Gnats to you!

Let me just start by saying that this blog is aimed--that's right, "aimed" (and I include myself here)--at people who are Christians.  Normally I try to write with encouraging words that could lead us all deeper into God's presence, whether we acknowledge a relationship with Jesus or not. Today though, I have some words for Christians, though if you are not please read along and perhaps cheer at the appropriate spots.

This morning I was reading my bible and I came upon the passage in Matthew where Jesus berates the Pharisees because they "strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:24) So what is the big deal with swallowing camels?  Maybe they taste good!  I think that Jesus here has some great words for Christians in today's world, words which are much needed and (I believe) will help us in today's increasingly anti-Christian culture.  They echo a sermon that I heard Andy Stanley preach last week, the link to which is found at the end of this post (you can watch it for extra credit!).

Gnats vs. Camels
Before you start envisioning some kind of titanic battle where a horde of gnats is taking down a poor, bedraggled, lone camel, lets read the passage:

 ²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:23-24, NIV)

 So what's this about gnats and camels?  Jesus is speaking here in the middle of a long tirade against the people who were supposedly the holiest of the holy in his day.  These are people who have proclaimed that they have followed God for years (probably since birth).  I think that the key to understanding this verse is "Everything they do is done for men to see..." (Matthew 23:5a).  They have set up a kind of religion where there are little things that you do to prove your faithfulness to God become the test of your faith.


What Jesus is talking about here is a kind of attitude that it is so easy to fall into as a follower of God, and I know that the church has been guilty of it over many points of history--and far too often in huge and embarrassing ways. I could list here all the ways we have violated it, and all denominations and expressions of the faith could be mentioned.  As Andy Stanley says in his sermon (see below), "We (the church) tell people that if they change to look like us, then they can join us."  We are guilty of telling people that their hard lives, their sins, their differences, exclude them from joining in with the People of God.  We are guilty.


Jesus' Way
Yet the way the Jesus preached, healed, taught, and related to people is drastically different than the way that the Pharisees in his day worked.  Can you imagine being so hyper-"spiritual" that you would go to your cupboard and divide out a tenth of your spices and bring them to church one Sunday as part of your tithe?  Yet what was the issue that Jesus pointed out?  They were nit-picking (gnat-straining) but in doing so were too busy to attend to real issues!  They neglected justice!  They left out mercy!  And they thought they were being faithful to the commandments of God but in fact were not practicing faithfulness.

When we look at the Bible, how then do we see Jesus acting?  I believe that Jesus never neglected to tithe (giving a tenth of your income), I believe he never lied, and I believe that he was faithful to every letter of the law that the Pharisees held dear.  We read that he was a righteous man, a perfect man, and without sin.  Better than Mary Poppins he wasn't just "practically perfect," he was perfect!  Yet here he points that there are larger issues than just personally following the letter of the law.

What Jesus did, and what he calls (albeit harshly) the Pharisees to do, is to speak out for those who have no voice.  He calls them to love those they deem "sinners."  I say "deem" because here Jesus is pointing out the sin of those who think themselves "righteous."  Jesus did not worry about whether he would be thought proper for going and partying with the sinners, he just went and did so!  And the result of that is that many of those he ate with and talked to became followers of him and had their lives transformed.

Today's Church
So I said at the beginning that I am speaking to the Christians I know in today's world.  Can you think of ways that the church has become like Jesus' Pharisees?  I have long felt what Andy preaches in his sermon "The Separation of Church and Hate."   Think about the last 50 years of the church in America.  We have stood up for the laws of God and done our best to tell people what they cannot do.  In many cases the only real ground (and I believe that it is real ground, more real than what the world counts on) that we stand on is the Bible.  We have been right to stand up for the issues we have battered the rest of our culture with, but I think that we have failed in doing so in the wrong way.

I believe that the Bible teaches real and eternal truth.  I believe that when God says that he hates sin, he hates sin.  I believe that when the Bible says that we should not do "x" or "y" or "z" then we should not do those things.  However I also believe that using the laws of the land to enforce the mandates of the Bible creates people who hate the Church and God, as well as turns the church into "sons of hell" (Matthew 23:15).  This is a hard thing to think about.  Should we stand up for morality?  YES! Definitely!  But please lets go about it in a different way.

The Bible only applies to the people of God.  I can't turn to my Buddhist neighbors and point to the Bible and say "This is why you are going to go to hell."  They would laugh at me!  Would I be wrong?  No.  Will they convert to Christianity?  No.  What would the result be?  They would hate me and the God I supposedly stood for!  So then what do we do?  How do we protect the sanctity of marriage?  How do we protect the sacredness of life?  How do we uphold the laws of God?  By loving God with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength, followed by loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).

How to Uphold God's Laws
If we want to truly uphold and take a stand for God's laws, then we need to convert those around us.  We cannot do this any longer by trying to pass laws in Congress to outlaw gay marriage or any of the other issues that we face.  We need to convert a church that hates the sins of their neighbors but does nothing about the sins in their own hearts.  Do you want to know why people of my generation are fleeing further from the church than their parents went?  Because the church does not present a better way!  We proclaim the evils of homosexuality but do nothing to promote marital health in our own walls.  Our relationships are just as broken (in some ways more so) than those of the people who don't follow God.

We uphold God's laws when we do so ourselves.  This is the first part of what Jesus says to us.  Who wants to drink gnats?  Get them out of your soup, but in doing so please remember the issues of justice, mercy, and faithfulness!  Here's the issue: before I can talk to my neighbor about what he is doing wrong, I need to win him over as a brother in Christ.  Before I can "win" him, I need to love him to the point that he truly sees Jesus in my heart.  In the Bible we do not see Jesus chastising those far from God.  He doesn't need to convince them of their sinfulness (a la Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort), he just loves them.  The only people Jesus calls out are those who have the scriptures and call themselves followers of God.

My Plan For Changing The World 

1. Love God with everything that you are.  
1. This also means do your best to apply the teachings of Jesus in your own life: let go of your sins and get right.  (I think we all should do what they do in AA groups and make a searching and fearless moral inventory and then confess those wrongs to someone.)
2. As you love God, and even before you do, God's love will start to transform your life!
2. Love your neighbors as you love yourself.  
1. As you love God, your love for yourself will blossom and grow!  If you have a problem with being able to love yourself, then love God harder.  As your love for God grows, you will see that he created you to be one of his children, beautiful and holy.  How can you not love that?
2. Your neighbor was created to be one of God's children too!  I don't care what they look like to you now, treat them as if they were already one.  We never know the whole story anyhow.
3. Give up trying to be the one to convict them of their sins, that's God's job anyhow.  Just love them and let God do the rest.  If they are a brother or sister in Jesus, then you can go to them and share from the Bible.  (But be careful, they have just as much right to do the same with you...)

Basically what I am saying is that the church has injured the world around us by becoming a self-righteous vessel that spoke words of hate.  We should have been a vessel filled with Jesus' righteousness (not our own) and spoke words of love.  Its time for us to repent and change our ways.  Should we stand up for what is right?  Yes!  Should we spend our time worrying about what laws to pass? No (See the bottom of this post about a note or two regarding this statement).  If you really are concerned with saving lives and morality then think about the fact that your neighbors are going to die and go to hell unless we get off our high horses and do something about it.

Jesus gives one consistent command throughout the gospels, and we should heed it:  "Follow me."  We don't need to go to classes (though they do benefit us), we don't need to have believed in Jesus for "x" number of years or decades, we simply are called to follow him.  I would much rather be a "Jesus-follower" than a "Christian" any day.

Video link:
The Separation of Church and Hate - Andy Stanley

Notes:
There are a few issues that I feel we should stand up for legally.  I think that we should still act to preserve life.  I think that we should still act to free people from oppression.  We should still act to end the cycles of poverty. I would say that it is one thing to try to legislate the acts of consenting adults, perhaps we need to lay off.  However, it is another thing altogether to act to protect those without a voice, or at least a significant one.  Put another way: trying to legislate against homosexuality (which do I read in the Bible that God says is a sin) is not going to be productive or impart mercy.  However, trying to free the slaves across the world or save unborn children is something worth standing up for, socially and legally.  But lets do so in a smart way.

EDIT:
I had a conversation with my wife about this, after I posted it, and she brought my attention to some areas where I may have communicated things that I didn't want to communicate.  I really appreciated what she and I talked about, and wanted to make some clarifications with this particular blog:

1. If it is not clear, I think that what the bible says about all of our "Hot Button" issues is true.  We need to believe that when the Bible says something is a sin, it is.   I do not want to sound wishy-washy on these issues.  What I want to do though, is to tell my fellow Christians to stop abusing others with their faith.  We can believe something is wrong, but still speak to others about it with a spirit of grace and love.
2. In my notes I said we need to stop legislating our morality.  What I want to clear up is: vote!  If there is something on a ballot, then vote as you feel you should.  Vote with all your faith in God if you can.  I just have heard too many in the "Religious Right" stand up and say things that have caused too much hurt for people in our country.  I have seen too many Liberal Christians walk away from Biblical teaching in order to embrace everybody.  We need to find ways to be centered on the will of God, and show God's love and here we have had so many struggles it is ridiculous.  I don't have an answer here right now, except to do our best to be grounded in scripture AND love our neighbors!  Ideas?
3. Last clarification: I stated that the "Bible only applies to the people of God" and I feel I need to expand on that.  Does the Bible speak truth?  Yes.  Does that truth apply to the world regardless of your religious beliefs?  Yes!  Whether or not we accept the authority of the Bible, it applies to us.  The bible contains many things that are beneficial to us no matter what we believe.  It also contains the laws of God, the standards by which he expects us to live.  However, I don't understand why we use it as a final proof in a secular environment.  Inside the Christian world we can point to a bible passage and say "Thus saith the Lord" and know that that ends the discussion.  However, it doesn't work like that with the rest of the world, instead we come across as judgmental!  It sure ends the conversation, but only because our conversation partners feel like we have gone into outer space and have no grounds to continue.  Are we "correct" in using the Bible?  Yes!  Are we "right" to do so in that way?  Perhaps not.  Can the Bible transform people, regardless of their beliefs?  YES!
1. So how can we use the Bible to speak into people's lives?  Use it in the context of our own lives.  In my sermon tomorrow, and as I have been preaching for the last couple of weeks, I will talk about telling our stories.  We will only drive people to cling to their beliefs (mistaken or otherwise) harder if we argue.  We get them asking questions if we tell our own stories.  We can even share that we apply the truths of the Bible to our own lives, tell how it speaks truth for us and changes us, if we do so in a personal way.  Point the fingers at yourself and tell about how God has changed you.  Leave the conviction of the person you are talking with up to God.  (Its his job anyhow...)

Thanks!  May God bless you!

A Call To Action!

I have been wondering and praying about what to put into this blog, when I got an email from our friends at the Not For Sale Campaign (www.notforsalecampaign.org) that totally resonated with me.  Here is the like for the web version of the email that I received.

In that email there was a link to the video below.  Please watch it (its short) and then continue reading.

Here's the deal: we have a holiday coming up and to celebrate it, the #1 purchased gift is chocolate.  What we don't realize is that the majority of the world's chocolate is produced with slave labor.  We just see great deals on the shelf in the store and stop thinking.  What we don't realize is that there is a human cost to the low price tag we are looking at!  I know I personally never even gave this issue even a little consideration until I was made aware of it.  I thought, "didn't slavery end with the Civil War?"  And I was right, but failed to realize that that was true only for the United States.

As a Christian, it is my duty to fight for the rights of those without a voice.  But more importantly, the love and grace that I have received from Jesus creates within me a love for all of humanity.  This love motivates me to ensure that all people, regardless of their place of origin or past stories, receive a life that gives them opportunities for dignity and safety just as we have received here in the USA.  The same promises that we have received from God also apply to the people being trafficked into the Ivory Coast to produce our chocolate.

So here's what we can do.  I am not saying no to chocolate.  What I am saying no to is chocolate not certified "Fair Trade."  Look for these symbols:

And know that these mean that the company has been investigated and certified to not produce products that were made with slave labor, and that they were made while paying fair, livable wages to their workers.

What I am not suggesting is that all of the chocolate (or coffee for that matter) is made with slave labor, but it has been proven that much of it is.  What we are able to do as consumers is to send letters to the CEOs of the companies we have come to enjoy (in this case Nestle and Hershey, yes even these) asking them to go "Fair Trade."  And then until we do, we spend our dollars elsewhere!  They will get the point!  We as individuals have the power to make this happen, and we have the right to do so as well.  I also feel that we have been given a gift of freedom by our forbears in the country that can be honored by fighting for the rights of others.  But ultimately it is the love and freedom given to us by God that drives us to seek the freedom of others as well.  Freedom to live their lives with dignity, without whips at their backs, as well as the freedom to choose a relationship with their Creator!

So please join with me and make this Valentine's Day, a Free Trade experience!

What Keeps You From Following God? « Videos « The Skit Guys

The Skit Guys have put out this hilarious video on what keeps us from following God.  I think this is applies to people who follow Christ and those who don't.  This is a longer video clip (about 11 minutes) but it had me laughing, crying and ultimately thinking.


What Keeps You From Following God? « Videos « The Skit Guys


What really keeps us from following God?  Is it our pasts?  Is it our stubbornness?  Is it the people in our lives?  Is it the things that we have grown to like?  Is it pain?


The point that these guys try to get across is that ultimately its us who stands in the way of following God.  But why would it be us, why would it be me who stands in my own way?  I don't know what your excuses have been over the years, but I know I have come up with a few--even as a Christian.


I want to take a moment and see whether it is really me who stands in the way:


"I have been hurt in the past, I just can't get past the pain..."  yet the Bible promises "I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life." (Psalm 119:93) And the funny thing?  When I have given over  my pain and suffering to God, and when I have followed His wisdom instead of my own, I have received real and final healing from God.


"If God really knew what I have done, he wouldn't actually forgive me.  Jesus came for those who did little things, but I know I am too bad..." I know I have felt this cry in my soul, and yet again have experienced the promises in the Bible.  "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (1 Cor 10:13) AND " For 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Rom 10:13).  I guess I am neither special nor un-savable in my sins.  Jesus died once for the whole world, and I was included in that deal.  The infinite God is more than a match for my finite sins.  He makes no caveat, nor any requirements for receiving his promises, think about John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have eternal life."  God's requirement I guess is just belief.  Just for me to accept what he has already done for me.


"If Christians would just act like Christians, I could believe in God..." This is what Gandhi reportedly said about belief in Jesus, and many people the world over have said the same.  I too, have felt that Christians kind of give the lie to the promise of the Gospel.  I read how the Bible calls the people of God to be, and yet I have seen time and time again these people of God fail.  I have called (and continue to call) myself a person of God and I have watched myself fail.  So what's the deal?  Should all Christians be perfect?  Should we show the world that God makes a difference in our lives?  The short answer is yes.  The Bible tells us "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)  Jesus calls us and gives us the power to live apart from the world, following the commands of God as we do so.  Yet that wasn't the point, and it isn't the real answer.


You see, as we come to Christmas we see a story about God that strikes us differently than our perceptions of the "commands" we find in the Bible.  God came to earth humbly, as a little baby boy who was born in one of the dirtiest places imaginable.  He was born as a human in order to set us up with a relationship with him, and not a rule book.  Even when I acknowledge the rules God gives us, when I ignore the relationship God gives us in his son, Jesus Christ, I end up losing by trying to follow "the rules."  Here's the point: when I make it about the rules I end up keeping myself centered as the point of it all.  I am trying to be perfect.  And I fail.  Just as I did apart from Jesus when it was all about me then.  Yet when I focus on the relationship I have with Jesus, rules and being perfect cease to matter.


When I say "cease to matter" I mean cease to matter.  Yes they still apply, but they become tools I can use to seek to please God rather than become good enough.  But they cease to matter, because I can no longer focus on them while looking at Jesus.  He becomes the most important thing in life.  Sure I still stumble and at times even fall.  Yet those aren't failures because I know what truly matters: Jesus.  So when I am asked about the rules we need to follow from the Bible I can say, "Yes, but thats not what is important."  What is important is my relationship with Jesus.  I don't mean to diminish their importance, but realistically next to Jesus they are nothing.  I learn to follow the rules and accept God's boundaries as part of his plan for my well being, and as things that I can do to please him.


So, like the Skit Guys suggest, it is myself that becomes the biggest roadblock to following God.  When I make it about me, I have no room for HE.  When "I" am the biggest word in my vocabulary, I get in my own way.


As we celebrate Christmas this week, meditate on your relationship with Jesus.  I have said before that all of us have one with him, it just varies upon our use for it.  Where are you at?  And do you need to ask Jesus for the Christmas gift of getting "me" out of the way so you can live for HE?

Rosa Parks and Christianity: Activism

Fifty-five years ago today, a woman riding a bus in Montgomery, Alabama was asked to leave her seat so that a person with a different skin tone could sit in her seat instead.  She had worked a long, hard day and was tired.  She was on her way home, when the bus driver asked her to move to the back of the bus so that a white person could sit in the front of the bus instead of her.  She refused.
Freeze frame.
I have grown up in a time since Rosa Parks' historical action.  Today, I struggle to really understand what this time would have been like, when a person can be told to leave their seat for another person based solely upon the fact that they were born with a darker color skin than another.  And it wasn't like Rosa Parks was the first person of African descent to refuse to leave her seat on the bus so a Caucasian person could sit near the front.  But it was her action, which sparked a bus boycott and the actions of several other persons and communities which made today's work possible.
But what does this historic event have to do with Christianity?  The Christian community was a vital force in the Civil Rights movement, especially as lead by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. . Part of the Christian message, in addition to the fact that Jesus restores us to God by paying the price of our sins, but is that his grace extends beyond that to our relationships with each other as well!  Jesus said:

¹⁸ "The Lord has put his Spirit in me,
       because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.
    He has sent me to tell the captives they are free
       and to tell the blind that they can see again. — Isaiah 61:1
    God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly — Isaiah 58:6
    ¹⁹ and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness." — Isaiah 61:2 (Luke 4:18-19, New Century Version)

 His grace helps restore us to each other, and especially motivates us to give a voice to those who lack a proper one in society.  And so we banded together with the civil rights movement to give those being treated like second class citizens equal rights.  And so we band together to give a voice to the unborn children of God who otherwise would be (and still are) being cast aside due to inconvenience.  And most recently I have been made aware of a problem that we should be aware of as a society--and especially as Christians so that we will band together to end a problem we had previously thought finished.


The Not For Sale campaign http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ is an organization that has partnered with many churches in our area, as well as hundreds of churches throughout the country.  There are other organizations around the US and the rest of the world who are working to abolish slavery in all of its many forms.  According to these organizations, there are more slaves in the United States today, than there were before the Civil War!  And they are cheaper as well.  Slaves in the middle of the 19th Century cost the modern equivalent of thousands of dollars.  Today, you can go buy a slave not for thousands, nor even hundreds.  In some places you can buy a slave for $50 or less!


One of the things that we are known for in Tacoma, and the I-5 corridor in general, is our traffic in sex slavery.  There children, teen-age girls and young women who are being taken up and down the I-5 corridor to be sold for a few minutes of pleasure for those who buy them.  Their pimps are actually slave holders.  In addition to this, there are people who have been brought into our country in order to be house servants and free workers.  According to http://slaverymap.org/ there have been at least half a dozen reports and actions taken to their knowledge in our city recently.  And perhaps hundreds more that we don't even know about.  Even from establishments that I had thought about as being reputable--including one that I have eaten at several times!

We have to stop this!  So what can you do?  If you see something that you suspect, call the authorities.  It is not enough to just look at a girl walking down the street and say "Oh, I wish these prostitutes would go somewhere else!" Because the truth may likely be that they are being held to it as a sex slave.  If you see something that you suspect (even at restaurants and coffee shops!) report them.  Call the police, or call:

• National Human Trafficking Resource Center: 1-888-373-3888 (24hr Hotline)
• Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network (WARN): 206-245-0782

Also!  We can partner with organizations like the Not For Sale Campaign (local contact: Kevin Austin, Free Methodist Missionary with this organization) and our local churches in order to raise awareness and fight this evil in our country and world.  Sin that is brought to the light will soon shrivel and die, but as long as it is allowed to be ignored and kept in the dark, then it will flourish and grow.  Just think of what you would want others for your sons and daughters and do the same for them.  Together, by the power of Jesus' cross, we too can see this changed.  We just need to band together, like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. did in order fight for fair treatment of all our fellow citizens.

For lots more information go to http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/about/slavery/ and  http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348.  Please share this blog and this information!  Send to your friends, share on facebook, email it, print it off and hand it out!  Go to the websites and get tons more information to share and give people too!  This is so vital, don't just take my word, but read about it, Google it, and above all: share it!  Blessings on you all!

Mighty Men (and even not so mighty), check this out!

I have subscribed to Bill Perkins' email newsletter for men.  I have found it very encouraging.  I have shamelessly copied this week's encouraging email here for you (understand that I did not write a word of it, it was all done by amazing author Bill Perkins).  If you find it encouraging, please sign up here: http://www.millionmightymen.com/  Or, go buy one of his books like Six Rules Every Man Must Break or Six Battles Every Man Must Win.

I thought that the lesson we learn about Nicodemus fits many of us guys, who definitely desire to do good but approach commitments cautiously.  Enjoy!

Today we learn the importance of delaying judgment ...

Forego Judgment and Process Information

Bringing about change is tough because people tend to polarize around a position and feel they have to be right all the time. Rather than fighting it out at the OK Corral, suggest everyone delay making a judgment until more questions have been asked and answered. I find it fascinating that there were times when Jesus drew a line in the sand and told people they were either with him or against him. On those occasions he left no middle ground. But there were also situations where he clearly interacted with men over a period of time. The Man Who Met Jesus at Night My favorite example is Nicodemus. Their first, and best known meeting, occurred one night when the religious leader told Jesus, "No one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him" (John 3:2). Instead of dealing with the issue of his identify, Jesus told the Pharisee how he could know God. Jesus explained a man could only enter the kingdom of God if he was born again (notice Jesus gave an alternative to the Jewish list of cleansing rituals and other regulations). Unlike the combative encounters Jesus had with other Pharisees, the one with Nicodemus was tame. There's no indication Jesus asked Nicodemus to make a decision to follow him at that time. But he did give the Pharisee something to think about. Later, when the Jews were spewing venomous words about Jesus, Nicodemus asked, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" (John 7:51). Nicodemus was urging them to delay judgment, the very thing he seems to have been doing with Jesus. After the crucifixion of Jesus it was Nicodemus who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea in the preparation of Jesus' body for burial. Apparently, Nicodemus quit delaying a decision about Jesus and accepted him as the Jewish Messiah. He embraced the change Jesus offered. Forego Judgment and Process Information That delay was crucial because it allowed Nicodemus to further examine the words and works of Jesus. He was able to determine if his previous assumptions about how a man could be made right with God were valid. It's fascinating that in the face of unsurpassed social and religious pressure, Nicodemus was open to the possibility that he might be wrong. Instead of backing him into a corner Jesus gave him room to process--time to consider a viable alternative to his previously held assumptions Getting a hard-line opponent to be open to the possibility of another legitimate alternative is a major step in the direction of change. Instead of using the gunslinger approach, simply ask him or her to suspend their judgment. And indicate your willingness to suspend judgment yourself--after all, you may discover an approach superior to the one you preferred.  It's important to remember the issue here is not implementing a particular change, but creating an environment where people are comfortable with change--a setting where people see the benefit in challenging assumptions and the way things are done. In that kind of environment change will be dynamic and life giving.  Miracles and Mystery In the Grand Inquisitor section in The Brothers Karamazov,The Grand Inquisitor was mad at Christ, insisting he was just involved with miracles and mystery. Frankly, I've convinced the people you lead want to see more miracles and mystery. Perhaps the greatest miracles they'll behold will be the transformation in their thinking as they learn to question long held assumptions and open their minds to the mystery of change. Locking arms, Bill From "Awaken the Leader Within" by Bill Perkins bill@millionmightymen.com