“We have wept this week as we have watched the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti.  Reporters have wept as they tried to tell the story.  There is no answer to the question, “Why?”  All of our answers end up sounding just crazy.

A friend of mine this week was seated in a waiting room.  A man was spouting off “matter of fact” that the earthquake in Haiti was because they had a pact with the devil made in the 1700’s.  Spouting off what he had heard Pat Robinson say.  Not a word was said about the Christians who were suffering and dying there.  Mothers and innocent Children who had no pact with anyone.  To him it was like God pulled the trigger on the whole thing in spite of all the innocents who would get killed or maimed for life. Not a word was said about what good people and Christians are to do in response.  Their so called “pact with the devil” meant he could walk away smug in his own self righteousness with an excuse to do absolutely nothing.  My friend said, “I wanted to say to him, but bit my lip and did not, ‘the people in Haiti are not one bit more evil than you are’!”

Many Haitians have prayed to dedicate the country they love to God.  A so called pact with the devil did not cause the shift of subterranean plates.  It is natural evil that is a part of our fallen world, in the same category of floods, storms, and fires.  We want to interpret all of these things personally.  I am loved so I was spared.  I don’t have a pact with devil so I will be not be hurt.

Don’t try to interpret storms, earthquakes, or even disaster in your personal life as a personal commentary of God on you.  Diseases, job loss, divorces, and all kinds of suffering is part of our fallen world.  He loves us if we don’t get our miracle.  He loves us if we slowly die crushed by concrete and unable to free ourselves, and there is no one who has the equipment to get to us in time.

The Christian response to a world of suffering is to enter the world of suffering and do all we can to help the hurting.  It becomes a commentary on us as to where and how far we go to perform a rescue and give someone a miracle.“

What do you think?  Why is there suffering in the world and what should our response be to it?  Let me hear from you.

The older I get the more I value silence.  Unfortunately, it’s not really something that is available in abundance in our society.  Everywhere you go, there’s music playing or a TV on and if not, our iPods allow us to take it with us–anywhere, anytime.  It’s almost as if we are afraid of silence.

Because of that propensity to filling our lives with noise, we’re missing out.  We were created for times of stillness and silence.  Why?  In large part for communion with our creator.  You can’t hear a still small voice standing next to a jack hammer.

I believe that noise is also expressed in busy-ness, our full calendars & the myriad of activities which drown out any hope of peace.  A friend expressed it to me this way last week, “Doing is highly rewarded and that’s what keeps us from being.”

As my wife can agree, I’m certainly no silence or stillness expert, but I will share with you what I’m learning.

1. Silence is not easy.

Like everything else in life, I have to make time for silence.

2. Silence is not comfortable.

Often silence brings me face to face with my true self, which is never pretty.

3. Silence requires honesty.

I can not be silent and face my true self without complete transparency.

Gregory of Sinai, a 14th century Turk put it this way, ”Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence”.

Years ago Ben Benson wrote a book called He Speaking Softly, learning to hear God’s voice.  The point of the book is simple, “God has something to say to you!”  Bob goes on to say that if we really believed that, it would change everything about our lives.  I think he’s right.  I think we need stillness.  I think we need silence.  Bose had it right.  We need to cancel the noise.

What’s the noise that keeps you from silence?

Will you commit to join me in praying for Phil, as well as all the other soldiers, over his deployment?  If so, PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENT BELOW as an encouragement to our friend.

Blessings,

Joel

You can see more photos from Phil’s recent show with Sonicflood HERE.

As we had with Wesley, we had decided to wait to find out whether we were having a boy or a girl.  So the delivery room that morning was filled with anticipation.  When Katie entered the world, I could only weep–we had a little girl.  Holding her for the first time alleviated any fears I had about how much love would be left for her.  God had placed within me more than enough love for both of our children.  And while I loved Wesley, my love for Katie was not greater or less than, just different.

From day one Katie and I have shared the unique bond reserved for Daddies and little girls.  Soon after she began to walk, I remember coming home from an overnight trip.  When I opened the back door and she “toddled” toward me with arms flung wide open laughing “Daddy”, I knew I was hooked.  Today she still does the same thing–every single day.  She is always the first one to greet me at the back door, she is always the one who wants to sit next to Daddy at dinner and read me a story at the end of the day.  She’s my little girl.

To say that I love my children is an understatement.  There is nothing more precious or sacred than the gift of a child.  As parents we have been entrusted with two young lives.  It is a privilege and a great responsibility, and one that we do take very seriously.  If we fail, we fail our children and their children.  If we succeed, their lives will show it.

Some measure success by wealth, fame or even the number of friends.  I measure success by the joy of my children.  There are many things that I’ll never be able to give them, but with God’s help, courage and strength I can lead them to Christ, their hope and salvation–who has more than enough love for all of His children.

Earlier this week a friend reminded me that a spirit of thankfulness should characterize my life.  While I may not always feel like being thankful, I should none-the-less practice that spirit of thanksgiving in everything.  But the reality is that sometimes being thankful is a choice, an act of the will.  True thankfulness is not based on our circumstances.  If we wait until everything is “perfect”, we’ll never be thankful.

Years ago I had a pastor whose preached a series of sermons he called Positives from Philippians.  When I was reminded that I should be thankful, I remembered four of those verses that too often I have forgotten.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

In a world searching for circumstantial happiness, thanksgiving offers true peace.  Choose to focus on the positives of what you have and be thankful in all things.  Why?  Because the “Lord is near”.

For what do you have to be thankful?

This is the second part of my review of The Hole in Our Gospel.  I read the last few chapters flying home from a business trip a few days ago with tears streaming down my cheeks.  I was deeply moved, profoundly touched and radically challenged.

Think about it, if the gospel becomes only a matter of faith, the gospel ceases to be the gospel.

• Our Lord’s first miracle at the wedding in Canna would not have happened.
• The 5,000 would have never been fed because Jesus would have only cared for their spiritual needs.
• We would not know the parable of the good Samaritan.
• The women with an issue of blood would have never been healed.
• Jesus would have ignored the lepers.
• The paralytic would have never been lowered through the roof.
• The rich young ruler would not have turned away sorrowful.
• There would only be one great commandment, not two.  Mark 12:28-31

If the gospel were not also a social gospel then none of those verses would have been included in the Bible and as Mr. Stearns says, “We would much rather believe that the only things needed for our salvation are saying the right words and believing the right things–not living lives that are characterized by Christ’s concern for the poor.”  Ouch!

I must admit that I was unprepared for the staggering statics of poverty and it’s impact on our world…

• Women and children in developing countries spend two hundred million hours a day getting water
• As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses
• Roughly 1 of 4 children in developing countries is underweight
• Some 350 to 400 million children are hungry
• About 854 million people do not have enough food to sustain them
• Approximately 25,000 people die each day of hunger or its related causes

Each of these statics should remind us of people created in the image of God and loved by him.  While there are no quick fixes, every challenge has a solution and each of us CAN make a difference.

Think you’re too poor to do anything about it?

• “If your income is $25,000 per year, you are wealthier than approximately 90 percent of the worlds population!”
• “If you make $50,000 per year, you’re wealthier than 99 percent of the world’s population!”

The reality is that we have the capabilities and resources to do something about the poverty, sickness and inequities in our world.  I was surprised to learn that only about 5% of American households tithe and those that do only give about 2.58%.  If every American churchgoer tithed 10% of their income, we would have an additional $168 billion to spend in funding the work of the church worldwide!  That would literally change the world.

Stearns shares the story of Fish Hoek Baptist church in South Africa.  God touched their hearts to do something practical to reach out to those who were HIV-positive.  This little church started a ministry known as Living Hope which now has an annual budget of $1.2 million with a full-time staff of 147.  He goes on to say, “by comparison the churches annual budget is just $300,000 with a staff of 10.  The AIDS ministry now dwarfs the church in size and scope”.  This little church’s ministry has become so successful that their own government has asked if they would consider taking over the running of parts of the governments health programs.  Wow!

With regards to money this little church, like the parable of the talents reminds us that:

1. It’s not our money–it all comes from God
2. We are not entitled to it but entrusted with it.
3. God expects us to use it in the interest of His kingdom.

So much for the American Dream…

The bottom line is that if you and I could fully grasp the whole gospel, we could and would literally change the world–it’s economy, politics and religion.  As a country we wouldn’t have to worry about terrorism, because they would see our compassion not our might;

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

…and our evangelism would be seen, not just heard.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

I think The Hole in Our Gospel should be required reading for every Christian and every college student.  If you’re interested in truth, I strongly encourage you to read The Hole in Our Gospel.  It just might change your gospel.

Go to The Hole in Our Gospel and select the link, Things You Can Do.  Choose to make a difference.

“Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.”

Bob Pierce, founder World Vision

++++++++++++

It’s been brought to my attention that there are a couple of very good “What’s Next” resources for The Hole in Our Gospel.

There is a companion website, Six Week Quest, that takes you through a 42-day online journal with a challenge or thought for the day on poverty & justice.  This is in addition to the resources for small groups on the site as well.

The Hole in Our Gospel is the story of what God expects of us and how Stearns’ personally struggled to come to terms with his role in that story.  He begins by outlining the purpose of the book, “The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel is quiet simple.  It’s basically the belief that being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God.  It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.”

He spends some time dispelling myths that distort our view of the least of these including the ever popular, “prosperity gospel”.  He highlights the popular Prayer of Jabez book which is based on 1 Chronicles 4: “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!”  He points out that there are those who mistakenly understand that to mean God rewards “sincere Christians with success, good health, and material prosperity.”   He reminds us what happened when Paul’s territory got enlarged, John the Baptist, the disciples and countless other martyrs of the faith.  Each had their territory enlarged, but not in the materialistic way we would like.  “Christians get cancer, lose loved ones, and suffer financial setbacks just like everyone else.  But God can also use our tragedies to expand our territory in ways that show a skeptical world a different way of live.”  He goes on to say, “sometimes, in fact often, God’s blessings come through our sufferings, not through our bank accounts.”

If you turned on the news today to the headline, “One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500″, can you imagine how shocked you would be, how heads of state and government agencies would mobilize to understand what happened and make sure it would never happen again.  There would be no other news, this would completely consume us, as well it should.  Now imagine that tomorrow the same thing happened again, and the next day and the day after that.  Stearns points out that it is happening–every single day, but it’s not jetliners.  ”More than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that”.  Why does it not bother us?  He suggests that maybe it’s because it’s not our kids dying.  They are somebody else’s kids.

There is so much that has challenged me from The Hole in Our Gospel that I struggle with what to include here.  My plan is to write at least one more post. In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to get a copy for yourself.  But more than that, I encourage you to visit the World Vision website and do what we did, sponsor a couple of children.  You can also help drill a well, provide food and clothing, shelter, medical care, micro-finance, and care for the orphans and widows.  Life is too short, do something today.

“To whom much is given, from him much will be required.”  Luke 12:48.

I don’t know about you, but I have been given much.

How will you make your Gospel social?

There are those who say that death is a natural part of life, but I disagree.  Death is not natural, it is the result of the fall.  Death is the enemy but death has been defeated.

One of the most startling tenants of the Christian faith is the resurrection.  But before his resurrection, the Scriptures tell us that Christ literally descended into hell to “preach to the captives”.  Thus the resurrection stands as a reminder of Christ’s victory over death, hell and the grave and through him we too are victors.  In fact, the church gives us an ancient hymn whose lyrics are simple, yet deeply profound.

Christ has risen from the dead, trampling down death by death

And upon those in the tombs bestowing life

On May the 9th, 2008 I stood at the funeral of a dear friend whose death was sudden and tragic.  Probably more than any other death I’ve ever experienced, this one shook me to the core.  When I would least expect it, waves of grief would completely overwhelm me.

One evening, shortly after the funeral, I shared his life and tragic loss with our friends David and Jessica.  A couple days later, David shared this song with me that he had written a few years before.  The first time I heard the song, I wept because it not only expressed the pain and loss I felt, but the hope of the cross.

For those who are struggling, the cross stands as an offering of hope to the hopeless and help to the hurting.  The cross stands at the unique intersection where joy and sorrow meet.

Where Joy and Sorrow Meet

Words and Music by David James White

© 2005 Everytown Music Publishing, Inc.

ASCAP

There’s a place of quiet stillness

‘tween the light and shadows reach

Where the hurting and the hopeless

Seek everlasting peace

Words of men and songs of angels

Whisper comfort bittersweet

Mingling grief and life eternal

Where joy and sorrow meet

Chorus:

There is a place where hope remains

In crowns of thorns and crimson stains

And tears that fall on Jesus feet

Where joy and sorrow meet

There’s a place the lost surrender

And the weary will retreat

Full of grace and mercy tender

In times of unbelief

For the wounded there is healing

Strength is given to the weak

Broken hearts find love redeeming

Where joy and sorrow meet

Chorus:

There is a place where hope remains

In crowns of thorns and crimson stains

And tears that fall on Jesus feet

Where joy and sorrow meet

There’s a place of thirst and hunger

Where the roots of faith grow deep

And there is rain and rolling thunder

When the road is rough and steep

But there is hope in desperation

There is victory in defeat

At the cross of restoration

Where joy and sorrow meet

Chorus:

There is a place where hope remains

In crowns of thorns and crimson stains

And tears that fall on Jesus feet

Where joy and sorrow meet

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Later that week they were asked, “How old were Fuller’s children when he and his wife pulled up and moved to Americus?”   Behind the question was the modern idea that it’s okay for you to have some religious experience but it’s not okay to drag your children into it with you–to ask them to sacrifice because of your values.  They go on to say that, “The first commandment reveals to us the sobering truth that all of us are sacrificing our children to some god or another.”

“The good news, the gospel, of the first commandment is that God has done an extraordinary thing–God has given us his name.  God has entrusted to us the means whereby we might faithfully worship the true God.  If we fail, we also fail our children.”

Probably more than any other, that part of the book is very emotional and sobering to me.   For I realize it’s not a question of if I’m sacrificing my children to god? It’s a question of which god am I sacrificing my children to.  As a parent, I want to be sure that I  rightly name that god.  I know all too well that if I’m not willing to, someone else will gladly do so for me and my children.

Before I knew him, his hands had reached out to me. I trusted them as a small child helped over a cool stream whose waters were too wide to cross alone. I looked to them to place me at the table before I was old enough to scamper up on my own. And I was patiently taught how to fold them in thanks to the one who is the provider of all. Those hands have consistently demonstrated the language of life, love, discipline, obedience, patience, and compassion.

Through the course of lifetime, I have seen his hands at work in the lives of so many others. Some I knew well, others were strangers, new faces on our journey. Yet together they rejoiced in the birth of a child and wept as a saint passed the worlds. They have shared out of plenty and have sacrificially given out of want. Through a lifetime I have learned to trust his hands.

Then one day I looked down and realized that his hands had become my hands – the creases in my palms, the shape of my fingertips, the veins, the knuckles, even the scars were just like his. At first I was surprised, even amused. Now I’m humbled and honored. For now that I have a son of my own, the purpose of these hands is clear. In them lay the responsibility to care for one who can not care for himself, to teach his little feet to follow the path of those who have faithfully walked before. To forge uncrossable streams and navigate insurmountable obstacles, to teach his young hands that life is a gift and to recognize truth and to see reality through the eyes of another on the journey of a lifetime.

Now with each passing day his hands are becoming more familiar to me. And each day I am reminded to use them as I have been taught, not to try to make my own way in life as if I were left to my own devices, but to faithfully serve as I have been served. To follow the well-marked path of the faithful who have gone before, their hand-prints pointing with singleness of purpose to one unique set of nail-scared hands. The hands of another son who in perfect obedience to his father reached out His hands once and for all.