying to remain the same when it came to spending time with my friends. I mean I had spent the past several years with them. I had been through a lot and we were close. I remember going to bars with them, to games, watching sports on TV, but it just wasn’t the same.

I will never forget that awkward moment, that pregnant pause, the one that told me no matter how much I like these guys, no matter how much we have experienced together, things have changed. We were sitting around my friend’s apartment. We were watching sports and my two friends looked at each other and the pause came.

It took me some time to figure out the awkwardness but eventually I did. You see the three of us use to smoke pot together. We would sit around watching TV, getting high. They looked at each other and back again and you could see that something was going on. You know how it works when you are the third wheel. Conversations take place in code. After some time and tension I decided I needed to go. I remember looking back as my friend made a beeline towards his room and the stash.

They were going in a different direction and third wheels always hinder the journey. I have tried to keep in touch with them over the years but it hasn’t been easy. My closest friend and I lost touch after we both moved. When we talked what did we discuss? For all my good intentions, my desire to be salt and light, the reality was I became a third wheel. Did I stop wanting to hang around them? No, the reality is they stopped wanting to hang around me. Third wheels get that you know.

Looks Like?

I was going through my old baseball cards with my son and I ran across this Kirk McCaskill card. This is actually Kirk's rookie card, though I'm not sure it will ever be worth any money.

Oh well. Something about Kirk just reminded me of someone.

The final entry responding to the following article by Rick Wade entitled, Scripture and Tradition in the Early Church at http://www.probe.org/content/view/911/77/

The Body and the Church Fathers

A core belief is that "the church is not an institution on account of its structure or external rites, but exists only when it is voluntarily composed of the faithful." Scripture and Traditions of the Early Church, Rick Wade

What is the church? Who is and who isn’t? I had a very good friend who was a mentor and elder in a church we were part of for several years. When I felt God moving us beyond the fellowship of my youth he changed.

My wife wasn’t raised going to any church. She had no background. Was she at a disadvantage? She didn’t understand any of the in-group language. She didn’t know any of the unwritten rules.

She told my mentor that we had taken on a job with a community church. She didn’t know what this would mean to him. To him it meant we had left the church. He was concerned for our souls. My wife didn’t understand because she hadn’t changed, we hadn’t changed. Our passion for lost souls was the same. The desire to be Christ in our world. She didn’t understand because she doesn’t think in formulas. She doesn’t approach it all like it is a science.

My mentor put us in a slot. A+B=C and C wasn’t good.

We didn’t talk for over two years. Recently he called and I felt the need to better explain our situation. You see it is in most ways a Church of Christ with instruments. I know, I gave him a formula he could handle. After I told him we were associated with the Independent Christian Church things changed. We moved again from lost to found. The entire conversation took on a different tone.

I don’t get this because I am on the other side of the enlightenment. I don’t understand this way of thinking. I will never forget reading the early fathers Treatises on Baptism and being shocked at their approach to baptism. Was it essential? Without question, and yet because they didn’t see formulas they were also able to say that if a person couldn’t be baptized they would be saved because they called on the name of the Lord.

In the enlightenment we said that couldn’t be. That won’t fit a scientific formula. It has to be one way or the other. You can’t be church unless you follow our way.

What formula do you follow? I have friends leery about our fellowship because they think we are charismatic. What they really mean is they think we fit a formula for charisma that was created by enlightenment thinking, but they wonder all the same. We believe in the power of the Spirit working today but special gifts are not the focus of our church.

Sorry, I don’t feel a need to fit a formula, a pattern, I know it was created by a rationalism that the early church didn’t share. Can we ever return to a place where both James and Paul are right and we don't have to harmonize their views? Can I be in a place where to call on the name of the Lord and baptism are not at odds but a part of a more complex journey of faith?

I’m not sure and maybe that is why I type these words, to find what others think. I have heard people talk about it but I don’t know if we will ever truly embrace the other side of the enlightenment. It seems at times that some are just creating a new formula that you must fit to really get it.

The early church believed in the power of the name of Jesus. They had a distinct character, an identifiable body but because they truly embraced the name of Jesus, his Lordship.

They didn’t think people were healed because you had the right amount of faith and spoke it with power. They didn’t think you were saved because you had your mouth just the right way when you were baptized. Do we see how backwards this is? They believed what they believed because they saw power in the name of Jesus. I pray we find their Christ-centered view, not because of a right formula, candles and incense versus structured experience, but because Jesus is our King.

The next few entries will be a response to the following article by Rick Wade entitled, Scripture and Tradition in the Early Church at http://www.probe.org/content/view/911/77/

Mystery and the Church Fathers

Enlightenment philosophers taught us to see the world as a collection of scientific facts, to look forward instead of back to the wisdom of the past, and to see the individual as the final authority for what is true. Scripture and Traditions of the Early Church, Rick Wade

It was a Tuesday, the last week of July, 1991. There was a devotion and they were singing Jesus is Lord. I had sung the song a thousand times but that day I heard the gospel for the first time. “He was born to die on Calvary’s tree, to redeem a lost humanity, Conquering death he rose triumphantly, and he reigns through all eternity.”

I was moved that night, I began to cry. It was in that moment that I gave my life to Christ. That I resigned as chief ruler and direction giver.

Why? Because of facts? They were facts that I had heard all my life. It was information that I had repeated myself time and time again. There was something about that night that was a mixture of natural and supernatural, fact and feeling, body and soul.

As I walked away from that moment I vowed to never remove the supernatural from my experience. I kept the story close to my heart because I was raised logically. Facts are what it is all about. Did you do it the right way thinking the right thoughts? I feared that since my experience wasn’t some formula to be consumed that I would be ostracized. So I hid the story, kept it between God and I and a few close friends.

I was confident that day that I would follow after Jesus, not because of my own strength or understanding but because of Him. I committed to believe what the Bible said even when it didn’t seem logical or realistic or possible.

I wanted to pray, not because you were suppose to, but to actually have a spiritual conversation, knowing that to speak to God I needed the Spirit’s voice. I wanted to read my Bible, not because I was suppose to, but because in those pages the Spirit inside of me brought the text to life and fed my soul like nothing ever had.

I wanted something more than the dry lifeless experience of my youth. I wanted to experience something that transcended my existence, because my existence wasn’t good. Yes I went to church, yes I learned the facts, but I did not experience life. Something within believed that without the supernatural none of this made any sense.

I know now why, I understand the false enlightenment belief that we can know it all. That everything is explainable and science is the answer. That the facts were going to fix everything. I don’t blame or point fingers because coming from what they experienced it made sense to them, I just don’t believe it is so.

We live on the other side of that today, and the more we discover the more we know we don’t know. Instead of answering all questions we just find more. For every disease we cure another three come along that we can’t seem to stop.

Facts fall flat. We can only figure out so much, but can we truly return to the mystery of it all? Can we, on the other side of the enlightenment, ever return to a place where the supernatural is embraced? Where spirits and demons exist beyond scary movies?

When you return to the early church you find the natural and supernatural. We see Peter responding to Jesus invitation, not because of what was natural but instead because of the supernatural. Peter new the teachings about the Messiah, but only when Jesus filled their boats with fish did he respond.

Paul knew all of the facts, and yet it is only on a dry stretch of road with a blinding light in his eyes that he believes. It is only the supernatural that pricks his heart. Even the most fact based encounter with Philip and the Eunuch takes place because of the supernatural intervention of an Angel and the Spirit.

The danger we face is losing the facts for the feelings. This is why embracing the church father’s seems the wisest course. They embraced the supernatural without losing the facts. I worry that in responding to the enlightenment we will create a supernatural experience devoid of facts, and without those facts we simply have paganism.

Are we willing to embrace this supernatural mystery in just one profound way? Are we willing to embrace the historic father’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper, or are we more inclined to argue the facts? Are we willing to believe the mystery that it gives us spiritual nourishment? That it imparts grace? That it becomes in some way, that I can’t explain, the body and the blood?

Roll this around in your head and I think you may find how willing you are to jump into the mystery of it all, instead of just creating new ones. May we embrace our supernatural heritage without losing the truth of it all.

The next few entries will be a response to the following article by Rick Wade entitled, Scripture and Tradition in the Early Church at http://www.probe.org/content/view/911/77/

Will the Real Church Fathers
Please Stand?

Enlightenment philosophers taught us to see the world as a collection of scientific facts, to look forward instead of back to the wisdom of the past, and to see the individual as the final authority for what is true. The ideal is the individual who examines the raw data of experience with no prior value commitments, with a view to discovering something new. Unfortunately, knowledge was pursued at the expense of wisdom. The past had little relevance. What could those who lived in the past tell us that would be relevant for today?{5} Besides, the church dominated people in the past. Such superstition was no longer to be allowed to rule our lives. Scripture and Traditions of the Early Church, Rick Wade

I guess the reason this article strikes me is because the beginning of my end within the a capella Church of Christ came when I began to read the church fathers in their entirety.

I had only seen a kind of proof-texting in my life. When something they said bolstered a modern claim of the Church of Christ they were used. I began to read their writings to see if they had the same attitude and understanding that I was taught. I wanted to see if in context the writings were consistent with how they were being used. What I found forever taught me that little in the Church of Christ reflected the first century.

This hit home to me recently when I was talking to a friend who still preaches in the Church of Christ. He started to tell me about some papers he had written for his master’s class at ACU. He said he had been looking at church history.

I became excited and I asked what he had found. He began to talk about the 1800’s and I realized he wasn’t talking about Ireneaus or Justin the Martyr but instead Moses Lard and Alexander Campbell. Why is this? What type of thinking leads to this view of church history?

I found my eyes open when I entered the world of the early church. I found their Christ-centered message refreshing to my soul. I realized that the group I grew up in said they wanted to restore the early church but didn’t want to go back and understand how they responded to the message of the Christ.

How can someone say they restored something that was created in the 1800’s? No first century Christian would recognize the Church of Christ attitude about instrumental music. None would understand the segment of the Church of Christ who says the Spirit doesn’t indwell. How could one claim that which comes from the enlightenment as the early church? How can one say that rationalism had any place in the infancy of the church, that scientific thought guided them?

Rick Wade helps me understand why it happened, a distrust of the supernatural. People had a false belief that we could figure it all out and fix everything. I can see why it happened. Those who came before had the idea that science was the answer. We live on the other side of that myth. We have discovered that the world didn't get better, if anything life has gotten worse. I hope we realize that the church doesn't look more like the first century, it looks less.

We would be blessed if we traveled back to those fathers on a regular basis to see how they understood the message they had received. This effort might insure that no one says they are contending for the faith once delivered when they are actually defending a system constructed in the frontier days of the United States.

The article goes a long way in explaining why but this doesn't give us an excuse to continue down this path. If anything it should convict us that we must change courses for the health of the church. We need to discover Polycarp and the rest of our brothers and sisters in faith. We need to let them stand.

Up and Out

Football with my son. I guess I never really thought about when that day would come but it is here. This past week we were playing catch with one of the neighbor boys in the front yard. We were doing that offense/defense thing, you know which one I am talking about. I was all-time quarterback and they took turns with four plays each to score a touchdown.

We huddled up and I called out the play. Now I realized that my son was new to this route thing so I tried to put the play in a language he could understand. Of course I didn’t want to do too good of a job or the neighbor boy would overhear and all would be lost.

So I did what any sandlot quarterback would do, I drew the play out on the front of my shirt. It was a finger animation that Walt Disney would envy. I new using words like button hook and fly pattern wouldn’t compute with my son.

I walked him through the pattern, sound effects and all. Here is what I told him as my animated finger traveled the front of my shirt. “I want you to go up here, by that tree. You see the tree don’t you?”

“I want you to turn when you get to that tree and I will pump fake like this.” I gave him a little arm motion with the ball and explained that I would act like I was going to throw it to him.

I understood my son didn’t know a lot of this so I tried really hard to make sure I was explaining it at his level. I told him that after the pump fake I wanted him to cut behind the tree and I would pass him the football.

I asked if he understood. He nodded his head in agreement. My son is a Dallas Cowboy fan, it hurts me to this day, so he wanted me to be Troy Aikman. We broke from the huddle and it was one of those slow motion NFL film moments. You know the ones I’m talking about. The music, the faces, I saw my son and he looked like this was the beginning of his gridiron future.

We stepped to the line and I said hut, then I threw in a few more hut huts because that’s what the big boys do. He was off like lightning in a bottle. He went to the tree, glanced over his shoulder, and kept on going. I pumped but it was to no avail, my receiver hadn’t even broke stride. He did give me the glance over the shoulder but that was as close as we got to our animated front shirt finger drawing.

I looked at my son after I forced a pass into coverage, Jake Plummer style, and said, “Don’t understand what a pump fake is do you?” My son looked at me and nodded his head no.

I then showed him what I was looking for. I walked him threw the route and showed him exactly when to turn. I showed him what I would do when he turned, and then I walked him past the tree to show him exactly when I would have thrown him the ball. After walking with him through the play he understood and was ready to go again.

Afterwards I couldn’t help but think of all my attempts to couch church phrases in ways that nonbelievers could understand. All the times I have attempted to explain what this following Jesus thing is all about, and I realized what would probably work best would be my willingness to walk with them and show them what I mean each step of the way.

No matter how much I work on phrases they can understand, actions still speak louder than words.