Now You See Me movie

My wife and I just watched Now You See Me.  What a great movie!  If you're looking for a fun and

suspenseful thriller check this one out about four professional magicians who are drawn together by a mysterious man in order to pull off the most incredible and money-garnering 'tricks' ever done on stage.

As I watched I was thinking about this reality: people like to dabble in faith and belief as long as it has to do with hokey stuff.  We get all tingly about "believing in what you can't see" when it has to do with hocus-pocus.

Why do we feel so much less interested when it's not dark, or when it's not a cute, old crystal ball-reading lady like in The Princess and the Frog?

I could be crabby and say what a lot of religious folk do: it's because we don't want the demands and expectations that come with believing in a God that expects things of us.  Maybe that's true.  I don't know.  Something tells me the above can't be said unless you're feeling nicely self-righteous and wagging your finger like a Pharisee.

Maybe, instead, we get more queasy about the unknown because it might mean that Someone knows us in our ins and outs, our public and private selves.  I'm not talking about the creepy 'He's watching you, so watch out' stuff (that sounds a bit too much like Santa Claus with fangs).  I mean the fear we all have of being truly known.  Honestly, we're afraid and ashamed of the real us.  If the unseen God is allowed to be real and allowed to know us truly, we'll have to deal with the sting of fear-fear that He will reject us, or be disgusted, or find us so much less than we ought to be.

Or...

what if He was...safe.  What if we could open up our guts to him like breaking a huge dam and letting out all the crap and laying it bare.  What if, instead of doing all that work to keep up the facade and hiding, we stopped and listened and heard God say, "Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest" (Matthew 11).

Matters of the Heart - student poetry

Ahh...summer.  Sorry it has taken a while to get back to posting.

I received a number of insightful student poems and wanted to share a few.  Here is the first:

Heart of sweet, soft steel
You melt like ice cream
Yet break like a glass.
Heart, when will you learn
To not beat so fast?

I love the alliteration of "sweet, soft steel."  There's a lot there.  We often associate the heart with softness and sweetness, but the upper hook of this opening line is the heart being referred to as "steel."

It reminds me of the concept of having a "hard heart."  The notorious Pharaoh of Old Testament fame was said to have a hardened heart.  When people talk about the heart, some get annoyed because they consider this a 'mushy' subject.  Yet, out of the heart comes both love and bitterness, elation and collapse.  Jesus said as much.  This is captured so well in the next two lines where the heart is said to "melt like ice cream/ Yet break like a glass."

We are both fragile and volatile.  This is all the more reason that a meaningful life is not simply one in which we develop our minds, but one where we, more importantly, more vigilantly, tend to the nature of our own hearts.

The final question is intriguing.  Should we fear that which makes the heart beat quickly?  Buddhism seems to suggest this.  To the Buddhist, desire is the cause of pain and therefore should be done away with.  The goal is serenity, lack of desire.

In contrast, the early followers of Jesus, encouraged zeal, to love deeply, to face fear, to hunger for righteousness.  It makes sense to fear our quick-beating hearts.  In those moments, we tend to act instinctively.  We can easily make mistakes, say things we didn't want to say, or find ourselves more eager than normal, to take risks.  But, if we develop in our hearts, values that we share with our Father, and a place of peace that can be carried into those anxious or exciting moments, we can ride the intensity of our hearts into places God would have us and back out of those we know would do our hearts wrong.

Jesus Loves Tacos

Yes, tacos...
So, there's this sign at the end of our upstairs high school hallway that reads "Jesus Loves You." 

I find it really intriguing because:
1. It has been up for almost two years now.


2. People are apparently afraid to take it down.
3. It used to be yellow and now is completely white.

I wrote here about why I think no one dares take down the "Jesus" sign.

Now, though, two years after some well-meaning soul put it up, someone finally had the guts to graffiti on it.  I'm surprised it lasted that long.  Now it reads:

"Jesus Loves tacos."

Why doesn't anyone take it down now, then?  Are we so afraid to remove this piece of paper because somehow it is sacred?  We wouldn't go that far, but maybe we all feel a little bad if we were the one to remove the "Jesus Sign" (even if it does have the added taco comment). 

Oh, that we could be as gentle and honoring with the real image-bearers of God: the people around us.  Somehow it feels easier to malign the people in our own homes than to take down a sign that has outlived its usefulness.

How often we graffiti on the artwork of God's hands.  We speak sarcastically to our moms, drop f-bombs in a text to our girlfriend when we're mad, stretch the truth when we talk about people we don't like, flip off our little brother, lie to our teachers, or refuse to respond when someone asks a question and we're in 'a mood.' 

Don't we realize that this is much more hurtful to God, to others, and us than some funny guy who added "tacos" to the "Jesus Loves You" sign? 

The End is Near

Most of us are feeling it as the last day of school approaches. 

Some of you, seniors, are living it! 

It's really a thrill isn't it?  One thing I love about being a teacher is that you get to continue that feeling that you have as a student where things have a beginning and an end. 

Many jobs just go on and on and on.  Mine starts up with all the excitement, nervousness, and anticipation in August and then finally comes to a well needed conclusion in early June.

So when we think of the end of...life or the world, why does that get associated with sullenness and even anxiety?  Paul said in one of his letters that a crown awaits those who long for Jesus' appearance.  Did you catch that?  Long for. 

I have known my sweet friend Jesus, my dear Father, and my counselor, the Holy Spirit for over two decades, but I have yet to see them face-to-face.  I love my life, and yet, I anticipate with joy, I even long for, that day when I get to meet my Father and actually touch Him.

Is there a judgment at the end?  Yes, I believe there is.  But it is done by that same Dad, that same Friend.  I am trying to live in a way that makes Him proud, but I'm sure I'll disappoint Him in some ways too.  Either way, it's still my Dad that will greet me there and I know He's for me. 

That's a good ending.  It will also be the best new Beginning.

Fall in attraction; choose in love - Allegiant

Falling in love.

We all want it.  It might scare us, but our pulses beat a bit faster when we consider it happening to us.

But the word "fall" is problematic.

Falling is something happens to you.  You don't typically choose to fall.  We use this word with love because it is often surprising how we find ourselves attracted to someone of the opposite sex.

I, however, don't think we fall in love.  I think we "fall" in attraction and we choose to love.

Tris, in the Divergent series, has a longstanding relationship with Tobias.  In the 3rd book, Allegiant, they go through several major upheavals, and after one of them Tris says the following:

"I use to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward.  And maybe that's true of beginnings, but it's not true of this, now.

"I fell in love with him.  But I don't stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me.  I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other.  I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me."

My wife and I often counsel dating and married couples.  I can tell you this: falling in love doesn't make relationships last.  But choosing that person again and again does.

On the flip side, you may end up dating someone that you "fell" into.  It's okay to recognize that, after a while, you may discover that you don't want to choose them anymore.  Don't be fooled by "but we fell in love."  If you discover that you don't work together well, or you are looking for something else, it's okay to let go.  Trust Your Shepherd to lead you.  You can find "true" love again.  True love, in reality, is the one you choose at an altar.

Will your faith stand the test? Allegiant

If you haven't already seen it in the news, a young wife in the country of Sudan has been sentenced to
death for becoming a follower of Jesus.  She argues that she was raised as a Christian so shouldn't be accused of committing apostasy, a law that makes it a crime to leave Islam.  Nevertheless, she was given three days to renounce her faith in Jesus, at the end of which she replied, I cannot.  I am a Christian.

Due to her being 8 months pregnant she will be hanged after giving birth.

Crazy, right?  Could you stick with your faith under that pressure?  Could I?

In Allegiant [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!], the third book in the Divergent series, Tris chooses to die to save her brother and her city, when she could have let her brother die instead.  In fact, he had volunteered to do it.

Could I die for my brother?  Could I willingly sacrifice myself if needed?  Would I choose to die for Jesus if need be?

Have you ever beat yourself up a bit over these questions?

Here's a profound comment that comes from the very last page of the Allegiant book.  It is from Tobias:

"There are so many ways to be brave in this world.  Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else.  Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.

"But sometimes it doesn't.

"Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.

"That is the sort of bravery I must have now."

Yes, there are some who will face those dramatic all-or-nothing moments.  But most of us will live 'normal' lives.  But normal lives can be truly extraordinary when you make daily sacrifices, sacrifices

to speak politely to your mom.
to not believe the gossip about your friend.
to say hello to the quiet kid that sits near you in math.
to daily serve your family.
to give up time on your phone so you can spend time with Father.
to believe and fight for your values

So, if the dramatic situations come our way, I'm trusting that Father will give us the strength we don't have in ourselves.  But, if we're faced with 'normal' life, I'm trusting He'll give us the same strength for that!

11th Period Romeo & Juliet Trailer