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

Christianity 101: SIN

This blog is one of the hardest ones to write.  For one reason, in our culture it is becoming increasingly controversial to say that specific actions may not please God--that some of us may actually be living our lives in the "wrong" way.  For another reason, I personally have not yet achieved perfection (some of you are saying right now, "Big surprise.") and I still fail.

How would you define "sin"?  How would you explain to another person what the Christian view of sin? I know when I first think of this idea, I get all kinds of pictures in my head of actions that are wrong and all kinds of messages telling me in strong, condemning voices how bad they are.  Whether or not we agree with the idea of sin, I know that any one of us could easily come up with some kind of list of things that are considered to be sin.  I have a friend that though he is not Christian, challenges people he meets to be able to say all Ten Commandments.

I think that we have the idea of what sin is all backwards.  We view sins merely as actions that displease God.  We may even view these as His arbitrary rules designed to spoil all of our fun.  We even have websites like http://www.areyouagoodperson.org/ which are designed to make us feel guilty for letting God down because we could not live up to His standards.  Yet we fail to recognize that the Bible teaches us that even those of us who may be able to follow all the rules, can still live lives full of sins.  You can "do the right thing" and STILL fail!  Hold on a second, and I will clarify that last one in a bit.  First of all I am not trying to say that when the Bible calls lust a sin, it really isn't.  God clearly lays out in the Bible the things we can do to please Him, as well as which things we can do to displease Him.  But it really isn't about what things we can do or not do.

What sin really is about, is our relationship with God.  I can be a perfect person in following all the rules, and still be a "sinner" if following all the rules is about me being perfect.  I can have struggle with following the rules and be without sin, if my life is about following Jesus.  How else can Paul call himself the "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15-16) in the Bible when he also claims to have lived according to the strictest sense of following God (Acts 26:5)?  There is no doubt that Paul lived his life according to the rules.  But he missed the mark in the end, because following the rules became the end and not the means.  His righteousness became more important to him than God. It wasn't until he met Jesus that this was corrected and all of his efforts to please God finally became worth anything.

Let me say this another way, what we do or don't do does not have any significance if our actions are aimed at the wrong thing.  It is my relationship with Jesus that ultimately determines whether my actions are good or bad, sin or not.  In turn, it is also my relationship with Jesus that leads me to pursue the things that please God or not.  I obey what the Bible says God wants me to do simply out of my love for God.  I can't make Him love me by doing good things, any more than I can lose His love for me by doing bad things.  I can be a good person all my life, doing good things and making a difference in people's lives.  But without a relationship with Jesus those things lose their significance for me when I die.  But, when I do them out of my love for Jesus first, all of the good I do in my life carries its significance with me--because their significance is found in Jesus.

For example, I can "do a good thing" and donate above and beyond the Biblically mandated 10% (tithe) of my income.  Say I even go to the point where I donate 30% of my income to the church, where it will do lots of good and change lives all over my neighborhood and on into the world.  Yet say my motivation is the tax write off.  While you might cite the good achieved by my action, can you really call it a good act?  No, I am being motivated by how it benefits me.  In fact, you could say that the amount really doesn't determine its worth.  We could easily agree that a millionaire's $10,000 donation this week is no more or less valuable than an average person's $10--though $10k would do much more good than $10.  I might even go as far as to say that the percentage itself does not really matter.  But the heart does.

But I also said that the actions that we do still matter.  And they do.  It matters that God has told us through the Bible that we should remain faithful to our spouse.  But more important is that I have a relationship with God.  For me, it is much easier to follow God's commands when the goal is showing Him that I love Him, than it is to follow His commands out of a desire to be good, or righteous.  Without a love for God it is much easier for me to agree with "Good girls rarely make history" (Marilyn Monroe).  Without a love for God it is easy for me to view tithing (giving my 10% to the church) as a loss.  But because of my love for God, and especially because of His love for me, everything changes!

In closing, I have to say that sin is not an issue of actions.  Sin is an issue of whether or not we love Jesus.  Our actions have little merit or bearing compared to the significance they have when we live in the love of God.