Kingdom footprints

I recently completed the Chicago Marathon...my first marathon experience...and I posted this same blog at the marathon blog found at http://www.iowansforafrica.blogspot.com/. I thought the marathon was a great example of seeing God's presence, His goodness, His work all around us all the time.

Some things have the Kingdom of Heaven written all over it and just need to be named as such. The Chicago Marathon was just such a thing. It was definitely like the kind of party Jesus would have thrown.

Who was at the party? Every color, age, ability, size and shape. Some running. Some cheering. It was the same party whether you were a runner or a spectator. There was this enormous sense of oneness at this event. On the course, there were the some of the fastest people on two legs on the face of the planet and there were people in wheelchairs. There were many who were running for a cause or in memory of someone. There were the injured who often had friends walking with them toward the finish line. The street was oozing with perseverance, determination, comradery.

On the sidewalks, there were a million plus people cheering. Smiles, signs, costumes, excitement, encouragement that never ended. People didn't pack up after the fastest runners were through. They stayed and cheered on and on. Fans called out people's names. They yelled. They clapped. "This is YOUR day!" "You're amazing!" "Be strong to the finish!" Many fans cheered in one section and then moved to other mile markers throughout the course, so we'd see some encouraging faces again and again. Thousands of volunteers handed out Gatorade and water with smiles and cheers. Some people offered pretzels, candy, cookies to runners. There was joy and encouragement abounding.

Throughout this world there's a desire in people to believe that there's still good. That people still care for one another and are kind. A place to go where you feel safe to be known because you believe people will encourage and love you despite your struggles. That was the environment of this marathon. The marathon's affirming messages were "You are loved. You are capable. You have worth. We are all together doing this."

After rounding a corner early on in the first few miles and getting jazzed by seeing Maribeth and Darwin Boelts, my first familiar faces, I determined two things right then. 1. I would smile throughout the entire race and 2. I was going to make eye contact with as much of the crowd and volunteers as I could.

Those two things were like an infusion of energy for me the entire way. Even in the last 6.2 miles when the legs really began to feel the run, the crowd kept my mind and spirit strong and energized.

I love how God's Kingdom footprints were all over this marathon. Encouragement, a deep sense of acceptance and community, victory and overcoming limits, sharing and caring, joy even in the pain...these are all marks of the Kingdom that Jesus ushered in and invites us to live in everyday.

I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8

book review

I just finished reading The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons. He talks about "liquid leadership for a third-culture church". Basically, Gibbons talks about the huge shifts taking place in our world. This global village we live in that is now becoming extremely multi-cultural, multi-ethnic. The technology that is linking people together, the collaboration that is happening among international companies and communities, the rise in a generation that has social advocacy on the front burner. Gibbons challenges the Church to take these great opportunities to join this shift with the love and creativity and servanthood of Jesus. He challenges the Western Church to examine some of her paradigms and consider some questions that might make for some new thought, some new ways of being and doing as a follower of Jesus.

Definitely worth the read!

The secret of the Kingdom in throw-away books

A few years back I read a book by Gerald Mays titled Addiction and Grace. Mays lists his 13 or 14 addictions that he's identified in his life. I began to identify mine...I think I had 17 or so that might qualify: a few being caffeine, sugar, carbs in general, a tendency toward workaholism, etc. I don't know if books would qualify as an addiction, but I really love books and have a hard time passing them up.

I had to run into the Dollar Tree yesterday, and even though my mission wasn't to buy a book, I always take a quick glance in the book section to see what unlucky author has landed his/her books on the shelf of a $1 store rather than the NY Times Bestseller List. One never knows if I might find an unexpected treasure amongst the titles. There on the bottom shelf, was a row of Bibles. I think they've always been there when I've looked , but it just struck me yesterday. Amidst cheap crosswords and word finds, poorly written children's books, a few biographies and how-to books, was the most powerful book in the world...relegated to the bottom shelf of the dollar store.

I was reminded of it again, today, as I walked with my daughter into one of our most favorite places to visit...the public library. On the way in, there was a book cart with a sign that said "Free Books". Though it looked picked over, I stopped (okay, it probably qualifies for addiction) to glance through the titles left. Of the maybe 30 books on the cart, I found about 15 Christian books, some of the titles being:

Servant Leadership
Suffering
Christian Caregiving: A Way of Life
Honest Prayer
Christians and the Art of Caring
Who is this Jesus?

I was thinking about how these books were sitting there free for the taking and seemingly not moving off the cart in much of a hurry. I was thinking about how even Christians might not like to engage themselves in many of these titles. More and more, I'm convinced of the upside-down kingdom of Jesus...the power of God found in the way of compassion and suffering, servanthood and sacrifice...the way of Jesus. I'm pretty sure that the more I stretch myself in these disciplines, the more my faith will have a chance to break out from my comfortable and cultural experience and grow.

Did I pick up those books? You bet I did. For me, the real task won't be the discipline to read them. The real task will be to move past word into deed.

"there we go"

Leonard Sweet wrote a really "sweet" meditation included in a book called Justice in the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson. He attempts to define justice biblically, and talks about how we in modern America so often associate the word with "What do you stand for?" Sweet writes that the better question is "Who are you standing with?" Instead of "Here I stand", we should be about "There we go." Here are a few of his quotes....

"The problem with "Here I stand" justice is that in the Bible, love and justice are yoked concepts, and both are personified in a "There we go" Jesus."

"What if the "Christian position" on the hot-button issues of the day is less a statement than a stance, less a principle than a posture? Instead of "What are we standing for?" why aren't we talking about "Who are we standing with?" Isn't it the nature of the disciples of Jesus to be known less for a certain opinion about an issue than to be known for who we are in relationship with? Maybe our hot button issues are less about "issues" than about "relationships." Wasn't it Jesus who made the final quiz not one of "What are you standing for?" but one of "Who are you standing with?"

Amos 5:21-24 (The Message)

"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fundraising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice- oceans of it. I want fairness- rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want."

How might we have to re-order our lives to pursue the goals of seeking justice and fairness?
Can we trust that we might find ourselves closer to the center of God's heart if we do?

Middle School to Church

Some friends of mine are pastors of a church in Hampton, IA. They have put a bid on the old middle school that sits in the center of town. The bid of $1 may just land them a new church home. How missional and outstanding would that be?! People are comfortable and familiar with the building, the auditorium would still be used by the schools for concerts, it's a win/win transaction for both church and school district, there is a gym, a shop, and so much room for the imagination of God's redemptive work in that place! What a great partnership that will be and a great witness that the Church is FOR and WITH the community!

Christianity looks like...

1950- The "typical" Christian was an upper middle class white male who resided in Suburbia.
2008- The "typical" Christian was a Nigerian peasant, a university student in Seoul, or a Latin American teen.

1950- Christians were 80 percent white, predominantly from western countries, and residents of the northern hemisphere.
2008- The demographic makeup of Christians was 40 percent white with the majority residing in the southern hemisphere and eastern nations.

1950- The center of Christianity is no longer the United States or Western Europe, but Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
2008- Thirty-three percent of Christians were in the minority population, and it is projected that by 2050, 80 percent of Christians will be non-white.

Soong-Chan Rah, professor at North Park Seminary in Chicago, conducted a research study with the findings above. I heard Rah speak at CCDA last year in Miami...compelling and convicting....provided a needed time of tears and repentance and embrace in the company of a few of my black friends as I recognized American white dominance in the Church like I never had before. I just recently bought Rah's book The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity and look forward to reading it later this fall.