Power Sharing

At a men's breakfast I attend on Friday mornings, we are currently studying the Holy Spirit. One of the passages used last week was John 20:21-22. Jesus had just appeared in a room to His disciples shortly after His resurrection. Of course, since He was supposed to be dead, He had to do the man-thing where He got to show off His cool scars to His friends. After validating His identity, He gave them instruction which included the verse we were focusing on where Jesus breathed on them while saying "Receive the Holy Spirit".
While everyone else moved on, I couldn't help but notice that the words highlighted in red continued for another verse. It said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
That's a bold statement. Last time I checked, God was the only one wielding that power. So what did Jesus mean by that when He was speaking to those ten guys? I've gotten various opinions from different commentaries, and most of them link this with our responsibility to share the Gospel with the rest of the world. If people receive Christ, their sins are forgiven. If they don't, they continue to live in condemnation. That may be the intent of the verse. I assume that the Catholic church has linked it to the ability of their priests to host confessionals and mandate terms of forgiveness on God's behalf.
Whatever the proper interpretation, I was struck with a completely different take on the whole thing. It probably has absolutely nothing to do with that upper room encounter, but I still think God wanted to bring something to my attention.
Even though asking God for forgiveness is paramount, we are also called upon to confess our sins to one another so we can be prayed for and healed. I'm okay with that if it relates to somebody I feel that I know pretty well and can judge their character. However, let's take the example of a pastor caught in adultery. There is no denying that what he did was disgusting and carries dire consequences, but let's also assume that in this example, he succumbed to temptation ~ he sinned ~ his heart was truly broken after the reality of what he had done to his wife set in ~ he begged God and his wife for forgiveness ~ he also confessed publicly what had taken place, asking for prayer and forgiveness. God knows the heart, and He forgave him. His wife had him agree in writing to be castrated and then forgave him.
When he repented to God, that sin should have been gone forever. Instead, he made the mistake of public confession. Instead of praying for and also forgiving the man, I chose to retain his sin. I decided that he wasn't sorry he did it; he was sorry he got caught. I talked to my friends about what a scumbag this guy was. They also agreed with my opinion and they chose to retain his sin.
Funny thing is, that while that guy was clean before God and his sin was forgotten, I've now not only taken on sin through my lack of forgiveness for something that was never my business to begin with, but I've caused others to do the same. Now who is standing before God in judgment? "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
I am a Christian, and the Holy Spirit dwells within me. I have access to a lot of power. Do I exercise my power to forgive, or do I exercise my power to retain?

Older = Bigger

Thank you, Shane, for helping me finally understand how God can be everywhere all the time. While having a family lunch yesterday, Shane (my 5 year old son) asked Grandma, "How old will you be when I'm fifty-five?" He had an awestruck look on his face when she gave the answer. One hundred and five years old. After doing some quick math, he came to the obvious conclusion. He pointed to the vaulted ceiling. "So you'll be up to there?"
Therefore, based on a rate of growth at which you are 12 feet tall by the time you hit 100 years of age, and taking into account that God has been around forever, it is entirely logical that by now He can't help but be everywhere.

The Three Amigos

What a great way to start the day! At 6 something this morning I could hear the sound of playing children penetrating my sleep. I knew I should do something to stop it, but my body wouldn't respond. The next thing I know, the bedroom door flies open (I know this because I heard it hit the wall) and I hear footsteps coming around the bed. I got one eye to open enough to see that it was Carter (my two-year-old) staring at me inquisitively.
You see, he just got his "big boy bed" and has now realized the freedom of being able to leave his bedroom whenever he feels like it. Knowing this day was coming, we proactively installed a clock with big digital numbers in the room and played multiple sessions of "You can come out when this number is a seven!" Either the thrill of playing or the memory of the game itself is now gone.
At any rate, I believe I somehow conveyed to him that it was too early and he needed to go back to bed. He disappeared, and I went happily unconscious again. A few minutes later, the noise level increased again down the hallway, but again I couldn't make my body respond even though somewhere deep inside I was aware of the need to severely reprimand all three of them, especially Shane since he is old enough to know better.
At 7:00, Shane came into the room and Monica got up and made all three of them sit on their beds silently for five minutes as a belated penalty for the early ruckus. She came back to bed, we cherished each of those individual bonus minutes, and at 7:05 I summoned Shane back to our room. I told him sternly to go get his brothers. A few seconds later, the three little pajama-clad villains came quietly walking through the doorway hand-in-hand-in-hand to face whatever was coming. The cuteness factor immediately jumped from a 1 to a 9.5. I calmly explained again the seven o'clock rule, and they were sent downstairs to turn on the TV and get ready for breakfast. Walking out the door, Shane said, "I love you, Dad!" Owen followed saying "I love you, Dad!" Carter then echoed with his own "Wub you, Dad!" and they were gone.
It doesn't get much better than that!

It's So Easy When it's Easy

I really expected this whole blog thing to just be little 30 second snippets of everyday whimsical happenings. No big deal. I just had to get comfortable putting thoughts into print for the first time in forever.
It seems like as soon as I started doing this, the everyday happenings started getting less and less whimsical. Now I find myself reading my own blog to remind myself of the truths that I know are real. I even ventured into a friend's blog that has a lot more substance than mine, and it was still fairly easy to give my perspective while coasting along in a place where life seemed stable. Now that there is a potential major storm brewing, I guess you'll have to bear with me as I kind of write to myself for awhile.
Life is still wonderful, but the circumstances have changed dramatically. God loves me, my wife and kids love me, we are moderately healthy at the moment, and spring is right around the corner. The yard is coming to life, trees are budding, (I could be blind and still know this because my sinuses are clogged with pollen), and we're about to grill some burgers and enjoy this beautiful weather going into the weekend.
The challenges are obviously springing up in other areas, but I can't lose sight of all the incredible blessings that I still get to enjoy. Also, I was given a passage of scripture to share with someone the other day that I now need to share with myself as a reminder from my God that He is always there desiring the best for me. Unfortunately, "the best" is not to be confused with "the easiest".
So Dennis, listen up.
Psalm 66:8-12 -- Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard, Who keeps our soul among the living, and does not allow our feet to be moved.
For You, O God, have tested us: You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

What if??

"What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance -- Blending in so well that people can't see the difference, and it's the difference that sets the world free..." Casting Crowns -- What This World Needs

What if we actually did that? What if we actually took God seriously and started living our lives as if we were truly filled with the Holy Spirit? After all, it's what we are called to do. I envy the manager at Grease Monkey here in Glen Allen, who didn't have any issues whatsoever this morning talking from the counter to everyone sitting in the waiting area about the Hispanic ministry and Bible study he and his family host in his home, as if that was a normal topic of conversation in the workplace and presumably under the assumption that we knew God and understood what he was talking about. He obviously didn't care if anyone thought he was a nut case. He was completely at ease.
I tend to be very choosy about the moments that I mention God throughout my workday and to whom. I tend to assume that playing the odds, you probably don't know God, and therefore you won't understand what I am talking about and will see me as someone to be avoided in the future.
Why?? Because that's how I was before I knew God. Because I didn't want to have anything to do with Christians, I now make the false assumption that because people don't know God, they don't want to and prefer to be left alone to wander aimlessly through life.
What if I stopped caring about what people think and started caring about people? I love the life I have been given by God, as undeserving as I am. The least I can do is to share with the rest of the class!
So much to learn.... so little time. God recently revealed to me my life's verse (if there is such a thing). Philippians 3:12 -- "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."

Who's Your Daddy?

It trips me out to see how quickly I can strap myself into a self-made roller coaster when it comes to dealing with life's struggles. It seems that my relationship with God carries an uncanny similarity to a little girl pulling petals off a flower while chanting "He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me..." Of course I know God loves me, and although I have seen Him carry me through seemingly difficult situations time and time again and put me in an even better place than before, I still struggle with the issue of trust. My kids don't doubt my ability to take care of them, and yet I don't show my Father the same childlike faith. Instead I alternate between "abundant life" and "The sky is falling!!". Even when I cover a major decision with prayer and get a clear positive answer giving me the go-ahead, I'll still sit there and try to verify the logic in my own head instead of simply trusting that Father knows best. He said "Jump. I'll catch you!" and my response tends to be "but what if you don't?" Silly, isn't it? He's never failed me, but I still fail to grasp the concept that He's got a very specific plan for me, and I don't need advance notice of where this road leads. I just need to hold my Father's hand and keep walking.

What Went Wrong?

Okay. Yesterday I was tentatively optimistic about Hillary getting spanked in Texas. That didn't happen. I asked myself, "How can this be?? Didn't everybody see the Viva Obama mariachi band video?" After much anguish and no answers from within, I sat down with political correspondent Monica Norwood to get her take on the outcome. I showed her the clip and then asked "How can this be?? Didn't everybody see the Viva Obama mariachi band video?" "How could Hillary secure 68% of the Hispanic vote in Texas after that?" Her response was startlingly swift and accurate. That seemingly brilliant campaign strategy was flawed in that the song was sung in Spanish and the subtitles were in........Spanish!
This meant that unless you happened to be hanging out in Chico's Bar, Grille, & Pizzeria on Karaoke night, there really was no practical purpose to it whatsoever. It may have actually offended the Hispanic citizens of that state that the Obama campaign assumed they couldn't read English.
Taking that a step further, I'm wondering how many illegal aliens came out to the polls singing their support of El Presidente Obama only to find out that they couldn't vote without valid identification. If not for the fact that we as a country discriminate against people that aren't here legally, Obama would have won by a landslide.

Half Full or Half Empty?

Today was fairly eventful, and definitely mixed with good news and bad. On the down side, I have to help Monica cope with the loss of Brett Favre. How does she move on from here? Will she still watch football with me now that he's gone, or will she turn her back on the sport like she did the NBA when Jordan left the Bulls? Frankly, that's a scary thought. My hope is that she can continue on as a Packers fan. I need a bandwagon to jump on midway through the season when my Redskins stall out, and helping Monica and the rest of the Cheeseheads root for Favre & Co. was never a problem. She has already indicated that she might be able to push through this just by knowing that Brett Favre will still be watching the Pack play on TV, so at least she can smile knowing that they are tuned in to the same network at the same time.

But enough of the bad news. On the plus side, it was 73 degrees today, Eric & Frannie will soon be our neighbors, there is a strong possibility that Hillary will no longer be a viable presidential candidate in a few hours, it's raining, and I got to hang out at the mall with Monica and the boys this evening, watching Owen point out all the "bad" mannequins who, as a result of their behavior, no longer had heads.

Chain Reaction

Something happened this morning that affected me rather profoundly. I was driving my son to preschool, and while passing an intersection in my neighborhood, some guy in a truck started to turn out right in front of me. At the last second, he noticed me and quickly hit his brakes. My immediate feeling was anger towards this jerk who nearly caused an accident. However, in that instant as I drove by, I saw a sheepish grin on his face and his hand raised in apology for his error. All the "mad" immediately oozed out of me, and I wished like crazy that there was some way to let him know that the hostile look he probably saw on my face was completely gone now. He was a nice guy that just made a simple driving mistake on a Monday morning. Since I couldn't do anything to undo my reaction, I prayed for God to bless him. (That was really more like an apology that he would never hear, but I do hope that God really does something great for him.)
He made me realize how much we impact people with our attitude and actions without even knowing it. If he had returned my hateful glare with a scowl of his own, I probably would have gone through my entire morning ticked off. If he did happen to notice my expression, I may have already changed his attitude for the worse as well.
Since there is no rewind or "do-over" in life, I need to try to approach each day with more awareness of how far a small ripple in the pond actually travels.

So How Do We Debug?

I can't help but be a little concerned about the frequency, variety, and resiliency of the illnesses that keep cycling round and round these days. It seems like the "flu season" now runs from September through May. Another problem is that the playing field isn't level any more. It used to be that you either got the flu shot, which made you bulletproof, or you just took your chances knowing that worst case scenario you'd be down for a week out of the year. Not any more. It's kind of like the world of sports. Steroids used to be confined to weightlifting competitions, yet now it has become a standard practice within table tennis, badminton, and chess tournaments.
Superbugs, along with their everyday roadies like bronchitis, laryngitis, strep, and "common" colds are now running in packs, and they laugh at our feeble attempts to limit their power . They are getting bigger and badder every year. Everybody I talk to seems to be either coming down with something, getting over something, or sharing with their friends and family. Monica's down with strep for the second time in three weeks, but at least this time it isn't simultaneously accompanied by the flu and a bladder infection.
I think it's time for somebody to step up and invent a hat/helmet for us to wear throughout the day that will holster cans of Lysol® and automatically dispense a protective mist in front of us every time it senses forward movement. Any better ideas??