The Sheep Grazer, the Star Gazer and the Video Gamer

I was a bit alarmed when I recently Googled “christmas gifts for men” and saw the result from a few online stores. Guys must be hard to shop for, evidenced by the alternately humorous and sad gift ideas that came up, like a hockey stick ice scraper or an f-bomb paperweight. I was a bit alarmed at how many gifts pertained to alcohol, sports and barbecuing. It seems that the 21st century dad is better known for tailgating than trailblazing.

This got me to thinking about my gender and the holidays and what is and isn’t right in male-dom. As I see it, there are three kinds of men that are closely related to Christmas. Two of them I am sure most of you are familiar with, while the third one may only need a bit of explanation if you don’t happen to have a brother, cousin, son or male friend under the age of thirty.  

You know the sheep grazer in the Christmas story as the shepherd. He can be described as hard-working and faithful, prepared to defend the young and proficient at caring for the sick and weak.  Where could the shepherds be found that fateful night that the angels came to announce the Messiah’s birth looking for some free publicity? Where they always were and should have been - loyal on the job in spite of the long hours and lingering cold. Neither afraid to break a sweat or sweat the small stuff, the sheep grazer finds fulfillment in making a commitment and keeping it.

The narrative’s stargazer is, of course, the wise man. More than a guy with his head in the clouds, the magi was someone who was a visionary. This type of man is not afraid to take risks. His vision of what lies in the heavens dictates the path he will doggedly follow on earth. The wise man is the one who seeks to spend his time and riches pursuing honor, who can’t be misled by deceivers, and is willing to pay whatever price is necessary to achieve his destiny, even if that future includes leaving the comforts of home and country.

The video gamer may not be a part of the traditional Christmas tale, but he is definitely a character in the modern one.  Peruse any of the big box stores’ ads this season and you will see that a large part of their advertising space is taken up with video games, consoles, tv screens, bluetooth headphones and sound systems all designed to ensure that a generation of young men have the latest, most realistic and most comfortable game playing experience possible.

Even a small portion of the global video gaming industry’s 163 billion dollar revenue can make someone very rich this Christmas.  Companies like Microsoft and  Nintendo will rake in astronomical profits made off of the billions of hours wasted by young men entrenched in front of their HD plasma screens. Christmas has become Commerce-mas, and nothing makes the cash registers hum like a whole generation of boys addicted to the hard work of expertly manipulating a joystick and the thrill of being a make-believe hero.

We have too many video gamers and not enough victory gainers.  Stargazers who will not be AWOL in fantasy land but will use their thirst for adventure and transcendence to make epic journeys out of their lives in pursuit of excellence.  Sheep grazers who willingly make lifelong commitments to serve others in face to face, flesh and blood relationships, not virtual ones lived out from the safety of the couch and hidden behind an avatar.  There is a dearth of young men on the mission field, on the worship team, and in the prayer room. And I know where a large number of them can be found.

But my prayer this Christmas is that their hearts and imaginations will be inspired anew by the majesty and realism of a story where a son leaves his place of comfort and privilege and risks everything to save the day and give his all. Jesus is the ultimate male role model. May a whole new generation aspire to be the true men of Christmas.

How Do You Find the View?

After returning to the States from France, there are a few things I now possess that I didn't have before. One is a belly that has curiously become much more perpendicular. I attribute this partially to the genetically modified foods or the steroids in meat and dairy products one finds here. But I think it mostly has to do with the size of Chipotle's burritos.

Another recent acquisition for me on American soil has been an iPhone. Our team of tech-savvy Gen-Xers and Millennials had been after me for a while to get one. I imagine just so they could have the option of FaceTiming me or syncing calendars or whatever other convenience my lack of a smartphone deprived their sad, young lives of. But in the end, I got an iPhone not for its hipness factor but because it was the cheapest option for the family the day I walked into the Verizon store. At least that's what the guy named Jeffrey with the man-bun told me.

So now we all have pretty decent cameras on our phones. Which is why I couldn't figure out why my daughter keeps needing to borrow mine. Until I realized that my phone acts as her back up when she has used all her battery listening to Spotify or watching incessant vlogs of her favorite teen dystopian romance book reviewers.

So occasionally I will reach for my phone to catch an important photo, like someone blowing out birthday candles, a beautiful fading sunset, or the 49ers actually scoring a touchdown. Furiously scrolling to the camera icon so as not to miss the proverbial Kodak moment, I point the camera to its intended subject and what do I see? My own squinting face staring back at me from the screen. And it usually takes a moment for me to realize that my daughter has once again left my camera in selfie mode. And the important moment meant to be captured and preserved ends up completely missed.

So often the lens through which I observe people and events in my world is pitifully stuck in selfie mode. God brings certain scenarios into my field of vision and too often the significance of the moment and what He wishes to show me is missed. All because the eyes of my heart are self-focused. And though I should be seeing injustice or opportunity or something life-changing whose image should capture my attention, arrest my heart and stay with me forever, all I see is how a certain thing affects me or interferes with what's mine.

How sad if I have the opportunity to visit a thousand landscapes but come home with only self-portraits. I will have nothing to show for my journey other than a big wide world filled with me. But really only God is worthy to take up that much space. He told us early on in His word that we are not to make for ourselves any image that competes with Him for our focus or affection.

It only takes the swipe of a finger to get a smartphone out of selfie mode. God can easily do the same for us with just a simple touch of our hearts. We just need to give him access to the icon.

Spending Spree

Americans are drunk on choices, 

all those boistrous voices 

calling to us as we loiter and spend in the noisy malls 

and peruse endless sales ads, ad nauseum. 

Spoiled and  poised to add to the plenty that we already have 

while the have nots who've never had close to what we've had 

stay harassed in the heave-ho of no hope. 

The get rich quick execs get their kicks 

from digging into our riches by reaching out to us. 

Pitching easy credit without any hitches but the glitch is  

that they're itchin to get us endebted. 

A pre-approved American Express or Visa with no credit limit. Incredible idn't it? 

While those applying with the express interest of being an American- inhibited from their visa- are limited 

to just a pipe dream of a green card. 

We're deep in debt with buyers regret 

always moving toward something more, yet 

we can't get 

any closer to it. Got it?

We imbibe the moment we try on our first bib. 

We thrive not on feeling thrifty but a short lived feeling of being alive right after our newest purchase, 

Always diving in forthwith without propriety 

or thinking of the less privileged in our society, 

binging on variety, forsaking sobriety 

for the sake of what our affluence affords us in its entirety. 

We need to slow down and face up to this spending show-down, 

yo, the low-down on what goes down 

is that we're no doubt the the most spoiled consumers around. 

We want so much, 

but so much so 

that what we want is just the power of suggestion

which never before were objects of our affection 

but to whose allure we're now abjectly subjected. Our only objective 

is to add to our ever growing collection. 

I'm convinced we need to come back to our senses since 

we've lost sensitivity to the difference between dollars  and cents  

and no longer incensed by the senseless spending that fogs

The clarity of greater disparity between rich and poor. 

We're just fat and NOT happy 

cause happiness is not a matter of outmatching the man next door, amassing the maximum, 

ever maneuvering to be the masters of 

our own economic destiny.

It's time to sober up. I'm so over overtly overspending. 

But now vying to be a veritable moderate model of a new mode of living modestly. 

It will be costly. 

But maybe the first purchase whose price we pay honestly. 

It's on us, see? 

Let's see what kind of human beings we can be 

without another big spending spree. 

I am a Refugee

I am a refugee
You know, part of that unseemly and really needy
     melee of freedom seekers
     fleeing their meager means of existence;
     whose plight is merely intriguing to those seeing
     the evening TV screens of competing scenes
     of my people's misery pitted against trivial reality series
     and cheap ads for viagra or designer jeans.
Maybe I'm just another news item to you, not a big to-do
     for those comfortable in pews used
     to limitless consuming and using.
     But for those who don't do huge parties of schmoozing over booze
     and whose brood never even got a taste
     of what you deemed as refuse and refused to eat,
     we're just confused and can't get used to this abuse of privilege.

I've been deprived my whole life of good living, having instead
     to trade my trite livelihood for life in this forsaken neighborhood.
Fate made me inherit in this R-rated estate
     of inherently degraded concrete castles saturated with hate
Berated by raging suburban white faces as the reason why the races
     of those who immigrate to your crowded city gates
     is the place to squarely place the blame
     of what plagues the space you embrace as YOUR home.

I am an immigrant, yes.
But more than just a grungy dark runt who grunts
     in an unintelligible accent you poke fun at.
     I bear the brunt of all the social ills that confront
     the society that I aspire to.
I've longed to linger longer here and stay long-term
     even if only as a stranger langouring just to make it
     rankled by the anger strangely aimed at us,
     your estranged neighbors
All because you haven't been able to lay a finger on the bling
     you figure you deserve.

I sigh as a seeker of asylum
     assigned to be lumped
     together with every other border jumper
Jinxed to be linked with the illegals or those on the lam
     limited by slim chances
     slum walls and meager choices,
     slammed by all manner of malicious banter.
My means to make for myself a meaningful future
     was a boat bloated with bodies
     that stank and nearly sank in the dank starkness
     of an endless sea,
     endlessly floating in the darkness
     toward a nameless coastal destiny.
Finally that drifting raft of rowdy pilgrims arrived to drink in
     the refreshing draft of intoxicating freedom.

Now that I am here, hear me out sittin' out here
     on the fringes and margins of your plague-ridden inner city
     where pity is hard to be had.
     And had I heard how hard it would be here
     hidden and forgotten in the nitty-gritty of immigrant living
I might have given it more thought.

Cause right now I am at the bottom rung,
     an all-wrung-out dead-ringer for a lifer
     on the wrong side of the tracks
But I was born for more than being some faceless, brown skinned
     brow-beaten burned-out row house renter.
I entered this nation with a notion of a better future
     than barely keeping my head above a bleak
     bare-bones state of being.
I believed this to be a continent that contained
     considerable opportunities and possibilities. I promise you,
     I will prove I can surpass the limited potential
     passed on to me by my predecessors.

Could you cast aside the sideways glances

     and just give the same chances

     to a new generation of dream chasers as was given yours?

Not closing your mind or minding your borders
     but first putting your own house in order.
Remembering how those other émigrés who bred you,
     bore you and went before you
     once walked my pathetic path -
     but put forth enough fortitude to forge the
     future that has engorged you.
We've migrated from the former grateful to forgetful ingrate
Let's not let deception and misconceptions limit us
     but accept all, without exception.
We're in the same boat
     in need of liberty, if you please.
In general, we're all just a few generations removed
     from the immigrant.
Residents engendered by an indigent.

We're all seekers
We're all dreamers
All of us are refugees.

Cast Party

The word "cast" has enough meanings to elicit a number of different images in our minds. It might be that thing made of plaster that your friends signed after you broke a bone trying to learn to skateboard. The scribbled graffiti on your arm wasn’t as cool as a tattoo, but probably not as alarming to your mom, either. Or maybe you think of an ensemble of actors in a television series or a play. And if you are the outdoor type, you might picture a fisherman launching a bate-laden hook into the water – something I was better at than actually pulling it back out with something attached to the end.  But if we look at how Scripture uses the term, we find that we are capable of casting three things. And what you cast determines a great deal about the quality of your life.

You can cast an idol. Though it may sound like what you would like to do with any number of obnoxious singers on the American TV show, casting an idol means to actually create an image or object that you worship.  God takes idol worship pretty seriously, and those who put things or people in this life before God are in fact doing some heavy-duty casting. And the outcome of that endeavor is not good if you read about how God really feels about this sort of activity.

You can also cast lots. In other words – roll the dice. People do this with their lives too, leaving to chance or coincidence some really important decisions that God would love to have a say in. Few today want to take the time or effort to find out what God wants. So the alternative of choosing what you think is a good idea and hoping God is in it seems to be kind of fashionable lately. Look inside and determine what you’re good at and what you like to do and that is probably God’s will for you, the itching-ear soothers say. That’s about as reliable as going to Vegas and betting your future happiness on random probability. I’d rather go for Kingdom predictability. God still speaks and we are still required to obey. It’s not as glamorous as shooting craps, but believe me, it’s got every bit of Vegas’ heart-racing adrenaline, just with a greater and more reliable payoff.

But you can also cast your anxieties. It’s Peter who told us to do that. And what a timeless word, because from the Hippodrome all the way to Hip-Hop, anxiety is what humanity wrestles with every day. And if we can actually divest ourselves of worry and care, it is promised that God will lift us up.  The picture I have is of a hot air balloon weighed down with unnecessary baggage and trying to get airborne. When something is keeping you down, you have to throw the heavy and unnecessary things overboard. Whatever is dragging you down today, cast it. Because your Savior can shoulder it, and He really does care for you. What concerns you concerns Him. It matters.  Now is not the time to cast deities or throw dice, but rather toss distractions. Lose the low attitude, and gain some altitude. The new elevation will bring a greater perspective – and we could all use a whole lot more of that.

20 Important Principles I Learned About Ministry

     Every Tuesday, Dalene and I have the privilege of teaching nine interns and short term missions workers. It is one of the highlights of my week, as I love to pour into young men and women who are hungry to learn and to pursue their call to missions and ministry. Since we are leaving soon for the US to itinerate, I had my last session with them this morning. I shared with them the top 20 things I have learned in the past 26 years of full-time ministry that I want them to know. I thought I would share them below. They are in no particular order:

1) There is never any regret for hard work

2) As my Father-in-law always taught, "preparation precedes blessing".

3) Faith is a lifestyle we embrace, not an event we endure.

4) Share power - don't hoard it. It's what Jesus modeled with the 12 and the 70 he sent out.

5) Don't copy others' style or methods - you were designed to create!

6) Be vulnerable to your followers and listeners. It actually engenders respect and it combats a religious spirit.

7) Work at keeping your heart soft. "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart".

8) Ministry's greatest skill to acquire is forgiveness and its most important quality is humility.

9) Never stop reading and never stop learning. Keep a spirit that is teachable and passionate to grow.

10) Become secure in your unique gifts and talents. Know and admit your weaknesses. Comparison and competition are the enemies of joy and effectiveness.

11) There is nothing more fulfilling or secure than the assurance that where you are and what you are doing are in the center of God' will for your life.

12) Your payoff is God's pleasure - not a paycheck.

13) An irreplaceable gift in life is a lifetime partner who is called and fully invested in going the same direction, with the same values and pursuing the same goals.

14) Social intelligence is more valuable than IQ in ministry.

15) Ministry leadership is all about towels and not about titles.

16) People always take priority over applause, awards, achievements and accolades.

17) There is nothing worth trading for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and it is worth whatever the cost.

18) All success starts with an appointment with God you keep every day.

19) Your spirit never stops its capacity to gain strength even when your mind and body fail. Be careful to feed it.

20) Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the only one who never fails.

Scared by the Sacred

         

     The Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris inspired many people who had never heard of the magazine to look online and see for themselves just what had inflamed Muslim jihadists to resort to such violence.  A quick perusal of the magazine's back issues would be enough to offend the sentiments of any person of faith. No one and nothing was off-limits to the irreverent pens of the targeted cartoonists.  I think it natural that Christians are appalled at their relentless mockery of God, Jesus, scriptures and other people's faith even as we condemn their brutal murders in the name of religion. In the aftermath of the carnage, as heightened emotions give way to more objective analysis, we are left to wonder if there is nothing sacred any more, no place our culture's media and artists won't go. The very existence of  boundary lines are interpreted as an invitation to cross them and the most shocking of extremes beg to be explored to their fullest extent.

     And yet people of faith should stop and look in the mirror to ask ourselves if we have escaped crossing sacred lines only because we have conveniently moved them.  Our precious faith handed down to us is constantly subjected to the barrage of profane culture where freedom is worshiped to the point of callousness to the sentiments of God and everyone else. Growing up, I always thought my Dad was a bit harsh when he enforced a no running or chewing gum policy in church. But now I realize it was just one of the ways he fought in his generation to guard the ever-encroached line, as he saw it, between the sacred and profane. Blasphemy today hides behind the smiling mask of comedy and satire. When society stops only to value one thing at the expense of all others, such as freedom of expression, it becomes imbalanced to the point of spinning out of control. Lack of control eventually leads to a great crash, the only question being how much and how many will become damaged or injured along the wild trajectory. France will be dealing with the fallout for years to come.

     When believers reject limits on their own thoughts, what language they use or listen to or what movie they will sit through, all in the name of rejecting "legalism", we are guilty of the same crime of Charlie Hebdo, just of a lesser charge. The keeper of the boundary of profane territory is neither pop culture nor pew culture. God somehow remains unaffected by the ratings of Netflix, Playstation or iTunes as well as the entertainment habits of the majority of today's parishoners. The fact that the Assemblies of God denomination even felt compelled to publish a stance for its adherents on 50 Shades of Grey should be commentary enough on the sad state of affairs at your average seeker friendly church. Prudish has been rejected, yet sadly replaced by permissive. In our zeal to lighten things up, we've rejected myopic Victorian but rushed headlong into Miami Vice. The sacred can often be unpopular and inconvenient. Rearrange the letters and you have what a lot of 21st century Christians are by any mention of accountability and standards - scared.

     Liberty and accountability must always remain close friends, otherwise society is doomed to a slow death by moral decay. Charlie Hebdo taught us that absolute, no-holds barred freedom leads to extreme self-absorption and calloused offensiveness. Followers of Christ, even American ones, do not worship freedom. We bow at the throne of our Liberator while responsibly and gratefully enjoying the freedoms He allows and honoring the limits that He imposes knowing that otherwise we end up forfeiting the hard-won spiritual freedom we enjoy today. Freedom as god is a masquerading, cruel despot who promises beauty but eventually delivers only bondage. And the absence of boundaries produces perpetual wanderers who forget their origins while never finding home. As for me, I am content to not color outside the borders and declare to my Master, as David did, "You are my portion and the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places."