Moments
Posted by Randy in Everything Else, Family on January 12, 2012
Sometimes I think the years go by quickly. But the years aren’t what I remember. Moments are. I found myself thinking tonight of the pizza I ate for dinner exactly 31 years ago. It was Domino’s take-out, pepperoni and cheese. Why would I remember that moment?
After all, a lot has happened in the last 31 years. A LOT of moments (and yes, many of them just as memorable to me for similar reasons). But today my mind went past all that to a moment, standing in a cold room, when my first daughter came into the world. I can tell you where I was standing, how I felt, my fear for Donna as the doctors worked quickly to staunch the more than expected loss of blood. I remember the little body, very vocal, and somewhat yellow once she was cleaned up. I remember my hands holding scissors (very expensive ones no doubt) as I cut the umbilical cord.
Obviously significant, but why? Because that moment is about a person, a person very important to me.
The years since have seen that person grow up and become a young woman, a college graduate, a wife, a mother. She has experienced years—and moments.
I have come to believe that life is about such moments—and others not near as singular, but very important to us. All of them are about the people who are so important in our lives.
I don’t know how many years, or moments, I have left. Maybe many, maybe few. I do know I have a tendency to watch the years and miss moments until I am looking back at them over the years, and I don’t to do that any more.
To any of my readers who are near my age, you know what I mean. And to those who are younger, you willJ. May you live in the moments God gives you. The years will take care of themselves.
in Christ,
Randy
Strangely enough, I am really thankful…
Posted by Randy in Church, Family, Leadership on November 24, 2011
Like most people, I am thankful for the obvious things–my family, friends, good food, Cornhusker football:-). But as I reflect on Thanksgiving I find I am profoundly grateful for something else.
A quick look at the last few weeks of my life (and they have been typical) includes involvement with: cancer, death, injury, illness, homelessness, hunger, arrest and jail, crime victimization, murder, betrayal, serious mental illness, unemployment, gossip and backbiting, adultery, drunkenness and drug addiction, immersion in sin–pain.
To be clear, I am not thankful for these things. For nearly 4 decades I have spent my life immersed in these and other horrible things people endure. But I am grateful that God has allowed me the opportunity to be part of their lives as they go through these things. These are times that are crossroads in people’s lives. They will always remember them, and will always be affected by them. And they allow me to be a part of those experiences–to stand by them and share the intimacy of such profound moments in their lives.
Since I came to the Lord I have never been bored! The reason is simple. God lets me be part of people’s lives. For this I am profoundly grateful. I have seen my kids and their spouses develop similar lifestyles, and for this I am grateful. And I know that every person reading this post can share in others’ lives if they choose to be there for them. For that, I am grateful. May each of you have that kind of year, and may each of you experience the gratitude I feel!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Justice and Joe Paterno
Posted by Randy in Bible, Culture, Leadership on November 10, 2011
Most of you know I am a TOTAL Nebraska Cornhusker fan. Part of that loyalty (only partJ) comes from my deep personal respect for Tom Osborne, legendary former football coach and current Athletic Director for Nebraska. Osborne, along with a few other coaches, has established an amazing reputation for integrity and living out his Christian faith.
One of those other coaches is Joe Paterno.
Anyone who has listened to or read the news the last few days knows the irony of that statement.
Joe Paterno has been known as a kind, decent, Christian man of integrity for almost 5 decades of coaching.
This morning, Joe Paterno was unceremoniously fired. And many are saying he got off easy. As much as I respect this man—and I still do—I agree.
If you haven’t read the news, the short story is that years ago Joe Paterno discovered one of his key assistant coaches was a child molester. He reported it to his boss, the Athletic Director, who kept it quiet—and from then on, so did Paterno. As a result, the man was allowed to continue abusing children.
The problem is, Paterno himself admits he didn’t do enough. He says he has a lot of remorse over that fact, and that’s good. But it doesn’t change what happened. When we repent, it is important to our own growth—and our ultimate forgiveness—but it doesn’t change the fact that our sins—of omission or commission—still hurt people.
But many say, he’s a good man! He doesn’t deserve this.
Not true. Not of Joe Paterno, not of me, not of you. We are not good (Jesus himself said so in Mark 10:18!), we are sinners, and that sin bears a penalty. We tend to think if someone is better than someone else (in our opinion), or if we like them, they don’t “deserve” punishment (defined as consequences for their sin). But they do. And so do we.
Don’t misunderstand. I still respect Joe Paterno. And if I knew him personally, I don’t believe I would turn my back on him at this time—even though I have spent most of my adult life trying to raise awareness (and action) of Christians regarding child abuse and domestic violence. I recognize that we are all sinners, and no one’s sin is no worse than mine, because mine caused Jesus to die on the cross.
But I can like someone and still recognize their sin, and the justice of God in allowing punishment for that sin.
Perhaps there is more than one lesson here for all of us? The biggest being, it is a good thing God’s ultimate justice is fulfilled by the death of Christ. The judge died for us so that we wouldn’t have to eternally pay the penalty. In the meantime, our actions (our sin) have consequences, and that is as it should be.
Sheep and Goats
Just a brief thought for us to ponder:
Have you ever wondered why some people seem so focused on the Lord and others who claim to be Christian aren’t?
Have you wondered why some Christians seem to work tirelessly to serve others while others seem focused on getting others to serve them?
Have you noticed that some in the church seem to act more like consumers, hopping from church to church, while others seem totally committed to the local congregation they are part of?
Jesus said what we know as the church is made up of sheep and goats. The sheep are those who really are followers of Jesus. The goats, well they say they are, but Jesus says he doesn’t know them.
The difference? The sheep live faithfully and the goats don’t.
This isn’t “works righteousness” or “being good enough”. It is simply evidence that when one encounters Jesus his/her life is changed. If the life isn’t changed, the encounter hasn’t really happened.
So, are we sheep, or goats? I believe Jesus told the story both to let us know that there is a difference, and to let us know we can choose which to be. If we aren’t sheep, we can choose to be. But it requires that we stop “acting” like sheep, and come to Jesus so he can actually make us sheep.
Just a thought.
in Christ,
Randy
What does watching a Cornhusker game have to do with Proverbs?
Posted by Randy in Bible, Church, Culture, Everything Else on October 8, 2011
Tonight I watched two different football teams play against Ohio State. They had a lot in common—both wore the Nebraska Cornhusker uniforms. Both were made up of the Nebraska Cornhusker football players. Both had the same coaches. But they played very differently. The team which played in the second half was better.
But that’s not what this post is about. In Proverbs we are told: “He who answers before listening, that is his folly and his shame” (Proverbs 18:13, NIV). In other words, if you speak before you listen you’re a fool.
I have to say I feel a bit like an illustration of this tonight. I found myself very frustrated at Taylor Martinez (he comes from Corona, where I live—which probably made me even harder on him) and especially on All-American Jared Crick (some will find it funny that Donna thought the announcer said “Jared Prickett”—email if you don’t understand the joke:-)). What happened to him? What’s his problem? Doesn’t he know he is a CORNHUSKER and they don’t play that way?
Well, even the critical announcers did a better job than I did of listening. One of them reported on the fact (of which I was aware, but wasn’t thinking of) that Crick suffered a head injury in the Washington game and hasn’t really healed yet.
The guy is playing hurt, and I (along with most of Cornhusker land) am yelling at him. The fact is, playing hurt, he’s still better than any others—he just isn’t up to his own standard. Frankly, I’m not such a rabid fan (believe it or not) that I would yell at a guy playing hurt.
So why did I?
Because I was acting like a fool (per Proverbs 18:13), speaking without first listening.
Well, it’s only football right?
I wouldn’t do that with anything else in life, right?
in Christ,
Randy Christian
Silence may be golden.
Posted by Randy in Bible, Church, Culture, Everything Else, Leadership on September 29, 2011
I haven’t posted on this blog for some time. There are numerous reasons for this. One is the obvious—time. Too often I find myself living under the tyranny of the urgent. But there is another reason. As some of you know, I tend toward being an outspoken person (I hear you now: “No! Really???”). And outspoken people such as myself tend to speak not only forthrightly, but quickly. That doesn’t always end well (see James 1:19:-)). So, at least three times I have set out to post on a subject and decided to wait.
One of those is instructive. Something happened in our country (yep, could be a million things) that got people talking. I found myself being asked about it—what do “we” think, etc. So, I set out to write a response. Then something inside said “wait”.
I waited. The uproar I anticipated and for which I was preparing a blog post didn’t happen. It went away. It didn’t need my comment or 2 cents worth! In fact, had I posted, I might well have drawn undue attention to a person who frankly should be ignored.
So, if you wonder why I’m not posting at certain times, consider the post to be a “non post”. Sometimes silence is golden, and God didn’t command any of us to comment on everything.
That said, there will be another post soon:-).
in Christ,
Randy
What exactly is “faith”?
Posted by Randy in Bible, Church, Culture, Everything Else, Family, Leadership on July 26, 2011
My last post (“What is God doing in your life lately”?) occasioned a small but active discussion group (outside of the blog medium). In the course of the discussion an old friend asked “What about you?”
My answer (see the last line of this post) came without having to do a lot of thinking. But the context of the answer is important enough that I decided to write about it. In fact, I believe it is probably the most important concept for anyone who believes in any kind of relationship with God.
It is faith. But faith isn’t necessarily simple.
Faith, in fact, has three dimensions to it—and the faith the Bible talks about includes all three. Many of us get into trouble because we latch on to one of the three and forget the others, then wonder why our faith isn’t strong and we don’t have the joy in our relationship with the Lord others seem to have.
Dimension 1: “Faith” (the English word, as well as the Greek word “pistis” which is almost always the word translated by our word “faith” in the New Testament) starts with what most of us call “belief”. This is an intellectual agreement with facts. We “believe” in God normally means we think he exists. We “believe” in Jesus and the gospel usually means we agree with those facts. This is the basic faith most people in our society hold—and often believe they are doing God a favor in the process! “I believe in God” is often a statement used in protest of our basic goodness or worthiness. But James says: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:19 NIV). Simply agreeing with the reality of God’s existence only brings us to the level of faith Satan has! In fact, we are still not quite where he is, because we have our doubts. He doesn’t. He knows God exists and the facts of His existence, even in his rebellion against God.
To be the effective faith we want in our lives, our “belief” must lead us to the second dimension of faith–“trust”. Having “faith in” God to do what he says he will do. Paul’s rejection of any earning of forgiveness inevitably leads us to this. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV) For many of us, this is the hardest aspect of faith. We don’t want to trust. We would prefer to somehow obligate God to take care of us, to forgive us, to love us. Maybe this is why we are so insistent that we are basically “good” people. If I am “good”, doesn’t God have to love me, forgive me—save me? But I’m not good. I am sinner. And the only thing that obligates God to love me, to forgive me, to save me is His own nature of love. And we can trust that nature. Jesus said, “Trust in God, trust also in me!” (John 14:1, NIV)
So I have to trust Him to be altogether different than I am. I have to trust that his perspective is better than mine. I have to trust that He is faithful and that he really will be that perfect loving Father described in Hebrews 12.
And I don’t like to trust.
If I agree that God is who He says he is, and I am willing to trust Him, then I live in the third dimension of faith—“faithfulness”. Paul lists this as one of the “fruit” being produced in our lives by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus talks about the “faithful” servant over and over. And Jesus tells the church in Smyrna: “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” There is no expectation of perfection here—but there is an expectation that we will act on our faith. In fact, real faith must act. James says, “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17, NIV). The action doesn’t save us. But saving faith isn’t real without the action.
And what happens if (when) we fail to act—or fail in our actions? That’s when HIS faithfulness comes through: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to purify us of all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). This was a statement John wrote to Christians who had already repented, but clearly had need to continue the process.
So, what does it mean for a Christian to say “I have faith in God”? What is that faith the Bible says is the “how” God uses for us to be saved? Faith is agreeing with God, trusting God, and living that trust out in our lives–all of these things, working together in us.
Personally, I find belief easy (if I doubt, I can challenge the doubt with fact and reinforce the belief); and faithfulness increasingly so (if I am not faithful, I can simply change my behavior and act faithfully whether I feel like it or not). I find the cutting edge of faith is trust—for me, and for many others like me. Trust requires a surrender. An admission that I can’t do anything about it—I just have to trust. I have to remind myself of what He has done in my life already, and what he has done in others. He has earned my trust, because He is trustworthy by His very nature.
What is God doing in my life? He is helping me trust Him. He is helping me have faith.
in Christ,
Randy Christian
What is God doing in your life lately?
Years ago I was running through the forest with one of my running buddies. He was a young man, full of enthusiasm about his faith. As we were running and there was a lull in the conversation he asked me “So, what is God doing in your life lately?”
I was a bit taken aback.
Jesus is my Lord, and I live for Him. Further, as a minister I spend most of my life talking about faith and how it is lived out. But I couldn’t remember anyone asking me a question like that in casual conversation before.
Very quickly, I began to wonder why not. Are we shy about our faith? Are we insecure (even with close friends and family)? Or is it that we simply don’t know what God is doing in our lives.
What is God doing your life lately? The question should never be rhetorical—there is an answer, unless we are willing to believe that God is NOT working your life, and that is entirely contrary to scripture.
Sometimes we try to substitute what God HAS done in our life—past tense. It is easier to see in hindsight, and most of us are aware as we look back on our lives of things God has done. But what IS God doing in my life?
What if I don’t know? How do I find out? There are some pretty clear instructions for understanding how God is working in our life in the scripture.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews takes an interesting slant on the question. He writes to people who are experiencing stress (read that STRESS) in their lives. Some of it is because of their faith, some of it is because the times were hard. Either way, he says that they are to “endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons.” (12:7). He goes on to explain that these very hardships are the sign of God working in their lives—as a Father, and because he loves them. The word translated “discipline” here comes from the word for “foot”. It refers to the teaching style of walking a student through life, ensuring they bump into the right things and learn from them, so that in the end, they grow to maturity. The Hebrew writer says the final result is “righteousness and peace” (v. 11). So, when we are encountering those difficult times in life, we can rest assured that, if we belong to the Lord, God is taking the role of Perfect Father with us, and either guiding us to, or allowing us to experience those things—specifically to mature us and bring about righteousness and peace.
Paul says God is at work in us as he is in plant life—producing fruit. In Galatians 5 he lists 9 characteristics (which paint an amazingly accurate picture of Jesus himself) which the Holy Spirit is actually growing in us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are those traits (v.22-23). So, if we look at our own lives and ask, “what are experiencing that lead us to develop these things”, and we know that God is, as our Father, developing these things in us, we know that He is actually at work in those very specific ways.
What is different about these two passages from what we normally experience is that these refer to what is happening in our lives from God’s perspective, not ours. We tend to see God at work when we bring something to Him and he responds. We see him at work when he provides something we want. We see Him at work when He seems to be addressing our agenda. But God is at work on HIS agenda for each of us all the time.
So, knowing this, “What is God doing in your life lately?”
in Christ,
Randy
Is God really working? What you won’t hear on the news.
Posted by Randy in Church, Culture, Leadership on June 21, 2011
It has been quite a while since I posted on this blog. I apologize, and offer only that I have not been idleJ.
Last week I heard a story from a friend of mine. He is a preacher in a small church of 50 people in Orange County, and is a very humble man. He just returned from a teaching trip (he holds a doctoral degree in ministry) to Bangkok (where I taught with him last year). But this year, after leaving Bangkok, he flew to Rwanda and taught appx. 65 ministers from churches in rural areas across that war-ravaged country. He told me of living for two weeks in conditions that would probably have caused me to be put into a hospital. He told me of teaching men who were hungry to know the Bible and be able to teach it themselves, and yet were so new to the faith that many still relied on spiritism and shamanism; and practiced polygamy and widespread sexual immorality. He told me who much he wanted to return to the U.S. every day because of how difficult his two-week assignment was.
And he told me how God used him.
I will try to tell the story correctly, so I will be sparing in the details to insure I don’t drift into inaccuracy.
My friend was invited to preach in a local church (they speak a rudimentary English, so he was able to function without a translator) on the Sunday between the weeks he was teaching. Of course he accepted.
He was taken to where the church met to learn that he would be preaching to a group of appx. 6000—not all of whom were Christians.
He knew that the service would be different from what he was used to, but he didn’t realize it would last 5 ½ hours. During the first few hours it was very hot, and he was drinking a lot of water to hydrate.
You guessed it.
Half way through the service he turned to the missionary who had arranged this trip and said “I have to go the bathroom”. The missionary was shocked and dismayed, but my friend insisted it was a necessity.
The missionary looked around and motioned to a woman in the congregation, who then came over and spoke briefly to the missionary in hushed tones. She looked at my friend, who was then told to follow her. He followed for a while and then finally asked, “where are we going”? “To my house” she said. “Why”? he asked. “Because I have a toilet” she said. Apparently that was a rarity. He asked how far her house was and she replied it would take them about 20 min. to walk there. At this he stopped and said “No, that’s not necessary. Show me where everyone else goes to the bathroom”.
She looked on him with horror and said “No! You can’t go there!” But he insisted, and she took him to a place a few minutes from the meeting area where a wall was surrounded by bushes. He went over to the wall (for obvious reasons) only to find that the ground was literally covered with human waste—he wasn’t able to walk to the wall without walking in it. This created a problem since he now had a substance on his shoes that didn’t fit the picture of a man about to preach in their worship service. He wiped his shoes on the grass and weeds until he felt they would be ok, all the time thinking about the poverty his listeners lived with.
After re-entering the service and finally be told it was time for him to preach, my friend took the hand held microphone that was hooked to a car battery and stood up. He asked a small boy to come to the front, asking him his name and how old he was. Then he told him a story about when he was small—a 6 year old boy living in a war torn country that had traditionally worshipped many Gods and spirits. His family was poor and he went hungry for so long he lost his sight. His parents, Christians, prayed that God would provide so that their family would survive, and through a Christian relative living in the U.S. they did. Money arrived from the U.S. Not a lot, but enough to provide food for the time being.
He told them that God had saved him from hunger, and as he ate, his sight returned. He told them how the President of his country (South Korea) decided that they must turn to God to turn the country around, and opened the country to thousands of missionary schools, which provided the basis for the educational base of the current South Korean economy. He told them that, as a starving and war-ravaged country they had to turn to the One True God to be saved, even in this life, and they did.
Then my friend looked at the massive crowd and simply told them: “You are like we were—suffering from war and poverty, unable to take care of your children. You worship many gods and spirits, but you must turn to the One True God and he will respond.” He invited anyone who wished to do that to come forward, and to his surprise (and that of every other leader present) half of the people there did so.
After that service he tried to take a nap, but was interrupted by a knock on the door of the room he had been given. It was the missionary who arranged his visit saying “Get dressed and come with me.” My friend pled fatigue, but to no avail so he got dressed and asked where they were going. As they drove to the larger city he was told “We are going to the University of Rwanda and you are going to preach the same sermon there.” This had been set up in the few moments he had tried to rest. When they got to the city, a platform and sound system had been set up at the University and word was being circulated that someone was coming to preach. Students, people from the city, people from the churches all came out—an estimated crowd of 20,000 people.
My friend was scared to death. Remember he preaches to a church of 50. But he shared the same story and the same invitation—and was met with the same result—about half the massive crowd coming forward to make a decision to follow the One True God. My friend is home now, resting, trying to “catch up” with work at the church, and preparing to return for a 3 week trip to Rwanda and Uganda this fall to tell the same story to people all over those countries.
This isn’t something you have heard of, nor will you, from the news. It isn’t the kind of thing that happens to most of us. But it did happen—it is happening. I wonder why. I wonder if it isn’t because, as terrified of this “adventure” as my friend was (we were praying for him months before he left, that he would be able to handle the conditions in Rwanda and be safe), he was willing to go. He told them the truth, simply and straightforward, and because of that God used him in an amazing way.
So, the question begs to be asked: What will God do with you and me if we are willing to step out of our comfort and simply and truthfully serve the One True God?
in Christ,
Randy Christian, D.Min.
Senior Minister
North Orange Christian Church
1001 E. Lincoln Ave.
Orange, CA 92865
714-998-3181 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 714-998-3181 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
We really don’t believe in Hell.
Posted by Randy in Bible, Church, Leadership on February 26, 2011
One of the hardest teachings of Christianity is that of heaven and hell. Of course, the heaven part is not problematic for most of us. But hell…
The reality of Hell, and the fate of those who do not know Jesus, has been a stumbling block to people in and out of the church for years. The problem usually is stated something like this: I can’t believe in a God who would send someone to hell just because he doesn’t believe in Jesus.
These people can’t believe that God is so unloving and capricious.
I don’t either.
The God I know doesn’t send people to hell because they don’t know Jesus.
People go to hell because they sin, not because they don’t believe in Jesus.
However, God loves us so much he became flesh (HE became flesh—Jesus isn’t “other” than God) and died for us to give us a way to be forgiven, while at the same time maintaining his own righteousness by not just “winking” at our sin. He paid the penalty.
But many of us just don’t believe this. We want the reality and hope of heaven without the fear of hell. But the same Bible that teaches about heaven teaches about hell. We don’t get to pick what we like and throw out the rest.
What’s the difference? Can’t we believe in heaven and love the Lord and not worry about hell? If I believe in Jesus I don’t need to worry about hell so what’s the problem?
Here’s the problem. If I love as Jesus loves, I can’t just say “I have mine, I don’t care about you” (I’m with the Lord so I’m ok either way, hope you’re ok). If hell is real—as scripture plainly teaches—and if I care about someone, I do something. I tell them. I warn them. I offer them an alternative.
If I don’t do that, there are really only two explanations. Either I don’t care if that person goes to hell, or I really don’t believe in Hell.
in Christ,
Randy Christian
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