donald miller… October 21, 2009

So, yesterday I met my second favorite, non-dead author.  Donald Miller somehow miraculously came to my church.  He was amazing.  He sawed a woman in half.  He levitated an antelope.

Okay…he didn’t do those things.  But he did inspire me to start writing more.  I’ve been conspicuously absent from this blog for a while.  I’ve been working on seminary.  I’ve been workining on one book.  And now I’ve started a second.  Who needs free time anyway?  But I’m inspired nonetheless.

So, I met Mr. Miller after his presentation.  He signed my book.  Here is what I wrote to him this morning after making a complete goon of myself:

“I saw you last night at Grace Community Church.  You were encouraging and inspiring.  I met you backstage.  You smiled warmly.  You were kind and gracious.  I wanted to tell you that after reading your books I feel like you are my family.  I wanted to tell you that hearing you speak and reading your words feels like wraping myself in a warm blanket, straight from the dryer, made of 100% “me-too-i-know-how-you-feel.”

But all of that felt melodramatic.  It stuck in my throat.

So I mumbled, “I really appreciate you” and then I ran away.

But I do.  I really appreciate you.”

I realized that this is how I speak to everyone.  I have so much to say, and it comes out all “ummm’s”.  So please pray that God either fixes me, or just lets me write.

Thanks.

Love,

-Andy

Music Monday…6.22.09 June 22, 2009

Just some good music…enjoy…

M.Ward – 100 Million Years – Live

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago – Myspace Transmissions

Ray Lamontagne – Crazy – Gnarls Barkley Cover

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Jeanne, If You’re Ever in Portland – Live

Enjoy!

Love,

-Andy

Our testimony… May 4, 2009

Today at Grace Community Church and Grace Foothills (our “One church multiple congregations” church) the sermon was on 2 Corinthians 4:1-6. The verses are about spiritual blindness, and the illumination of the Spirit. The pastors saw fit to use a short video of the testimony of my wife and me. I will let the video speak for itself. I hope God uses it to touch your life.

Here is the link:   http://graceinfo.org/video-av/mills.html

The One and Only Way? (reposted)… February 6, 2009

I have been having some conversations on this subject with some friends recently.  After revisiting this post from last year, it seems like now  might be a good time to re-post it.  I hope you enjoy the re-runs.

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This guy makes some pretty crazy claims. He says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” I have to admit, I have a hard time with this one. I really don’t like being told what to do. And I really hate being told that there is only one way I can go. That basically makes me want to say, “Okay, fine. I didn’t want to go to the Father anyway!”

That was my attitude for the longest time. Even after coming back to Christianity after a very long absence, I still struggle with this claim of exclusivity. How can it possibly be that God is going to punish a person for not choosing to walk down the path of Jesus? Especially when the moral code of most religions teach the same basic things. When you look at it, the basic tenets of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Wicca, (etc…ad nauseum…) are basically the same. Love each other. Love God. Do good things. Don’t do bad things.

But still we’re left with this claim of exclusivity. So what do you do with it? Christianity does have the same basic moral code as the other religions, but it also has more. Jesus doesn’t claim to have spoken with God. He says he is God. He does not claim to have discovered a Way. He says he is the Way. He does not claim to point others to Truth and Life. He says he is Truth and Life. This is not something that is easy to swallow.

This weekend a visiting pastor, Mark Whipple, was discussing this verse, and he showed a clip from Forrest Gump. He showed the scene in Vietnam in which Forrest is looking for his friend Bubba. He keeps running in to find Bubba, and in the process keeps seeing people who are injured, and have no hope. He grabs them up and carries them out of the woods to safety. Mark said this is a better representation of Jesus as the Way. Finally it clicked in my head.

I have spent my entire life reading that verse with the attitude of “many paths, one way.” But it is not like that at all. Religion is a path to walk. It is something that we do of our own power. It is a series of hoops to jump through. What Jesus offers is totally different. It is like trying to drive a car to the moon. There are some roads that take you into valleys which are farther from the moon. There are some roads that take you up on mountain tops for a better view of the moon. But Jesus says He’s the space shuttle! It is not a claim that He is a better kind of road that we can scurry about on. It is a claim that what we need is not a road at all. If we stay on any road, we are ultimately driving in circles. It is a complete shift in transportation.

To put it another way, we are like a person who has been in a wreck. There are so many onlookers telling us different directions to the hospital. We are still lying there bleeding, and everyone is telling us that if we just follow their particular set of instructions, then we could get ourselves up and get to the hospital. Then comes the ambulance driver. He does not deny that these directions might get us to the hospital. But He also knows that in our condition, we have no hope of ever being able to follow them perfectly enough to get us where we need to go. So, He lifts us on His shoulders, cleans our wounds, and follows the directions perfectly for us. Our job is to stop fighting and trying to get there on our own, and just let Him save us.

If Jesus is just another path to walk down, then He is nothing. A path is something that is beneath us. It is something that we can choose out of our own power. And if ours is the True path, and everyone else’s is wrong, then we can be proud of how smart we are, and feel sorry for how stupid they are. Or worse, we can drag people kicking and screaming toward our path, and kill them if they refuse to walk it with us. Jesus is not just another path. He is not a set of rules to follow to achieve perfection. Jesus is the rescuing hero. He comes along side of anyone on any path who is willing to let Him, and He takes them with Him and says, “There, weren’t you tired trying to do this all alone?” And takes them Home.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Someone else’s words… February 3, 2009

Okay, so I’ve been slack on the blog of late.  I have an excuse.  Seminary is turning out to be more time consuming than I originally anticipated.  I have some things to say, but no time to say them right now.  For now enjoy some words from Tim Keller that really spoke to me…

“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:27

“Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you — it’s about Him.”

(quoted by Tim Keller at a Resurgence 06 seminar entitled “Preaching the Gospel”)”