You HAD logs?

Check this out!  Next time you read Matthew 7:1-6 about "Judging Others" look at this.  Verse 5 has been grabbing my attention the last couple days. We always read about the plank and the speck as telling us not to judge people.  This is true, but I am not too sure we have read verse 5 for all it's worth.

"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

This says something very influential to me.  This is saying more than just "Don't judge people!  Cuz you ain't perfect!"  But that is what we have always read this to mean.

There is more!  The whole thing is Jesus' challenge to work on your own 'ish SO THAT you may be able to see your brother's speck, his 'ish, more clearly.

This is not telling us to leave our brother's alone because "Hey, you ain't perfect."  The direct challenge is to remove your own plank so you may see clearly to remove your brother's speck.

This means I have to realize what my plank is.  My plank could be a sin I am struggling with, but it may also be an issue I have; a wound, a hurt, an issue to be healed or repaired.  Once I do the work of finding healing or repair for the ish in my life, I become able to see more clearly the people around me.  I become capable of compassion because now I can see them more clearly.  I can actually help remove their speck; walk along in their wounds, and hurt, and 'ish.  But I can only do that if I have removed the plank that hinders my ability to truly see.

Christians commonly do whatever they can to "help" others because if I'm helping someone else with their 'ish I don't have to pay any attention to my own.

We call this 'compassion' or 'benevolence' or various other Christian terms, but if I am not or have not done the work to pursue healing and repair for my own 'ish, its really just what we call ENABLING......or even......wait for it..... CO-DEPENDANT.

Starbucks in the year 2111

Sitting here in Starbucks, I have a wonder in my mind.  I wonder how much art has been created here at this Starbucks.  How many books!  How many poems!  How many songs! How many sketches turned paintings!  How many screen plays!  How many dreams and brainstorms! I find myself wondering how many of those things have been created here, and then I wonder how many Starbucks there are in the country; in the world.  How many coffee shops are there out there?  These little easy bake ovens for art everywhere!

What are these places and what about them lends the heart to create?

Then I wonder what these places will look like years from now.  It is so cultural now, and yet I am thinking many years from now.  I am thinking about vacations I have been on to areas with old ghost towns, museums, and reenactments.  It makes me wonder if 100 years from now there will be families walking through THIS Starbucks layered in dust and time.  Will the tour guide be wearing a tattered green apron and pointing out different things the kids could not care less about?

"Over here we have an espresso machine from about the year 2004.  The barista would stand back here and ask if there was anything he could get started for the next person in line."

"Over there is where they would sell Starbucks brand cups, pointless gear, and overpriced coffee makers for the wealthier customers."

Will the tour guide tell about the culture surrounding coffee that just blew up in American society?  I wonder if she will merely be explaining what Starbucks "used to look like" because the company will have continued to dominate the economy and look entirely different then.

I wonder if you can go to old towns where there would be poorly done reenactments by costumed high schoolers who have no idea what our culture really looked like.

Will there be "old style Starbucks" still open to run "like they used to" for the sake of nostalgia and tourism?

I wonder!

Never trust a Christian who...

A quote I read a few days ago by Alan Chambers says, "Never trust a pastor who does not walk with a limp."  The quote was fantastic.  His point was that pastors should be the first to share their vulnerabilities and transparency.  I agree with that statement, but I would further the challenge to say, "Never trust a CHRISTIAN who does not walk with a limp." As we desire to reach out to the world and culture around us, we may do this when people truly know us.  Nobody wants to have a relationship with someone who seems perfect.  Look at the more "successful" ministries and churches in our country.  They are commonly those who foster an environment of openness, honesty, vulnerability and struggle.

Though I agree this has to be modeled from the top down, the challenge still remains for the other members of our communities.  As we desire to go out and reach the world and culture around us, there has to be a certain honesty and vulnerability.  That openness is what draws people into a relationship.

Never trust a CHRISTIAN who walks without a limp.

Intimate quotes of connection

"So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be ALERT, and self-controlled." -1 Thessalonians 5:6 "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray..." -Luke 22:46

"The basic human problem is that all men are bored." - Kierkegaard

"When we MEDITATE, our eyes are taken off ourselves...our eyes are FIXED on Jesus." - Brennan Manning

"The one sign of discipleship is INTIMATE CONNECTION with Him, a knowledge OF [not 'about'] Jesus Christ which nothing can shake." - Ozzie Chambers

Jesus is wrecking everything

Ozzie Chambers writes, "Have you ever heard the Master say a  hard word?  If you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything." I am reminded today of how destructive and abrasive the words of Jesus should be to our lives.  Most of Jesus' words and commands should be wrecking our lives.  We are to obey a drastic call to be counter-cultural.

We in America are rich young rulers (Luke 18), and we are being called to many things that are going to be very hard for us to obey.  They are difficult because these are not things we are used to and comfortable with.  Many of the pursuits...MOST of the pursuits of our culture are not as Jesus has called us to live.  Jesus intends to wreck our lives...as they are.

Most of the time, I am a rich young ruler, and I walk away sorrowful because I cannot bring myself to fully follow Jesus.  Jesus never comes running after me begging and pleading.  Another day my desire will bring me back to Jesus; he will challenge me to something that will require a sacrifice on my part, and I will be faced with a difficult decision as to whether or not to do it.

Some days I follow Jesus; other days I walk away from Him and His command on my life with my head hung low because, once again, I am unable (unwilling) to fully obey and follow.

Jesus has not quite wrecked my life, but He's always trying.

Be Here Now

I came across this last week thanks to my friend, Malisa. It is worth your next 5 minutes. I assure you. Just stop...and check it out. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15715921 w=400&h=225]

BE HERE NOW from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

What Tylenol has to do with compassion

Dr. Paul Brand wrote a book called The Gift of Pain.  He has had exposure to great pain and has learned a great deal about it.  He has seen several different cultures and their response to pain and how that affects those within the culture.  I found his perception of American culture and its response to pain very interesting. “...a society that seeks to avoid pain at all costs.  Patients lived at a greater comfort level than any I had previously treated, BUT THEY SEEMED FAR LESS EQUIPPED TO HANDLE SUFFERING AND FAR MORE TRAUMATIZED BY IT.” (EMPHASIS mine)

We are one of the only cultures in the world, which avoids pain at all cost.  The pain relief industry in America is a more than $63 billion A YEAR industry.  What has been the result of that avoidance?

Because of our exceptional avoidance of pain, we have continually made ourselves more and more unable to handle suffering.

What I have challenged myself with as a Christian is to try and understand what compassionate love is going to look like with this information.

The Latin break down of “compassion” is “com” + “patti”, which ends up meaning “to suffer with”.

As a Christian, I have been called to compassion toward those around me.  I have been called to SUFFER WITH those around me.

Now as an American Christian, this is going to be a greater challenge.  For me to be compassionate I will need to suffer with others; but in order to suffer with others, I will need to give up trying so hard to avoid pain.

It is no wonder being compassionate is so difficult!

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“I learned that pain sends a signal not only to the patient but to the surrounding community as well.  Just as individual pain sensors announce to other cells in the body, ‘Attend to me! I need help!” so do suffering human beings cry out to the community at large.” – Dr. Paul Brand

Somehow

If I am honest, I seldom feel the presence of God in prayer or elsewhere.  If I am genuine, I often come to prayer to the absence of a sense that God met me tenderly in return.  If I am sincere, I frequently come to  meet with God in a hidden place. Yet here is the crazy part!  My heart is continually drawn to that hidden place.  I constantly desire to meet with God in prayer.  Though I rarely feel the presence of God like I do a hug from my wife or the voice of a friend, my heart...SOMETHING within me yearns for prayer.  Though I cannot point to a particular sensible feeling of God's consistent presence, I know, SOMEHOW, that when I come to God and expose my senses, my thoughts, feelings, and circumstances without any cosmetic, God smiles.

I cannot pinpoint it, but somewhere and somehow I know that my Father loves me.  I realize that God is beyond my senses. He is beyond my mind.  But when my heart yearns for and desires to keep coming back to that hidden and shrouded place, I realize SOMETHING is happening that is so deep and far enough beyond me that my prayers are always being heard whether or not I FEEL Abba's embrace.

It is never enough

What if I was never hungry again; I was always full?  I imagine the joy of a great meal would be lost.  I imagine I would grow lazy and have nothing to desire. Though God is the only one capable of thoroughly fulfilling my deepest hunger, thirst, and desire, i am convinced he never will.  It does not matter how much I pray and ask for that fulfillment, it will never come.  For to fulfill my deepest desire would break down the pursuit.  God will have me pursue him as long as I live on this earth because I will always desire more.  I will always thirst for more.  I always desire to be closer and closer to my Abba.

My Abba would never fulfill the desire that keeps me coming to him.

The greatest temptation

What temptation is Satan's most powerful and prevalent?  I'd say its the same one he tempted Adam and Eve with.  I'd say its the same one he tempted JESUS with.  What was the first temptation he offered Jesus?  "You will be like God."  Satan is continually tempting us to step out of our humanity to be like God. We have been given humanity.  We have bodies, we ache, and we cry real tears.  We labor to live.  We are human beings with the tangibility of humanity to live with for now.  Oh, but Satan is crafty.  His strongest and most prevalent temptation is for us to attempt an escape from these realities.

Each time I try to break through these limitations, I am succumbing to this strong temptation.  Think about the majority of our addictions and "struggles" (in case the word 'addictions' is too strong).  Are they not usually attempts to escape the realities of humanity?  Are they not our pale attempts at escaping or at least avoiding our pain, our frustrations, our...feeling....our HUMANITY?

How do we see ourselves?  Are we concerned with seeing ourselves more highly than we ought?  There are times I take myself far too seriously and find that I am not as superior as I want to be.  I am one step closer to trying to be God; trying to be superior as God is superior instead of being holy as God is holy.

Lost in Translation: my new column

This last weekend was the pilot release of a quarterly magazine called The Compass. I was asked to contribue an ongoing column in the magazine about faith and culture. After several brainstorms and edits, the column is entitled Lost in Translation. I am excited to present to you the online version of the pilot issue.