Category: illustrations

  • The injustice of grace

    Define GraceHave you ever thought about what Jesus did and thought, “eh?“ I’ve been having this thought lately and I just can’t shake it:

    It’s a complete injustice that I experience grace.

    First of all, I need to be clear what I mean by grace since there are several definitions for this word… even the Bible uses it 5-6 different ways. By grace I mean “the active communication of divine blessings by the inworking of the Holy Spirit, out of the fullness of Him who is “full of grace and truth,”” (Louis Berkhof, 1949) In other words, grace is the good stuff we are blessed with because of our relationship with Jesus.

    Have you ever been comped on something? You know, you show up to a place and because you are with “him” or “her” you get free stuff. That’s a practical expression of grace… and it’s a total injustice! In my life I’ve gotten comped on some very nice things. Rounds of golf, meals, retail stuff, vacations, stuff like that. It’s always a weird feeling as you of look at the person whom you’d normally pay and then flash a glance over to the “big guy” and the need to pull out your wallet goes away. (Sometimes a half thumb pointing at the big guy helps.)

    Why is that an injustice? Well, you get stuff you can’t afford for free! Other people have to pay big bucks for the round of golf I play for free… that’s really not fair to those who have to pay, is it?

    It’s the same way in a lot of areas of my life right now. God is granting my family a lot of injustice lately. When I look my kids I can’t help thinking… what an injustice, I don’t deserve this awesome family. Even as a family, there is so much good stuff happening to us and all around us we’re kind of left simply shrugging our shoulders and pointing at the “big guy” and admitting… “we’re with Him.” God is comping us on little things (stuff) and big stuff (a family who choses to honor God with what they do) and the only word I can use to describe it is overwhelming injustice.

  • Finding culture from within four walls

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the culture we live in as well as how we discover the culture we live in. Some of it comes from observation, some of it we naturally pick up without noticing it, but a lot of our culture comes from outside.

    Think about the cultural things you pick up at a camp or even on a vacation with friends. You develop new lingo and special norms. That’s fascinating to me about human nature. Why did God make us that way?

    And what does our ability to adapt and learn culture so quickly say about our God. We are made in His image, aren’t we? Does that mean that God is super-adaptable? Does that mean that God uses new lingo or norms to reach us? I think it does.

    And what about this. Have you ever thought about your own personal role in culture? Have you ever thought that you were put into a culture or sub-culture or micro-culture to infect, affect, or defect that culture? 

  • The home stretch

    Home stretchMegan has about three weeks left of school. Like a lot of other kids in school, she can only think about the finish line. How many days until she is done with first grade, gets a vacation, and enters second grade? Right now that is all those thoughts dominate her mind.

    We are using this time, this moment, to emphasize three McLane values. She knows them… now she is getting to live them.

    Value #1: Winners don’t look back. It doesn’t matter what the sport is, if you keep your eye on your competition and what they are doing you are more likely to lose. We teach our kids to focus on doing their absolute best. If they are in first place… only look at the finish line and do your best. For her school work Megan needs to focus on being #1 and not focusing on what her friends are doing. They may be doing great right now, or they may be cashing it in. But there is still important learning to be done in these final moments. I know that historians tell you that looking back helps you not make mistakes in the future… that may be true for some things. But for me, my ministry and my business depend on my looking forward toward the goals and focusing on the winning… all that matters are the two times I can control: Today and tomorrow. Looking back only leads to failure.

    Value #2: Never give up. We say this all the time when we wrestle and play with the kids. “Do you give up?” The right answer is “Daddy, I never give up!” (As they are pinned down on the floor struggling to get up and knock me down.) The life of a McLane is never a bed of roses. We’re not handed anything… we earn what we have with hard work, diligence, honesty, and perseverance. I moved out of my house before my 18th birthday and I learned this lesson the hard way. Sure God wants to bless us. But in my life, God blesses me when I’m working hard. I expect my kids to translate that value to everything they do. From soccer to karate to 1st grade. Until the teacher or coach tells them its time to go home, they don’t give up.

    Value #3: Finish strong. Let’s face it. Most people are lazy. They know that doing 70% of their job and making 51% of people happy means doing a “good job” and getting a raise. Our society expects and rewards mediocrity. (Sorry, but this is why I hate unions. Unions reward mediocrity.) I don’t believe God desires mediocrity from His children. We teach our kids that finishing strong matters. From the first day of 1st grade to the last day of first grade… everyday matters. When I’m at work, finishing a project strong is all that matters. It doesn’t matter that I’ve had a great week of preparation. It doesn’t matter that the meeting started good. It doesn’t matter that I have a good plan. What matters, what you are judged on, is execution. Strong execution of a plan, task, or even a sermon makes up for inadequacies in other areas.

    These are the values I teach my kids. Are they biblical? You tell me.

    What values do you teach your kids? What values do you express in your daily life that emphasize who you are, your life story?

    Bonus: What does this have to do with the Protestant Work Ethic?

  • 13 Years Later

    13 yearsKristen and I have been going out 13 years. (OK, we’ve been married almost 11 years… but we’re still dating.) I love telling our story because it’s pretty unusual these days.

    Kristen and I met when we were almost 19 years old. After a really awkward and unmemorable blind date Kristen and I finally had our first real date in May 1995. It happened spontaneously as I asked Kristen out… thinking she would say something about the weekend… but she said, “Sure, I’m not doing anything right now. Let’s go out.” Since I’ve never been accused of being a plan man, this was perfect for me as I was able to improv a little.

    Needless to say we got lost. We jumped on the el and went the wrong way towards O’hare. For entertainment on our long train ride I read Dr. Seuss books to Kristen. While I acted out all the voices and made her giggle with my stupidity we lost track of where we were going. When the blue line ended 25 miles out of the way… I suddenly realized our mistake. The only problem was that I didn’t have enough change to correct the mistake! So, on our first date Kristen learned about my “Live like JFK rule.” (I rarely carry cash and depend on debit cards, even then.)

    An hour later we arrived at the airport. Why the airport? Well, I had been convinced that O’hare had an observation deck where we could watch planes taxi and take off. I was wrong. But it didn’t matter. She was sold on my sexiness and Dr. Seuss voices.

    A true test of how things were going came from a classic Adam corny joke. As we were wandering around O’hare we rode the escalator up to the 2.5 billion check-in desks. As we were walking through we walked past all the placards that said “International” and “Domestic.” I said, “Did you know that the domestic lines are just for married people?” Kristen said, “Really?” And I was in love.

    I can’t get her anymore as she ignores 99% of what I say. But we’re still in love.

  • Mikhail Gorbachev is a closet believer

    I had a conversation with someone today about Easter being a moment when a lot of closeted believers come to church. With that in mind, I found this news story quite interesting.

    Mr Gorbachev’s surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian. link

    All I can say to this is “Wow.”

  • Illumination: Who does that?

    Hmmm“I’ve read that passage 10 times in my life, heard several messages in church, but never understood what God was trying to teach me until your message. Thank you.”

    This is something that most Bible teachers and pastors hear from time to time. It’s meant as a compliment to the preacher… and it is. It is a compliment to preparation, creativity, and delivery. When I receive that compliment it always helps validate the hours of work that go into everything from simple lessons to the most complex sermon to a weekly youth group talk. But the primary compliment goes to God. When I hear that comment I know that the Holy Spirit has done something in that person’s life.

    Here is the definition of illumination I learned in college:

    The Illumination of the Bible (also relates to pneumatology) That supernatural help of the Holy Spirit which enables man to understand and comprehend the meaning of God’s revelation.

    Illumination has two aspects as it relates to us. First for unbelievers, illumination is the Holy Spirit helping the person to understand God’s truths for the purposes of salvation. Practically, this is what makes the difference between someone who has heard the gospel message 20x’s and not responded and responding to the 21st time. Second for believers, illumination is the action of the Holy Spirit when you understand God’s revelation to you. (99% of the time that revelation is the Bible)

    Practically, what does illumination look like or feel like? (more…)

  • Summer Series at Light Force

    Our summer series kicks off tomorrow night. It’s called "What were they thinking?" We’ll be looking at examples like this one and looking at some equal evidence from the Bible to see that everyone and anyone can be used by God.

    Not sure how that’s going to fit together? You’ll just have to come and find out.

  • Two odd but true internet rumors

    There are two oddities floating around the internet. Both are completely real and both make us all laugh a little and scratch our heads.

    Exhibit A: Ted Nugent and David Crowder Band team up for their next album, Remedy.

    Exhibit B: Someone snagged this picture of Snoop Dogg reading an Andy Stanley book.
    Snoop

  • Asking isn’t Stealing

    Asking

    The following is an illustration I am using for tonight’s talk from Luke 11:5-13.

    Having a handicapped kid in your cabin stunk at camp because almost everything we did was competitive and it meant that because of Timmy we would always lose. We were the last to finish, the last to line up, the last to eat, the last to clean-up… if you’re a 5-6th grade boy life is about winning and losing for a week was annoying.

    I don’t know why, but the camp directors gave Timmy to me when in fact my cabin was the furthest from everything. Timmy had braces on his leg and walked, even ran, pretty good. But negotiating hills and the rough trails was hard. At the end of the first day the 2 trips to the main camp had left his legs very raw. With a long week ahead I knew that each day may have 15-20 trips to the cabin and back and this wasn’t going to work.

    So I quietly arranged for me and Timmy to use a golf cart instead of walking with our cabin back and forth. But this guy taught me something Monday morning when I told him about this… he wouldn’t accept it. He wanted to be just like each of the other kids and walk.

    All day we walked. He tried to keep up but it just took a while. Timmy wouldn’t quit no matter what. He wanted to do everything. He kept telling me that God had given him this disease and he wasn’t going to let it ruin his week at camp. He had a great and infectious attitude. He really convinced me that he could do anything he wanted to. Each night Timmy pretty much took over devotions and our prayer time… and the kids in the cabin really started looking up to him.

    Well, on Sunday when I was told I was getting Timmy they told me that he could do everything except climb the climbing tower. I knew that on Thursday I was going to take the other 8 kids to the wall and that Timmy was going to have to watch while all of his friends climbed and that it would break his heart. So, I went and asked JoAnn one of those “asking isn’t stealing questions.” To my surprise, she told me “yes” even though we had to call his parents first.

    The next morning I told my cabin that we were going climbing… all of us. Later that morning I witnessed one of the bravest moments of my life. This kid, who hobbled more than walked, who had zero control of his ankles and could barely move his knees on command stared up at a 40 foot wall and said “belle on.” For the next half hour I stood there and cheered, cried, and encouraged Timmy to climb the wall. He’d get one foot in a hold… use all of his strength to will his other leg into another hold and reach forward. Bit by bit he pulled himself to the top. About ¾ of the way through it I was sure he’d quit. You could see he was defeated. His whole upper body started to shiver from exhaustion and I began to change from cheering to reassuring him that it was OK to quit. He looked down at me and said, “I will not quit. I will not give up, I am going to the top!” I have no idea how he made it up those last 10 feet… but it was amazing. He was so tired that he began to cry and get mad… by this time all of the other campers from our cabin were just staring at his attempt… and JoAnn and the camp director had made their way out.

    You could hear Timmy praying on the wall through his tears. “God, help me get up this wall. God give me strength. God, please let me get to the top.” But he made it. He got to the top. That one moment was the highlight of my summer.

    All because I had the guts to ask permission. Timmy got to do what he was told he couldn’t do.

    Imagine if you could… if you could do that with God… you could ask him anything and He’d have an asking isn’t stealing attitude?

    What if God listened to your prayers and actually thought one of your ideas was good enough to act on?

  • Biting my Tongue is Starting to Hurt

    That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. Ephesians 2:19, The Message

    I think I was the only one blown away by this at the Bible study this morning. Four people sat around my breakfast table… they all read this and only one was blown away. To hear those words "you belong here" may be the most powerful thing that the church offers but we just take it for granted.

    How I long to look across the table and know that everyone feels like they belong.