I Completely Get It...

I assumed that the two would be unrelated. I thought that the visit I had scheduled this morning with a friend and church member would be completely separated from my 25th wedding anniversary...which is today. I would visit him this morning...then I would set aside the time later this evening to fully appreciate and celebrate 25 wonderful years with Connie.

I assumed the two would be unrelated.

I was wrong.

His wife...as well as he and the rest of the family...is suffering the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. It is not what he imagined here in their 67th year together. It caught him by surprise. She is spending the day at an adult day care facility in order to give her a change of scenery and to give him a much needed break from the necessity of a continually watchful eye. She is, of course, familiar to him. but at times...thanks to the disease...she is practically unrecognizable. Heartbreaking.

I sat with him awhile.

He is...as he puts it...in his 93rd year. His parents were homesteaders in Montana. It is where he was born and grew up. He earned a reputation as an "accomplished handler of livestock." In other words...he broke wild horses...a lot of them. Having spent a little time in the territory myself...I know firsthand how tough the work is. Only when I was there...we had things like combustion engines and tools of all sorts and veterinarians and easy access to "town." He didn't.

Ranch life was interrupted, for him, by the call of Uncle Sam. He was in the Air Force. We didn't speak much about his service. Perhaps he didn't want to...or perhaps we just didn't get around to it on this visit. Nonetheless...it couldn't have been easy.

He met his wife in Philadelphia. She agreed to marry him if he would stay in Philadelphia until her mother died. She lived a long time. In fact, my friend ended up retiring from his job there. He was an oil man...he worked in a refinery which brought in crude from wherever in the world he could find it then piped the refined oil to points north. Tough work.

A cowboy from the wilds of Montana where he endured back breaking work, long days herding cattle and bitter cold. An airman where he endured untold (at least to me) events. An oilman whose work was tiring and dirty.

And yet...none of it was nearly as tough as the "job" he has before him now. You see...his wife is sick. His wife of 67 years. The one he started and built a life with. The one he dreamed with. The one he set goals with and accomplished them with. The one he failed with. The one he parented with, laughed with, cried with, celebrated with and worried with. The one he is completely invested in. The one he loves with all his heart and with all his life. The one who he has stuck by all these years and the one who stuck by him no matter what. She is sick...and he has to watch essentially helplessly.

It is his toughest job to date.

And...I completely get it.

Connie (and I'm sorry in advance for being so public)...we have built and continue to build a life together. We have dreamed together. We have set goals and accomplished them together. We have failed together. We have parented, laughed, cried, celebrated and worried together. I am completely invested in you. The joy of my life is knowing that you are completely invested in me too. I love you with all my heart and life. It has been my very great pleasure to stick by you these 25 years...and I can't express how grateful I am for you sticking by me.

Thank you, Connie, for being with me. I treasure and cherish you.

And thanks to a tough old cowboy, airman, oil man...and husband...who reminded me of much today.

Boys...go kiss your wives and girlfriends. Most of us would not be much without them.

The Pain and the Promise

It's the sounds that get me...that move me to a place of...well...I'm not sure how to describe just where.

I'm here in the Youth Suite of Johns Creek Baptist Church where we've created a Stations of the Cross experience. The visuals are meaningful...but the sounds, for me, are riveting and powerful.

The background music is driving and ominous. Sad. Dark. I can feel a pit in my stomach as I begin to imagine the emotions and sense of doom that His followers must have felt on that Friday long ago.

I hear my friends groan as they press their fingers against the sharp, penetrating tips of the thorns. They groan as they are reminded that Jesus suffered the pain of thorns...and on the cross...took on all our thorns. "Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. "

I hear our people gasp as they taste the bitterness of the vinegar on their tongue reminding them of the bitterness in their own lives...I hear softly uttered, yet urgent prayers for strength carry on. "The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."

The most striking sound has to be the pounding of the hammer...driving nails into the wood. I know it's coming...I can see the swing...but yet, I jump with every blow. Something shoots through me...it echos. It rings... "There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle."

I hear dice tinkling on the table top. Normally...the sound would be followed by cheers or laughter as a part of some board game. But not today...the sound...the tinkling dice...sound vulgar and obscene. "Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did."

Colored markers squeak. I hear the squeaking as I watch people scribble their names on the newsprint on the wall...asking God to remember them...to know them. "But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Ripping...tearing...rending...It sounds dramatic and final. I hear the ripping as our people tear pieces of cloth...thanking God for tearing through the barriers in their lives. "The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

I hear clicking...the clicking of a lighter as people stand before the cross draped in black and light a candle. I hear sobbing too...not really sad...more like sobs of relief. As they light the candle, they are reminded that from all this pain and suffering...the light of the world emerges. Jesus...Jesus...Jesus. "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The sounds are ominous, sad and dark. I hear gasps and groans. I hear pounding, tinkling, squeaking, and clicking. I hear sobbing. I hear hope. It's Friday people...But Sunday's Coming! Peace.

Technology and Christmas

I love technology... the total knowledge and skills available to any human society for discovery and creation...and I love Christmas...the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. As we would expect as residents of the 21st century, Technology and Christmas have collided. I, for one, don't mind a bit.


I love the clever and efficient evite invitations to parties and gatherings.
I love the facebook pages and Twitter "tweets" heralding Christmas events and services. I love the little animated, electronic Christmas cards and well wishes we receive. I love the photo sharing.

(Shoot, I even love Cyber-Monday!)

At the core, I love how technology enables us to connect with people...in wonderfully innovative and relative ways...who need to know the love of Christ. Especially at Christmas.

Speaking of innovation...check out this video of the iBand at North Point Community Church. Using only iPhones and iPads...these talented folks perform an incredible rendition of "Carol of the Bells" (or...Hark How the Bells... as you may know it...). Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and Feliz Navidad are also included. My favorites are the iPhone guitar, the iPad bongos, and the iPad saxophone! (At the request of those sitting around the table last night at our JCBC Wednesday Night Dinner...here you go!)

I simply had to stand up and applaud (I'm glad no one saw me clapping wildly at a computer screen) when this video enabled me to "join" a group of unsuspecting shoppers in the Food Court of a mall in Niagara Falls, Ontario where a marvelous "Handel's Messiah"...or the Hallelujah Chorus... was performed. (organized by AlphabetPotography.com) Speaking of the power of technology as a tool to share Christ...there were mere dozens in the Food Court that day...but over 15 million people have viewed this video.

For the Lord God...omnipotent...reigneth. (even over the bits and bytes)
And He shall reign forever and ever.

Being Viral Witnesses...

It used to be that the term "viral" had something to do with an ultra-microscopic (20 to 300 NM in diameter), metabolically inert, infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals: composed of an RNA or DNA core, a protein coat, and, in more complex types, a surrounding envelope. (It still does by the way...)

For this post, however, "viral" refers to those web videos that are viewed by millions of people and that everyone talks about. Let's consider YouTube alone. A few interesting facts:

• Exceeds 2 Billion views per day

• 24 hours of video is uploaded every 60 seconds


• More video will be uploaded in 60 days than all 3 major networks combined created in 60 years.

So with all that video...what makes one go viral? After reading a few articles by pundits and opinion makers, it seems that all viral videos have at least 4 things in common.

First, the content is unique and memorable. Here are a couple of viral video examples that illustrate unique and memorable.

Secondly, the action is natural and not staged. My two favorite examples of natural, not staged viral videos:






Thirdly, the people involved are being themselves. Who can forget these two?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk (this is the link to Susan Boyle...she makes me stand up and applaud!)




Finally, the action looks like something you want to be a part of. This looks like fun to me (and apparently several million other folks...!)

So what's the point?

Be a viral witness to the world for the love of Christ.

The content...Jesus himself...is completely unique. Every encounter with him is memorable.

Make sure your expressions of Christ's love are natural...not staged. Nothing for show. No ulterior motives. Never self-serving.

Be yourself...be real...be who you are...be authentic. No facades. No role playing.

Live out your faith joyfully...boldly...abundantly... Others will want to be a part of that.

One last video...

It's Not Over!

At dawn one morning, Jesus was teaching in the temple courts. People gathered around him. He taught them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery. There seems to be no question about it. It was against the law. There seems to be no question about that either. The punishment for such an act was death by stoning. There doesn’t seem to be any question about that. They said to Jesus, what would you do? Jesus said nothing. He simply bent down to write in the sand.

What must have the woman thought? Caught in the act. Clearly a lawbreaker. Facing a crowd that seemed to be bent on stoning her. Maybe she had heard about Jesus. Maybe not. But in that moment, Jesus must have seemed like her only hope. Her hopes must have been dashed as Jesus simply bent down and began to write in the sand. She must have thought that she was doomed. No way out.

Lazarus was sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus to let him know. They hoped, of course, that Jesus would come and make him well or at least come to be with them. He didn’t go right away. He stayed where he was for two more days. Then He decided to go.

Mary and Martha probably looked out onto the road or out their door looking for Jesus. Their brother got sicker and sicker. I’m sure that near the end, with no Jesus in sight, the hope they had of their brother’s recovery was dashed. No more time.

When Jesus got there, it really did seem hopeless. Jesus learned that Lazarus had been in the tomb for 4 days already. Martha went out to meet Him first. Then Mary went a little while later. Both of them said, “Lord if you had been here he wouldn’t have died.” They would have thought…it’s done. Finished. Over.

Danny is not in the bible. He was in North Carolina. Married, two small children. He was watching TV on a Saturday afternoon. A weather alert came across the screen. Tornadoes in the area. He didn’t pay it too much attention. He gave a casual glance out his front door. Very quickly, the sky grew very dark and he could hear the wind blowing violently outside. The weather alert let him know that the warning was for his area. In fact, his house was right in the tornadoes path. It was a new house, a one-level ranch. No basement. He thought about putting his family in a car and taking them to safety. He got them all together then he looked out the front door again. There was no time. He heard it first. Then saw it. He watched it completely destroy his closest neighbors house. It was now headed for his. He huddled his family in a back corner, bedroom closet. They cried. He prayed even though it had been years since matters of faith mattered to him at all. Certainly God would not regard his prayer. As he heard his roof being literally torn off his house, he had zero hope. It was over. They were done for.

Turn up your volume (if you have sound) and consider this...all the way through.

You know the story. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees kept questioning Jesus. He said, “if anyone of you is without sin, throw the first stone.” He wrote in the sand again and the accusers of the adulteress started to fade away. Jesus said, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said no. Jesus said neither do I. Go and sin no more.

I don’t know what happened to the woman. But I know that what she experienced was a complete reversal. Jesus turned her circumstances upside down. At least in that moment, as her accusers walked away, hope replaced hopelessness

You know the story of Lazarus too. Jesus said, “Where have you laid him.” He wept. He said, “Lazarus, come out.” And out he came. He still had the grave clothes on. Jesus said to take them off and let him go.

A total and complete reversal of a seemingly hopeless situation. Upside down. From physical death to physical life.

Danny picked through the splinters that was once his house in an effort to salvage anything. There was nothing really. The house was completely demolished – literally splintered – the only things standing and in tact were the four walls of a back bedroom closet where Danny had gathered his family and prayed.

I don’t know for sure what happened that day – whether it was divine intervention or just the physics of house construction and the position of the closet and the direction of the tornado. That’s not important.

What is important is that Danny’s life underwent a reversal. Where there was no faith there is now great faith. Where there was no hope there is now hope eternal. Where there were years of indifference there is now powerful, willing testimony.

Now most of us have never faced a crowd bent on stoning us. Neither have we been raised from the dead. Some of you may have lived through a tornado ripping your house from around you while you were in it.

But every single one of us were once without any hope at all until Jesus turned things upside down in our lives.

We were lost.

We were blind.

Now…we’re found.

Now….we see.

Be thankful. Give testimony. Share hope.

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