The Relational Mission

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. —John 1:1 No single word in English conveys the meaning of the Greek word that is most often translated “the Word.” It means something like the ultimate truth, the foundation of all things, the source of all life beyond which there is nothing greater. If we were to search for the center point of the center of what it means for life to be life, then we would be talking about “the Word.”   This one sentence claims to speak about the most significant reality of existence.Yet, the claim of this sentence is absolutely absurd if we think about. It refers to the ultimate center of the center as demonstrated through the life of a historical figure named Jesus Christ. To us, as the recipients of 2000 years of talk about Jesus, this claim does not scream with problems. However, when these words were written, it referred to a man, one who was born out of wedlock, from a country with no government, who held no posit...

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” —Philippians 4:8 A good life grows out of good input. Our brains are remarkable. That little organ has been designed to constantly receive and process data, even when we are not trying to do so. Of course, we think about the fact that our brains taking in information when we are reading a book or sitting in a class while the teacher gives a lecture. This is a form of active learning where we intentionally engage our brains to learn something new. But there is also something that we might call passive learning. Passive learning occurs perpetually. It’s on auto-pilot and there is no off button. Most of the time we don’t even know what we are learning as we are learning it. It just happens as we go through the day. The most obvious example of this happens when we grow up...

To walk the journey of life well, you must learn to pivot. The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.—Proverbs 16:9 As we walk through life, we will face twists and turns, along with roadblocks and barriers. When I was in my twenties, I traveled from Hong Kong to Guangzhou on a train as a part of group visiting some house churches who were meeting illegally. I was traveling with a British citizen of Hong Kong (this was when it was still a British territory). He had been arrested, tied up, and beaten for practicing his faith. When his British passport fell out of his pocket, and Chinese police let him go. To say the least, this experience was not something he had put in his planner. In fact, it messed up a significant list of things that he was aiming to do.  This is a rather extreme example, but, nonetheless, it does illustrate that life never works as we plan. That does not make planning unimportant. In fact, having a plan for the steps you will take is helpful....

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” —Exodus 34:6-7 I grew up going to church. Back then, I would hear sermons at least two times per week. I went to Sunday School and attended an additional Bible study every week. There was a lot of sitting and listening to people talk about God and the Bible. This continued when I went to college. Then after getting married to Shawna, we were are part of a church where we listened to three sermons per week. To say the least, I’ve heard a lot of sermons. While I do not remember the details of each, I can honestly say that there was not one sermon given on this passage. This is a bit problematic since these verses serve as a foundational core to the Old Testament. They are like a thesis statement in a term paper, as they define how the Israelite people were meant to view who ...

"In the beginning God ..." (Gen 1:1) The Bible opens with God as the subject who acts in the course of history. God creates. God talks. God walks. God interjects. God intervenes. God protects. God leads. God corrects. God disciplines. God comes. God heals. God turns water into wine. God teaches. God eats. God raises another from the dead. God loves. God dies. God rises. God ascends. God empowers. God works. God, God, God. The Bible starts out with God as the subject. With the turning of each page, we read how the story unfolds with God as the primary actor. If we don't get this about the Bible's way of talking about God, it would be like watching Hamlet without a Hamlet, Forest Gump without anyone actually playing Forest Gump, or reading a DC Justice League comic without Superman. The story would be totally different in its very nature.  A different kind of story is exactly that many have experienced. When we go to church, God far too often not at the center. I...

Thirteen men lounged around a table, ready to eat dinner. Then one stood, removed his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. While the other twelve mumbled conversation between bites, he walked to a corner of the room and filled a basin with water. He first wiped James’ feet. Matthew was next and squirmed like a 5-year-old. The next three sat in silence. Peter broke the stillness. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? … No, you shall never wash my feet." When I meditate on the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples in John 13, I sit in awe and wonder. Awe at the humiliation of Jesus washing filthy feet. Wonder because I don’t get it. Then I read the punch line: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Jesus commanded us to wash one another’s feet. Yet, below the surface, this command lacks meaning. Do we institute a church ritual of foot washing? But I don’t wear sandals. I walk little. Sidewalks and carpet protect me f...

When Shawna was pregnant with our first child, we had many friends repeat the exact same words to us: “Everything is going to change.” We had been married for almost five years, and we had become accustomed to life as DINKs (double income no kids). Now that we have four between 11 and 5, we  now know all about the life change that kids can bring. One of the first things that changed with the advent of our son was our sleep patterns. No longer was sleep a luxury that we could. We had a little baby in our house that required feeding every three hours, and he let us know about it. During that first month, I was up after his feeding at about 2 a.m. I was tired, but he had the hiccups and could not sleep. My sleep habits were in shock. My body cried out for rest, but there was something within me that kept my body awake. It was something bigger than the physical need for sleep. This was my son, and he required care. As I walked around in the dark, a part of a verse resonat...

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. " —Luke 9:23-26 My father was a fireman for 32 years in the Dallas suburb of Garland. When he arrived home after his 24-hour shift, I’d ask what went on at work. Did he go and save the day? He’d often respond with something like, “Well, we chased the ambulance on a few calls.” (Firemen would follow the ambulances to assist on many cases.) Or he’d briefly talk about a small house fire or a car accident. On most occasions, he’d say that they didn’t have any runs at all, that they had a few inspections, performed some drills, or...

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." —John 14:6 I’m a fan of adventure stories, my favorites being those of J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . Whether reading the books or watching the movies, I cannot get enough of this grand story. In the opening chapter of The Hobbit , we are introduced to the primary character, Bilbo Baggins, a self-proclaimed risk-avoider who does not go on adventures. In fact, he prides himself on staying to himself, not bothering other hobbits, and living in mediocrity. Bilbo could have written an enlightening book on the art of living a quiet, safe life, one that has very little conflict. The story opens: “This hobbit was a very well to do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, no only because most of them were rich but also because they never had an...

" Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses" —Joshua 1:3 About 500 years before God spoke these words to Joshua, God promised Abraham that his descendants would possess and inhabit the land of Canaan (see Genesis 17). However, Abraham never saw the fulfillment of this promise, as his family grew from tribal nomads to a slave nation in Egypt. Moses was given the charge of leading the people from slavery into the Promised Land, but they rebelled out of fear, not having enough faith that God would give it to them (see Numbers 13). For 40 years, the Israelites wandered through the wilderness until they were prepared to enter the land. Moses was not able to see the filfillment of the promise, but now Joshua would. As a descendant of Abraham during the years of monadic travel and Egyptian slavery, it would have been easy to give up on the promise of the land. It would be easy to see such promises as wish dreams. It would ...