A Mumbling Faith

“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants
to speak your word with great boldness.”

~ Acts 4:29

In another lifetime, I attended the Spanish Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of San Francisco, California as part of my initial Army training program. While studying Spanish all day, every day for months on end got a bit tedious after awhile, it was a wonderful assignment I enjoyed. But I can’t say the same for all my friends. One friend in particular was a young private named Quinn. This young Texan hated the Army even more than most of the rest of us did. And he hated Spanish as well. So he wasn’t a very pleasant fellow to be around for the most part. Unfortunately, Quinn was my roommate.

Why We Love The Church

Just a few weeks ago, I lamented in a sermon my inability to find a book written in the last thirty years in praise of the church.  It seems to me an entire cottage industry of church criticism has grown up, without much response.  While we all know the weaknesses of the church, we very rarely discuss its glories.  I've grown very tired of this trend.  Yet having just said this out loud a few weeks ago, it made me chuckle to just now discover a brand new book entitled "Why We Love The Church."  While I'm a little sad that yet another of my good ideas for a book is now no longer available to me, I'm thrilled to find a book discussing something I'm deeply concerned about.  I haven't yet had a chance to read it, so I can't yet recommend it, but I did order it.  I'll let you all know what I think when I get a chance to dig into it.  Stay tuned!

Saucy Talented (Matthew 25:14-30)

Like many of you, my sweeties and I have been watching the Olympic Games all week. Like always, there is much to be impressed by at the games this year, but for me, the most startling, stunning aspect of these games has been the amazing risk and danger of it all.

Who are these people? Why does somebody go screaming down a mountainside at 90 miles an hour, quite literally risking everything, as we’ve seen painfully illustrated this year in particular? Monica made me laugh out loud at one point this week. We saw yet another outrageous picture of a snowboarder in mid air and she turned to me and said in all seriousness, “That’s not real, is it?”

No, sweetie, it is absolutely real. Some people aren’t interested in wandering through life doing only the minimum – some people are just not interested in playing things safe. Some people want to take their God-given talents for a ride…maybe even a wild and crazy ride! And because there are exciting folks like that in the world, all the rest of us get to reap the benefit.

We aren’t Olympic athletes, but what sorts of risks are we willing to take just to see the amazing things God might want us to accomplish? Are we willing to risk it all?

Whatever We Do - Reflections on Lindsey

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, 

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

~ Colossians 3:17

Along with much of the rest of the planet, Monica and I have been glued to the Olympics this week. We have cheered for people we never knew existed before these games began, especially enjoying the backstories of many athletes. We have made utterly superficial and snarky comments about figure skater costumes and discussed at length all the various athletic performances, even though we know literally nothing about any of these sports or how they should be properly evaluated. We, who have never skied, snowboarded, figure skated or played hockey in our entire lives, are now savvy experts able to opine on all things winter and Olympic…

But one of the most painful and thought-provoking stories we’ve all heard ad nauseum this week is that of a pretty, young snowboarder named Lindsey Jacobellis. As most of the world now knows, Lindsey is the feisty snowboarder who lost a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics because she celebrated her victory a little too early and fell down near the end of the race. And then at this year’s Olympics, this outrageously good snowboarder ended up getting tangled up and surprisingly disqualified even before the medal round.

Bummer - redemption denied!

The Well-Timed Life (Luke)

Last Sunday after worship, we had some friends over who had a four month old baby boy. Since I am almost freakishly hungry to be a grandfather, I enjoyed the opportunity to hold and entertain the little guy. I sang him my “Get a Long, Little Doggie” song and bounced him on my knee in exactly the same way my girls used to enjoy until about a year ago. I am way good at that song! He loved it immensely – I was rewarded with several little boy smiles and warm snuggles. I thought back to what my father once mentioned to me about my little ones – “Enjoy your kids as long as you can, son. These days come and go quicker than you think.”

They certainly do, dad; they certainly do. We’ve enjoyed our girls so very much that, as many of you know, Monica and I have repeatedly toyed with the idea of adopting another child. But sadly, God has made clear to us that isn’t His plan for us. As the great Ecclesiastes teacher famously said, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” There is a time for everything and, for whatever reason, now is not the time for more kids.

Productively Christian (2 Peter 1:1-11)

How productive are you? Are you the type of person who cheerfully jumps out of bed at 5:30 AM, has quiet time with God, hits the treadmill for an hour and then joyously attacks the day, falling into bed in the evening having accomplished great things for God and humanity?

Or are you something else? Is productivity a word you don’t even start thinking about until much, much later in the day? Or is productivity perhaps even a word you don’t like to hear at all because of what it might force you to realize about your life? How truly productive is your life?

And, more importantly, how often do we honestly apply the word “productivity” to our spiritual lives? Is this kid’s face a good metaphor for the overall productivity of your Christian life as well? As a pastor, I’ll confess productivity isn’t a word I try to think about very much. This job doesn’t lend itself to products and tidy outcomes very easy to quantify. Sometimes I’m planting seeds, sometimes I’m watering, sometimes I’m guarding crops and sometimes I’m enjoying a harvest – I need to be content to work diligently doing all these. It is hard to measure spiritual productivity on a silly Excel chart or PowerPoint slide and, whenever we attempt to do so, it feels fake, forced and depressing. Productivity, efficiency and effectiveness feel like foreign concepts in spiritual conversation.

Kitty Angel of Death

I'm not exactly sure what I think of this, but it is worth a moment of pondering...

If my cat starts giving me creepy looks, there may be a few adjustments around the Hanson house.