How Do You Know?

I spent a day last week teaching and challenging the high school students at a fine Christian school.  We talked most about how to keep our faith in the midst of a contradictory world.

The seniors will soon blast off, and most of them are going to secular universities around the country - places that can be quite challenging and contradictory to keeping your faith in God.

In fact, we're hearing that about 3 out of 4 Christian students drop their faith by the end of their first year in college.  That's an abrupt about-face on such an important subject, don't you think? 

So I asked, as I often do, "How do you know that God exists?  And if he exists, how do you know his name is Yahweh?  How do you know that Jesus is who the Bible says he is?".  

Really, how do you know?

I ask these questions because I know that these students will soon face a barrage of questions just like that from their college professors.  All too often, the intent of the prof is to corrode the student's core beliefs.  

And I think the best way to prepare these young men and women is to start the process BEFORE they're away from the influences of parents, church and Christian school.  I'd rather start the discussion and the discovery process sooner rather than later - while there's still time to help make things clear.

I want the students to be comfortable in the uncertainty that will (certainly!) come their way, and to know why they believe what they believe.

The students' answers and the resulting discussions were invigorating as always.  

And so, I thought I'd ask you, "How do YOU know?".

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The Book of Eli

Susan and I have been tricked a few times lately at the box office.   You know what I mean - movies that are hyped to be one thing, and then turn out to be something totally different.


Well, we just watched Denzel's The Book of Eli.  This thing is an apocalyptic action movie that ends up delivering as strong a message as most moviegoers can probably handle.

*** Disclaimer:  Please be advised - this is an action movie made in traditional Hollywood style.  The brutality and the language in this movie give it an "R" rating - so my boys won't see it until I can rent it and play it at home on ClearPlay.   If you're uncomfortable with knife fights, gun battles and realistic depictions of death, then apocalyptic films like this are not for you. ***

Denzel appears as Eli, the stereotypical Mad Max character.  Sure, Max is in there somewhere.  But Eli's older, humbler and has a curious singleness of purpose about him.  He's all that, of course, mixed with echoes of Clint Eastwood and Bruce Lee.

He's traveling west across a post-nuclear-war America with a particular book - one he reads from every night.  This book holds, in his mind, the key to the recreation and restoration of mankind after the near annihilation of civilization.

Gary Oldman plays Carnegie - the antagonist - the power figure in a small western town who's bent on finding the book.  Carnegie sends his gang of thugs on regular but unsuccessful reconnaissance missions to find a copy, killing and pillaging as they go.

Whether it's serendipity, fate or Providence - Eli and Carnegie meet.  And in the tension between these two, the message of Eli is unveiled.      

Maybe I didn't dig hard enough for reviews before I went and saw Eli.  Maybe I didn't pay enough attention before we walked through the door tonight.  OK, I admit it - I didn't do my customary homework before we watched.

So I found myself at first thinking "Nah, he can't be going there...".  Then a bit later, "Not possible.  No way is this thing moving in that direction...".  Then, when it really began to unfold, I'm mentally shouting "NO STINKIN' WAY THIS MOVIE'S GOING THERE!"

And then, sure enough, it did.

It did, in a way I've never seen done by any movie before.  There was no way out - straight up and in our faces - BOOM.  Crystal clear - no one's gonna miss the message of this film.

But it's not just Eli's message itself - the story line spins interestingly as well.  You get a one-two punch consisting of an unexpected plot twist, along with a hidden element of Eli's character you're hit with near the end.

WOW.

I'm often in the minority on movie opinions.  So my guess is that the average moviegoer will not like this movie.  I'll go one step more and predict that you'll either love it or hate it - there's no middle ground.

And frankly the ol' Hollywood switch-a-roo marketing trick is usually a real turn off to me as well.  But this time the surprise was not only pleasant, but because of my worldview and because of what I'm living my life towards - it was downright invigorating.

My hat's off to Denzel for The Book of Eli!

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The Spell of the Typical

One of my favorite songs is Typical by Mute Math.



Some folks close to me have wondered why a mild-mannered midwestern guy like me would pursue things that aren't Typical for people with my background.

Stuff like mountaineering - like climbing rock and ice - like skiing not just downhill, but uphill as well - like shooting things at unimaginable distances - like doing all this in the truly wild places of our land, and like a bunch of other odd things I pursue.   Mind you, I'm not saying I'm a pro at all of this.  But I continue to practice, practice, practice.

The question is, "Why?".

Well, I've studied a few people that have made a big difference in the world.  Each of them have had the capacity to critically evaluate themselves and their surroundings.  They seem to be keenly aware of what they likely can do, and what they likely cannot do.

And when they're not sure - more often than not they decide in favor of the more adventurous route.

They can take risks.  They choose adventure over safety-at-any-cost.   They're not afraid.

This puts them in a class almost by themselves and they become our heroes.  When we see their exploits, we ask ourselves, "How can they do stuff like that?" or "Why didn't I think of that?".

So over the last several years I've been in training.  In business, in ministry and in life - I've been training myself to be more like these "difference-makers" and less like my old self.  It's a conscious effort to learn to make better decisions, to take appropriate risks and to live free from fear.

Some days and some decisions are better than others - but I'm gonna keep at it.  Not because I want to be cool (I quit worrying about that a long time ago).  Not because I want to climb better and faster than anyone else (I'm too old for that).  Not because I want to satisfy some extreme urge to dance on the edge and defy death (that's just silly).

I just want to live free - free from the limitations of my own preconceptions and free from the limitations others might enjoy placing on me.  And most of all I want to complete that part of the Great Project that I've been uniquely created for.

"Come on, can’t I dream for one day
There’s nothing that can’t be done
But how long should it take somebody
Before they can be someone?

‘Cause I know there’s got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I’m feeling like it’s now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?"

So this new year - why not consider joining me on this road?  You've got a significant chunk to complete of that same Great Project.  You've got a unique set of gifts and passions.  The Kingdom just won't be the same if you don't do and become what God has made you to do and to be.

Whaddya say?

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Noon on Christmas

It's noon on Christmas here in the suburban midwest.  You know how that feels, right?

The kids have hours ago shredded the last vestiges of wrapping paper.  They're now buried in piles of plastic or immersed in vast video games - quietly pursuing mastery over their newfound treasures.

Of course that leaves us parents padding softly through the house, packing trash and wandering amid the opened boxes and half-assembled amusements.

It's over way too soon, isn't it?  I mean, for all the fuss and for all the energy spent procuring piles of plastic so adamantly petitioned and pined for by our petite progeny - it ends so abruptly as to be absurd.

I overheard one mom say to her impatient and unruly child, "Just sit still and imagine what you've got under the tree.  Focus on that, Johnny, an' git yer mind offa yer problems." 

Of course that mother's words came back to me a moment ago as the silence crept back into the house.  All that hustle and energy and focus and wind and fire and attention - now spent, now over, now done.

I think we model the abridged version of Christmas for our kids - a truncated, frail, materialistic and emotional skeleton now abbreviated "Xmas".  

But then just a moment ago, as I installed a wireless network card in Josh's new computer - I remembered something.

I remembered (and then thought to remind you) that Christmas is really all about something so revolutionary, so radical, so subversive - so long lasting - that it couldn't be further from what the plastic amusement industry, and we their willing accomplices, have made it into.

Truth is, endings have no part of Christmas.  Christmas is all about beginnings.  In fact, it's all about The Beginning.

In theology, we call it "inaugurated eschatology".  In everyday life, we call it "the coolest thing ever."

Messiah Jesus came a few millenia ago to kick off a New Kingdom that would grow and touch every nook and cranny of the planet - a Kingdom that will one day make everything (and I mean Everything) brand-spankin' New.

Yep, it's been a few thousand years.  The human race is somewhere in the middle now - perhaps one might say it's noontime.  But unlike today's Christmas Noon at my house - not all the presents have yet been opened.

Like Susan and I did today - Messiah's saved the best for last.  He's got the good stuff comin' for those that are looking for it.

Christmas is just the Beginning.

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The Struggle for Significance

A good friend of mine is leaving a long-held job and finds a certain sadness in it.  Another has just returned to the familiar only to plot a new course toward the unknown.  And yet another is in waiting, hoping to be discovered by those he holds in high esteem.

I look at all these.  And then I think of all the people over the years I've been privileged to encourage and to minister to.  And in them I see pieces of myself. 

What is it that drives us?  What is it that churns our emotions and motivates us to take action, or in some cases merely stand by in muted desire?

Psychologists have long discussed the need buried in each of us for significance.  The need to be validated by others.  The need for our lives to mean something.

In some of us, this struggle for significance has erupted into full-blown narcissism.  We simply must have more and more accolades and ever more fawning fans.  We see, and we wish others to see, only ourselves.

On the other end of the spectrum, some of us have become so tentative that we have nearly become invisible.  We cannot imagine that our lives will ever amount to anything, and this sense of inadequacy has brought paralysis.

And then of course, most of us are somewhere in between.  We're neither self-centered egoists nor immobilized underdogs.  We just bump along somewhere in the middle.

You know, I realize every day the truth of something my mom told me many years ago.  She said that everyone - the narcissist, the underdog and everyone in between - is stricken with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.  They all feel, to one degree or another, "less than".  Yep, I think she was right.

So let me take this opportunity to encourage you to take your eyes off other people and simply be what God made you to be.

You have been uniquely made to do and to be something significant!  You have a special set of gifts and passions that, when discovered and fanned into flame, will bring you into that place of significance and satisfaction you've longed for.

I've seen this so many times over the years.  The depressed student that saw something new, perhaps in class or on one of my adventure trips.  They took the new, made it a part of themselves and in the process a world of possibilities opened up.

I've witnessed many a fearful young man - more able to say what he couldn't do than what he could - realize his unique potential and then blast off into the future with the resolve that he could achieve his goals after all. 

And I've seen this principle at work in myself.  As I learned that my real boundaries were far more distant than what I thought - as I learned that I could make a difference and that I could overcome - I found a comfort in my own skin that I never had before.

Remember this during the Christmas season - God has placed in you gifts and talents and energies and abilities and desires and dreams and strengths and weaknesses - all for the purpose of having a significant part in building his Kingdom.  And that's no small thing!

I dunno who needs to hear this - I dunno who this is for.  But according to Mom, there's probably more than one!  :)

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Paradigms and Percentages

I spent the morning at an excellent Christian school, giving a talk during the high-school chapel and then in religion class.  My challenge to the students was to figure out why they believe what they believe - to honestly question the basis of their faith and see how firm it really is.

The discussion today reminded me of a question I've been asked many times.  That is, "How can intelligent people that have the capacity to think critically - how can they believe in something they cannot see?"

They've asked me to come back and help the students answer that question - to help them map out a path to maintain their faith in spite of the onslaught of doubt and skepticism coming their way at the secular university.

I can't wait to dig into it with them!  I think I'll start with something like this.

A paradigm is:

"A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline."

Here's a piece of my "Christian paradigm".   At the highest, most abstract level - this is where I start.

First off, I always play the percentages.

I spent most of my adult life in the hard sciences.  And pure science, as you know, is all about hard facts.

But I can't prove (to myself or to you) that orthodox Christianity is the one right way. And I refuse to hold a set of beliefs just because my mother or some churchman told me to.

So what's a thinking man to do?

Well, I tend to go with that which has the highest percentage chance in my (admittedly peculiar!) mind of being "true". That goes for just about everything in my life.

So why then do I hold fast to orthodox Christianity? Because I think it has the highest percentage chance of being the truth.

Am I 100% sure?  Nope - I won't be until I'm standing in New Jerusalem.

But you know what?  The list of things I'm 100% sure of is really, really short.

I think I'm about 99% sure of Christianity, and that's fine for me.

I'm just being honest here - I think most Christians would fear such an admission. Not me. And I should tell you that my trust in this approach to my faith has led to what many people would call "extreme acts".

For example, I cashed out my interest in my software development business and moved my family to another part of the state so I could teach Christian theology. I took a 90% pay cut - so you've gotta know I'm either insane, or I really really believe this stuff (maybe both!).

My confidence lies in the historical person of Jesus for the following reasons:

a) Anyone who believes he never existed isn't thinking hard enough. He certainly
existed.

b) Anyone who believes he was not substantially who he said he was, or that he did not substantially perform the acts the Gospels record that he did - isn't properly examining the evidence.

I say that because there were too many opposing interests (Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Romans) that would've proudly and loudly exposed any substantially fraudulent view of the early Church.

That didn't happen. No Roman produced his dead body - no Jewish leader said, "All that never happened". Again, they'd have done so if they could've.

So in my mind, Jesus was who he said he was, and Jesus did what the Gospels record he did.

Is there, in my mind, a small chance that a wholesale fabrication got by the Roman and Jewish antagonists of the first century? Yes there is.

Yeah, there's a chance (!) that the disciples stole Jesus' body out from under the noses of the burly Roman soldiers guarding the tomb (with a huge rock rolled in front of the entrance).  But not a very big chance!

Let's get silly for a second. Being generous to the naysayers - what if there's a 5% chance of wholesale fabrication? Even 5% against leaves me with 95% in favor - and that'll do for me.

By the way - just so you know - the atheists, evolutionists, postmoderns, Muslims, Hindus and the rest - they're offering no better odds!

So here's the fundamental premise upon which I've built my worldview, and by which I strive to live my life each and every day.

"Since the evidence indicates that Jesus indeed existed, and substantially did and said what the gospels say he did and said, he is without peer in the pantheon of spiritual leaders. No one else comes close.

As such, Jesus is worthy of my complete devotion. I must spend my life seeking to understand him, his words and his actions in the proper context.

I must try and understand his paradigm - to understand what he believed about the past and about the future - and then I must believe the same."

Now, if you want to find out what's so special about what Jesus "did and said" that causes me to say that "no one else comes close" - well, you'll need to read the New Testament for yourself!  :)

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Giving Thanks

A good friend of mine often says that "we stand on the shoulders of giants". A truer statement has never been made - I owe so much to so many.

I'm eternally thankful to:

* my parents for bringing me onto the planet, for sticking it out, for providing, and for believing that I could do whatever I put my mind to.

* my grade school teachers for planting in me the seeds of self-worth that grew into the confidence to move forward.

* Rich Melton for fanning my desire to learn by challenging me with concepts totally off-the-chart for a 6th-grader.

* Bob Schleinat for allowing me to explore the limits of my musical ability, for pushing me beyond what I thought I could ever do, and for my 15 minutes of fame on that gig at the old St. Louis Arena.

* Ron Tucker for keeping me spellbound as a young man with fresh takes on that old, old story.

* Jeff Perry for showing me that Christianity was mainly about completing my part of the Great Project and for providing opportunities and motivation to change the world.

* Larry Hunt for being patient with me during that mess in '87-'88, for pointing the way towards an unconventional, liberating approach and for introducing me to some of the great thinkers that have shaped my worldview.

* Don Erhardt for putting up with my immaturity while providing opportunities for professional advancement that I didn't deserve, and for introducing me to the way business actually works.

* Dennis Graham for respecting me, for valuing my opinions and applauding my work, and for giving me so many opportunities to be and to do bigger things than I ever dreamed I could.

* Dr. Tom Trone (truly a Jedi Master) for teaching and modeling the consultative approach that has become the way I "do my thing".

* Mark Burgess for his brilliance, for his humility and for being a great business partner all those years.

* all those clients that put their trust in me and my team to bring them to new and better places.

* all the friends and students over the years that have at times trusted me, challenged me, taught me, learned from me, led me and followed me.

* my brother and sisters for their encouragement, for their support and frankly, for just being there.

* Jim and Arlene Shelton for raising their daughters well and for their faithfulness to His calling all these years.

* my sons for their simple trust in me and in God, for their inner strength, for their hunger for adventure and for their companionship.

* my wife for her unwavering support, for her belief in me, for her strong spirit, for her beauty and her smile, for her love for others, for her deep caring, and on, and on, and on.

Father, it is in you that we live and have our hope. Thank you for creating me, for working through all those people to make me what I am in both strengths and weaknesses, and for the world of possibilities that lay before me.

Thank you, Father, for weaving the great story that will result in the renewing of all things, for the resurrection and the kingdom to come that will at last set the world straight.

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The World Next Door

I went to summer camp once as a kid.  If memory serves me, the amenities at that place included a silty pond in which to drown and rusty farm implements upon which to be impaled.  It wasn't my thing and I never went back.

Camp Kivu is in another universe from that old Camp Silty Rust.  Waverunners, kayaking, rock climbing, zip lines, mountain biking -  and on and on and on.

Camp Kivu is, ladies and gentlemen, the coolest summer camp on the planet.  At least that's what my 16 year old son told me on the way to school today.  He's really missing the friends, the fun and the spirit of Camp Kivu.

But Camp Kivu isn't just the coolest summer camp - it's even more.  We connect teenagers to global causes with spring break missions trips.  Click here to find out how you can join our March 2010 trip to the Philippines.  The excitement's building and my kids can't wait to go.

With global issues in mind - Susan and I visited a very cool ministry that is making a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of young girls rescued from the disgusting evil of human trafficking.  They're doing this amazing work in Cambodia.

Funny thing is, they're based right down the street from us in Joplin, MO.  Check out http://www.raphahouse.org to see what Rapha House is doing to stop the horror of human trafficking and bring new life to those precious girls that God made in his image.

Rapha House - yeah baby!

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