Holiday Greeting

"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -Jos 24:14-15

This verse jumped out at me because of how relevant it seems to me in these days of "Happy Holidays." Is it evil in your eyes to serve the LORD and say "Merry Christmas"? Christians, we should not be saying "Happy Holidays." Which holiday, and which God are we serving and encouraging others to serve? Do we really want to wish people a Happy Hanukkah and encourage their celebration of denying Jesus as Messiah? Or Happy Muslimness? Or Happy Kwanzaa? Or maybe Happy New Year--go get drunk? The fact is, unless it is serving the Lord, it is not a holiday.

But the problem is that we Christians have become so like the world, serving the world's God (money), that the world has hijacked our celebration of the Lord's birth, and reclaimed it as its own. So when you're out shopping and the cashier says "Happy Holidays" what he's really saying is "These days are holy to our money god. This is our month-long celebration of how rich and materialistic we are. Thank you for worshiping money with your Visa."

Oh, Lord, come quickly before my cynicism makes me explode.....

2500

Today I hit 2500 miles on my bike for the 2007 season. Back in March when I first hopped on my bike, I never would have guessed how many miles I would ride. Last year I was excited to break the 1000 mile mark, and I wasn't planning on going much beyond that this year. Then I started training for a century (100 mile) ride, and started a bike-to-work contest, and continued to ride even as the temperature began to drop. So today, here I am, just hopping off my bike in 5 degree weather, bundled up in neoprene shoe covers, running pants, balaclava, and ski goggles, 2504 miles under me....and 10 to go before I get home tonight...and there's still 3.5 weeks left of the year!

100% Chance of Precipitation

The weather people are even gutsier than ever. Can they really forecast 100% chance of precipitation?

The Minneapolis forecast:

Saturday: Periods of snow, mainly after noon. High near 28. Wind chill values between -1 and 9. East southeast wind between 9 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Lay Aside Every Weight

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us -Heb 12:1

There are many things that slow down our spiritual run that are not sin. I often think that sin is the only thing that keeps me from living the life God wants. I think this is the point of Jesus' parable on the different soils where the one doesn't produce fruit because it is choked out by the cares of this world ("As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares ofthe world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." - Matthew 13:22). I don't want my usefulness to be choked out by cares of the world. So what weights do I have that are keeping me from running the race?

Run with the Lord

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us -Heb 12:1

Where did we ever get the idea of "walking with the Lord"? The word here is run. So we should be running with the Lord. If we aren't at least a little bit tired, that means we're not obeying this verse. It is clearly not a sprint either, but an endurance race. That means there will be some days that are harder than others, some that are faster than others. We may need to take a little rest because we've been pushing too hard. But we need to pick up the pace!

τρέχω
trechō
trekh'-o
Apparently a primary verb (properly θρέχω threchō; compare G2359); which uses δρέμω dremō, drem'-o (the base of G1408) as an alternate in certain tenses; to run or walk hastily (literally or figuratively): - have course, run.

Winter Pansies

There's one thing I really hate about this time of year. As much as I don't like Standard Time, the weather complainers are much more irritating. I try not to rant about Standard Time because 1-it is standard (Daylight Savings is just a wonderful present I get every single summer) and 2-it happens, so deal with it. Yes, it is a drastic shock to lose that hour of evening sunlight, but if it really bothered me enough to keep complaining, I should move to Indiana, Arizona, or Hawaii. Or, I could get up an hour earlier, go to work an hour earlier, and get my hour of sunlight in the evening...which is exactly what I started doing this week.

So, my other irritation are the weather complainers. Here's a simple observation: It's November, and November is always cold. Next comes winter--and it will be cold too. If you can't figure that out, you don't deserve to have a job that pays anything above minimum wage. And if you do have a job that pays above minimum wage, buy a warm coat, hat, and gloves and quit complaining about it. Or quit your job and move South.

Why the rant? Maybe it's because I just moved from Minneapolis and thought the people there complain too much...but people in Milwaukee complain just as much. The fact is, it's not even cold yet! It's not even below freezing...let alone negative. Maybe I'm just annoyed because it was 29 deg when I left my home this morning...on a bike...and I wasn't cold...because I wore a coat, hat, and gloves.

Great Commission

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
-Mat 28:18-20

What is the significance of the word "therefore" in this passage? It is tying the two sentences together--saying Jesus' authority is the reason to go. It is saying because Jesus has all authority in heaven on earth, the logical conclusion is to go and make disciples.

Most of the time when we use this sort of language, we have two parts that we're combining to get a "therefore" conclusion. For example, "I like coffee and Starbucks makes coffee, therefore I like Starbucks." This passage is different because it doesn't combine two things to get a conclusion, at least not explicitly. What would be there implicitly? What other factor(s) would go into our going? It could be "You love me and want everyone else to know me, but you can't do anything about it on your own."

So that's one possible interpretation of this passage. But I think the best interpretation is to understand the hidden piece as "and I am commanding you to make disciples." He's giving us the logical conclusion tied together with the command. We can infer a lot about the success of our mission based on the fact that Jesus has all authority, but that is not what he's saying here. The main point of Jesus' stressing his authority is to lend weight to his command. It's not a meaningless command coming from a 2-year-old. No, it is a command coming from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who hold all power of life and death, and he says "Go and make disciples."

Therefore, I (we) best make disciples.