Chip Shots

Sometimes it pays to be young and foolish. As a young man I thought I knew something about love. I met a girl in high school and, at the ripe old age of twenty, we thought we were ready for marriage. It was 113 degrees on our wedding day. The guys wore brown velvet tuxedos and bow ties; the girls peach dresses. Miraculously, no one passed out. The groomsmen decided to play a joke on me. They wrote "HELP" on the soles of my shoes so that when we kneeled for communion everyone would see. Fortunately, I sniffed the scam and spent my last few moments of single life feverishly scrubbing my shoes clean. Seems like I've been cleaning crap from my soles ever since. Why, just the other day I had to say, "I'm sorry; that's not really the man I want to be." But that's another story for another time. Maybe I should have left the words "Help" on the soles of my shoes. God knows I need it. As a pastor it is my privilege to help many couples get married...

The most anticipated movie of the year opens this weekend: The DaVinci Code. I read the book when it first came out and, yes, I’ll go see the movie too. In the event your head’s been in the sand, The DaVinci Code is part mystery novel, part conspiracy theory, and part an indictment of the institutional church. In a round-about way, it’s about the search for the truth about Jesus. A lot of Christians are up in arms at the controversies suggested by Dan Brown’s book. For my part, I welcome the conversation. Anything that gets people thinking and talking about Jesus is just fine with me. Who was Jesus, really? Is he the victim of a massive cover up by the religious establishment? Did he leave descendants still alive today? What is the truth about Jesus? And why is the world still so fascinated by him? The simple fact that an obscure man from a nondescript town in a far-flung corner of the Roman Empire is the most recognized person in the history of the world should tell you so...

"God Forgives Me" was the title of a talk I gave out our church a while ago. It's one of my favorite topics, probably because I need it so much. But as I feverishly finished it that Saturday night I wasn’t the least bit happy with it. My message seemed pedantic and propositional, proving the need for, basis of, and results of forgiveness. What was I doing: presenting a case to the jury, or offering hope to sinners like me? Blecch. I'm sick of treating messages like theme papers. When will I learn that forgiveness is less about clearing a slate, and more about restoring a relationship? Why breathe all the life out if it by treating it like a law room debate? It was too late to reconstruct my whole message, so as I began to speak I did what you should never do: I said, "I don't really like this message, and here's why." I think (hope) you can get away with that once. What astounds me about God's forgiveness is that he seems to get such a kick out ...

Does it ever feel like you meet yourself coming and going? This week’s been like that. One of the sad realities of life is that you simply can’t be two places at once. Most of the time we can avoid facing that truth. We’ve got text messaging and cell phones and email and video cameras and who knows what else we’ll invent to help us pretend to be omnipresent? But every so often the illusion breaks down. Like this weekend for us. Our daughter, Kyan, graduates from Azusa Pacific University Saturday evening. It’s a big deal for us, as you might guess. Family has come in from Illinois to Atlanta to help us celebrate. Should be fun. But another great thing is also happening the same day. Kurt, our youngest son, is an excellent soccer player competing in the elite division for our state. His team, due to some incredible soccer last weekend, is now among the top four teams competing for the State Cup. His semifinal game? You guessed it: Saturday. Kyan’s big event is in California; K...