Pressure

So, I'm driving my bride to her dental appointment because she can't really drive herself. She's still recovering from her dreadful fall at the skating rink last Wednesday - still hurting pretty much everywhere - still pretty medicated. And there's no way you could sit next to someone who's so battered - in so much pain - and still feel sorry for yourself. And yet, I did.

I'm feeling a lot of pressure to make the most of the next few months at Quest. We really need to make a go of it if we hope to keep this thing​ going. And now that I'm working 25 hours a week outside the church, I'm spread pretty thin.

So I shared my angst with my poor, suffering Kim. And she immediately proved the thesis of this week's message. 

This week, we're talking about who we are to our people - that is, if we're walking the Way of Jesus, God will use us as lifelines to our people - our friends and family - our neighbors and co-workers. 

So I confessed my stress to my gal, and she immediately responded, "Stop worrying. This will either work or it won't. This church is in God's hands."

She spoke life to me. 

Because she is walking on the Way, God used her to give me exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it. Right then, that was like oxygen to me.

So I'm gonna quit whining and just do what I need to do. God, it's in your hands. Take my efforts and multiply them. Amen.

R.I.P. - Dearest Liz

Friday morning, right before I left for work, I received notice that my dear friend, Liz, had died. 

When I first entered full-time ministry, back in 2004, Bob and Liz were one of the first older couples who really extended a hand to me. 

They were saucy and un-PC, but not in a racist or mean way, like SOME older people get - they were deliciously un-PC and hilarious. 

I'll never forget when Liz, who was 40 years my senior, saw me in a jacket and tie for the first time. 

She snuck up next to me, gave my arm a squeeze, and said, under her breath, "Hey, you clean up pretty good." And then she smiled and winked at me. 

I responded with something like, "You're looking pretty good yourself, young lady," but, even though I was trying to play it cool, I don't think my face had ever been so red. She got me good. That was a quintessential "Liz moment." 

In retrospect, I think Bob and Liz were a perfect example of people who'd been authentically transformed by the love of Jesus, because they were fully on-board with the mission of Jesus and his church, but yet were still wholly, authentically themselves. 

With Bob and Liz, what you saw was what you got. They never put on a mask or pretended to be perfect, they just served and lived and loved, in their very Bob-and-Liz sort of way. 

When Bob’s health started to decline, I wanted to do what I could to be a friend to Bob and to help out Liz. I would swing by once a week to help with some household chores and play Rummikub with Bob (who almost always won - I’m pretty sure he cheated). And during that time, I got to know both of them much better. So when Bob passed, I was crushed. 

I stopped by several times after that, to see how Liz was doing, and sometimes I spent the whole time trying to help her with her new iPad, but other times, we had long talks about her hubby, and her kids, and her time in the military, and her love and concern for the church, and her ideas about the afterlife, and all sorts of other interesting things. 

It was during these visits that I learned what a tough old broad Liz was, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, I wish I'd met this couple 20 years sooner. I bet they were a hoot. How much could I have learned from them?" 

But then I moved to Chicagoland to plant a church, and Liz and I kind of lost touch. We played Words With Friends for awhile, but then she got sick, and we didn't even do that anymore. I feel bad that I only got to see her one more time after I moved up here, especially now that it's too late. 

And I'm sure they had an impact on many people over the years, but they definitely had an impact on me. If they'd done nothing but change the way I think about what devoted, lifelong Jesus followers are supposed to look like, that would've been enough, because there's a little bit of Bob and Liz in every sermon I give. 

Their lives, lived on the Way of Jesus, are a significant part of my evidence that what I teach is actually true. 

But what would've happened had Bob and Liz considered their faith a “personal thing - just between them and God?” And what if I'd never visited Bob as his health began to decline? And what if I'd never thought to check on Liz after Bob passed? I would've lost so much. 

But that's NOT what happened. And there's only one reason for it. 

The church. That rickety, broken-down, antiquated institution that Bob and Liz loved so much. That's the common thread that made it all happen. 

They never would've met me if not for the church. 

I never would've gotten to know them if not for the church. 

Our lives collided because God, in his infinite wisdom, designed the church to crash people like Bob and Liz and me together. 

That’s the whole point. 

I will miss them.

Ed

What in the world...?

HAS EVERYONE GONE CRAZY?

It might seem like that. People seem more tense than ever. It seems like everything's a battle, and there's blood everywhere. The world seems pretty broken, and the future looks mighty dim, and we're all shaking our heads, wondering how we got to this crazy place. But here's the thing...

This is nothing new. The world's crazy. Always has been.

There is, however, a path that helps us make sense of it and navigate it and maybe even make a dent in it. And that path is called The Way of Jesus.

But The Way of Jesus is all about steps. 

So this is your formal invitation to Step One.

The Way of Jesus, like any path to a place where you've never been, is better walked with someone who knows the way, or at least someone who's a few steps ahead of you. So, Step One on The Way of Jesus is to find some running partners, some navigators, some guides.

We're inviting you to join us. We Questers are asking the very same questions you're asking, but we think we've found a path through the crazy. We're feeling our own way down this path, and we're inviting you to get on it with us.

It may be bumpy and dangerous, but what way isn't? And at least on this Way, you don't have to go it alone, and it's headed toward someplace we think you'll like.

Take the first step by joining us at our Sunday Gathering.

Courage is...

When we think of courage, we tend to think about people throwing themselves on top of an exploding hand grenade or battling a terrible illness or taking great risks to aid disaster victims. But courage comes in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes it takes a surprising degree of courage just to get out of bed in the morning.

And while we may not be called to fight off wild dingos in order to save a newborn or jump onto a moving train in order to rescue the President, many of the things we ARE called to may require almost as much courage.

In fact, sometimes it requires enormous amounts of courage just to continue doing what you've been doing. 

We've been talking on Sundays about the value of waiting. We've been discussing how waiting on God is all about trust, but how sometimes it's really hard, because we don't see results. 

But here's the thing:

Sometimes the value is not in the receiving but in the trusting. Sometimes it's not about input/output or give/receive or cost/benefit. Sometimes it's all about persevering. 

This is why Paul tells us that "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:4-5) These things are listed in succession on purpose. Sometimes we must suffer to build strength and integrity, and only then can we experience hope. 

But notice that nowhere in that list do we find "quitting" as an option. It doesn't say, "suffering produces misery; misery, complaining; complaining, quitting." Whatever mission we're called to, there is intrinsic value in seeing it through to completion.

And this progression is absolutely critical if we expect to stay on mission. Perseverance is pleasing to God. He loves it when we respond to his call and hang on for dear life. This is why Jesus tells us that the one who takes risks and stays on mission will be considered faithful and will ultimately reap the rewards of their perseverance, which includes high praise and increased responsibility. 

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!" (Matthew 25:21&23).

If we play it safe, if we avoid risk, or worse yet, if we quit, the rest of that parable doesn't favor us. 

We know the passage that says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" but shouldn't that lead to the logical conclusion that, if we know we're on mission, if we know God has called us to something, what could be better than that? Even if we aren't seeing the outcomes that we'd like or expect, why would we want to be anywhere else?

Most of the time, being bold and courageous is just about hanging on. It's about waiting well. It's about trusting God. 

Be bold and courageous. 

How long?

Waiting is hard.

We don't like waiting. That's why we like microwave ovens. It's hard to make a case for microwaves, as far as food quality and taste are concerned. But they win, hands-down, in the not-waiting department. So everyone has one. Because we hate waiting.

But last Sunday, we talked about the value of waiting (listen HERE) - about trusting God's timing.

Unfortunately, as Peter reminds us, to God "a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day." So, even if God is right on top of things, it might not seem like it to us.

But, think about this...

When we read that passage, we tend to focus on the "a thousand years is like a day" part. And that makes us think that God doesn't really care about the fact that our waiting seems very long. "If a thousand years is just like a day to God, then our lives are just a blip. Our life is like nothing at all to him."

But that's only half of that verse. The other half says, "a day is like a thousand years." Think about that. Perhaps millennia are like minutes to God, but apparently, a minute is like a millennium as well. 

In every moment, God sees infinite possibility - he experiences a thousand years' worth of experiences in every moment. So he sees big as small, but he also sees small as big. 

Consequently, our lives are not a meaningless blip to him, but rather an infinite array of beautiful possibilities - a thousand lives crammed into one. 

And because he IS God - because he knows each possible permutation - because he knows what happens if we do this or that - and he knows how it all turns out when we do - he is the ultimate authority on when to do what, amen?

So waiting on the Lord is just trusting that. Do you believe he knows? Or perhaps more importantly, do you believe he cares? If you do, learn to wait. Because it is in the waiting that we see him working. Maybe not in real time, but definitely in retrospect.

Waiting is hard. But it's worth it.

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Change can be scary.

Sometimes it springs from necessity, sometimes just a desire for novelty. But change is neither categorically good or bad. It just is.

Admittedly, when considering the coming year, there's much to be nervous about. But there's also much to be excited about - at least from a Quest Church standpoint.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to reach a brand new segment of our community. Our move back to mornings (9 a.m.) and to Orbit Skate Center carries with it the possibility to connect with young families and their children in ways that have never been possible before.

So, what shall we do with this opportunity?

I vote we run with it.

We've been talking about how life - how walking The Way of Jesus - is either an adventure or nothing. Now's the time to embrace this. 

Not sure what it will look like, just yet, but, over the next month, things are gonna change big and fast. Let's grab that change and run with it.

There will be lots of ways you can do that. Stay tuned. 

An interesting year

You might think calling 2016 "an interesting year" is an understatement. And you'd probably be right.

But it HAS been an interesting year. 

Never mind all of the political shenanigans and the Black Lives Matter movement and the ascension of ISIS. Irrespective of all those things, it has still been interesting.

And as the holidays wind up and the year winds down, many of us find ourselves wool-gathering. That is, we're trying to take a good look at where we've been and where we're going.

I would guess Mary and Joseph would've had ample time to do likewise, as they spent about a week traveling to Bethlehem.

If our year was interesting, theirs was downright insane.

And we'll be hearing some about that this coming Sunday at our Quest gathering.

But last Sunday, we talked about how advent literally means "eagerly, anxiously awaiting the arrival of something or someone."

So, Mary and Joseph are expecting a baby; and what better way to describe the nine months between conception and delivery? Aren't all expectant parents are eagerly, anxiously awaiting the arrival of someone? So all expectant parents are, in a sense, experiencing advent.

If you're a parent, and you're having trouble connecting with this season, think about that.

Think about what it was like during that nine-month period when you were expecting your first kid. If you're normal, you were a jumble of mixed emotions - fear, excitement, anxiety, hope, worry, wonder - did I already say fear? - but all of that was underscored by an overwhelming sense of responsibility and purpose. And how you responded to all of that characterized those nine months.

Now take that mish-mash of emotions, and add the fact that your baby is the incarnate creator of the universe. How does one deal with that? Never mind how you're going to decorate the nursery or whether you're going to use cloth or disposable diapers; try wrapping your head around the whole "baby king" thing.

Many people tend to revere Joseph and Mary, and others want to sweep them under the rug. But I would argue that, how they responded to this crazy situation is a vital part of what makes the birth story so compelling. It doesn't make them divine, but it certainly suggests that they were worthy of consideration and respect.

Come join us Sunday, as we dig a little deeper, trying to understand who Mary and Joseph were and how they responded to the fact that they were expected to raise the Messiah.