I Am a Christian

What do you think when I say I'm a Christian? Do you see me sitting around thinking how much better I am than everyone else. How the world is populated by sinners that are going to burn in hell, but I'm safe because I am one of Jesus' chosen few?

I don't.

Quite the opposite really. It was through my study of Christ's teaching that I realized I'm not better than you. I am just a fallible human being like everyone else. It is not merit that closes the gap between God and humanity. It is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It is an all too common misconception that Christianity is about living up to a standard or following a list of dos and don’ts. It is humanly impossible to adhere to old testament law or any other list of rules we want to foist upon ourselves. We simply aren't built that way. We will always fall short of the goal. We are human.

Jesus came to give us a new goal. That is to form a close personal relationship with the creator of the universe. One in which we can grow and make mistakes in an environment of love. We are not judged on whether we are virtuous or not. Instead we are invited into the kingdom as sons and daughters. This being true how can we as Christians judge the world harshly?

So what do I think when I look out at the breadth of humanity? I think how sad it is that most of us struggle so much with our day to day lives that we miss the chance to have a close personal relationship with our maker. We miss the chance to be as complete as possible. To be as God designed us.

I think do they know the good news?

Seasons of Life

Our lives have seasons just like the natural world. There are seasons of life when we are planting for the future and other times we are harvesting. Times of work and times of rest. Times to restore our energy and times to use it. Nothing is ever still. Things are always increasing or decreasing. Growing or dying. Expanding or contracting.

Sometimes we have to ask ourselves what season of life am I in?

Am I gathering information and preparing to become an adult? Is this high school or college? Did I become a father. Is this the time to grow and nurture my family. Did I just retire? Is this my time to rest after a life of productivity?

Much of what you do and how you set your priorities are dependent on which season of life you are in. I am the father of two small children. Is now the best time in my life to write a novel or even the short story I thought would be so easy. Probably not.

It is the time to instill in my children the character they will need to live life as joyful healthy people. I'll write that novel later.

The Right Time

I'm a husband and father of two, I have a full time job. I'm studying for my Architectural Licensing exams. I write a (almost) weekly blog. Time is a valuable commodity. It's probably natural to try to multitask. To pack two to three times the tasks in to the same period of time. Study while watching the kids. Write a blog while watching TV with my wife. Make phone calls while driving. Does it really work though?

I don't think it does. At least not for me.

Blogs written while the TV is on come out half baked if at all. I don't retain a thing studying in two minute increments between getting milk for Mackenzie and pulling Grayson off another piece of furniture? The only thing trying to do so much at the same time does is leave me tired and frustrated.

There is a parallel in how I consume information. It's very hard for me to not check Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, etc. almost constantly and when I see an interesting article read it right then. In our modern age with its overabundance of content this could conceivably keep me occupied for days at a time without accomplishing a single step toward any of my goals. Also, shifting gears to consume content leaves me exhausted just like trying to do multiple things at once.

The problem is I want to do it all.

Now.

I want to write a novel. Learn piano and guitar. Get a doctorate in history. Travel to Manu Pichu and Japan. Get my Architectural License. Be fit and ride my bike all the time. Remodel the house and put an addition on.

I could go on.

At length.

I'm like a hummingbird on meth. I see something shiny and I'm off. I've struggled with this for years and made only the smallest of steps toward reigning it in and actually getting anything done. As with many aspects of the human condition I think this is both my greatest strength and my greatest weakness.

My goal is to develop the patience to wait until the right moment and when that time comes actually do the thing I need or want to do. I also have to have the discipline to set time aside to create the right time. There will always be a kid to watch, something to clean or a new bit of information to read. I have to very consciously make time if I am going to accomplish anything. The opposite too. When I'm with the kids I need to just be with the kids. Read when its time to read. Practice the joy of doing one thing at a time. Be in the moment. After all this moment is the only thing that is real.

I Want To Be Free to Be Kirk Cameron

I do not like Kirk Cameron.

At all.

Every time I hear him speak I shake my head.

I'll be the first to admit I've had limited exposure to his message though. I am not a hellfire and brimstone kind of guy and cannot stomach when the gospel is presented that way. I was surrounded by that style of Christianity when I was young and it was a factor in how long it took me to come to faith in Jesus. The necessity of accepting Jesus Christ in order to avoid eternal damnation is technically correct; however, Jesus did not present the Kingdom of God that way. His message was Grace first. He did not come to condemn the world but to save it (John 12:47).

Like or dislike Cameron though it is blatant use of Newspeak to call what he said on Piers Morgan Tonight hate speech. To lump a man's polity expressed opinion in with the same kind of rabid hatred spewed by the members of the Westboro Baptist Church is an obvious attempt to squash dissent.

It is legitimate to ask if the acceptance of homosexuality as normal is a degrading factor to a stable society. This time of loose morals where everything goes makes anything acceptable. Is letting people be free to be who they are bad? Did the Roman Empire fall because their opulent lifestyle of seeking pleasure whenever and wherever they could find it made them soft? Or was it because the Mongolians could shoot a crossbow from the back of a horse? I don't know, but it is worth discussing.

As for me I support gay marriage. Freedom has to trump everything and it has to be defended at all costs. If my lesbian neighbor isn't allowed to marry whoever she wants then there is a conceivable future where something I wanted to do would be limited in some way. Perhaps I would not be allowed to have a Bible study in my home. Without freedom the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be implemented in any kind of meaningful way. Only in a free society can we choose to accept Jesus as our savior.

Do I Really Hate TV?

I want to be internally consistent. The last thing I want to be is a hypocrite. I think it is nine kinds of horrible to say one thing and do another. To say I want small government and then support increasing the social safety net. Or tell Mackenzie she can't have chocolate every day and then have a small piece of chocolate every day. It's just a small piece and I'm already grown it's okay for me.

I pride myself on the fact that if I find an inconsistency in my view of the world I will change something to make my beliefs consistent. For example I noticed I was doing just what I said above regarding chocolate. So I stopped eating chocolate every day. Later in the year I'm going to explore my political versus my social and religious beliefs and see if I can find any inconsistencies. You must be careful with this because it borders on justification unless you really change your core thoughts. Say that in the other example I decide it's more important to help people then I can never say I am for small government again.

I have always said I hate TV. I really watch very little. A couple sitcoms and pro cycling. However, one of my dreams has always been to write on a sitcom. By dream I really mean fantasy because I have never done a thing to move toward it and I never will. I'm okay with that as I've found a passion in Architecture. How can I hate something that I want to do though? That is inconsistent. So I will never say I hate television again. I will say this though. TV should been treated like any intoxicant. Taken in moderation.