Blog Readers, Assemble!

Today is a special update! Still going to do the weekly nonsense, but while I'm at it, I thought I'd bring the full force of my 3 subscribers and dozens of half-interested family members to bear on Washington!

Enough writing about it, let's do something for Jesus.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3097

There's this war that's been going on in Uganda for a long long time. However you feel about war in general, it's hard to feel good about this one. The rebels have been rounding up children, torturing them, then handing them guns and sending them out to fight.

I've called one congressman today, and I'm calling the other one tomorrow, simply because I believe in a risen savior who calls us to do everything we can to bring his kingdom about in our lives and in others' lives. Call a congressman, then do something that actually helps and say a prayer!

(jake)

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3097

Of Mouse Tails and Fences, or The Ballad of Desmond Tutu

I have an office. There are two couches. There are pictures of friends and family, probably a picture or two of you. There is a big desk that I sit at, and on this desk are a few more pictures. Most of my pictures hang loose and get stamped up on the wall, simply because I can't afford that many picture frames. But a few of them are especially special, and these ones get frames. One is a picture of me and my wife (I'm married now, heads up.) and the other is a picture of me and a couple of my best friends on what the legends of York College refer to as, "Fabolus Monday." Ask me about that one, seriously.

There is one other picture in a frame, it sits behind me on my bookshelf. It is a picture of one of my personal heroes, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I have a few personal heroes, CS Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., whoever will eventually replace Dayton Moore as Royals GM, but Desmond Tutu is the one we're talking about today. Without going into multiple paragraphs about why he is significant, I want to talk about a quote from him. (Don't worry, there's still a Bible verse. Just stick with me.)

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." - Dezzy T

I know. Bishop Tutu is a clever guy. But seriously, consider this. Consider the implications for your life. Are you neutral? Because the sad fact is, that there is no neutral. Cliche but true, Satan owns the fence.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." - Revelation 3:15-16


The thing about teaching from the Bible is that it's not all going to make you happy. It will make you a better person, it will make you holier, more blessed, and ultimately someday happier, but at the moment you read it, it will not always make you happy. There's a good chance that today's blog is going to be kind of like that, so if you're the type who likes happiness more than you like truth, I suggest you spend some of your internet time somewhere else. I would suggest icanhascheezburger.com for the remainder of your time online.


Ask yourself something, and do it honestly, wherever you are. Are you really committed to Christ? I'm not asking if you believe, I'm not asking if you're perfect, I'm not asking if you've been overcoming sin in your life, those are all related but different issues. Are you really, truly, and honestly committed to seeking God, and to being a Christian? Are you making some sort of effort to figure out what it means to follow Jesus? If not, then I have bad news.

The way it looks to me, this verse in Revelation is pretty clear on something; God is more annoyed by neutral people than he is by his enemies. And why shouldn't he be? It's not just Jesus and Desmond Tutu; every great leader in history has been more frustrated with apathy than with animosity. Read Dr. King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail if you don't believe me.

Today, unfortunately, I have to call it for what it is. An epidemic of apathy has swept through our Churches. I'm not sure when it happened, if it was before my birth, if it's relatively new, or if it's always been going on, but there are people across the world showing up on Sunday morning, Sunday night, or whenever else your Church meets, and they're not letting a single bit of what happens there bleed into their daily life.

To my readers who are apathetic, please, hear me out. God will puke you up. It's going to be gross in a way that you cannot imagine. Not only that, it's going to be painful and embarrassing. My blog today is a plea for passion; give Jesus just a little bit more of your time. Let the things you learned on Sunday morning affect your week. Start with sermons! Just start by listening to the sermon at your Church, and just one day this week, try to live out whatever it is that the preacher is encouraging. Try it, and see if your life isn't completely different as a result!

Or don't. See if I care.





I do.

(jake)

A Christian Blog that WON'T Mention Glenn Beck

For the record, I like you guys. I appreciate you reading this madness, sticking with me when I disappear for a few months, and I hope that you get something out of it. If we're not already friends on Facebook, you need to add me. Unless you're that guy that bombs abortion clinics who commented one time. You should go to jail. You're a terrorist.

Switching gears completely, I think I may have found the single most incredible verse in all of scripture. It's in John 14:12 -

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Okay for a few minutes drop all theology, scholarship, deep thinking and analytical thought and just read that for what it says. Don't over think it, don't start assuming it means something about Church or Holy Spirits, just read the dang thing. Because after 23 years I've finally started doing that. I seriously just read it last night, just really read it and really saw it for what it is, and I seriously nearly freaked out. We will do greater things than Jesus. Greater!

Let's bring everyone up to speed here; Jesus did some big big stuff. He fed thousands, walked on water, RAISED THE DEAD, turned water to wine, cured sickness, RAISED HIMSELF FROM THE DEAD, and preached some pretty killer sermons. Jesus was kind of a big deal. Still is.

But here he is speaking to his disciples, and saying some pretty bold stuff. To think that they would do greater things than Jesus must have been completely thrilling to them! But let's not miss the most significant thing here; Jesus didn't just say this to the people in attendance, he says that anyone who believes in him is going to do even greater things than he did! That means me, you, anyone in the year 2010 AD who believes in Jesus is capable of doing even greater things than Jesus did!

So that brings up the big question; why not? Why aren't we? Why are so many Christians struggling to live up to this promise?

Let me share with you a youth minister secret, the kind of thing that we talk about in upper-division classes, right in between the unit on beards and before the one on how to attract a hot wife. (Yes, it's really covered in class)

The secret is, people will generally give you what you expect of them. (Secretive italics!) In youth ministry what this means is that we shouldn't be afraid to ask a lot of the teens. Most of these guys are taking advanced calculus classes that only 1 in every 100 youth ministers could even sit through, let alone pass. And yet we give them watered down, simple Bible lessons? No no. Not right.

But what this secret means for us as people is that we have to start expecting more of ourselves. We are a culture that is driven by a desire to accomplish things, wanting so desperately to have something that we can say we did, wanting to always find the next big thing to do, and yet in our faith we are content to simply fill a pew once a week?

Or maybe your problem is a low self-esteem? Maybe you, like so many others are afraid of failure, maybe you don't expect much of yourself because you don't think much of yourself. The same Jesus that said that you would do great things also died for you; whether you believe in your own potential or not, Jesus Christ does.

Whether your great deed is to share the gospel with a co-worker, or if God has called you to something more public, like mission work, whatever it is, stop living like you're not called to something better. Realize your own potential, and live like it.

(jake)

PS - I know, it's been a while. But I have office hours now, and I am way more available to write this nonsense. Tell your friends about this blog. Better yet, tell your enemies, it's a great way to settle an old score.