Christmas and Wonder

In business, companies do an analysis where they imagine where they want to be and then determine where they are. The difference between the two is the gap and documenting that is called a gap analysis. Harvard professor and innovation expert Clayton Christensen terms this gap under the banner "Jobs to be Done". This time of year, I frequently contemplate a gap analysis between the creator God and the Christ child born.

We were at a party last night and the daughter of one of our friends had a brand new 10 day old baby there. I found myself watching this baby and even trying to remotely contemplate what it took for Christ to enter our world. We had this conversation about whether the Christ child cried. In the hymn "What Child is This" it says the baby "no crying He makes". Sounds cute but I do believe the Christ child cried because a baby's only means of communicating basic need (not sin at that point) is through crying. Someone actually made a ringtone out of a crying baby - are you kidding me, but I digress. I am thirty years from this stage of my life but it still makes my blood pressure go up (wait till grandparenting).



Christmas should exacerbate our sense of wonder. I finished journaling through the book of Matthew this year As I finished up in chapters 26 and 27, I found myself in wonder as Christ stood before in succession Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate marveling at the thought of King Jesus standing before puny man in judgment. Then to end up on a Roman cross in a form of punishment designed for the lowest of the low. Paul says it succinctly in Philippians that Christ "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross". God who spoke the world into being becomes a baby born into the messiness of a stable, is a totally dependent child, walks among us for 33 years, and dies a slave's death.

Don't get caught up with going through the motions. Stop and and wonder. Let your mind fill with wonder this Christmas.

Home!

Deb and I traveled to Florida over the Thanksgiving holidays to visit her mom, brother, and sister-in-law as well as other family members and friends. The weather in Florida could not be better - low eighties, no rain. We had a wonderful time. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we set out on our journey home. Our original plan was to get as far as we could and then stop somewhere if we got too tired. But we kind of broke up our journey into manageable junks and around about 1:30 AM we rolled into Northeast Ohio. As we passed our first sign that welcomed us back to our home, Deb says "Ahh Brecksville".

Now on the surface of it, going from the sunny pleasant confines of Florida to the unpredictable grays of NE Ohio this time of year is hardly fitting but this is our home and there are many days it is hard to imaging living anywhere else. Jesus says in John 14:1-3 that he is going to prepare a home for us in heaven, the home we have always longed for. I blogged about home a number of weeks ago commenting on the passing of my friend Greg Gerycz. What is it about home that fills the deep longings of our heart and soul?

1. Home is a place of the familiar. It is what we are accustomed to. Being away, I think we appreciate what home represents.
2. Home is where we can rest in the routine of life. Life has its patterns and while sometimes those patterns need a break, we always feel better when we get back to those patterns.
3. Home is the physical place of authority. What I mean is that this is the place where we kind of take charge of our own lives. As much as we love to visit people, we are in their home and their place. We tell people but "Make yourself at home" but it can never be our physical home.
4. Home is the presence of relationships. It is where friends and family dwell.  Over the years, we have developed so many friends here it becomes hard to imagine being anywhere else. Our girls and much of our family are elsewhere and we go to them in one sense to reunite people and places together. This is why the longing of heaven is so natural because it reunites us with the most intimate of relationships from across time and space.

We while wintering in NE Ohio is not ideal and Florida certainly appeals to my creature comforts desires, it is very good to be Home.

Will Anger Lead to Action?

I was traveling this past week and I was in Austin, TX for a conference when the election results were published very early Wednesday morning. As I was walking to the conference event that morning, a cyclist whom was coming towards me and I let pass before crossing the road yelled at me "Get out of my way you bitch" (left the word in for emphasis - not a word I have ever been called). Later that night, I was walking to one of the events for this conference (the Tableau conference has 13,000 attendees so it is huge) and I got swept up in a protest by students from University of Texas at Austin. One of the video clips I took is below.

This type of anger is usually bred by frustration. When we get frustrated, we get angry and that is the definite sense I got from this protest. Judge for yourself. Anger out of frustration is rarely a good anger. Even the civil rights protests of the sixties was fueled by productive action (boycotts etc.). Not all anger is bad. Injustice should make us angry and anger then should lead to action. In this case, it is hard to label it an injustice since our election laws go back hundreds of years and are designed to prevent populous areas from dominating our vast country. Nobody is contesting the fairness of the election. There is nothing that will change. It really is just venting. Consider the protests in Portland which turned into a riot with windows being smashed and local businesses damaged. I had a coworker friend who would say to me when I would vent - "Dan, what would you want me to do". What matches anger is the ability to translate that anger to passion and passion to action.

I love a hot shower. I am told that water at 98 or 99 degrees centigrade is pleasant. But at 100 degrees centigrade, water boils and it is very unpleasant to take a scalding shower. Our country needs to move back from scalding to hot and we need to channel the 50% of us that are upset in a positive direction. I pray that happens.

A Little Birdie Told Me

Ever wonder where certain expressions came from? The expression "a little birdie told me" comes from Ecclesiastes 10:20 and it says "Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter". I find the Scriptures to be very timely even in our high tech world. The wisest man in the world, Solomon who wrote Ecclesiastes could not have foreseen the social media crazed world that we live in today. Yet this verse is more relevant today than it ever was.

The point is that what you say seemingly in private will come back to haunt you in public. Does this ring true with today's presidential candidates? Both candidates have said something whether in text form or speaking that they never expected would be public and yet they were. Digital assets record just about anything that comes out of our mouth or through our fingertips. We are just a notch below a creator God who knows everything that we are thinking even if we don't say it. The cure for the "little birdie issue" is not to not say it but to examine our own attitudes and beliefs.

As an example, this past week our Indians were in the World Series against the Cubs. My wife is from the Chicago area, I went to college near Chicago, our daughter lives in Chicago with rabid Cubs fans as friends and family. Both Deb and I ourselves are Cubs fans. I went to a number of Cubs games when I was in school. So we found ourselves engaged in a little "smack talk". But it was very good natured and when the Cubs pulled it out, we were happy for our friends. There was no bitterness involved. When Lebron James went to Miami, I found myself bitterly rooting against the Miami Heat. It did not feel healthy and it lasted for one season. Bitterness towards others is never healthy.

Getting at the root is the first step. Self-examination is a theme rooted throughout the Bible. Jesus said to look at the log in our own eye before examining the speck in someone else's eye. When we do this, we are less prone to want to say or do something that a little birdie will carry out to others.

2016 Election - Is This the End of Civility?

A friend of my wife recently commented to her that she prayed before voting early this year and then after casting her vote, she just cried. Such is the state of this election year. This election has separated co-workers, friends, and families. It has even impacted our own family.

I love our freedom in our country to vote. And I appreciate that we have the ability to say what is on our mind about who we vote for. However, I look at it and say I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ and as such it is not remotely worth it for me to cloud my Savior with who I want as President. The two are not tied in any way whatsoever. So why would I want to risk confusion of one vs. the other. So I don't put politics on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. I won't even tell you who I am voting for. I will cast my vote, but in a few weeks I will support whoever wins the election because that is what I am supposed to do (Romans 13).

There is an aspect of this election that is even more troubling however. As cantankerous as previous elections have been, this one rises to a much higher level. I cannot remember EVER this level of personal attacks. John Kasich vowed to stay positive and it probably cost him. Barbs, jabs, and personal attacks seem to be the mode of our Reality TV era. Does this trouble you like it does me? James the writer says we are to be "Quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God". It seems to me the evidence of a society that is slowly unraveling. Moving to Canada is probably not the answer. But being a change agent of casting aside bitterness and rancor probably is. I pray our country moves past this point and embraces the kind of common good we had in the days immediately after 911. 

Leaving Family, Going Home

Whenever I have an employee take another job, I always ask the same question. Are you "going to something" or "leaving from something". This is a matter of gauging intent. The strange thing is when someone dies, they are doing both and it is not a question of intent. They are going home and they are leaving family. They are ripped from those closest to them but ushered into a new home, one they have always longed for. This brings this a strange conundrum of mourning and celebration together.

My friend Greg Gerycz passed away suddenly Thursday morning. Greg was part of a circle of friends that we have been close to for many years. Greg was my age so it reinforced a sense of my own mortality. It has really brought it close to home. Greg leaves a loving wife Gail and two adult boys, two daughters-in-law, and one grandchild. Greg had a relationship with Jesus Christ and I am confident that he was ushered into his presence on Thursday.

Home is somewhere we long for. To the believer, this world is not our home. We are sojourners and ambassadors, but not citizens. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20) and we eagerly desire to go there. Jesus is putting the light on (to quote the Motel 6 commercial) and preparing the place for us to go (John 14:1-3) and it will be a lovely place indeed (Psalm 84). Most importantly, Greg is now forever in the presence of Jesus, something we groan for (Rom. 8:23, 2 Cor. 5:2). From 1998 or so to 2005, I traveled a lot. I was gone most every week. It never got old to arrive back home and be back in my own house with my family. Greg has been on a very long business trip; he got a lot done; built a lot of friendships, but now he has arrived home. And that is cause for celebration.

So why do we also mourn? Because Greg has left us. Death is a result of the fall, resurrection is a result of the gift. So death carries a bitter sting (1 Cor. 15:56) - someone is ripped from our presence leaving a huge hole. I find it interesting that when Jesus raised Lazarus to life, he wept before doing so. Jesus knew He would heal Lazarus - that is why He delayed. So why would He weep? Because Jesus in his perfect humanity knew the pain death leaves behind. So mourning is to be expected. But the Scriptures say we are not to mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13).  We can say the Bible is full of hope. The word hope appears 132 times in the Bible. Why - because our hope is in Christ and that means reunification. The Berlin Wall separating us from loved ones who pass on will eventually come down. We will soon be with Greg again. The closing words of 1 Thess. 4:18 states it perfectly "therefore comfort one another with these words".

The Wrong Story

A woman leaves three kittens in a hot, overheated car causing the kittens to go into severe distress before someone spotted the kittens and called police. The police break into the car and rescue the kittens and arrest the women on a felony charge of animal cruelty.

This might be the end of the story - we would all agree that leaving kittens in a hot car is truly negligence and the woman should be charged. As I read this story, I was struck by what was mentioned as an afterthought. The woman was homeless and had gone into a church seeking help. I love animals as much as anybody but they are not human beings made in the image of God. Something is deeply troubling when we elevate animals above people. I am also troubled that the place that she should expect help is in a church. Instead the article focuses on the plight of the kittens.

My heart went to this woman and what she must have been thinking. I don't know anything about her, but I do know she had no place to go and she went to the right place. Now there may have been more to the story - I don't know. Maybe the woman received the help she sought. If so, that would have been a better story. If not, I think it is a misplaced story because our callous hearts must go to our sister first. 

I Like You

My wife and I have a strange, but nice pattern where when we encounter each other, we say "I Like You". What we are saying is that we appreciate the strengths and the mutual affection we have for each other. This phrase "I Like You" does not replace love. Love is an act of the will and has nothing to do with the other person. My wife could be completely unresponsive and I would still love her. But in saying "I Like You", I am saying I appreciate all that is contained in her being. This is consistent with the words for love in the bible. The word agape refers to the unconditional love, the covenant commitment love whereas phileo refers to brotherly affection or the Greek word equivalent of like.

I have started to use my Fitbit more. The other day I realized something. After I charge the Fitbit up fully, it flashes on the screen "I Like You". Wow, I did not realize my Fitbit likes me. I could sit on my lazy butt for weeks on end and after I charge my Fitbit, it will still say "I Like You". That is not agape love or phileo love, but self-love. The programmers of the Fitbit software (it's always the software) figured out that we better put motivational concepts in or people will get discouraged or apathetic.

It got my thinking how many people confuse self-love with brotherly love, or even worse with covenant love. Self love can never stand alone. The bible says to "let another praise you and not your own mouth" (Proverbs 27:2). I can come up with all my own motivational statements all day long but in the end, I must have someone else to admire something in me, even when I am a complete screw-up. God has wired us to long for the affection and admiration of others. It is part of what keeps us in relationship.

The Case of the Hidden Pearl

A Filipino fisherman in western Palawan island has found possibly the world's biggest pearl, but he didn't know it. For 10 years, the 34-kilogram (75-pound) pearl was hidden in a bag under a bed. The fisherman's family would rub it with their hands before going out to sea in the belief it would bring them luck, said relative Aileen Amurao.

Amurao, who is also Puerto Princesa city's tourism officer, said Thursday that the man gave her the pearl last month for safekeeping because he was moving to a new place. The pearl was sitting on a bench in her home for weeks until she found time to check the internet, and she was shocked to learn that it could be the world's biggest at 2.2 feet (67 centimeters) long and 1 foot (30 centimeters) wide. The estimated value of the pearl is 100 million dollars.

This story reminded me of the story of the "pearl of great price". This story in Matthew 13:45-46 says that a merchant was seeking fine pearls and upon finding one, he sold all he had to go and buy it. I am struck by the differences between the two stories:

• The realization of value - the fisherman must have known that he had something of value because he hid it under the bed. But he really did not know the true value of what he had. The gospel is of unlimited value but many don't realize it.
• The response of what to do with the value - the fisherman rubbed the pearl for good luck. How many of us treat the gospel as just a good luck charm. No doubt the merchant of the gospels saw the pearl as a fantastic investment because he was an investor of pearls.
• The reaction upon finding the pearl is of high value is shock to the fisherman but obviously not shocking to the merchant who knew the value he had. I wonder how many people will be shocked to find that the gospel is "good news" to so many and it is just waiting for those who will embrace it.

The pearl of Matthew 13 is something that intrinsically people would regard as high value. Not much more needs to be said. Jesus says in Matthew 7:6 says not to cast pearls before swine. The idea is you shouldn't have to convince somebody of something that has intrinsic value. It is one of those things that is self-evident, unless of course we misunderstand or misapply it. 

The Summer of Weddings

It seems like each summer these days is packed full with weddings. It seems to be the confluence of a number of factors.

1. We are at an age where the next generation is getting married so our friends kids, friends of our kids, etc. getting married.
2. One of our ministries is being marital mentors through our church.
3. I am married to a wedding coordinator.

So between Deb and I, we will have about 10 weddings under our belt this summer. It is not a problem and I am not complaining because I love weddings. We always are comparing notes about what went well and what didn't, etc. As a wedding coordinator, Deb works very hard to make sure the wedding goes without a hitch. Yesterday was the first time that I actually was both an attendee at the wedding as Deb coordinated it as well.

Weddings can be very informal - yesterday was in a barn in Geauga County. Or it can be very formal and buttoned up. To me, what makes the wedding special is not the venue or the food, but the vows. The vows are everything and we tend to downplay them. I took my vows very seriously and that is why at my own wedding over 30 years ago, I almost backed out (for the second time I might add). A vow is a lifetime covenant in front of witnesses in God. That should be a serious matter for all of us. Marriage is the human symbolism of Christ's relationship with the church. Christ's relationship with the church is permanent as the marriage should be.

But honoring a covenant is a marvelous thing. When our marriage was hanging on by a thread, the covenant before God was honored by us and then a work began in each of us supernaturally. I believe that God even works in marriage through those who do not profess faith in Christ if they treat the covenant in the same way. It is one of those "common grace" items because marriage is a spiritual institution. From time to time I replay those vows I made 31 years ago to remind me of that covenant. I have a ring on my finger that reminds me of that covenant I made 31 years ago.

Deb reminded me yesterday that ours was a morning wedding like the one we attended yesterday. I completely forgot that fact and the weddings come and go, but vows are forever.

Top 10 Reasons to Love Northeast Ohio (Revisited)

Several years ago, I blogged/bragged about the numerous things to love about Northeast Ohio. Cleveland has been in the news a lot the past few months between the Cavs winning the NBA championship and the RNC Convention. People have been raving about our city and our area. My wife who is a transplant from the western suburbs of Chicago loves it here and says "we want people to love our area but not so much that they move here" which means we like kind of being on the fringes. I grew up here, moved away and have been back since 1985.

We live in a community. The gospels are replete with the environment and community that Jesus and the disciples lived. Imagine the gospels without the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Samaria, and of course Jerusalem. Other than the lousy winters there is no other place I would rather be. So it is with great pride that I republish my blog of two years ago of the Top 10 things to love about Northeast Ohio.

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#10 - Little Bit of Country, Little Bit of City

I really like that I can ride my bike not too far from me (even in Cuyahoga County) and I can be in the country.  I have lived in the Chicago and New York areas and it is a lot harder to find country. When we lived in Aurora, I would bike about 10 miles from our house and I was in Amish country. We had Amish builders on our house. Every Labor Day, we make a trek to the Great Geauga County Fair where we look at pig butts (as Debsue says), eat onion rings and drink 4H milkshakes. We are in the country, yet we are also in a city with all of the city amenities. Best of both worlds. 

#9 - A Manageable City

This one is quite similar to #10, but slightly different. Our city is very manageable. What I mean by that is it is fairly easy to get around and navigate. From our house in Brecksville downtown is 17 minutes with no traffic. Traffic here is nothing compared to other cities. Have you driven in LA, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.  I missed a flight in Baltimore driving from Dulles, VA 30 miles away as I was in traffic 3 hours. Even smaller cities can be challenging. Our rush hour commuting delay is usually around 10 minutes. I commuted downtown for 7 years and it is really nothing. Yes, we would love to have a better RTA system, but it isn't terrible. From one end of the city to the other is a few minutes. There is a reason why Cleveland's downtown residence is now at 98% occupancy. 

#8 - Museums

I am not a museum junkie and that is why this one is probably number 8 on my list. We have a plethora (using a big word because of the topic) of museums. And they are top rate. The Cleveland Museum of Art is massive and just underwent a major renovation.  The Museum of Natural History is going through a similar renovation. By the lakefront is of course the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Center. In Akron, you have the Inventors Hall of Fame. In Canton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Specialty museums, normal museums, quirky museums - we have them all. 

#7 - Blossom Music Center and the Cleveland Orchestra

A city of less than 500,000 has one of the world's renowned orchestras seems almost too good to true. Every summer, Debsue and I principally have a staycation where we stay in the area. We love being here in  the summer and one of the reasons is to go to Blossom Music Center and hear the Cleveland Orchestra.  We get season passes each summer and sit on the lawn - it is the perfect place to hear the orchestra and the perfect venue to be with friends, drink wine or beer, and eat dinner.

 

#6 - World Renowned Health System

It is hard not to think of Cleveland without thinking of our world class medical care. Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are best in class. Now we have added the Global Center for Medical Innovation (formerly known as the Medical Mart), the only facility in the world that demonstrates the future of health and health care. One time a friend who is in medical care in Cleveland once asked me if there was any better place in the world you could get sick and not worry about the quality of health care. He was right. 

#5 -  Neighborhood Diversity and Charm

I learned this one early on when I started living here. Do you live on the east side or the west side? Side note - we now live in Brecksville and there is a running debate on whether this is east side or west side. If you use Route 77 as your divisor, we live on the east side. If you use the national park, we live on the west side. Maybe we can claim both! Cleveland is a city known for its neighborhoods. Shaker Square, Gordon Square, Tremont, Ohio City are examples of some of our favorite "neighborhoods". In Ohio City, there is the West Side Market, the oldest operating indoor/outdoor market. We love to visit there, buy great produce, Ohio City pasta and from time to time fritters and Steve's gyros. One of the things we love the most is the people we see at the West Side Market. In Tremont, there is Grumpy's, in Gordon Square, the Happy Dog.  There seems to be a decided food theme to this one.

 
#4 - The Lakefront
If you had asked me the top 10 off the top of my head, I probably would not have listed the lakefront. I don't have a boat and I live 15 miles from the lake. There is also no doubt that the lakefront is underutilized. But I also know that is changing. Cleveland sits on Lake Erie and that makes it a hub of transportation and commercial activity. It is also a hub of recreation. Last Friday, Deb and I volunteered for the Cleveland Metro Parks at Burning River Fest. The festival was at Wendy Park. A year ago, I did not even know where Wendy Park was. We were promoting the new Water Taxi system coming over the next few years. I was privileged to work on this project as part of Leadership Cleveland II. The lakefront is a great asset and the best is yet to come.


 # 3 - The Park System
In my rankings, I could have easily justified this as number one or two. One of the major reasons we moved to Brecksville is because it is at the fulcrum of three different park systems - Cuyahoga National Park, Cleveland Metro Parks, and Summit Metro Parks. All are first rate and they almost seem to blend together. In fact, I used to think they were all kind of one big park system. Again my ignorance. The CNP is one of the top 10 most frequented national parks in the country. It is up there with the Yosemite's of the world. I have a much greater appreciation of our park systems as both a regular user and because of my friendship with a few leaders in CNP and Cleveland Metroparks. I think it is crown jewel. I love getting on my bike and just riding on the Towpath or Bike n Hike.

 
 #2 - SPORTS...
Hard to believe that I would put sports teams number two given that we haven't won anything since 1964. I was five years old at the time so I have no recollection of the event even though we lived in Euclid at the time. That makes it even more amazing that NE Ohio is still so sports crazy. I submit as proof that the Plain Dealer, our daily paper is almost always half devoted to our crazy sports teams. Count articles on the front page as indirectly related to sports. We have a definite bias as an area towards football - we will support that even if the team stinks which it has since 1999. Now we have added Johnny football - not sure what that will mean. But we also had 455 straight sellouts in baseball and one of the top attendance figures in the NBA for basketball when Lebron was here. Speaking of which - Lebron is back! If you have not seen Frank Calliendo's rendition of Lebron's speech in Morgan Freeman's voice, it is definitely worth a look.

 
#1 - The People
A community is only as good as its people. I love the people in this community. By and large, they are down to earth, genuine, mostly humble people. To that point, I get to interact with some pretty successful people and the vast majority are wonderful people. I could not say that about growing up in the East Coast or what I have observed other places. NE Ohioans care about people. We care about our community. The biggest flaw we have is that we tend to have an inferiority complex but I think that is changing. NE Ohio is on a roll baby and it is about time the world sees it for what it is.

Uniter or Divider?

These few weeks have been very tumultuous for our country. As I write this from Cleveland, OH, the Republican National Convention will be kicking off tomorrow. Protests have already started. I am finding myself praying fervently for our city and our country in these times. It seems like everyone has an opinion on what divides us. Everyone has an opinion on what will correct these racial, generational, and political differences we seem to have.

As I have been contemplating this, I find myself asking the basic question - am I a uniter or a divider? That is, I am part of the solution or do I just want to find a way to whine about the problem. As protesters were gathering for next week, about 1,000 of us gathered yesterday at the Wolstein Center to lift our country, our city up in prayer. I was struck by the crowd which crossed racial, generational, ethnic, and denominational lines. The event (www.theresponseusa.org) was completely apolitical. In fact, at the start of it, it even made a point of saying it would not even mention any names or any parties.

The unifying factor for this group was a common faith in Jesus Christ. I found myself in a prayer huddle surrounded with people whom I just met but had an immediate common bond with. Paul says that the "he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph. 2:14). It is the common bond of Christ that allowed me to walk into that building and immediately feel like I was part of a family gathering. And the family had a united mission - to pray our city and our country through these challenging times.

Cavs Celebration - Shared Victory and a Great Multitude

Lebron James said the past week has been surreal. I would agree. I am a lifelong Clevelander - I have lived other places in my life but of the 56 years I have lived on this earth (thus far), 45 have been in this great city. I also am a huge Cleveland sports fan. I was five years old the last time Cleveland won anything and I have no memory of that event. Like many others, I have lived through Red-Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Blown Save, and yes, The Decision. I began to question whether a championship was going to happen in my lifetime. Ohio State, while sweet covers the whole state and not just our little city.

That is why the victory Sunday night (only a week ago) and the parade on Tuesday were so extra special. Sunday night Deb and I went to Ohio City and watched the game at Market Garden Brewery. We knew win or lose we needed to experience this event with others of similar sports faith. After the improbable victory we went downtown and I must have high-fived a thousand people. It did not matter whether you were old or young, black or white, rich or poor, thin or fat, you celebrated that night. Then there was the parade. I rode my bike downtown because I wanted to; a) avoid the nightmare traffic, and b) get a better firsthand sense of the crowd. I have never seen that many people gathered to celebrate. Seeing over a million people celebrating in my little city brought tears to my eyes multiple times. The panoramic shot from my iPhone paints a picture.

My heart and head went to a place that maybe others haven't thought about. This is a small taste of the celebration in heaven. John says in Rev. 7:9 that a "great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" will be celebrating God and the Lamb who is Jesus Christ. I even thought about King James and how this city embraced the returning superstar as a small taste of worship of the infallible, sacrificial King Jesus. Many people seem to have this impression of heaven as a boring place. Nothing can be further from the truth - the reality is it is a giant party.

It is also a giant party with purpose. There are lots of passages that describe heaven as a place of joy and purpose. As I was standing in the parade, I had lots of joy but no real purpose other than to yell a lot. God in heaven will not only provide incredible joy, but there will be function as well. Sunday night I heard a lot of people saying "We did it". Well last I checked, none of us even picked up a basketball. We identified with the Cavaliers because they represented Cleveland. We also represent Christ who paid the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for our sins. In fact the word Christian means "little Christs". The sacrifice ushered in responsibility - responsibility in this world and the one to come. Only God could provide true joy and ultimate purpose.

The Wonders of Life

In my blog post last week, I reflected on the cicadas and the wonders of observing this phenomena. I think many of us take for granted those things that happen routinely but are anything but routine. Several weeks ago, we were flying to Florida and the man in the seat behind me of nearly 50 years old commented that he had never flown before.

He was so excited that he asked the people on either side of him to take pictures out the window. He was also hyper-ventilating as we took off and gasping as we landed. About 30 minutes in the flight, he hit the call button and asked the flight attendant if she could "take his order". He did not understand the routine of airplane service. About a few hours in, I got up to stretch (I do this routinely in flight because I have had a blood clot and my hamstrings also are very tight). He asked me if it was ok to stand in the aisle like that.

I reflected on what this man was experiencing. Since when does flying 600 mph in a metal tube with a hundred of our closest friends become normal? My brother-in-law is a pilot and even he is routinely awed by what the world looks like from 10,000 to 30,000 feet in the air.

We were at a wedding last night and a friend of our daughter brought her seven week old baby to the wedding. Looking at a new born baby should fill us with wonder. In the movie Rocky (Rocky II that is), Rocky says to Adrian when their baby is born "I can't believe you did this". Rocky has wonder but it is misplaced. God is the author of this complicated human organism and uses people as the means.

Do we approach life with a sense of wonder?  Or with a sense of routine? There are so many daily routine, ho-hum things that we see that reflect the wonder of who God is. Even giving ourselves credit for the wonders of technology should be directed not from the inventor but to the ultimate creator God who fashions the complex into the seemingly ordinary.

Cicada Lessons

We are at the tail end (no pun intended) of the cicada invasion. These little buggers depending on where you live in NE Ohio are everywhere. There is a neighborhood by where I work where they are particularly prominent. I learned a whole lot about cicadas reading up on them on websides like cicadamania.com.

 When we look at things in nature like cicadas, we can have one of several reactions. We can say to ourselves, "so what" and just move on with our lives. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we can marvel at these things and think they are the end in and of themselves. Or we can admire and draw from the great Creator God who fashions an unbelievable and complex world. In many cases, cicadas and much of nature serves to remind us of what life is like, especially in perspective to eternity. For example:

1. Cicadas remind us of the cycle of life. Cicadas have a very predictable life cycle much like the seasons that should remind us of life and death as matters of course in this life post the fall.
2. Cicadas remind us of the brevity of life. Cicadas have a short life span and their life span as adults outside the ground is a mere 2-3 weeks.
3. Cicadas remind us of resurrection. They emerge from the ground just as God brings forth life out of the ground as part of the creation of man and the subsequent resurrection of all men whether to destruction or new life (heaven or hell).
4. Cicadas remind us of new birth. Cicadas emerge from the ground as nymphs and shed their exoskeleton skin for a new purpose. While unfortunately their life as adults is brief, ours in a resurrected body are created for eternity.
5. Cicadas remind us of courtship (ok maybe this one is a stretch) - Cicadas actually sing to attract their mates. Males sing, females respond, mating begins, and the cycle of life begins again. Somehow the attractiveness of their mates is a natural course of life. I found on the cicadamania site a place where you can listen to all of their singing and noises.

I marvel at what God is doing in creation. I am sorry, but even when I was not a follower of Jesus, I never doubted in an orderly, complex creator. And when you look a little closer, you can experience and see much of what life is about.

Entertaining is not Illuminating

We are starting to head into the heavy travel season. Deb and I were on a United flight recently and we were at the point where the plane was pushing back from the runway. You know the part where the pre-flight instructions are given to the passengers. Probably most of us tune out this part because we have heard it so many times before; "Pull the belt low and tight across your lap", "be sure to put the oxygen mask on your child first", "in the unlikely event of a water landing", etc.

United took a different tactic. They created entertainment. The video below shows the same information but presented in the form of travel or life events.

I did find myself paying more attention to the video because it was mildly entertaining. I am not sure how much of my recall of what was being actually said was improved or not. Imagine however it we knew the plane was going to have a crash landing or there would be extreme turbulence. We would probably be all ears and hanging on every word coming from those pre-flight instructions.

Much of our culture seems to revolve around boiling serious matters to entertainment and slick productions. It seems harder and harder to talk to things that are deadly serious in a straightforward manner. Many church services seem inclined to produce slick multi-media productions that the simple proclamation of the gospel. Thankfully while our church, Christ Community Chapel is really good at producing these types of productions, it ultimately points forward to the simple message of the gospel spoken during the service by a lone man with a microphone.

Like the pre-flight instructions, we should hang on these words and not dilute them. I am always disappointed by someone who says "I did not get anything out of that service" as if the point of the service is to entertain you. The very words themselves have power in and of themselves. Paul says in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is "power of God unto salvation". It is a life or death message that requires us taking it far more seriously than we do.

Direct Access

I was in Washington, D.C. this past week at Health Datapalooza the growing healthcare data show. One of the keynote speakers was Vice President Joe Biden. As I entered into the hotel lobby the morning of the conference, I saw a large line going up the stairs. I quickly deduced that normal conference protocol was out the window. Everyone was required to go through a scanner and hand searches of bags, backpacks etc. When Biden spoke (he was very good), it was pretty obvious that anything out of the ordinary would prompt the numerous plainclothes secret service men to move closer. I was about 50 feet away, but I probably might as well have been two miles away. And this was the Vice President. I can only imagine how far away from President Obama I might be.

Yet every day I have direct access to not just a president, or a king, but the creator God. I look up at heaven and I feel so small yet in God's eyes I am infinitely valuable. In essence, God has given me His cell phone and said "call me anytime day or night" and often I do. God never says He is busy running the universe or handling bigger problems that day. But I think it even goes beyond that - God isn't bothered by me or my trifling human issues but loves for me to call Him up and talk to Him.

Prior to Jesus death and resurrection, I would have needed more than security clearance to get to a holy and righteous God. But something strange happened when Jesus died on the cross. The curtain across the Holy of Holies split in two. This curtain was used to prevent the commoner from approaching God. It was may more than a security scanner. The historian Josephus says that it took multiple horses to pull it apart. Yet, at the point Jesus finished bearing our shame, this curtain was completely torn apart. What does that mean? The scanners were done away with. I have that unfettered access to a holy and righteous God.

I love the Psalms - they reveal this intimacy in such graphic ways. Just these verses in the first 10 chapters.

3:4 - I was crying to the Lord with my voice and He answered me from His holy mountain.
4:8 - In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord make me to dwell in safety
5:3 - In the morning, O Lord you will hear my voice. In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.
6:9 - The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer.
8:3-4 - When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
 

The NFL Draft and Being Wanted

The NFL draft is one of my favorite things to watch. Being from Cleveland, it is always our Super Bowl and one we routinely screw up. But then there is always next year. There is much to intrigue me about the draft:

• There is strategy to figuring out when someone is available or who might take someone
• There is drama as the names are read out
• There is disappointment as some are chosen and some are not
• There is elation as dreams are made true
• There is data and analytics to support the draft approach and strategies

As part of this, there are always a few people that inevitably slide. This year it was Laremy Tunsil and Connor Cook. It is very painful to watch as these guys are scrutinized as to why their draft stock keeps plummeting. Some for known reasons (Tunsil and the hacked social media which is a whole other story) and some for unknown reasons (Cook and his questionable leadership attributes).

The draft comes down to individual guys being wanted. We all want to be wanted. When I was in 7th grade, we had just moved to New Jersey and I went out for football. Hard to believe, but I was actually small for my age and when they held the draft for football, I was way down at the bottom. I played sparingly and this carried on to high school. Even after a growth spurt in 9th grade, I never went out for football.

Most in the NFL draft have relative value. In other words, the player is only wanted if another player of equal or greater value is not available. The only exception is Jared Goff, the number one player selected. Every other player's value is graded relative to others. Do you really think that if Philadelphia had passed on Carson Wentz that San Diego would not have taken him instead of Joey Bosa. And so on and so forth.

I am really glad that God does not look on us as those that are worthy only on the relative scale. God says that "He predestined us as adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to God according to the kind intention of His will" (Ephesians 1:5). These words are everything. Our drafting was not free. The draft picks were very costly. They cost God everything - thus the words "through Jesus Christ". God made what would be viewed in the football world as a stupid trade. He sacrificed the perfection of His Son to move up in the draft to take you and I in the top spot. Amazing. Further, our career merited nothing of this move up the draft order. We had no performance to merit it and in fact had Tunsil and Cook type question marks all over the place.

But God also sees our potential. Once on the team, there are expectations. The Browns drafted "character guys" that had the potential of being high performers. As the players were announced, it was amazing how they immediately identified with their new team. So also in Christ, my identity is reformulated around my team and my mission (2 Cor. 5:17).  In fact the word Christian means "little Christs". God pulled the mega-deal to get us, but now there is a team and a mission.

Muscle Memory

Been a few weeks since I posted. Sometimes we get caught up in life and we don't take the time to sit down and compose our thoughts. I normally have no shortage of things swirling in my head to blog about but sometimes sitting down and composing them is more difficult. So back in the swing this week.

The NBA playoffs are upon us and before that March madness. I am enthralled by the emergence of the sharpshooters. I am particularly amazed by Stephen Curry who hits from way beyond the three point arc at a rate that is fascinating. From that distance there are so many things that can go wrong to cause the ball to not go through those net laces. Any slight variation from the trajectory would cause the ball to go off. This is what I believe is what people refer to as "muscle memory". It is a practice of precision gained from repetition. Stephen Curry practices these same shots with the same movement over and over again until it is almost automatic. He does not vary at all especially in the game when a man is upon him. In practice, he actually made 77 in a row. Now with the physical pressure of a game, maybe that drops to 40+%.

God wants the believer to be fueled by a kind of muscle memory. By that, the scriptures and the presence of the Holy Spirit are so ingrained so in our lives that to live by them is normal and to go against them is abnormal. Paul says to "let the word of Christ richly dwell within you" (Col 3:16). This takes intense practice. Yet so many of us just slough off the practice of knowing God that holy muscle memory doesn't have a chance. I find the disciplines of godly living require, well discipline. Many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have holy habits of study, memory, and prayer, but others treat these disciplines like they are going through a fast food window.

I play left field in baseball. From left field my accuracy is very good. I can throw a ball 150 feet with very good precision. Yet when I pitch it is almost comical how much I struggle to get the ball over the plate. I switch up arm angles and alligator arm the ball up there. The difference is 100% muscle memory. To the Christian, that type of mid-stream adjustment leads us to be like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6). What I have found fascinating is a complete lack of confidence fueled by lack of discipline when I stand on the mound. And unless I cultivate the habits of holy living, I will similarly alligator-arm and arm-slot my way through life. Muscle memory is essential to the man bent of Stephen Curry like precision.