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28
Jan 10

In the midst of Haiti, where is God?

When natural disasters happen an immediate response amongst people is: Where was God? Why did he let that happen? Without getting into the theology of the question, let me just share a story with you. It goes something like this:

Blind violinist Romel Joseph laid in what he called his “grave” for 18 hours.

The concrete support beams of his music school in Haiti pinned his legs and feet. Buried in the rubble of the five-story building, Romel realized he was trapped and would not be able to get out on his own.

He was overwhelmed by the hot air. He began to have a conversation with God.

“I said, ‘I would like to know if you are here. I’m really hot … and don’t have much time to live so if you are here, I’m really hot and I need some cool air.’ And believe it or not, the next thing I know, there’s cool air that got in.”

I would have to say that this was a pretty miraculous scenario. Why of all people did Romel Joseph experience God? The simple answer is that he called out to God and found that God was there. Honestly, as someone who professes a strong faith in Christ and has been involved in pastoral ministry for the past 5 years, I don’t know if I would have the courage to get through those same 18 hours that Romel did.

The beauty of this whole experience is that Romel didn’t talk about coming clean for any sins he had committed in the past. He didn’t guilt trip himself about being in that predicament as punishment for something he did against God. He didn’t freak out and cry out for his rescue. In a simple, quiet moment in a hot, sweltering mass of rubble that entrapped his legs and made it difficult to breathe he just asked God for some cool air. He didn’t say something like, “Please save me, I don’t deserve to die.” or “I’m sorry for my sins, please forgive me and now save me.” He just simply asked for some cool air and immediately he began receiving it.

Later Romel continues to pray and ends up visualizing himself playing violin music to concertos and the peace and joy he found in those visions allowed him to get through his 18 hours of entrapment and find himself free. At the hospital being treated for his injuries, the doctors are saying that he may never play the violin again because his hand was fractured along with his legs. However, Romel just says, “I have to play so they can hear what I want them to play.”

The level of tragedy in Haiti is one that I hope we never experience again in the history of our earth. However, no matter how great I may think of myself or my ministry, I am not sure I could have had the faith that Mr. Romel Joseph displayed through his 18 hour ordeal, which I know was just an extension of his personal faith in God already. Through hearing his story via an article on CNN, the whole world now sees the beauty and peace that came upon a brave man named Romel Joseph during an incredibly trying time--a beauty and peace that came from God and is now being shared through his faithfulness. It’s not about rituals, use of holy language, or advance preparations. God will be God no matter what we think.

Mr. Joseph, it is such an honor to live on this earth with you. May your story magnify the true nature of the God of grace, peace, and love.

excerpts from cnn.com article: Trapped Violinist Found Delivered, Through Prayers and Concertos.

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20
Aug 08

Gregory Boyd has it right!

I follow a lot of what is going on in the church today, particularly here in America. One thing I am getting tired of is church leadership slandering other church leaders. At the center of a lot of this is political. Take a look at the forum Rick Warren hosted last weekend at Saddleback Church here. One of the things I admire about Pastor Gregory Boyd of Woodland Hills Church in Minnesota is that he gets it and isn’t afraid to talk about it.

As Christians we should be focused on the work of the kingdom of God and not about promoting political candidates or political agenda. Is it our job to polarize Christians through our political positions or are we to show the world that it is through love that others will know we are Christ followers as in John 13:34-35.

In his blog, Boyd comments:

“In my view, followers of Jesus are to be concerned with everything Jesus was concerned with – and Jesus was obviously concerned with more than people having a relationship with himself.”

What are some of those things? Well, for one Pastor Boyd speaks about racism:

Jesus revolted against racism by the countercultural way he treated and spoke about non-Jews , so his followers are to revolt against all forms of racism.”

Boyd states that, “Jesus was a revolutionary on social issues, so his followers are to be revolutionaries on social issues.” However, he concludes with these profound remarks:

Jesus was a radical social activist, so his followers must be the same. It’s just that Jesus never once placed any trust in the government of his day to address social issues. He rather just addressed social issues by how he lived and taught. So too, we who are Jesus’ followers are to place no trust in government to address social issues. We’re simply called to address them by how we live.

Following Jesus’ example, we’re to place our trust in the power of the cross – the power of self-sacrificial love – not the power of the sword. We’re to trust the power of Calvary, not Caesar. And this is why I believe those who spend their time and energy trying to control the political arena “in Jesus’ name” are profoundly missing the point. Our job is to love, serve and sacrifice for sinners – not argue about passing laws against them. For we are to know that, whatever sin we see in others, our sin is much worse (Matthew 7:1-3)”

Obviously there are many that refute what Pastor Boyd speaks about. However, isn’t the scripture clear on this that Jesus called his followers to be examples of their faith? If we live by the sword we die by the sword. If we live by love, we are keeping with the Greatest Commandment and it is through our love that world will know we are Christians.

Here is some video of Greg Boyd speaking on this a bit for the CNN series God’s Warrior’s:

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8
Aug 08

Now John Edwards is in the fray

The only reason I post in response to the cnn.com story breaking today (click here for the full article) that Senator (and long-time presidential hopeful) John Edwards is in a scandal due to having an affair with a woman while his wife was battling cancer is that I am curious how the public responds in comparison to what Victoria Osteen goes through.

So far a lot of the public sentiment regarding the Edwards story is that the woman he had an affair with is obviously out for money and publicity. However, does anyone truly think that if the flight attendant suing Victoria Osteen, due to an incident that happened on a flight out of Houston, would have sued and gotten the same attention had it been you or me on that flight that supposedly caused a scene?

Just another case-in-point that those in the ministry, especially when they are high profile such as the Osteens or Ted Haggard, must put themselves to a higher standard as there will always be unscrupulous people looking to take advantage of situations that we present to them. Surely it may not be possible to always be above such iniquities and certainly there will be those that lie and make up stories to try and bring us down undeservedly, but when we accept the call to ministry we also accept everything that comes with it. Kind of like an actor that makes it big in Hollywood, but then complains that he has no privacy anymore. Sorry, it comes with the territory!

As I say much too often, I am so thankful that through our goal of perfection, when we fall short there is always grace. If not from those around us, it will always be available through Christ and forgiveness is ours if we seek it from a repentant heart.

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8
Aug 08

Osteen trial began yesterday, the vomit has already started

Well, as I posted yesterday, Victoria Osteen is being sued by a Continental Airlines flight attendant over verbal & physical abuse and the subsequent emotional distress of it all (click here for more of the story from cnn.com). The question being raised now is what importance does Osteen’s payment of a $3,000 fine from the FAA bear on her being guilty of the charges? Osteen says nothing happened on the flight and that the flight attendant (and other witnesses) are confused about what they remember. She claims that she paid the FAA fine just to be done with the incident and to avoid embarrassment to Lakewood Church--it was not, she contends, an admission of guilt.

So, now it’s not just how she supposedly acted on the flight over not getting a stain on her seat the size of a 50 cent piece removed quickly enough, but now people are coming out and blasting her over not being truthful about the incident.

It’s all over the news, and here is a comment to a post about this from another blog site:

There is nothing frivolous about this case, and the wife is a liar. This case isn’t about the stain on the seat. The Preacher’s Wife pushed and injured the flight attendant. The wife was fined by the FAA for her conduct and she paid it, an obvious admission that she was, in fact, disorderly and combative with the flight crew. So here it is: the FAA fined her and she paid it. If she didn’t do it, then she lied by admitting it and paying the fine. Christians shouldn’t lie. Christians who do not follow their rules are crummy Christians. Therefore, the wife is a crummy Christian. The Bible doesn’t say only tell the truth when it is easy, and lie to be expedient. Either it is right or wrong to lie, no exceptions, no shades of gray.
My problem with Christians isn’t what they believe, it’s that they don’t believe what they say they believe.

Again I say this, regardless of who we are we are going to be put under scrutiny from those outside of the kingdom of grace. We can sit around and claim foul all day long or choose to ignore such things because we know God gives us mercy through his grace, but then why do we have examples of Jesus calling us to be different? Through his 3 year ministry he was faced with tremendous scrutiny and the Pharisees were just following him waiting for the opportunity to get him arrested. He never slipped up and was finally arrested on a claim of blasphemy and this required help from someone within his inner circle who betrayed him (Judas).

It’s time we took responsibility for our actions and right or wrong, we should hold onto our character and admit our shortcomings and ask for grace. Are we here for self-preservation, or are we here to bring glory to the one who saved us from eternal death? Remember, it should be all about Christ and never about us. Let us remember all that Jesus endured on his way to the cross so that we could stand here today and profess him as Lord and follow the path of righteousness in honor of his ultimate sacrifice for humanity.

PS. None of my comments are intended to incriminate or judge Mrs. Osteen. I only draw attention to the event of her trial as a means to shed light on the judgment that comes upon us if and when we do things that may cause us to fall short in the eyes of others and why it is important to consider the ramifications of our actions more seriously as the eyes of the world (and God) are upon us.

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7
Aug 08

Joel Osteen’s wife causes loss of faith?!

I couldn’t believe what I read on cnn.com today (click here for the full article). A flight attendant is suing Victoria Osteen because Osteen reportedly got upset and displayed some un-Christian like actions which caused the flight attendant to lose her faith. Seriously, a jury has been selected and the case is about to start trial. Apparently it was such a serious incident that the FAA fined Victoria Osteen $3000 for interfering with a crew member.

This is a crazy story in my opinion, but it opens up the question of whether the actions of a pastor can cause someone to lose their faith? I’m sure it’s happened where a pastor does something, such as secretly takes money from the church, and then people in the church leave their faith because of it. Should our faith reside in what our pastors do? I don’t think so! That is the glorious nature of living in Christ is that we are each called to have a unique purpose and that we may enjoy a direct, eternal relationship with him. In no other faith can one be so united with their god as Christianity is with our God.

Another thing this incident brings up is that none of us are above our own actions and that everything we do will have ramifications and can potentially cause harm to another. We are called to let Christ be the light of the world through us. Pastors in-particular are viewed under greater scrutiny and we need to be aware of that. While it may not be fair, it is the way things are and when we accept the role of pastor we must accept that it comes with this additional scrutiny. Thankfully, through Christ there is grace!

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