Category: hmm… thoughts

While listening to our local Cheesy Christian Radio Station (WCCR) last night, folks were calling in with their spiritual reflections on why they hide from Halloween. There are mountains of people who literally go out today, rent a family movie, and hide in their house so that they can ignore the festivities of the night. (Then congratulate themselves for "surviving" another Halloween.)

Last week I made my feelings clear when I posted, "We celebrate Halloween."

Here are 3 reasons why I think every Christian should embrace Halloween as a cultural phenomenon beyond personal convictions that you are endorsing evil.

1. Don’t punish your kids for your convictions. We don’t let our kids dress up as demons or witches… but we do allow them to wear costumes because it’s fun. But to keep them at home, locked in the basement while you watch some cheesy Christian movie instead of getting bucket loads of candy tonight… that’s just mean. We are called to bring light into darkness not hide from darkness. (Ephesians 5:8-14) You can take your kids to your neighbors houses, keep them safe, and show them that being a Christian isn’t about hiding from the world.
2. Be hospitable. I know plenty of people live in rural areas and don’t get trick-or-treaters. So you folks are exempt… for a night. But if you are like me and hundreds of kids will be walking by your house looking for a few pieces of yummy candy don’t be the jerk on you block. Head out to the store right now and get yourself a couple bags of candy. Titus 1:8 pretty much makes it clear that anyone in leadership at their church must be hospitable. Turn your light on, answer the door, and be hospitable. Even if you can’t be home tonight, leave out a bowl and turn the light on. People know what to do! (Yes, just let people steal your candy!)
3. Don’t be afraid! I think a lot of this anti-Halloween stuff is based on terrible theology. The Bible tells us to resist the devil. Peter tells us to "resist him" which indicates a struggle. (1 Peter 5:8-9) But the Bible doesn’t tell Christians to hide from evil. Look at the example of Paul as he went to various towns. He encountered evil in all its forms and chose to bring Christ there.

I think the last sermon series at Romeo captured this quite well. When we make fear-based decisions in life, ones that are emotionally based, we tend to step away from the best that God has to offer. God provided His Son for salvation… for freedom from the devil. I think hiding from something as harmless as Halloween is giving the devil a foothold in your life. (Yes, I know the origins of Halloween… don’t even get me started on the origins of Christmas! The inconsistency there drives me nuts, but I’ll save that for December.)

I suppose this is why I don’t understand the Christian "ant-Halloween" mindset. If Jesus has conquered Satan, and Halloween is 99% community and 1% a recognition of Satan’s activities in the world today… why are we "hiding it under a bushel."

If you absolutely can’t bear the thought of giving people candy… don’t hide in your house. Come to mine! We’ll be giving out buckets of candy, greeting people, offering them something hot to drink, and telling them about the kids programs at church. This isn’t an activity of the church… it’s a ministry of my family to my neighborhood!

Colossians 1:16 is a very interesting passage, especially in thinking of politics.

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him.

When you think about it, "for Him" is a pretty powerful statement. It’s also perplexing. In inclusiveness of this sentence is amazing as "all things" pretty much means Jesus Christ not only allowed the creation of all things (people, places, organizations, etc) but that he actually created all things, "by Him."

So quickly make a list of all the stuff in the world you don’t like. [At least mentally] And then do something like this…

• Microsoft Zune was created by Him…
• Super soft blankets at Kohl’s were created by Him…
• Smelly people who want hugs were created by Him…
• That pile of snot that runs out of babies noses was created by Him…
• Governments that allow thousands to starve or be persecuted because of their race were created by Him…
• The United States tax code was created by Him…
• The 2.5 million ads we’ll watch in the next 12 months about candidates were created by Him…

But for what purpose? Jesus, why did you create those things?

For Him.

Que? Makes you think, doesn’t it?

• Why did He create these things?
• What was He trying to communicate to us in creating them?

HT to Gman.

1. Megan and Paul were awesome today. Behavior has been fantastic with mom out of town.
2. Kristen finished her half marathon in record time. (Well, it was her first… but she finished!)
3. The weather in Romeo is perfect.
4. Church today was great! The message series is especially relevant to what our community is experiencing.
5. People we’ve been praying would come to church, came today. How cool is that?

Yesterday a major problem halted the forums at Youth Ministry Exchange. It started off with some odd forum behavior overnight and continually got more strange until about 3:30 PM when the forums came to a screeching halt.

And a dozen or so people emailed me and/or contacted me through AIM. (Even with my away message up.) It’s amazing how much of a distraction people saying "help" is, isn’t it? It’s really hard to ignore.

As I investigated the problem and discovered that my solution wasn’t all that fun (loads of steps that were scary because it could mess up the forums permanently e.g. destroy the business) I had to deal with all sorts of "normal" distractions. Such as, things that I normally should be doing… like going to soccer practice with Megan.

Why is it so hard to distinguish between what you should be doing and what is a distraction?

I recently wrote this for the church’s newsletter/magazine, The Romeo Peach. (Check out our new online home of the Peach)

For gamers all around the world, September 25th was as big a holiday
as Christmas. When Halo 3 hit stores at 12:01 AM cash registers rang
totaling $170 million in sales within the first 24 hours. By
mid-morning on September 25th, XBOX Live had come to a standstill as
servers were overwhelmed with gamers playing online. For those who
aren’t certain just how many people bought this game, Halo 3 sold more
copies than any Harry Potter debut and had more customers in the first
24 hours than any movie in history. Here’s a link to the rest.

I’m in the process of catching up on 7 days worth of google reader stuff.

I think the thing that is so surprising to me is how much hat tipping there is. someone will post something they thought of or observed… and then that thought will make the rounds.

I don’t know if it is good or bad. I just know that origionality is lacking on a lot of blogs. I can see why some peolple stop readingv blogs that just regurgitate the post of the day. sooner or later people will find where your thoughts come from and just cut the middle man.

In the past few weeks I’ve heard a number of people… students, adults, business people, and youth ministry types use a phrase that I don’t believe in.

"I’m waiting for the Lord to make it clear."

This is a classic Christian stall statement. It makes me sick because it blames our inability to be decisive on God. God isn’t, by His very nature, indecisive.

I don’t believe God calls Christians to stall. I believe God calls us to act. The very core of our role as believers is found in the Great Commission and the key word is a verb… GO.

• I think I want to look for a new job, but I’m waiting for the Lord to make it clear.
• I like Joe but he’s not a Christian, so I’m waiting on God to make it clear to me.
• I feel compelled to reach Mary for Christ, but I don’t know how to start so I’m just waiting on the Lord.
• I want to make this deal but I just don’t know…. I’m waiting on the Lord.

So, what are you waiting for? Are you blaming God for missed opportunities? (Which is the next step, isn’t it? "I was thinking about a new job, one became available that looked great, but I decided to wait until God made it clear to me, but then the job offer expired… so God closed that door.")

Take some action.

• Turn that prayer request into a first step.
• Stop liking the boy who isn’t a Christian… God wouldn’t want you to sin.
• Get some evangelism training.
• Pursue the deal.

I think a lot of the people I know are indecisive, not because of a character flaw, but because they lack the actual skills to make good decisions. I’m not an expert, and I make mistakes, but this is how I make decisions.

1. Consult the Word. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many times something that makes perfectly good sense is actually taught in the Bible. Make a good decision would never involve my sinning.
2. Seek counsel. Seriously, I never skip this step when it comes to big decisions. Heck, I even seek the counsel of my friends, pastoral-types, Kristen, parents, and the people in my life whom God has placed for MINOR decisions.
3. Self-evaluation. When I hear what God’s unshakable word says, then listen to the counsel of the wise people God has put in my life… I evaluate the decision.. is this the best decision for me? Do I have to do this now? Is this too good to be true? Is this as bad as it looks? What kind of emotions is this bringing about? Is this a distraction from my life’s mission?

When all 3 steps are done. Boom… I make a decision.

I trust you Lord. I trust that His ways are better than my ways. And I trust that His path is better than my path.

While I never want to be decision happy… I also never want to counsel people to blame God for their inability to get stuff done in their lives. I believe God has equipped each believer with the ability to make the best/wisest decisions and make stuff happen. It’s our role to trust God’s leading.

Let our yes be yes and our no be no. But let God’s people be decisive. God’s name is "I am." You don’t have to wait for "I am."