Middletree

Occasionally, we talk about how hard it is to watch someone we love destroy him/herself. We watch our little brother choose the wrong friends. We watch a friend engage in substance abuse. We see our daughter dating that loser. Our neighbor ending a salvageable marriage because he thinks it will make his life easier and end the hurt and teach her a lesson (it won't). It's hard to watch. It's like watching someone run in front of an 18-wheeler and refusing your pleas to return to the side of the road, out of danger. Here's what I have just realized: just having one person in your life like that is heartbreaking. But imagine what it's like for God. He loves each of us more than you or I has ever loved anyone. He watches most of us engage in self-destructive behavior over and over again. One soul at a time, He implores us to take a path which will lead to life. Some listen, but so many times, He sees us go down another path, one which won't bring us joy, which will...

We all see movies we like from time to time, and occasionally we like one enough to recommend it to friends. I love movies, so I am careful not to recommend them to people because I would do it all the time. Today I am making an exception. I am imploring all married men to take their wives to see Up. It's supposed to be a kid's movie, but the message is about marriage, keeping promises, and noticing the normally unnoticed blessings of God that are all around you. Please note that when I say it's animated but more for adults, I'm not comparing it to movies like Shrek or Aladdin which are kid's movies where some jokes are thrown in that only adults will get. I'm saying this is a story for married people, and there are some things in there that make it digestible for kids, too. That said, when it got to the turning point, the place in the movie which emphasized the blessing that this man's wife had been to him, I looked over and Jacob (my 7-yr-old) was welling...

If you've been a Christian for even a short time, you are probably familiar with the following sequence of events: 1. Israelites are rescued by God, led by Moses out of Egypt. 2. Israelites spend 40 years in the desert. 3. Israelites have a chance to go into the Promised land, but 10 of the 12 spies they sent were afraid of the existing inhabitants. As with many of the most familiar stories, there is much more to this one. Upon a recent re-reading, I encountered some troubling items; troubling because they have highlighted many of my own shortcomings. Let's look at just one. In Numbers 13, we see God instruct Moses to send out twelves spies to check out the promised land. To be clear: this was God's idea. There was nothing wrong with sending out spies, and by inference, we can say that this is nothing wrong with taking note of the giants, the armies, the challenges which awaited the Israelites. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with strategizing to meet the obstacles that mi...

I'm getting a lot of emails these days which fit into the rather broad category of Christian fear-mongering. They consist of somewhat alarming messages and warnings of various events--some factual, some dubious--about impending events which have the loosely common thread of somehow being about eroding of freedoms for Christians, with the eventual result of a total lack of freedom to be a follower of Jesus. As I said, some of the events described in the email are based on fact. But it's not the whole story. The Mavericks basketball season ended last night, but last week, I watched a little bit of one of their playoff games. The camera, of course, follows both teams, but more importantly, it follows the ball. Imagine, however, you are watching a game, rooting for your favorite team, and the camera only focuses on the other half of the court. For a couple of hours, you only see when the other team scores, and you never see your team make a single basket. If th...

Mark Driscoll is the teaching pastor for Seattle's Mars Hill Church (not to be confused with Rob Bell's church of the same name in Michigan). A Google search of Driscoll's name makes it easy to find critics. Theological conservatives don't like his non-traditional methods, while liberals don't like his strict adherence to the bible as the final answer on everything. ABC's Nightline did a special in which they invited Driscoll and 3 others to debate the question: "Does Satan exist?". View the entire episode (including parts that were cut from the broadcast) here: http://abcnews.go.com/nightline/faceoff I learned about this event after the show had been broadcast. I read about it in a religion blog where the writer complained that the 4 panelists were not intellectual enough. I couldn't disagree with him more. Driscoll in particular laid out the basics of the Gospel very well in his introduction, and made it clear why the existence of Satan is an im...

Psalm 7 v.1 O LORD my God, in You I have taken refuge; Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, --when he says “O Lord”, he is just acknowledging what’s true: the Lord really is the Lord. This is fact, and it applies to everyone. But then he follows it with “my God”. This is the first of two personal declarations of God’s authority over him. The second comes right after it: “in You I have taken refuge”. In both of these, he is making a stand about who he (David) belongs to. It occurs to me that this attitude is very un-American. We don’t want to be “owned” by anyone. We have no problem asking God to help us, but we still want command of our lives, our bodies, and our life decisions. David is having none of that. Although he’s king and can certainly make decisions that stick, he’s choosing to identify himself as a subject of another, better, kingdom. David’s not willing to play the “God is my co-pilot” game. One doesn’t go to a co-pilot and ask for refuge and protection. W...

The last two verses of Psalm 5: v.11 "But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You." v.12 "For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield." After talking about the enemy for 3 verses, David returns to a more positive note. Those who are not God’s enemy are those who take refuge in Him, and they get not only protection, but joy. The word joy appears twice, as the word “exult” literally means to jump for joy. The benefits to being with God, as listed in these two verses, include refuge, joy, shelter, more joy, blessing, righteousness, favor, and protection. Wow! Where do I sign up?