Dear Jesus, as I call on you today I realise that I often come asking for favours.
Today I’d like just to be in your presence.
Let my heart respond to Your Love.

This was part of my morning devo from Sacred Space today.  It informed my morning of finishing up a new double zipline for Camp Luther in Northern Wisconsin, and in my afternoon buying of souvenirs for the fam  in nearby Eagle River.

What did it mean to “be in your presence” today?  Well for me, it had to do with understanding my context regardless of my location.  A discussion we’re having about Honeyrock, a camp where CQ is doing training next week, is the idea of Honeyrock being a place, or an experience that can happen in many places.  Well, the answer not withstanding, to be in God’s presence is an experience that happens” all the time, everywhere.” (from Most Amazing Grace in the World, off the Whitebread Album)

This morning, in a beautiful northwoods pine forest on a sunny 60 degree day, I knew I was not alone.  I am never alone.  In fact, I am always a part of a conversation going on between myself and my creator.  Sometimes I listen, sometimes I speak, sometimes (usually) I am unaware of what is actually going on and I ignore the voice of the one who loves me most.

Since I’ve been traveling lately, my conversations with home have been interesting, and sometimes mundane- but last night Kristin and I hit on an idea that has big implications for me and for you, and if we don’t tend to it- we’ll miss it.

I said- “I just miss being around for the normal stuff.”  We agreed that its the everyday with the people who mean most to you that defines our relationships.  Just going to ballgames, and watching band concerts and the Biggest Loser together.  Eating food we made a home, and tending to the new (somewhat) garden, and shooting hoops in the driveway- this is what I miss when I’m gone.  And…this is what I forget about when I’m home.

May we remember what it means to live in one’s presence, and to connect that idea on a supernatural level to understanding our place in the context of God’s presence.

Lord, let me live in your presence today.  Friends, let me be present when I am with you- may I be a listener- and be thankful for the existence of the best relationships.  God, may we see you and hear you today- in the northwoods, in Broken Arrow, at New Life Ranch, and in East Tulsa or in Uganda.

We are in His presence- do you listen to His words?  What does He say?  Is it in the Bible, the creation around you that you hear Him best?  Is it through People,  or a challenging circumstance?  What is the conversation like when you choose to be “in the house?”  What do you imagine it is when you are “out of it”?

Feedback!!!??  Cmon friends- shoot me some thoughts!!

Keep reading and look for our new certificate programs coming this next fall…

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I am convinced that Jesus dealt in mess more than he dealt with the nice and neat. I am also convinced that He called his Church to mess instead of the nice and neat. Yet, how would you feel if you caught your pastor hanging out at the local bar or casino? Maybe worse, what if he/she where spending time with Tiger Woods or Obama right now? A few years back I got to meet with a pretty high profile Christian author/speaker. (sorry I don’t like to name drop…)  When I asked him about meeting with President Clinton during his scandal with Monica Lewinsky he said, “The most amazing part about it was how the Christian church responded to me trying to help the President through his mess.” Needless to say their response erred on the side of judgement instead of encouragement.

Why is this? In Mark 2:17,  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” How many of our lives and how many of our churches are concentrating on the righteous more than the sick? How many of us turn a nose to the sick because they are messy, but feel very comfortable sitting in our churches with the righteous? How many of us have become Pharisees? On the outside we say the right things, do the right things, and hang-out with the right people yet inside we are full of ourselves. I am guilty as charged! In fact, I hate this about myself. I am a selfish nose turner that loves the comfort of my chair (not my pew, we are to contemporary for those…) in my church. I have become to comfortable.

So here are the tough questions I must ask myself and ask you… 1) If Christ called us to the sick then why are hanging out with the righteous? 2) Are we hanging-out in the right places? 3) How would you feel if your pastor were caught hanging out in a bar or casino?

P.S. — Pastor Dave if you are reading this I would applaud your efforts in reaching people for Christ. In fact, I might just join you….

At the end of last week, eight American missionaries were released from Haiti after having been detained on kidnapping charges for nearly three weeks.

In case you haven’t heard the story, a group of Christian missionaries traveled to Haiti after the January 12th earthquake devestated the area, with the mission of rescuing Haitian children by exporting them to the neighboring country of the Dominican Republic where their plan was to establish an orphanage for children of the earthquake. When these missionaries attempted to export 33 children without going through the proper channels, the local Haitian government arrested the group on charges of kidnapping.

Now, much can be debated as to the effectiveness of the Haitian nation and it’s government; their policies, economic conditions and solvency, standards, integrity and methods. Instead, what I’d like to consider are the actions of the missionaries. First, however, I would like to make one thing clear; I am not passing judgment on any individuals or the motives of this collective missionary group. I assume their intentions were sincere and genuine. Who wouldn’t want to help lost and frightened children?

My questions center around the methods employed by this group. Maybe they will eventually share their insights in retrospect of their actions. For now I can’t help but ask, were they right in what they were trying to do? Were they right in how they tried to do it? Did they intend to march into a foreign country, disobey all laws and establish their own rules in the name of Jesus? Does Jesus give us that authority? What does the non-Christian world see in the actions of this group? Should that even have been a consideration? Should the local government of the poorest nation in the western hemisphere trump Jesus? Was Jesus truly represented in the actions of these missionaries? What guidance can we find in Scripture about the intentions vs. the actions of this likely well-meaning group? Is it possible that religious arrogance got in the way of compassion? Have you ever struggled with finding balance in doing what you feel God calling you to do when it meant potentially crossing other established boundaries? I’ll say this, and then I’d like your opinion. One thing I know for sure is that it’s easy to take a side either way and determine right from wrong from our reclining chair. If I think in terms of my experience as a father, I know I would do just about anything to preserve the safety and dignity of my children. Is that God-given authority or is it something else? Is that how God feels about us? I know the Bible has account after account of God allowing humankind to suffer the consequences of our own mistakes (sometimes assimilated with the wrath of God). Consequences are real. What does any of this mean?

I know, I know, too many questions, but isn’t that where we often find ourselves… right in the middle of too many questions without enough answers? Okay, for the sake of simplification, I’ll whittle it all down to this one question:  As Christians, what are our rules of engagement as we fight for justice in a diverse world so sharply divided by competing rules, laws, ethics and morals? Your turn… ready, go.