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Revisiting Grief

Recently we experienced the loss of one of my son's neighborhood friends.  Derek died of cancer Friday morning at his home, surrounded by his family.  He was seven years old.  He was a sweet, fun-loving little boy that used to ride his Bigwheel up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.  He came over countless times during the summer, and my kids played with both Derek and his sister.  And now he is gone.  All of his human potential has ended in the blink of an eye.  Granted the weeks and months of on-and-off suffering that his family was forced to deal with probably didn't seem like the blink of an eye to them.  My point is that he was playing in our basement one day, and gone the next.  Nothing is permanent.  Not the cars we drive, not the houses we live in, not even you and I. 

There are answers in Christianity for the times when we struggle with suffering.  They may be true, but sometimes they can seem too academic.  This was one of those times.  I was unprepared for the level of grief that I felt when I heard about his death.  It is one thing to attend the funeral of someone in their eighties.  It is something entirely different to see a seven-year-old's blankie draped across a coffin.  I'm not sure what to make of this.  It happens every day in our world of course, because children are mortal too.  But it just feels wrong.  Suddenly I will feel pangs of guilt for the times when I grew frustrated with the kids when they were playing together too loud, or committing some other "crime" that all normal kids take part in.  Suddenly I long to have those times back, so that I could revel in the gift of having the opportunity to get mad about silly things again.  How funny the human condition is that we exist on a linear timeline that often consists of 'sweating the small stuff.'   

I must admit that I am greatly comforted by the story of Jesus equating our entrance into Heaven with having the faith of a child (Matt 18:3).  For children, faith comes so naturally and openly.  As adults we often allow pessimism and pride to get in the way.  Christ reminds us to strip off the garbage, and keep what once came so naturally to us as kids.  I am certain Derek is in Heaven.  Not just because he was baptised, or because he had a religious funeral, but rather because spiritually speaking - he was a straight arrow.  I wouldn't mind one more chance to pat him on the head or watch him playing with my own children again in the backyard.  But that was about to change anyway, even before he got sick again: my family and I are in the process of moving.  Derek would have soon been without my son as a playmate.  In addition, the family just across the street from him had moved three weeks prior.  Maybe that is how God works sometimes.  Derek was here to touch the lives of the other children for a while, and once they moved away, God brought him home.  No more suffering, no more trips to the doctor.  Only peace.

There are a handful of near-death experience studies that were conducted on children during the twentieth century.  It is amazing how so many of them reported the same thing.  They could feel themselves die, and then all of a sudden they were in the presence of Jesus.  Many of the kids even reported details like Christ was wearing a red sash around his upper body (you will note that this description also shows up in the recent story of Colton Burpo from the book Heaven is Real).  I like this mental picture.  I imagine Derek walking next to a tall, kind gentleman wearing a red sash. 

Am I being too poetic here?  Too Pollyanna?  I don't think so.  I think grief and pain itself are often indicators of the reality of Heaven and God.  To suffer so acutely seems to demand a greater Good from which a lack or disconnection from that Goodness can  become offensive. But why is it so offensive?  Why do we get so angry and so grief-stricken when something like this happens?  Because we know that human-kind is meant for something better.  This separation feels unnatural because it is unnatural.  Deep down our spirit knows Heaven already, and the stark contrast of this world compared to that one is repugnant to us.  We can have joy in the fact that if we know Jesus, Heaven awaits us.  Notice I said we can have joy, not always comfort.  During certain times in our life there may in fact be very little consolation from religion, but there can always be joy from God.  Some of you will know exactly what I mean here. 

I am not sure if there is a moral here, save to say that only God lasts forever.  If we place our faith in anything else (money,  work, individualism, etc) we will eventually be disappointed.  None of those things will follow us after we die.  None of it will follow us or wait for us on the other side, but God does wait.   He waits for us to accept Him in this life, to take part in the way we live here on planet Earth, and He waits to greet us when our time is up.  If this were not the case, then our species would truly be without hope.  

Derek has moved on.  It is up to the rest of us who knew him to continue living, and to attempt to process the things that have happened.  I suspect I will picture him riding his Bigwheel up and down the sidewalk in front of our home for some time to come, even once we are in our new house.  Forgive me if I make it a point to also picture him riding alongside someone wearing a red sash.




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"I don’t know how to prove God to you. I can only hope to guide you to a place where you and God might meet."



                                 - Erwin McManus


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Obedience: Cause & Effect

I would like to take a moment to share a short story with you.  A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege and ability to tithe (give 10% of your wealth to the church) on a portion of income that I had received.  I cannot make the assertion that my family is always able to do this - I wish I could.  This particular time, however, I made it a point to follow through, and I wrote a check for the full ten percent to our local church.

What happened next was very interesting.  In fact, if we look to the Bible in the book of Malachi (chapter 3, verse 10), it says this: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."  And bless us He did.  Not more than 45 minutes after cutting the check, I received a call from my wife informing me that we had been pre-approved for a home loan at a superb interest rate. 

Could these two events have been coincidental?  The skeptic would say yes.  Its true, God didn't send an angel from Heaven, riding a lightening bolt, to deliver the news about our loan.  But come now, doesn't it make you wonder?  Some would ask, "but you have only been pre-approved, its not a done deal yet."  That is correct.  However I believe both of these skeptical assumptions presume two things: 1.) God surely couldn't have done this, and 2.) circumstances need to be drawn out to their full and verifiable conclusion before we can give God any credit.  To the first presumption I would have to answer, "yes, God could have done this, and in fact does do this for people on a regular basis."  To the second presumption, I would answer that even if we get all the way through the process and begin moving into our new home ... would that be enough proof?  There is always an out if you look hard enough.

I am of the opinion that God simply fulfilled His promise in Malachi 3:10 that day.  We tithed, and He rewarded.  Now it is true that God is not a giant ATM in the sky.  Others may not have this same result, and this may very well not be the outcome all of the time when you tithe. But I enjoy being reminded that the Bible is true, and I thought a segment of you readers out there may appreciate this post also.  

Praise be to God, and I'm sure I will be blogging for you again soon, from the office in our new home.



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Why is Christianity Special?

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One God Further: Is Christianity a Myth?

“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16



Prominent atheist writer and speaker Richard Dawkins is fond of uttering the following sentence: "none of us believe in Zeus or Thor anymore. I simply go one god further.” By  further god he is referring to the God of the Bible of course. He is making the claim that atheists can be comfortable with denouncing Christianity as just another myth. This argument sounds convincing at the outset. After all, we can’t necessarily go back in time to ancient Greece and interview anyone to see if they actually DID believe that Zeus threw lightning bolts and governed the heavens. Additionally, there has been an onslaught of recent books and movies that attempt to portray Christianity as a copy of certain ancient Pagan “mystery” religions from the past. Some even go so far as to say that there were records of ancient myths containing baptisms and resurrections (for example Horus, the mythical god of ancient Egypt).

One person I know told me that after he watched a stand-up comedian draw parallels between Jesus and Mithras, he formally recanted any belief in the Biblical God. Mithraism, by the way, became popular among Roman soldiers in the second century – too late to have influenced Christianity. But that fact never gets transmitted. Only that there were similarities between Christ and Mithras. But were there really?

It has been said that this Mithras god was born of a virgin. Sounds like a copy of Jesus already, right? However, we find scholars like Dr. Edwin Yamauchi with a doctorate in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University reminding us that the actual legend states Mithras is born out of a rock. Some have tried to claim that Mithras traveled with 12 disciples, instructing them as a master would a student. Yamauchi reminds us that Mithras was a god, not a teacher. And on and on it goes.

Old Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife sound a little more convincing (to my mind), because at least they pre-date the appearance of Christ in first century Palestine. But the Egyptians believed that in order to attain immortality, the body had to be mummified, nourished, surrounded by necessary objects, and make use of certain spells. And all of this would still only guarantee entrance into the afterworld – not a resurrection here on Earth.

And now for Zeus himself (one of Richard Dawkins' favorite false gods). We can take note that there are a number of anthropomorphic traits ascribed to God in the Old Testament. He has this particular quality or that particular one, etc. But when dealing with Greek mythology, you will note the literality of the human traits. Zeus had a severe problem with lust for example. There were stories of him chasing after human women like some kind of modern day sex addict. Not exactly the kind of thing that Yahweh in the Bible would do.

But pointing out all of these things may not be enough. If you have made up your mind already, then no proof will ever be sufficient, no matter which scholar of ancient writings is speaking. And I think that is really the issue here. I am not a PhD in Mediterranean studies or Greek mythology, but I always had the sense that equating Zeus or Dionysus to Jesus just sounded silly. At the heart of it (and my apologies if this is offensive), Pagan myth attribution is another excuse for some people to dismiss the original claims that Christianity makes. In essence this is like saying if you can find something in history to draw upon that has some similarities to the resurrection or immortality, then it is safe to discount Christ as just another dying and rising god. There is nothing special about Him.  But the problem is that when we dig a little deeper, we find that the majority (if not all) of those mystery religions and Pagan myths took hold AFTER the beginning of the first century. They occurred too late to have influenced The Bible.

We are still faced with the uniqueness of Christ. Because if He was not a myth, then we are forced once again to look at the things He said, and weigh them on their own merits. On this note I can sympathize, because trying to live the Christian walk isn’t easy. Struggling with the things Jesus said can be quite a challenge.  But that doesn’t mean we get to discount Christianity and explain it away as some copy of an obscure religion.  I don't think an accurate account of history will let us off the hook that easily.


* I would recommend The Case for the Real Jesus if you are interested in further reading.  Much of the technical content from above (facts and timelines) were taken from that book.  Author Lee Strobel has put together a powerful tool for those who are in search of the truth as it pertains to the claims of Christianity and the Bible.




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from 'Mere Christianity' ...

"Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither."

                                                                - C.S. Lewis








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Interesting Quote ...

"The Glory of God is the human person fully alive"

             - Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century)



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The Bible was Just Kidding About Demons ... Right?

I have just finished a book entitled 'An Exorcist Tells His Story' by father Gabriele Amorth.  Amorth is a Catholic Priest and a sanctioned exorcist.  The first time I heard about this book I must admit that it brought back memories for me, specifically regarding the film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel 'The Exorcist.'  The first time I saw the film I must have been around 10 years old.  My parents had left for a night out, and I was with a babysitter.  Somehow I managed to persuade her that it was no problem if she let me stay up and watch this horror movie.  I hid behind the couch the whole time.  I think I may have been psychologically scarred by this.  Why did I insist on watching this film?  Why is our culture so fascinated by supernatural evil?  Blatty's novel spent something like 57 weeks on the New York Time's best seller list back in the early 70's.  Even the title alone of Amorth's book - I admit - drew me in.  The premise was fascinating.  He spends 200 pages detailing the strange things he has seen during his long career as the local parish exorcist in Italy, and doesn't pull any punches when chastising the Church in Rome because they have forgotten the Biblical roots of exorcism.  That horror film I watched when I was 10 was just a movie though, right?  And that was just based on a book, right?  Amorth's book presents the topic in an interesting light.  Basically, that it is all real.  I wondered if I would have to read this book from behind my couch as well.

It is interesting that Amorth reminds us that the Ritual (the Catholic Church's official set of norms and guidelines for priests to exorcise individuals) was written in 1614.  He says it is still as effective today as it was then.  Amorth does not quote the Ritual word for word, probably because (as he warns us later) the average lay person ought not try this at home.  In the Bible, Jesus does grant the power to expel demons to anyone who believes in His name.  Amorth does realize this, but he adds that the average person must be careful - because things like blessing a home are entirely different than practicing the removal of evil spirits from another human being.  But I am getting ahead of myself here.  Aren't demons, ghosts, and spiritual evil the stuff of fiction?  Isn't it safe for me to come out from behind my couch after all?  People today don't need exorcisms because now we have the ability to diagnose schizophrenia and a host of other mental maladies without the need for religion - right?  But 'An Exorcist Tells His Story' was published in 1994!  Not necessarily ancient history.  Often times Amorth describes taking a psychiatrist with him during some of his exorcisms.  Apparently the Church also concedes that it is important to go to the doctor first.  So what, then, are we to do with the things that he is saying in his book?  That people today are attempting to erase supernatural evil from reality?  That many people have a tendency to divorce the Bible's teachings on evil from its teachings on God and Heaven?  It is this strange paradigm that I will discuss in the next paragraph.

It does fascinate me how many of us (including even some people of great faith) can read the Bible and take certain truths seriously, but reject wholesale the other things it mentions.  Speaking for myself, I was always of the camp that it was okay to believe that some guy named Jesus lived a long time ago, and that Moses may have heard from a higher power in the desert outside Egypt.  But as far as demons and the devil were concerned - that was just metaphor and symbols.  Things were easier that way, less embarrassing.  One of the most difficult things in the Bible to defend today may just be the doctrine on Satan and his demons.  You would have better luck selling snake-oil at Sears.  But there is a catch.  Without a literal devil, the story of the Fall of Man in Genesis makes no sense.  Without literal demons, who was Jesus expelling half the time in the Gospels?  If we are made fun of for believing in the Bible, then we might as well go the whole way, and believe ALL of what Jesus said - not just the happy stuff about God and Heaven. 

But if our culture doesn't believe in the literality of demons, they sure do seem eager to watch movies about them (The Rite, The Exorcist and its sequels, Paranormal Activity, etc).  Not to mention the onslaught of books and T.V. shows about them.  We may not believe in the devil, but we are still worshipping him a good portion of the time.  But none of this matters of course, if demons are merely symbolic.  I won't spend too much time mentioning the popularity of psychics, mediums, astrologers, and the like.  I think they are all part of this cult fascination as well.  Amorth warns against visiting these people, and so does the Bible.  We are to trust God only.  There are no shortcuts to spiritual fulfillment.  So if spiritual evil is real, then why don't more of us witness things like demons on a semi-regular basis?  Why is it necessary to get our "scare fix" by going to a movie theatre or visiting the public library?  Well I believe many of us have witnessed these things, and probably more of us than we would like to admit.  I can't blame people for wanting to relegate this area to the realm of fiction.  It's more comfortable that way.  Less embarrassing. 

I will recount a story for you now.  I am mentioning this from personal experience.  Feel free to read it and either ignore it or accept it - the choice is always yours.  When I attended a small church a few years ago, I had a good friend who I was very interested in inviting to service.  After some discussion, he agreed to meet my family and I one Sunday.  My wife and I were very excited - he was a good friend and a good man.  The Saturday night before the church service, my wife and I put the kids to sleep and got ready for bed like normal.  About 2:00 in the morning I woke up to feel my dog squeezing up against my neck; whining incessantly in fear.  I looked over and saw my wife wide awake as well.  We both sat up in bed and came to the conclusion that we were not alone in the house.  I got up and grabbed an old police baton that I keep under my bed (I don't do guns) and began checking the doors and windows to make sure there wasn't any forced entry.  The entire time I was doing this, both my wife and I felt a palpable presence of evil in our home.  It's interesting to describe, but we both felt it from the moment we woke up.  The air felt very still and heavy, and it was as if "something" hated us vehemently.  It was to say the very least, frightening.  After finding that the house was closed up safe and sound, I returned to bed. 

The next morning it was gone.  My wife looked at me plainly and said, "we were not alone last night."  I nodded in agreement.  Whatever visited us that night did not want us to meet my friend for church the next day.  It wasn't pleased that another soul was being set in motion to encounter God.  Things went well at church on Sunday morning.  I think we may have even taken my friend out to lunch afterward.  I know for certain that I am not the only one this type of thing has happened to (and this is not my only story either).  I have spoken with pastors, Christian friends, and a few others who have had similar or even more graphic stories.  My point is this: the Christian walk is worth fighting for.  By choosing not to believe in accounts by people like father Amorth, I think we do a dis-service to the Bible.  If Jesus warned us to be mindful of demons and to stay away from modern-day psychics and astrologers, we probably should.  We don't need them.  God is our best resource and greatest protector.  It's fun to talk about Heaven and happy things, but in doing so we cannot erase the darker spiritual component.  All the more reason to stay in line with Christ, and to invite Him into our lives at all costs.  

Amorth concludes his book by upholding Jesus as the centerpiece of our salvation.  I will echo that sentiment here.  The last sentence in his book is a paraphrased quote by a writer named Manzoni.  He says that writing "one book at a time is sufficient, and at times, is one too many."  And so it can be with blog posts as well I'm sure, so I will stop here.  But at least I have come out from behind the couch.  I hope the same for you.



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The Homeless Equation

Last Sunday I teamed up with a local ministry here called Joppa (named after the city in the Bible) and went out with 2 car-loads of people to distribute meals to homeless people in our city.  I'm not sure what prompted me to do this.  I simply saw it in our church bulletin, and decided to sign up for a session.  We met at 1:00 pm at the Joppa warehouse and split up into four different groups that were responsible for four unique routes around the city.  Since I was the "new guy" I remained silent, but I noticed immediately who the old veterans were.  There were two people in particular who help organize these distributions almost every weekend.  Personally, I was grateful to have a guide, and I even hitched a ride in someone else's vehicle for the day.  We finished around 5:00 pm.  What I experienced is not easy to summarize.  In fact I'm not so sure this blog post will be a very focused piece of writing, but I feel the need to write about it nonetheless.  It was easier to feel my way through this experience than it was to quantify it.  I have listed the things I noticed during this outting below. 

Puzzlement for their Plight
I found myself at the beginning of the experience wondering if anyone was doing more than just delivering food and clothing to these unfortunate people.  After all, shouldn't we also be helping them get on their feet?  Soon I found out that Joppa does indeed help many of them clean up and get into housing.  Often times finding them a job as well.  One gentlemen named Al told me that after he had been placed into a job and an apartment, he was back on the street within months.  He told me he could not beat the "demon of alcoholism." 

I was told that some of the people we delivered to actually preferred to live by themselves without the responsibility of a full-time job or a mortgage.  Others asked us to pray for them, so that they could bet back on their feet.  I found myself feeling sad, and at the same time puzzled: they needed help, but only so much help was appropriate.  Some of them (I think) have chosen this as their life.  And whether by way of addiction or personal choice, are destined to end up back on the street at some point.  I'm not sure how to feel about this yet, at this point I'm just recounting what I saw.

God is Still Good
I wondered if these people were being helped spiritually also, in addition to just physically.  That question was answered as soon as I met a man named Dwight.  He lives in a small tent community in the woods behind a bank (insert your own metaphor here).  Dwight told me that he and some others in the tents attend a large church on the West side each Sunday.  He was happy to tell me that they were all Christians in that camp.  He also told me that with God's help, he was able to repair some damage to his tent in only half a day.  Every other sentence out of his mouth was "God is good."  I shook his hand twice and spoke with him maybe a total of 10 minutes.  I will most likely remember him the rest of my life.  No home, no heat, little food ... but God is still good.  I cannot add anything else to this.  His attitude was nothing less than amazing.

Stray Cats and D-Batteries
On one of our last stops we drove over a bridge and into an abandoned parking lot.  Just over the bank in the woods stood two or three tents.  There were only two people living there, they appeared to be a couple.  It had snowed earlier in the week and the man began telling us that the snow was so heavy it weighed down the trees to the point where one of them tore a hole through his canvas.  He was able to repair it quickly, but he wondered if we had any D-batteries so they could keep some electricity going after it got dark.  How I truly wished I had stopped at the store on my way to the Joppa warehouse and picked up some D- batteries.  We had none to offer them. 

A stray cat passing over the embankment caught my eye.  "That is our pet cat," he said.  "The campers who were here before us left him behind, so we took him in."  This struck me for a moment.  There was compassion in the way he said it.  What is it about animals that unites us?  My wife and I took in a stray cat about 5 years ago.  One of the best pets we have ever had.  This man was no different than me.  I live in a house, he doesn't - that was about it.  How many paychecks could I stand to miss before ending up in the same situation?

I hope this article strikes a chord with some of you.  It doesn't have much to do with a logical faith, or how we can know that God exists through reason or philosophy.  We are not discussing atheism or agnosticism today.  No, last Sunday was about meeting people and helping them.  No arguing about religion or denominations - just delivering food.  Jesus says we will always have the poor with us, and surely this is true.  But I don't like it.  I didn't like that this experience produced feelings in me that I couldn't articulate.  The homeless people we met that day don't need our pity, they just need some help.  I am grateful for what Joppa and similar ministries do.  I heard that Joppa was started by only two people.  Now it has its own warehouse downtown.  I asked myself questions like "what did these homeless people do prior to Joppa in this city?"  ... or "why did no one else form such a ministry sooner?"  But then why did it take me until I was 38 years old to volunteer?  Bad enough to admit that I didn't spend much time thinking about this problem until now.  Worse to admit that over time, a certain degree of apathy may sneak back into my attitude.  But only if I let it.  It is a problem that has no simple equation or solution.  It just exists, and we must help when we can.

For more information on Joppa and the things they do in the Des Moines area, click this link: http://www.joppaoutreach.org/


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