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random thoughts

When reality falls through the cracks

Posted on January 25, 2012 by jon in culture, evangelism, random thoughts | Leave a comment

I was standing in line at a local store last week, and as I was waiting there, I noticed that this particular store had a shelf, probably 10 feet long, as you stood in line waiting to checkout. On this shelf was every piece of religious nonsense I’ve ever seen.

Have you ever seen any of these things?

For example – one of the most common things are the mints. I’ve seen them called different things. These were called “Spiritmints,” a play on the word “spearment.” I saw 4 or 5 different variations of these things. I also saw, and noted, the following:

  • Pencil toppers shaped like Jesus
  • Religious-themed tea. Yes, tea.
  • Several shirts with not-so-clever sayings.
  • Copper bracelets that were engraved with the name of Jesus. You know, those bracelets that are supposed to make us skinny, bring world peace, etc.
  • Virgin Mary air fresheners.
  • …and the list goes on and on.

Here’s the thing. It’s pretty evident that the folks who make these types of things are clearly economizing religious culture. And really, in our country, I’m not totally sure it’s all their fault for doing so. But…

Where has our reality gone? I understand that we are called to live outside the norm, to do uncommon things to reach people – hey, I’ll preach that all day long. But really? Is this it? Is this what we’ve decided as a culture to do? Is this the best way to reach people?

I may be wrong (and please correct me if you’re an exception here), but I don’t believe anyone has ever been saved by a Spiritmint. I don’t believe that a lost person has ever come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior because they found him on the bottom of their cereal bowl. Again, I may be wrong. But that’s because none of this stuff was ever intended for non-Christians. It was intended as dollar-generators for people of supposed faith.

Part of our culture seems to have transcended into this bizarre alter-reality where life with Jesus means we all live on clouds and baby kittens gently glide down from the sky while our kids dance on rainbows before getting their sparkly pony to go night-night. I mean, really. All you have to do is have a mint and your spirit will be renewed. When you make a mistake, your Jesus eraser will be there to remind you that your sins have been wiped away.

Here’s the truth in this. The best representation of Christ is nothing that can be bought. It’s you. Make no mistake about it. The spreading of the gospel needs you and I far more than air fresheners.

I’ve actually had a Spiritmint. And you know what? I’d prefer the ones from Sonic.

What’s some other Jesus Junk you’ve seen personally?

BOLD / Part One

Posted on January 6, 2012 by jon in culture, evangelism, life choices, mission, random thoughts | Leave a comment


God has been teaching me about boldness over the last few months. I just want to share with you today a few things I believe He has been teaching me about this character trait; some of the things I’m wrestling with right now.

As I see it, there are a number of areas of our lives where boldness is needed. Let’s look at three of them today. I’ll cover three more tomorrow.

I’ll go with a first-person perspective here:

  1. BOLD obedience. Obeying God is easy when God’s will lines up with my own plans. But when the voice of God points me in another direction, the decision to obey is bold. Take my decision to leave my former church in early 2011. My plan was to stay put. My plan was to do what made sense logically, financially, and responsibly in my life and the lives of my family. God called me out of that, however. Following that call took boldness. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. In fact, I was literally terrified at the thought of what it would take to make all of this happen at that time. However, in retrospect, the decision to be obedient to the Lord was one that He blessed.
  2. BOLD communication. I used to be a very “beat around the bush” kind of person. I was pretty passive-agressive. I never really told people what was on my mind. There are still times when this creeps back in, but like I said, these are things I’m working through. I’ve had some conversations with some people recently that have required me to be very straightforwardly honest, regardless of the cost, and God has proven to honor those discussions. I’m learning that being as upfront as possible with people is a spiritual character trait. It carries over well to evangelism. Talking to someone about Jesus isn’t easy, and isn’t something we can dance around.
  3. BOLD love and compassion. The Lord has been completely changing how I view people. I’m not sure when exactly this started, but I know that at this point in my life I can honestly say that I am viewing every person alive and a child that is loved by a Heavenly Father unconditionally, and I am to love people in the same way. THIS IS HARD. But when I put my own life into perspective, I am incredibly thankful that my God loves me regardless of anything I’ve ever done because of who He is and what He has done.

I believe these three principles of boldness, if applied directly, can drastically improve our marriages, our parenting, our friendships, our churches, and our culture in major ways.

Be bold today. Have bold conversations. Be boldly obedient. Love people boldly.

Tomorrow I’ll share three other areas of boldness that can completely change our lives – if we’re willing.

How can you be bold right now?

Wanna get away?

Posted on December 13, 2011 by jon in choices, culture, fear, life, random thoughts | Leave a comment

I love these commercials:

And truthfully, there have been countless times in my life where I’ve just wanted to get away. Away from the hustle and bustle. Away from the circumstances. Away from… everything.

It’s a fact that human tendency is to withdraw from tough situations. I mean, no one wants to be in the middle of chaos, and I’m guilty of wanting to take the easiest possible way out, which means running quickly in the opposite direction.

Know what I mean?

But inevitably, when we run away from something, we run to something. We may not know it or do it intentionally, but there is ultimately something. Someone. Some habit. Some addiction. When we shift our focus from the tough situations in life, the focus doesn’t just hang out in limbo – it goes somewhere else.

Make sense?

Here’s what I make of this, and in this comes a challenge for us. The things we’re running from vary from person to person. Likewise, the things we run to are different. The Sunday School Solution (or “SSS”) here would be to just “run away to God!” I’ve heard or read several people say, in some version, that you have to be very careful about what you run to. This is how marriages begin to fail, addictions begin, etc. I don’t disagree with that, and I think it’s a valid argument. I mean, can anybody say “Psalm 46?”

God is indeed our refuge from the storm. He is our strength. I wrote a whole song about it.

BUT…

What if we could figure out a way to stop running in the first place?

What if we looked our situations in their proverbial eyes, just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did?

…just as Joshua did?

…just as Jesus did?

If Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had run, they would have renounced their allegiance and, truth be told, probably had been burned up anyway. If Joshua had run, he would never have led the Israelites to the Promised Land. If Jesus had run… I don’t want to think about where I’d be right now.

Friends, we’re not called to live lives of withdrawal and escape. We’re called to face adversity. Face our trials. Face our fears. Jesus did.

I want to challenge you today to live not looking for an outlet to run in the opposite direction, but to realize that there may be a greater meaning to your trials than you may know or realize.

SPOILER ALERT! There is.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

There is beauty in all of this. Because in fact, when we run away from God, I believe God can draw us that much nearer to Himself.

Tis the season…

Posted on November 26, 2011 by jon in culture, random thoughts | Leave a comment

I’m about to make some people mad.

But I can’t take it anymore.

Black Friday. Let’s talk about it.

Last year, I wrote a brief post here on the blog about this but never posted it. I thought, maybe this is too much. It’s actually still sitting in my Drafts folder. But anyway…

Cue the violin. Yes, I want some cheese with my whine. Yadda yadda yadda.

I understand that people want to save money. I GET IT. Saving money is important. It’s essential for people like me. I understand the theory behind Black Friday. That is NOT what this post is about. I know many people who stood in lines on Thursday night to get good deals. If you did, I hope you got some great bargains and racked up on deals. That is, again, NOT what I’m talking about here. It’s about when this behavior becomes unhealthy, and actually dangerous.

Let me propose something to you. Let’s say, hypothetically, that a bunch of people go out (millions of them, at that), the very night following a day full of thanksgiving for the things and people in their lives. Their stomachs are full, but their desires for more – more stuff, more material possessions – are insatiable. These aren’t the casual shoppers who just want to get a good deal. These are the people who are willing to do ANYTHING to buy.

So they stand in lines at stores. They stand. They stand some more. They map out a plan of where they’re going first – what they’re BUYING first. They plot. They size up the competition. If you’ve ever been in one of these lines, you’ve seen these people.

Side note – at this point, we’ve got millions of people standing in line to see who can give their hard-earned money away to a company first and the fastest.

The doors open. Literally, all hell breaks loose. Innocent store employees who have been standing there nervously for hours are actually trampled. Pepper spray is used BY one shopper ON other shoppers – all entirely in an effort to spend money. To buy things. Things that will mean absolutely nothing to anyone in the near future. The people who just came to pick up one or two things are beaten into submission by the savage predators who wouldn’t even consider sparing your life for that USB flash drive for 99 cents.

Gunshots are fired. Seriously.

People are trampled. To death.

Lives are lost so that people can throw their money down the proverbial toilet.

As a Christian, this bothers me even more. Especially when I know that many of these people (dare I hazard to imply “the majority”) would profess to being followers of Jesus. To see people who treat the blessing God has given them so selfishly that they can have no regard for the very lives of others, literally makes me sick.

I’ve never been a person to judge. I don’t believe I have that right or that responsibility. Frankly, I’m thankful for that. What I do have is a sickening feeling in my stomach, because as I have been sitting here at my kitchen table typing this post, I have heard three separate reports of incredible violence on Black Friday in retail establishments on the nearby television. Even the news stations seem to be treating it as “sport.”

I pray that one day, we would all realize that all of this “stuff,” all of these material possessions that culture shoves down our throat every Black Friday, will eventually be nothing more than a pile of useless crap somewhere. Maybe then we’d hold the lives of others in higher regard.

Black Friday has become one of the biggest “black” eyes to our culture as we know it. All because of the appetites, and willingness to do whatever it takes to feed them, of some people.

I’m sure I’ll be out with my wife, standing in Black Friday lines for years to come. One last time, this isn’t what I’m talking about. Please hear my heart on this. My heart is for people. How do you explain to a child that their mom or dad isn’t around anymore because they got trampled by people wanting to buy 60″ LED TVs? I wouldn’t even be able to watch that 60″ LED TV with that on my conscience.

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