A place where I like to explore, with frankness and honesty, the ways that relating to God might look in real life and in real relationships for teens and young adults.
These were the guests of the very first Christmas party. They translate as: The Magi
The shepherds
Mary
Joseph
The animals
The scene is so cutesy in the paintings, but when you think of someone giving birth in this dark, unsanitized setting, you can see it wasn't pretty at all.
The God of the universe, the majestic One, the Creator. How does He come? Like this? Seriously?
Here's why it matters: one of the greatest gifts we get from Jesus life on this earth was that He showed us the Father. He made it crystal clear, just what God was actually like.
And here we see God's heart: One that humbles Himself so as to be with us in our life-in the midst of all it's crap and splendor. The Father is FOR us.
This is a tiding of comfort...and joy.
Merry Christmas.
I'm sitting here listening to an album from 1990. Yep, old stuff.
It's funny. We all branch out, but when times get hard we go back to home base, where we started.
For me, my human life began in 1976, but my true life began in November of 1990 when I asked Jesus to work in my life.
I've done lots of thinking and exploring over the decades since. I love thinking and wrestling about the deep stuff of life. All of that has been a part of my journey with Jesus and has deepened and enriched the way I see life, see my Father, and love.
But, today, as my wife and I feel some hurts my heart went looking for something to hold onto. So many things that I have learned are helpful, but they just didn't give me a place to rest. But then I went back to home base. Home base for me is: the sense of peace and exhilaration I feel about following Jesus wherever He leads in this life. Everything else comes around that.
I think about a song called "Keep Me Running" by Randy Stonehill (a different one from the one I sing in chapel). I love the image of running through life, wind whipping my face, following Jesus, but in reality, being propelled by His ubiquitous presence as well.
It's where it all started for me: an aimless teen with lots of passion, but nowhere to go. Suddenly at age 14, thanks to a friend, I heard that Jesus wanted me, yes me, to live my life for him.
And all of this came back to me at age 39 when I'm feeling hurt. Home base just gave me the perspective and the impetus to keep running, keep running, keep running...after Him. What a dangerous, but "worth-it" adventure.
If there's some take-away here, I'd say it's to ask yourself: do you have a home base? And if so, what is it? Where will your mind and heart go when hurt and despair tries to wrestle your soul to the ground? Find that home base and cling to it.
This subject has led me into many mental and spiritual wrestling matches. I have read, studied, talked, and prayed about it, knowing that it is a defining issue of our time in the western world. I have even changed perspectives several times, trying to follow God's heart.
And, of course, it's not just an "issue." It's about real people, with real lives, real hopes and dreams. It is so much more complex than I ever thought it was when I was younger. Having read and heard perspectives from Jesus-followers on both sides of the debate (and in the middle), I particularly found the podcast in this post refreshing.
The speaker is Wayne Jacobsen and this is his podcast called The God Journey. The subject of same-sex relationships is not his usual topic, but here he gives such a compassionate, honest, and relate-able explanation of where he is one this journey. He also reads from an article that differs from him and also plays the audio of a story of a Christian man with same-sex attractions.
I implore (fancy for: beg) you to listen to all of it. I know it's long, but I think if you stop part way through you will miss the full nature of Jacobsen's answer to the question: Can a Christian be Gay?
Sometimes, when we look again at biblical occurrences without Sunday School blinders, we may find that they are much more complicated than we think.
Take the story of Noah and the ark. Is this a story about cute animals on a boat or the story of an angry, irrational God lashing out and destroying men, women, and children indiscriminately?
This radio show podcast addresses these issues in a logical and analytical way. I think you'll find it insightful, provocative, and even entertaining. Dennis Prager is a Jewish radio show host. He also plays several quotes by noted atheist Bill Maher.
The Magi
