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.  

Confirmation Message: Walk the Plank!

Here’s a reposting of a message I gave to the Confirmation class in 2009.  

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28″Lord, if it’s you,” Peterreplied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

(Matthew 14:22-32)

Dear Confirmands:

This familiar story, which most of you have heard many times, is not to be toyed with or passed over lightly.  This story has been preserved and passed down for centuries just FOR YOU today.  This morning you are not just a curious bystander, a casual observer or a detached reader of this story. This morning YOU are in the boat with the disciples, feeling the wind against your face and the splashing of the waves against your skin.  Jesus is approaching YOU on the stormy waters and YOU will have the opportunity to either join Peter as he takes that bold step of faith off the ledge of the boat or whether you’ll remain a mere passenger in the boat.

Masks & Belonging: Deeper than Nude Beaches & Palm Branches

This is a repost from a few years back. -JB

Chap Clark has written a must-read book for all youth workers and those who want to understand the current world of today’s teenagers.  Listen to these honest words of a (typical) high school student in Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers:

“I’ve always been prone to episodes of extreme loneliness and longing for a place where I could feel safe enough to let down my defenses. Because I was extremely outgoing and energetic little girl/adolescent, no one would ever guess how alone I really felt. I was the girl who was always surrounding herself with people from all “groups,” as teenagers love to place people in, but something has always felt like it was missing. Every so often this “hole” pops up in the pit of my stomach, and it can stay anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days. I have never been able to pinpoint exactly where the emptiness begins, as hard as I may try. I have many friends and acquaintances, and my home life is more than I could ask for. I just wish sometimes I could find somewhere to belong” (p. 48).

We wear masks to hide what’s really going on inside ourselves. Some of us know exactly what we are trying to cover up; others cannot quite explain what we are trying to hide — but we know we are not ready to let people peer inside. Feelings of fear, inadequacy, insecurity, and an overwhelming sense of inability to meet all the expectations of parents, teachers, coaches and youth pastors send teens into hiding.

Why do we hide?

Warning: Explosion Hazard

This is a repost. It seems to capture part of what’s going on in John 3 as Jesus tells Nicodemus about the life-changing, soul-transforming explosion God wants to work in our hearts through “new birth.” -JB

I was standing on the dock putting gasoline into the boat the other day.  I happened to read the bright yellow warning sticker as I slowly poured the 5-gallons into the tank.  The sticker read: 

WARNING: Leaking fuel is a fire and explosion hazard.  Inspect fuel system often. 

My mind began searching for some Christian life lesson or, as we call them at here at Daily Illumination, another “sacred analogy.”  I came up with one worth pondering.

WARNING STICKERS.  This analogy first begins with the observation that what goes for Christianity in America is a much more tamed, PG-rated and user-friendly version than the risky, life-endangering, explosive kind of faith found in the Bible. True faith in the Holy, Living God of the Bible is serious business and should come with many yellow, reflective WARNING stickers as well.  Some sobering warning stickers would do much to promote the true, authentic faith the martyrs gave their life for than padded seats, air-conditioned auditoriums and cute, catchy cliches plastered on the bumpers of Christian mini-vans. (Not that there is anything wrong with these things in and of themselves; but I think you get my point.)

Remember how the great lion Aslan is described in the Chronicles of Narnia when one asks if this Aslan (or God) is a safe, tame lion?  He is most certainly not safe or tame; but He is good.  Likewise, true Christianity isn’t a safe endeavor either; it is “the good fight” as Paul likes to say.  That’s right: When we enter into worship, call on the living God in prayer, join with other Christians in Kingdom advancing efforts and open our Bibles for truth an wisdom, we should be reminded that we are dealing with highly explosive, powerful stuff and should proceed with great caution and care.  

Merry Parachoresis! A Christmas Reflection

This is a repost from a couple years ago. -JB

The Christmas story is all too familiar for most Christians today. We’ve seen two dozen pageants, have basically memorized Matthew and Luke’s accounts of wise men, shepherds, overbooked inns and barnyard manger scenes. The problem with familiarity, as Dallas Willard puts it, is that “Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity — unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then contempt” (The Divine Conspiracy, 11).

Thus, pastors often struggle preparing their annual Christmas message.  But as my recent post argued (See “And There Were Shepherds”), the Christmas story is filled with shock and mind-boggling surprises.  One has to work very hard to make this story ordinary and boring.  The story of Christmas is the most extraordinary story ever told.

This Christmas I shared a brief Christmas message at our high school Christmas dance — yes, my Baptist friends, our youth group had a dance to celebrate the birth of our savior.  This year my message centered around the image of “The Dance of the Trinity” and Christ’s relentless pursuit of more and more dancing partners to come back into a life of living in the harmonious rhythms of the Kingdom Dance.

My message outline went something like this:

A Look Back: Revolution 2006

Here’s a blast from the past.  This article describes the philosophy behind the Revolution teen ministry (2005-07). We hope MainStreet launches strong so we can re-launch a dynamic youth ministry like Revolution able to reach local teens for Christ.  -JB

Words like “revolution” and “Ground zero” are usually not the first words that come to mind when you think of church. Jeremy Berg, leader of the emerging Revolution Teen Ministry in Mound, would argue, however, that these may be the perfect words to describe the type of Christian youth movement Jeremy hopes to see launched in his hometown of Mound.

“I’m afraid something has gone seriously wrong,” Jeremy laments. “The place where heaven and earth are supposed to collide, where the power of God Almighty is waiting to ignite teenage hearts and forever change their lives, has all to often gained the reputation of being boring, irrelevant and lifeless. Whatever happened to church?”

Revolution seeks to invite a more holistic approach to Christian life, one where students integrate their faith into every arena of their lives, rather than separating their everyday lives and activities front their weekly dose of religion on Wednesday night youth group or Sunday morning worship. Revolution wants to meet youth on their own turf, bringing the revolutionary Way of Jesus outside the church walls and into the everyday world of today’s teens.

American Faith: “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”

Few studies have been more timely and pin-point accurate in it’s findings than the research of Christian Smith in “Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers” concerning the religious beliefs of American teenagers.  I would argue that many of these teens have learned their faith from parents with similar Christian convictions and level of commitment.  Thus, his findings are not limited to teenagers by any stretch of the imagination.

Smith’s definition and description of what he calls “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” will long be used as the best description of what goes for typical civil religion in America.  Here’s an excerpt from Albert Mohler’s commentary on this ground-breaking study:

As described by Smith and his team, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism consists of beliefs like these: 1. “A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.” 2. “God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.” 3. “The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.” 4. “God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.” 5. “Good people go to heaven when they die.”

When Darkness Wins a Battle, We Still Win the War

I just got home from the most painful kind of funeral. A young man, in a moment of despair, took his life.  He was deeply loved, and will be deeply missed. I was his basketball coach years ago – a wonderful kid. These kind of funerals are becoming all too frequent. Here’s a piece I wrote a couple years back in a similar situation.  May it be an encouragement to others, and provide a Christian perspective on such tragedies. -JB

The forces of darkness are always around us.  Most of the time, if we’re fortunate, the dark cloud of death is not hovering over our home.  Though our number is coming, and many have already faced difficult seasons of suffering, pain, death and loss in our own lives.

Maybe cancer has taken a loved one long before their time. Maybe a car accident stole away a life in it’s prime. Maybe you lost a child before they even had the chance to be born. Darkness is real.  The world is broken.

This week darkness and death won a victory in Burnsville, as a young man, “16 years old, full of life, and smiles,” took his own life in a moment of desperation. The young man has been described over and over again with words similar to these by a Young Life leader:

“He was very involved in Young Life Ministry — committed his life to Christ at camp, spoke at their banquet, and was in a campaigner bible study 3 or 4 hours before he hung himself. He was a fun loving kid, hugged everyone he could pick up (and being a heavy weight wrestler, that’s everyone) and had a smile that lit up the room.  Kids, leaders, we all loved him.”

In the wake of this tragedy, many students connected to our youth group are struggling to make sense of it all.  

Socrates & I: Corrupting the Youth

I’m reposting an oldie but goodie from several years back. -JB

These days, teachers in the news facing charges of “corrupting the youth” are usually repeat sex offenders. But did you know that the great philosopher, Socrates (469-399 B. C.), was also charged, convicted and ultimately executed for “corrupting the youth”? Socrates’ mode of “corruption” however was of an entirely different kind. At his trial, Socrates’ (in Plato’s account) explains the nature of his so-called “crime”:

“I go around doing nothing but persuading both young and old among you not to care for your body or your wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul.”

When given the option of acquittal on the basis that he stop teaching this “subversive” philosophy, he responds as follows:

STUDENT DRIVER 1: This is Not a Game

I’m reposting this DI classic series of posts from a few years ago. Enjoy!

As a youth pastor I face a room full of teenagers every Wednesday and try my best to teach them how to travel faithfully the road of Christian discipleship. For the past month, each Tuesday and Thursday evenings have afforded me the added responsibility of teaching a room full of bright-eyed, overconfident teens how to drive a car safely on all the other roads of life.

 Yep, I am an official state certified driving instructor.  It’s scary to think that I have quite literally put over 500 young 16 year olds onto the public roadways in the past 4 years. If you’ve “met” any of them out there on the road, I apologize in advance.

As I wrap up another 30 hours of classroom driving instruction tonight I want to take this opportunity to share some reflections on the many parallels there are between Drivers Education and Christian Discipleship.  You’d be surprised how similar these two classrooms really are!  So, buckle up and sit back as we reminisce a bit on our first days behind the wheel and apply some of those lessons to our journey of faith!

DAY 1: THIS IS NOT A GAME

Teenagers are notoriously overconfident, daring and invincible in their own eyes.  When was the last time any one over 18 was caught burying the needle on an open country road without a thought of the deer that might unexpectedly dart out in front of them?  Well, OK, some of us never really grow up!

The first day of class I spend most of the time trying to persuade the class that driving is not a game.  Unlike most activities they have been involved in up until now, a mistake or momentary lapse in judgment behind the wheel can have life-or-death consequences. You fail a test and you get a bad grade.  You fail to obey your curfew and you get grounded.  You fail to play tough defense and you lose the game.  Life goes on.  But if you fail to look both ways, you may just get killed.

The Lesson: This is no game.  The roads are dangerous and poor choices can have ultimate consequences.  You need to pay attention and be responsible for your actions.  You are not invincible. We show video after video of broken-hearted parents and siblings sharing tragic stories of young lives ruined and loved ones lost in fatal crashes.  We are not invincible.  Life is more fragile than we would like to admit.  This is no game.

And so when I face my youth group on Wednesday nights and begin to unpack the realities of the Christian life and the gospel of Jesus Christ, I would do well to reinforce these very same lessons.  Do we take our faith too lightly — more like a religious game?  Do we realize that the decisions we and our loved ones make in relationship to God will have eternal, life or death consequences?  Do we think we are invincible and take our days for granted, forgetting that we are only one breath away from eternity?

So, day one of drivers education is kind of a wake up call or reality check.  I think we could all use a spiritual reality check now and then as well. How’s your walk today?

NEXT TIME: “Fatal Distractions”