Beyond Castles in the Sand: A Summer Challenge

Reposted from 2009. -JB

 If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards” (Matthew 7:25-27 MSG).

I watched the little tike as he built his sand castle with great care and pride on the beach shore.  He must have been 5 years old.  Just as he was putting the finishing touches on his castle wall, a large boat pulling a wake boarder cruised by just a stones throw out from the shore.  Within seconds the waves hit the shore and wiped out the boy’s sand masterpiece.  And he ran to his mommy in tears.

Life went on for this little boy.  He soon got over the destruction of his sand castle and was soon laughing on the playground minutes later.

Unfortunately, many of us never completely grow out of the foolish practice of building fragile castles in the sand.  

NEW! Merge Forums in Mound!

This Friday we launch a key new initiative in keeping with our MainStreet vision. MainStreet is founded on the conviction that the church needs to engage unchurched people beyond the walls of the sanctuary.  Many people today are not interested in coming to worship on Sunday, but are open to conversation about spiritual topics. They are spiritual explorers who are not too excited about church. They want to find Christians who are not afraid to wrestle with tough questions.

MainStreet’s MERGE forums strive to provide a public venue for believers, skeptics and seekers to have open discussion on some of faith’s toughest questions such as “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?” or “How could a loving God allow so much evil and suffering?” or “Is the Bible trustworthy?”

Join us this Friday at the Depot at Mound Bay Park at 7PM for refreshments, live music featuring Rich Larson and Mike Poukey, and a presentation and Q&A on our evening’s hot topic: “Resurrection: Historical Fact or Religious Myth?”

Invite your friends!

E.A. Skogsbergh Website Project ‘Completed’

It is with great excitement that I share the fruit of my research and labor pertaining to the life and legacy of E. Aug. Skogsbergh – early pioneer leader and revivalist preacher of the Covenant Church who had a powerful ministry in Minneapolis and on Lake Minnetonka in my backyard. Building this website has been both the most fun as well as the most time-consuming research project I have undertaken. My research involved:

• A couple full days (10+ hours) digging through files, folders and boxes in the basement archives of First Covenant Church, Minneapolis, scanning hundreds of documents, photos, newspaper clippings, etc.
• Pilgrimages to photograph his home (still standing) on Lake Mtka, and his memorial at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
• Sorting through Superintendent Mark Stromberg’s personal Skogsbergh collection at the Northwest Conference Office.
• Untold hours uploading, formatting and editing the photos, and designing and building the website.
• Many hours researching and writing the history for the website pages (10,000+ words).
• Reading Skogsbergh’s Memoirs, the Sliver & Golden Anniversary history of First Covenant by Skogsbergh (1923), his biography A Burning Heart by Erik Dahlhielm (1951) as well as several additional books.

I believe you will find the website a very pleasing resource. First, I scoured the best sources on his life and quoted heavily to make the website a great first stop for Covenanters interested in learning from our best Covenant historians about Skogsbergh. Second, I quote extensively from Skogsbergh’s Memoirs to give a good sense of his dynamic personality. Third, the accompanying photographs and documents really bring the history to life in a way that books fail to match. Finally, the real achievement of this project is it brings previously hidden and buried treasures out from the dusty archives and into one’s living room with a simple click of the mouse.

WEBSITE SUMMARY: You will find an overview of his early life in Sweden; his dynamic ministries in Chicago, Minneapolis, on Lake Minnetonka, and in Seattle; his visionary leadership in education and publishing; a glimpse into his family life and heartfelt tributes by his peers. I am most excited to provide a rich collection of rare photographs, personal letters & documents, personal items, an old sermon, newspaper articles, hymns, and other treasures long buried in basement archives but now accessible to all. Some notable items include:

• Original call letter from Chicago to Skogsbergh in Sweden
• Handwritten letters from Waldenstrom to Skogsbergh
• Report cards from Colporteur school
• Items such as Skogsbergh’s Bible, hat, pulpit, etc.
• Immigration papers, Naturalization papers, immunization records, etc.
• Original obituaries, death notification telegram to Chicago office, funeral program, etc.

The site is live at www.swedishmoody.wordpress.com. Go read of a man of God in whose footsteps we are trying to follow and whose legacy we’re trying to carry on in the Lake Minnetonka area. Enjoy!

Peter’s Keys

“I tell you that you are Peter….I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16).

His Name Is Peter 6 – ‘I’m a Sinful Man’

 When he had finished speaking, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”  Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken” (Luke 5:3-9).

Dear Peter Bjorn,

One of the hardest lessons for all of us to learn in life that of coming to grips with our own sinfulness and spiritual bankruptcy before God. Even well-meaning Christians often find themselves trying to muster up our own holiness, trying harder to be more spiritual, trying to earn God’s love through good deeds. Pride and self-righteousness easily result, preventing us from experiencing God’s saving grace.

Peter, my son, I pray that you will come to know, as Simon Peter did so early on, how wretchedly sinful and utterly dependent we are on God when we first encounter Him.

In this episode, Simon Peter beholds the power of God at work in Jesus in the miraculous catch of fish and responds rightly by declaring, “I am a sinful man!”  He gets the first part slightly wrong, however. Faced with Jesus’ awesome power and holiness, Simon Peter feels unworthy to even be in his presence, and begs Jesus to “Go away from me.”

The good news is that Jesus has come to earth precisely to save us sinners, and He is not about to go away from us and leave us in our sinful state. He comes to us, and lives among us, and calls us to follow him, and as we do we become more and more like him every day.

Dear Peter Bjorn, may you realize early on how sinful you are, and that you stand with tattered rags before a holy God, deserving only wrath. And may you rejoice in the good news that Jesus does not leave us in our wretched state, but grants us pardon from our sins, and loves us to the uttermost — dying on a cross to free us from our sins and to bring us everlasting life.

Still America’s Best Rock ‘n Roll Band

GOLF & GOD (9): Mulligans & Scorecards

“What did you get on that hole?”  the scorecard keeper asks.  Your answer may not be as simple as just counting up your strokes.  For many, this question immediately forces an ethical dilemma or sparks an internal wrestling match with one’s conscience.  Do I tell him the truth– that I got “a snowman” on the short par 3 — to keep a clean conscience?  Or is it better to save face and protect my ego with the guys, give a dishonest score and deal with the guilt later (when no one’s looking)?  Or, better, why don’t I just try harder, screw up less and always be sure to get a respectable score every time?  Like that’s possible.  

Have you ever quit keeping score in the middle of a round?  What’s up with that?  Certainly that, too, is a defense mechanism to avoid the shame and humiliation that would come at the end of the round when you actually had to own up to your embarrassing score.  

One spiritual mind exercise I occasionally engage in is to imagine Jesus along with me, taking part in a typical 21st century activity and seeing how he would act (e.g., Jesus in rush hour traffic, etc.).  Play along with me for a second.  What do you think it would be like golfing 18 holes at your favorite country club with Jesus (assume Jesus can get you free passes to any private dream course!)?  If you’re like me, you’re already wondering if Jesus would use his divine powers and ace every hole with 500+ yard drives, whether he would walk across the water to retrieve your water ball, etc.  

Yet, the issue I want to focus on in this imaginative exercise has nothing to do with Jesus’ divine swing, putting perfection and the like.  Instead, I want you to ask yourself this question: What kind of scorecard keeper would Jesus be?  Would Jesus be a stickler for the rules, allowing no gimmes and keeping close record of every single penalty?  Remember, you’re probably not going to sneak anything by Jesus — like that secret “foot wedge” to get your ball away from that tree on # 12. Or, the classic litmus test to determine the gracious scorekeepers from the uptight, legalists:

Would Jesus allow mulligans?  

What Manner of Thief is This?

Well, if the Bible is correct and today’s Judgment Day prediction is also correct, then we have to conclude that the thief comes with quite a bit more fanfare and warning than I had ever imagined — at 6 p.m. sharp.

“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2).

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10a).

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13)

“Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us” (2 Thess 2:2).

‘Til Death Do Us Part (by Mike Glenn)

A good reminder from Mike Glenn:

A recent article in the Tennessean showed that less than half of the families in Middle Tennessee were headed by the traditional father and mother.  While there are a lot of factors that have brought us to this new reality, one of those factors is the increasing numbers of young adults who are choosing to live together without getting married.

For a lot of reasons, the couple doesn’t see marriage as being relevant to their relationship.

1. Perhaps they saw their parents as unhappy and don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.2. Perhaps they don’t want to be “trapped” in a legally defined commitment

3. Sometimes they want to maintain the freedom to leave.  They want to “see how things go” before they make the “big commitment.”

But people are not used cars. You can’t test drive someone’s heart.  The tentative, cautious approach of living together before getting married actually destroys the very thing that holds a marriage together over the long haul.

What’s that?  It’s a total commitment to the marriage by both spouses.  A type of “we will be together come hell or high water” decision that rules out every choice but staying.

Only then, in response to this uninhibited commitment, does the other feel the safety to begin to explore and reveal their deepest self.  This can only be down if the spouse feels totally secure in the love of the other.

Living together always has an escape clause and this “I’ll leave if I’m not happy” level of commitment means the spouse never shares their deepest selves and therefore, the relationship is never sealed at those deepest levels.

While the world may say living together makes sense, faith teaches us that love is never conditional or contractual.  Authentic love responds with a reckless abandonment of unlimited commitment long before the question is asked in real life.  Then and only then, do we see the tying together of two lives that survive the test of time.

• Do you love your spouse this way?• Do you know your spouse loves you this way?

• How do you need to communicate your love today

GOLF & GOD (5): Water Hazards

Don't be intimidated by the 15,000 sq. ft. putting surface as it beckons your challenge, quietly floating 150 yards off the lakeshore. Confidence is your key to success. Board the Putter Boat shuttle, and enjoy the short ride over to finish the most unforgettable island golf green in the world. Don't misread your putt... remember, everything breaks towards the water.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course of Idaho is the proud home of the world’s first floating green — an intimidating target with water on all sides.  But remember, “everything breaks towards the water.”  Ka-plunk! Splash!  Ever have one of those rounds where it seems as though if there’s water to be found, your ball will find it?  My dad seems to be one of those unfortunate ones.

While the OB stakes try to keep your ball on playable ground and sand traps merely slow your game down a bit, water hazards are placed on the course with a more sinister purpose of swallowing up as many victims as possible.  Yes, underneath those blue, sparkling innocent-looking waters lies a cold, sunken graveyard of every kind of golf ball .  All golfers agree: Water hazards are evil.