Deep-End Discipleship

  “ Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.” - Philippians 2:5-7a CEB - The worry of overcharging a device seems like such a first world problem at times. For someone who has grown up with always changing technology, I remember it taking me a while to realize that leaving something plugged in could actually degrade the battery faster. It seems so counter intuitive that something at full power could actually be getting too much power. However, the opposite can be equally scary. Having little or no power left, especially on something so seemingly critical like our cell phone, can feel like death to the outside world. But having your phone run out of power, as socially crippling as it feels, does nothing to harm one’s battery or the phone itself. The act of emptying and using a phon...

We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function.   In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that has been given to us. Romans 12:4-6 I was never very good in science classes. I struggled in physics, chemistry, and I especially struggled in Biology. While physics and chemistry were extremely challenging because of the math (which I am also pretty bad at), biology was a whole different struggle because of the complexity of the human body. I was not good at knowing where organs or bones were, I didn’t really understand how anything worked, and I was NOT good at memorizing. As a result of my struggle with biology, I never connected strongly with the imagery of the “body of Christ”. I always got that we are the hands and the feet of Christ but, if we are the BODY, who is the eyeball? or the kidney or liver...

The Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can look at it and live." - Numbers 21:8 (CEB) -  When my neighbor was fifteen years old, she decided that she needed a pet snake. At first I was skeptical of my friend’s new pet, but to my surprise I learned that there is such a thing as a sweet snake. This snake, named Draco, loved people, sunshine, and tasty mice. Draco taught me that not all snakes are scary! However, it would be foolish of me to think that all snakes are nice. For instance, the snakes seen in this story in Numbers are not nice snakes. These are quite terrifying. The Israelites are in the middle of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their sin and lack of faith in God. In the midst of their wandering, the Israelites sin again. The Lord sent poisonous snakes into the camp of the Israelites. The poisonous snakes did their job: the people realized they had sinned. They turned to...

“Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 1:27-30 The Message - As a person of smaller stature, I hate being overlooked. Some might argue that much of who I am is to stand out and be noticed. Yet no matter how great I think I am, the apostle Paul here reminds us that God has preferential consideration for those who are ‘nobody.’ God uses people who are lost, broken, and left out. Even if we are ‘somebody’ and think we have it all together, when we come before God we must recognize that our plans are silly foolishness compared to the work that God has for us. The trick of course is to not hate o...

 " And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them,  “If anyone would come after me, let him  deny himself and  take up his cross and follow me.  For  whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake  and the gospel's will save it.     For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?     For  what can a man give in return for his soul? " Mark 8:34-37   (ESV) There is a lot packed in these four verses from Mark. What stands out to me most through all this talk about losing or gaining our lives and our souls, is in verse 34 where we are told to “take up your cross”. This is an instruction I have heard many times through the church, but what does it mean to take up your cross? To me, taking up our cross is choosing to be a Christian everyday. The conscious effort to treat people a certain way, to rely on God, and to think about ...

After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galille announcing God's good news, saying, "Now is the time! Here comes God's kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!" - Mark 1:14-15 (CEB) - I love stories fantasy fiction stories. I love the adventure, the lessons learned, and the incredible creatures. My favorite mythical creature is the Phoenix. The Phoenix is a huge magnificent bird of red, orange, and yellow colors. At the end of their life, they burst into flames and disintegrate into ash. Soon after, the Phoenix is reborn from the ash and begins life again. Even though the Phoenix is mythical, I think it is a symbol that represents a great degree of truth in life. In Mark 1:14-15, we see the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the end of John the Baptist’s. John prepared the way for Jesus and called people to repent and be baptized. John’s ministry ended by being arrested by Herod and later put to death. Even from this tragic end, t...

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow; tear your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive.” - Joel 2:12-13 CEB - I am not sure the statistical probability of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday falling on the same day, but here we are. From the outside it seems as two contrary ideas. One sometimes vaulted as an overly commercialized day where one is expected to express one’s love to his or her loved ones. The other is a day where liturgical church people mark the start of the journey to Easter – a celebration of Christ’s life, death & resurrection – with a time of serious reflection, sacrifice & confession. Yet despite each of the inherent differences, both have a pull to the heart of things quite literally. No one wants a thoughtless Valentine or an insincere ges...