25 random things

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Tim Archer tagged me, and now I’ve tagged you. So be a sport and share…

1. I am 6 feet 7 inches tall

2. I am almost that round...(not really)

3. I like not shaving, but I sometimes hate having a beard (but I have a skin condition that pretty much mandates me keeping it)

4. I love basketball, but can't play it as much as I'd like because of weak knees and a fat belly

5. Golf is a substitute for basketball, but a very expensive one

6. All my old dreams of living in a commune have been crushed out of me by living in a 3 BR 1.5 Bath home with 7 other people

7. In kindergarten a little girl from 1st grade tried to kiss me...but I resisted b/c she had cooties

8. That didn't happen again until 6th grade, when a girl named Pam kissed me...and I found out that if that's what cooties are like, then I like cooties

9. I love reading and exploring, but I miss playing sports more often and watching less

10. Having another birthday isn't the same as getting older, b/c you get love on your birthday and you get aches and pains and stuff when you get old-er

11. I love ‘schooling’ younger players who are in better shape than I am – in any game at all – just for the fun of it

12. I find it easier to work to help others achieve their dreams that it is to just work on my own

13. We are all statistics in somebody’s study, but only some of us are statistics in the divorce column…and it isn’t one anyone wants to be part of

14. Marriage may not last forever, but the affects of the divorce will

15. Some of my hair is still so dark brown it is almost black, but the majority is now white and gaining ground

16. I don’t like politics because there are few absolutes and fewer people who value the absolutes that remain in the political arena

17. A day spent doing something to help someone else to walk closer to God is better than any other day

18. A full quiver of arrows is expensive…in many ways…and sometimes makes you look like a target

19. My wife loves dressing me up, but hates having to wear something dressy (almost makes me wonder if she’s planning my funeral…LOLOLOLOL )

20. When I look in the mirror I wonder where the athlete I used to be went to and why he doesn’t come around much anymore

21. When I look at my treadmill and weights and ab-lounger, I think about moving all the stuff that is stacked on top of them…and it makes me want to go and lounge in my La-Z-boy recline-a-rocker

22. I drink tea and soda pop and Gatorade more, but I love water for the way it makes me feel

23. I married ‘up’ when I married my wife of almost 10 years now

24. She thinks she married ‘up’ too…go figure

25. Jesus is my best friend and my first love…period

And whether all else works or fails you, everything will be better when you fix your sights on Jesus and never give up walking with Him.

Sin defined and Patriotism considered...

Just a few days ago some friends and I were discussing what sin is. Several of us see that sin is anytime, anytime at all, that we miss the mark of pleasing God.

One of the things I have noticed about sin is that we are drawn to it. We don't just suddenly get there. James says we are drawn away (from pleasing God) by our own hungers and desires, our lusts of various sorts. He also said that it takes time for that to become fully grown, but when it does, it is sin.

It is like coming to Jesus. Jesus said that if He was lifted up, then He would draw all men to Himself. Again, it is a process. First we introduce someone to Jesus and then they begin to see something compelling, something interesting in Him that increases their hunger to know Him better. Seeking to get to know Him is NOT discipleship. Choosing to follow Him as Lord and no one else IS discipleship. There are steps between being introduced and becoming a disciple - a growing process.

Since these are both processes, how can we tell them apart? It is actually not that hard. You just look where the process is leading you. Sin leads away from pleasing God. Jesus leads toward pleasing God.

**********

Now that same group of friends and I who were discussing what sin is have also been discussing the role of national patriotism in the life of someone who submits to Jesus as their Lord. Jesus said, "Whoever loses his life for My (Jesus') sake, shall find it." But what does the patriot say? Lay down your life for your country. Tough choice, huh? Jesus or country?

When we claim to be both a disciple and a patriot for our physical nation, do we also become cats so that we seem to think we can lay down our lives more than once? Do we think Jesus was only speaking metaphorically? How real is dying to self? And does anyone question whether dying for their country is more than a metaphor?

In the first century, there was no metaphor in either case. You had to choose between dying for Jesus in the emperor's arena, or dying to Jesus and confessing the emperor as your god. Is there really any questioning that they could not choose both? One way lost self in order to live for Jesus and was sent to death by country, and the other way lost Jesus to preserve self in the service of emperor and country. There is no room to doubt that they had to make a very real choice between serving Jesus and serving Rome.

Jesus said you cannot serve both God and personal gain. You have to choose. If you try to serve two masters it is inevitable that you will fail. This is at the heart of why the health and wealth gospel is no real gospel at all. But some are also trying to tell us we can lay down our lives in service to both Jesus and country. Why can we not see the problem with this?

Does Jesus ever tell us to die for country? And if not, then who is it that has the power over our submission to Christ alone as Lord in order to tell us to die for country? Who competes for our lives - our loyalties - our allegiance? And if we pledge our lives to country, what is left to pledge to Jesus? Is He your life? or just a part of your life?

I know...I am not advocating the American patriot gospel. Shame on me, right?

Really? Shame on me for advocating that when we say ‘Jesus is my Lord’, we should really mean it??? What happens if and when there is a point of conflict between your patriotism and your devotion to Jesus?

What happens when your country (via your commanding officer) tells you to fight against and even kill a Christian brother or sister in an opposing nation's army? Where is our allegiance then? Surely their service to their country is as good as our own in God's eyes, right? If we can do both, then why can't they? Shall we choose country over one of God’s beloved?

We would consider it terrorism for someone to come into our assemblies and kill us all as patriotic Americans, right? We would consider it an act of war were someone to kill our soldiers, Christian or not, as they shared a prayer in a foxhole, right? How is it different if we do that to anyone else? Paul repented of killing Christians. He lost his life for Jesus only to later lose his head in the deal. Did he then ever seek to justify continuing to kill fellow followers of Jesus as being the actions of a good Jewish Christian? Did he keep on killing Christians in the service of his nation of Israel, or did he mean it when he chose allegiance to Jesus instead of allegiance to Israeli patriotism? What makes us think that our choice is to be any different than Paul’s choice?

I do not question the sincerity of those Christians who choose to go to war for their country. I do question their judgment and their understanding of what Jesus was and is all about. And it doesn’t make any difference to me what country it is that we are considering, even if it is the one where I was born and first heard the gospel. In Christ there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew. I try to be a good citizen, but when it comes right down to it, I choose Jesus over nation every time. Jesus is my Lord. My nation of residence is not my Lord.

What say you? Can someone be a nationalistic patriot and a Christian at the same time and do honor to both? Share your thoughts…

Blog Reviews (1) Berean Spirit friends

There are hundreds of good blogs out here in cyberspace. And it seems all are competing for your attention, to varying degrees. What makes a good blog? What draws in the casual reader or the one with a focused interest?

I have to confess that I really do not know the answers to those questions. Something about peeking in at someone else's ruminations piques the interest. After all, there are hundreds of very specialized chat groups on YahooGroups and other sites like it. But a blog...well, it just seems more personal. It is an open invitation to anyone who cares to look to see our deeply held convictions and reflections on things. Even the comments left behind by visitors is interesting, even riveting, at times. Why? I believe we all like to see whether anyone else shares our thoughts about what we have just read...and see how they difffer from our views, too.

So today I am reviewing a few of the blogs I have read recently. Some I subscribe to and some I just found while looking around.

One of the first blogs I ever read was and is written by Bobby Cohoon. Bobby's blog examines mostly topics of religious interest and offers some insights into his heart. I have enjoyed reading Bobby's blogs from time to time (I am about as regular at blog-reading as I am at posting my own). He challenges my thinking and he offers some good thinking about why he believes as he does. Also, Bobby was one of the first, if not the first, to encourage me to write a blog of my own. But please don't blame Bobby when you disagree with me. How could he have known how his encouragement of me would turn out? Do we ever know just what an encouraging word might mean to another? (Sounds like a good blog topic to me....and I wonder how many have already addressed that thought? LOL)

One of my other long-time blogs of choice to read is written by John Dobbs. John is a southern preaching minister (meaning servant) for a church of Christ, until recently with one located on the gulf of Mexico. Their experiences during Katrina first drew my attention to John's blog, but his reflections on what it means to live out the life of a follower of Jesus are what have kept me coming back over and over. John is a doer, and not just a thinker. And I find that incredibly compelling.

One of my oldest and best friends has a web page that gives updates on what is going on with the congregation of saints he serves as Senior Pastor over in the Quad Cities area of Northwestern Illinois/Southeastern Iowa, right along the Mississippi River. You can listen to his sermons and watch the occasional video of congregational lfe that he posts there, but I do not know if he has a blogsite. I think I would enjoy that if he did. Chuck Dorsey is a D.Min. degree holder, and he goes by Pastor Chuck on his website, but he'll always be Chuck to me. We grew up together in Central Illinois and went away to different colleges and then returned to Central Illinois to preach and serve and raise our families. He has been a friend through some of the toughest moments of my life and he lets me challenge his thinking and he challenges mine as few people I have ever known do for one another. Whether playing pool, knocking around ping-pong balls or ust hanging out, he is and has been one of my closest friends. I really do wish he had a blogsite to review. Maybe he does and I've just missed it. I kind of doubt it, though.

Tim Archer is another fellow whose blog I've really enjoyed. Both the title and content of his blogs are fun and thoughtful and often provocative. Tim is the only one I am reviewing here besides Chuck whom I have met in person outside in the real world. I met him in Kansas City last year during the North American Christian Convention and we had some great visits at the booth he hosted for the Herald of Truth organization. What a tremendous heart he has!

I reccommend that anyone who even mildly enjoys reading my scattered thoughts take the time and Google these fellows and find their blogs. If I knew a bit more about how to do it, I would offer links to their blogs and websites. As it is, I just wanted to let you know that if it seems like I don't get back here with any regularity, it is because i have been spending time with these fellows and their thoughts...and the fact that I am a lazy writer in this venue. If you feel inclined to hear from me more often, perhaps you should come on over to the Berean Spirit forum on YahooGroups and join the conversation. Most there will tell you I hardy ever shut up! LOL

Maybe that is why I don't write more here.....

Thanks for stopping by.

Smelly, Needy, Fickle ... Sheep!

At the fellowship I attend regularly here in NW Indiana, we are studying the 23rd Psalm. It has been a blessing, even though I memorized this psalm over 40 years ago and have never forgotten it. And even though I have some great new tools now to apply to my study, I find that it is the simple expression of a shepherd who is being led by the Good Shepherd that still moves me. In fact, the deeper I get into the text, the more those simple lessons make sense to my fuzzy brain.

Still, it occured to me recently to do something I don't remember ever doing before with this psalm. I asked myself, what did Jesus do with this psalm? And then I began to search for quotations from Jesus or applications made by Jesus that build on the truth revealed in this psalm. What I found was Matthew 10...an account that I was familiar with, but had never really considered in light of the 23rd Psalm. So my next blog will be posted with the ways I think these two passages relate. Until then, please read Psalm 23 and then look for some passages of interest to you that bring this psalm into play in Jesus' life as told in the gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. I would really enjoy seeing what you find in a comment or two, any length you may desire.

And if you need some help understanding the word pictures and parallelisms in this beautiful inspired poetry, I would suggest that Philip Keller's book (A Shepherd Looks At The 23rd Psalm) will be a good read for you.

Blessings,

Zieg

Ministry Follow-Up

Has it already been more than 8 months since my last blog? How can that be? Where has the year gone?

Just over 8 months ago I wrote my last entry. A young couple was being forced out into the cold with their barely school-age son. Where are they now and what came of that midnight call?

Without giving too many details here, they are living in the home provided, have updated it extensively and remodelled inside, they are regular and active members of the congregation, they are now an integral part of our web-presence as a congregation, and they are serving as an example to other young couples of what happens when you put your life into God's hands without holding back. And if that isn't enough, there was a new spiritual awakening to ministry within the hearts of this young couple on the fringes of our influence as a church.

And I didn't even mention yet that this young husband and father is an avid chef and gaming enthusiast. Why is that significant? He is using his cooking skills to help engineer a young families outreach and his computer savvy to build and set up a new computer system to run the church assemblies video and sound controls. In our small congregation, those skills are unique to this young man and desperately needed as we seek to minister in the 21st century to a community of people otherwise largely unaffected and unreached by our membership.

There are opportunities galore beginning to arise from seeds sown more than a year ago, as well as opportunities arising to minister more and more to the younger people we will need to pass on the torch, so to speak, because many of our members are aging and slowing down a bit, several of whom have been members since the congregation began back in the late 1940's.

The work is slow going, mostly because we are all part-timers in a sense. We are living and learning ministry again in a time when we do not have a paid staff of full-time workers. What we are learning so far is this: God will use us if we will trust Him and do whatever we can each day. Even a weak effort can have terrific results because of God's answers to our prayers.

2008 rapidly approaches and is just a few days away. What will be our story or stories this new year? Only God knows for certain. But we already know that as we give our lives in ministry, the results are always greater than expected when we put our trust in God.

Rely on the hope you have in Jesus.
Put the full weight of your trust in Him.
Love deeply and genuinely and do not stop loving no matter what.

2008 ... another adventure approaches. To God be the glory!

Ministry in the Moment

James Taylor's Time In A Bottle has long been a favorite of mine. I've often wondered how many of us have wished we could save time up in a bottle from those days that seem to drag by so we could use it when time seems to be slipping away all too quickly. These last few days have been like that.

Two days ago (it seems like a week ago) an acquaintance called to ask if I could come over and talk with him and his wife for a while. They were facing a crisis and needed to take some time and get perspective. So, of course, I went over and spent the evening with them.

We stayed up until after midnight, ushering out the day of turmoil that had thrown them for a loop and greeted the new day with a prayer together for wisdom and guidance and peace. And while you always hope that those days are miracle moments when God will make everything better, it just didn't work out like that. I did not get to sleep until almost 3am and the young couple didn't sleep well, either. The next day I was scheduled for a 10-hr day and was simply unable to make the calls I wanted to make to help them out. But I did make one call - to let them know I was praying for them.

That was it. That was the miracle moment. I didn't know it then, but God used that moment to focus the day and move His people to get His work done. And I thought at the time that it was about the only thing I would be able to do, and it would never be enough. Calls needed to be made and arrangements arranged. I needed to get things done and come through in the pinch. And I did not even begin to realize that I already had. I spent most of the day doing my job the best I could, all the while wishing that I could be somewhere else making things happen.

God does that. He uses the little things you do, not just the grand and complicated things, to make a difference. He takes the small moments when we submit in helplessness to work His best work behind our backs. When we want to make a day of helping someone and then it seems we only get to do a fraction of what we wanted to do, God shines.

While I was testing car exhaust systems all day, God was working. While I had wanted to make arrangements for a storage facillity, God arranged for a new home. While I had hoped to get a foot in the door with this couple I only know a little, God was preparing a way to get to know them well and serve them and be served by them and for blessings to rain down on all.

The bank had foreclosed - almost without any notice. The home was to be vacated almost immediately. The sheriff was knocking at the front door. He had a court order. He had the force of law. But we had a little talk with our Father and God made it clear who sits on the throne where it counts.

Immediately vacated now has been translated to mean by next Monday afternoon. A possible storage facillity is now being exchanged for a home to live in. And a partial answer hoped for became a solution that blesses all involved. We had a little talk with our Father and the King of heaven and earth made a miracle happen...so much more than we had asked for, and just what was needed.

What do you do when you make plans that seem doomed to fail? How do you respond when time seems to be running out and answers cannot be found? Where do you look when the carpet is yanked from beneath your feet and you're lying there, flat on your back?

You remember that now, finally, everything is looking up - and so you talk to the One who makes miracles happen. And then you trust Him and keep looking for the things you CAN do. And watch for it ... for it is surely coming: the miracle of the moment.

Life Notes - Relational Thing (2)

Christianity is a relational thing.

A friend on a forum where I take part in the discussions recently wrote:

"If I could sing praises to God with the instrument alone in my home, then I could do it in a church building with others. Worship is worship is worship. If I'm home doing it and NOT worshiping, then what am I doing? Pretending to be worshiping?"

So I wrote her a note back to share how my own thinking about instrumental music and Christian worship got started with a similar question. Here's what I wrote to my friends on that forum, many of whom, like me, have questioned the fact that where we grew up going to church, we never used instruments to accompany the vocal singing. We never used them at all, except for the occasional pitch pipe for the first note of a song or a hymn. We sang a cappella style. Why? I wondered. Here's a few more of my thoughts on the subject of music and questions we ought to ask ourselves...

I grew up asking that very same question! I asked a lot of questions then, and still do, I guess. And I agree with your answer, as far as it goes. Would you mind if I share some more questions? If you do, then stop reading...because I have a few I'd like to ask anyone who never sings a psalm, hymn, or spiritual song to the accompaniment of musical instruments. I ask to learn.

Please note that I am not seeking to accuse anyone with these questions, but rather am seeking to get us all to focus in on the influence that music has in our lives...even subliminally.

Here goes:

1) Do you only listen to a cappella music, or do you sometimes listen to Contemporary Christian music and just not sing along - even in your heart? Also, do you ever listen to Rock'n'Roll or Country or Metal or Classical or Jazz or R&B or other genres of music? And do you know any of the lyrics to Garth Brooks' song Unanswered Prayers? or the Kentucky Headhunters' version of Spirit In The Sky? or Cat Stevens' Peace Train or Morning Has Broken? or any of dozens of other poular tunes of almost every genre that express the faith of the writers? How are those songs okay to hum or sing along to if we should never use IM in praise to God?

2) IF you listen to other types of music than just a cappella, do you pay attention to the words to keep your mind and heart pure and undefiled by the messages of songs that do not seek to glorify God at all, but rather quite the opposite? (Why allow subliminal messages that promote acceptance of sinful thinking?)

3) IF you only listen to non-verbal instrumental music - or at least, non-vocal - do you seek to find out whether the composer wrote that song in appreciation to the Lord? Would it matter to you if a song using IM was written to lift the soul and open the heart to the very Spirit of God? (And do you ever feel so lifted when you heard a song played with IM accompanying?)

4) Do you believe "secular" music to be sinful, since it does not focus on bringing glory to God? Do you listen to such music on the radio? What do you do when someone else turns on such music in your presence, or when an elevator has Musak playing softly as you ride in it?

5) How do you feel about music that links nationalistic patriotism with faith in God - the way God Bless America or America the Beautiful does? And what do you do with John Denver's Thank God I'm A Country Boy? or even a song like Barry Manilow's Oh Mandy that speaks of someone who came and gave without taking? Do you quickly shut off the radio when such a song with IM stirs you to think about Jesus or God in some way?

These are all good questions, some admittedly more valid for some people than for others. And I have wrestled with every one of them many times over, as one who grew up in the non-IM churches of Christ. I wrestled with them when my Dad played a song from the hymnal in our living room on the organ or piano. I wrestled with them when I first heard The Imperials perform Water Grave. I wrestled with them while I was in a very conservative preaching school and listening to Amy Grant and Ray Boltz and The Imperials on my compact tape player as I worked at my Grounds Maintenance Chief job that helped to get us through those lean years.

But I was never satisfied to just accept the music, even when in High School as a part of the Chorus we had Christmas and Easter programs that included the Hallelujah Chorus(?) and Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee and even Handel's Messiah. I searched the scriptures and read all I could find on why we didn't use IM in worship and what the words meant in the pertinent passages and what the messages of those passages were. I read as widely and as exhaustively as my reading skills and eager mind could find and allow. And I sought to expand my reading as I expanded my skills in reading languages. I spoke with brethren privately who taught me and whom I respected as students of the Word to ask what they taught and why. I studied and memorized all the arguments for and against that I could get my greedy little hands on. I did not just accept that we live in a world moved by music and have not enough control over all that we hear. For a while I even took to using the stairs, no matter how high the climb, to avoid the Musak - so I know what it means to be serious about this.

You know the conclusions I've reached so far. I have not made any of them secret at all. I have poured out my heart here. Would you share with me what you struggle with about IM as well? I hope so - so that I can continue to grow and so encourage you...because I have studied long and hard and have not arrived at perfect knowledge. I live what I know and I trust in grace all along the way. So...will you journey beside me in this study? We may not agree, but I, for one, will be richer for the time spent sharing the journey...and maybe you will, too.