entertain

Success is abstract.
It is relative.
It is conditional.

For the entertainment business, success is largely based on sheer numbers.
How many records are sold.
How many tickets are sold.
How many viewers on any given night.

Often, true entertainment success comes in the for of returnees.
The number of people who watch the show weekly.
The number of people who come back when the band tours again.
The number of people who purchase the 2nd or 3rd album.

In turn, the corporations and companies in charge do what it takes to get more people to buy into what they are doing. In order to be successful as an entertainer, one must "give the people what they want." One must "keep them coming back for more."

Over time, the passion and love for the art (music, acting, playing) or the sport gives way to the passion for more followers. Slowly, the focus moves from love and passion to "success." Before you know it, there are new artists, new performers, new entertainers. The difference is that these newcomers have skipped the passion for the art or sport and are solely focused on the "success"
the money
the fame
the accolades
the recognition.

Many churches have become institutions for entertainment.
The pastors probably started the church based on on deep love for Jesus and to see the Kingdom come. But, over time, it became less about the message of hope and love and Jesus and more about how many, how many, how many...

how many came to church?
how many came to small group or sunday school?
how many gave financially?
how many brought friends?

Naturally, we recognize that to get people to come, you need to give them what they want. That is how N-Sync did it. That is how the Super Bowl does it. That is how American Idol does it. That is how Stephen Spielberg does it.

So, churches focus on what the people want. Because to be successful, you have to meet their wants. And if you have to choose, opt for what makes the most people happy. Opt for the what will please the most people.

So, we have loud music (because that is what the larger demographic wants)...
we have shorter messages (because that is what they asked for)...
we use a lot of video clips (because they have to be entertained)...
Each week becomes less and less about the message and more about the method.

Then we realize we have no time or resources to develop and train new followers of Jesus. We have even fewer resources to help our community who is in need.

We spent it all (time, money, people) on making sure we pleased everyone with our show.
Because after all...we have to get them in the doors, right?
I mean, Jesus used miracles and feedings to get them to follow Him, right?
(Which makes perfect sense why Jesus would end many miracles by saying "Don't tell anyone about this.")

Please do not misunderstand me. The church should lead the way in excellence. If we are not going to do it well, we are not doing it to the glory of God and we are better off not doing it.
I love good music. I think it should be in the church. The church should lead the way in the arts.
I love video clips. Many of them aid in the understanding and application of truth.

It breaks my heart to see the church sell out just so they can have sell-outs and standing room only.
It breaks my heart to see churches work so hard to verbally share the message of salvation, only to have nothing place to help someone walk through life with the gift.
It breaks my heart to see so many churches entertaining rather than equipping and encouraging.

learning

Here are some things I have been thinking about recently...

+ I wish I would have paid more attention in college.

+ Stepping stones never help the present.

+ I miss playing baseball...but my shoulder doesn't.

+ There is a human growing inside of Meredith's stomach...sometimes that is weird.

+ Churches should be less focused on church and more on Jesus.

+ I never want comfort to interfere with an abundant life.

+ I am really excited to be a dad.

+ Meredith is too good for me.

+ I miss my friends.

+ I need to be challenged...continually.

+ Tim Tebow.

+ There is nothing quite like peace.

+ Love must be the beginning and the end of all things.

+What are you learning?+

better

there are people who have always motivated and challenged me.
some have done so athletically, others socially, many scholastically...but few have challenged me holistically.

one of the few is a friend of mine named james rowell.

do yourself a favor and read everything he has here.

restore

old becomes new.

it is a fascinating thing when what was once old and forgotten is found and made new. for some, it is exhilarating...the thrill of the discovery and the hope from its restoration.

i am exhilarated.

sometimes, it takes the ancient history of the past to make you new again.
i guess what i am learning is that being "new" is not necessarily a method of reinvention, but rather a re-discovery of what was old.

old, simple truths.
old, simple memories.
old, simple observations.
old, simple context...somehow realized in the new, chaotic life.

peace.

peace: puzzle

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas growing up we had a puzzle. I guess I have always been pretty analytical because for as long as I can remember, I have loved puzzles. I am not sure what it is about them.
Maybe it is the fact that it keeps me busy for a while.
Maybe it is the the frustration of it all.
Maybe it is the beautiful pictures of wagons and snowfalls and pumpkins...surely that is not it.

Maybe it is seeing chaos turn to something beautiful.

The Greek word for "anxious" finds its root in a word that means "to divide or separate into parts."
It makes perfect sense.

Those times that we get stressed out about the future,
the times we get nervous about paying bills,
the days we worry about our health or the health of a loved one,
the moments we fret about the job we are unhappy with,
the seconds we spend thinking about why he or she left...

we have separated life into parts.

I have learned over the past few years that somehow everything is connected. No moment or circumstance can stand alone. The more I am aware of that fact, the truer it is. Something had to happen to allow another something to happen and so on.

My life is a testament to that truth.

But there are moments when the connection between the past and the present and the future is cloudy at best.
I love puzzles.
So, I try to figure it all out. I want to know how yesterday led me to today. I want to know what the combination of the two means for my future.
But more often than not, the pieces do not quite fit.

So, I stare at the pieces...
focusing on them...
concentrating on them...
distracted from everything else...
distracted from the present...
distracted from the puzzle.

That is when I get anxious.
When I make life about the pieces and less about the picture in the puzzle.
When I am distracted from the the truth.

That is when I lack peace.

Just as "anxious" finds its root to mean "separate into parts",
"peace" finds its root in "to join".

We are all searching for peace. We want purpose and meaning to our lives. We want to know we are where we need to be. We want to feel the serenity and calm.

We want it all to join together.

Peace, though, does not come from trying to make it all fit.
Peace comes from knowing that it DOES fit.

Peace is not seeing the pieces of the puzzle, but seeing the puzzle in the pieces.
Peace is accepting that while today may not fit with your yesterday or your tomorrow, it fits in the big puzzle of life.
What if we lived life with this awareness? How would it change your perspective on your seconds? On your moments?

Peace came on Christmas day thousands of years ago.
Because when He came, it made it all fit together.

Peace be with you.
True peace.

joy: invest

Shepherds? Really?
That was the plan all along?

Ever think that there had to be a better way to let the world know about the birth of Jesus? I understand the fact that a massive text message would be highly impersonal and technologically impossible at that time, but there had to be some other way.

Shepherds were famous (or should i say INfamous) for their storytelling. Their stories were, at the very best, embellishments of the truth. It reached the point that a shepherd's testimony, even an eye witness account, was not admissable in a court of law.

And God chose them.
To share the good news.
To announce to the world that Peace had come.

While the shepherds were not highly valued by society, they played an important role in the economic and spiritual culture of their town of Bethlehem.

They raised the sheep that were sold for sacrifices.
They raised sacrificial lambs.
They "kept watch over their flocks".

As they are guarding the sheep, angels tell them that they have glad tidings of great joy...for all people. The angels have a message, they have the good news of great joy...and they tell the shepherds first.

Because the shepherds have already invested.

See, the shepherds know about sacrifice. They lay down their lives for their sheep. In this case, they would raise a lamb until it was fully grown and acceptable for sacrifice. They fed, protected, cleaned, led these sheep for years...only to sell them to die.

And we wonder why God chose the shepherds.
If anyone understood it...
if anyone "got it"...
if anyone invested...
it was them.

Because of their investment, they understood joy.
Because of their joy, they wanted to tell the world.

But their joy would not come without knowing what it is to sacrifice.

Many of us go through life never really knowing joy. We grow bitter when things don't go our way. We get bored when it is not how we want it. We start to call things mundane and irrelevant. We may be physically present but soulfully absent.

Because we have never known joy...
because we have never invested.

We think joy is found in victory.
I would say true joy is found in sacrifice...in investment.

That is why He chose shepherds. They had invested. They had sacrificed.

Therefore, they knew joy.

love: participate

this summer, meredith and i had a chance to go to a major league baseball game. it was the final game of a three game series between two division rivals who were both in contention for first place.

let's just say it got heated at times.

at different times throughout the game, a ground swell of noise would make its way through the domed stadium. it would happen and then people would stand.

like we were pavlov's dogs and the bell had rung.

there were certainly good reasons for this outburst of emotion and fist pumps:
a full count, 2 strikes with the tying run at second base, the final out of the game...

but as i looked around the stadium, everyone was not standing. people were actually sitting down. intense moments in baseball lore were happening and they sat through them. the moment was happening whether they stood or not, but

they missed the depth of the experience because they refused to participate in it.

i actually heard some "sitters" telling the "standers" in front of them to sit down because they couldn't see.
they were offended and even grew bitter because other people were excited and participating in what was happening.

because that is what happens when we sit...

we get offended.
we get bitter.

we think we are experiencing all there is, but the truth is we are not even close.
we may be in the stadium, but we are certainly not experiencing the game.
we may even experience part of it, but when it gets really intense, our comfort is more important.

it happens at concerts, too.
and theme parks.
and churches.
and in love.

the experience is the fullest when we participate.