more than a quote

If you're a follower of Christ (Catholic or Protestant), you've picked up on the fact that this quote is in opposition to your Christian faith.  It sounds good.  It almost has a ring to it.  But ultimately, this quote is misleading.  It's nothing more than a cultural proverb.


In the past few years, many of us have seen waves of Facebook posts showing inspirational quotes.  Whether they've been status updates or whether they've been pictures, you have to admit that at times, they're appealing.

  -"There's no fun in a perfect life.  So make a risk.  Take a chance.  Go where the wind takes you.  Have fun."
  -"Take pride in how far you have come and have faith in how far you can go."
  -"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."


These quotes are inspiring.  They make us feel good, encouraged, motivated.  And the quotes are really, really good at it.  There's something about these little nuggets of truth that keep us going.  Who doesn't like to have fun?  Who doesn't like to recognize their success?  Who doesn't like to be distinct?

Many of us rummage through our Bibles (or Google if we're honest) and extract these kinds of verses.

  -"With God all things are possible."
  -"Let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
  -"Be strong and courageous."


Inspiring.  Encouraging.  Affirming.  Supporting.


And then one day you're thumbing through the Bible (or Google) and you come to something that puts a bad taste in your mouth.  Perhaps it's something like this:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  These men oppose the truth - men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.  But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.                 (Written in a letter by the Apostle Paul and found in 2 Timothy 3:1-9)


All we wanted was a happy quote; one that made us feel good.

But this?


Why is it that so many of us are willing to settle for a quote that makes us feel good rather than a quote that challenges and gives direction (or truth) to our lives?  We'd rather read Eminem, James Baldwin, an Irish proverb, Emerson, or Marilyn Monroe, rather than the words of God.  We'd rather take a surface-level nugget of truth as opposed to reading something too deeply "religious."  All the while, the desire to feel good ultimately misleads from the truth of God.


The Bible is so much more than a collection of inspirational quotes.  It contains stories, poetry, songs, instruction, direction, letters, laments, and proverbs.  Why do we treat it like a buffet of truth - picking and choosing which truth's to consume?  We need to learn it and understand it's context.  It's beautiful and rich.  It speaks to the depths of our hearts.  It's wisdom penetrates.  It's not simply a collection of inspirational quotes, it's direction for the abundance of life.


And as for the quote shown in this blog's picture, it's nothing more than a shallow, weak, foundation-less, ignorant, sensational, hollow little saying.

So the quote,
"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."
...it isn't true.
"Life is found in Christ."
It's not about who you can create yourself to be.  It's about what God can create in you.
It's not about something you can do.  It's about what Christ does.
It's not about finding life in yourself.  It's about finding life in Christ.


Life....with a capitol L.
A flourishing, everlasting, abundant, overflowing life that is truly life.


May the extent of your hope be built on Christ.

May you allow God's Word more respect than a "feel good" quote.

But first, may you allow it...

spinning on a beautiful day

If I was honest with you, I'd tell you that there are days I let "things" get to me.

I'd tell you:
    that things aren't great,
    or I'm not a good dad, or husband,
    or that I'm too impatient,
    or how frustrated I can get with life,
    or how easy it is to look at life through a negative lens,
    …and I'm not even getting specific.

Today I went on a walk with my boys.  Calvin was taking a nap in the stroller and Jude was walking closely behind me.  It was a beautiful day.  The air was crisp, the grass and trees were exploding in their colors, and the birds were extra musical.  As I was admiring the beautiful day and the precious look of my baby's sleeping face, I turned around to see my other son, Jude, spinning in circles.  He loves to get dizzy, and when he's dizzy, he's dangerous.  The last thing I needed was to see him fall on the concrete and hurt himself.  I know how dangerous a dizzy Jude can be, I've seen it.  I firmly told him to stop, but he kept going.

And I wonder.  Why can't Jude be amused by the beauty of the day?  Why can't he simply take a walk and look at the trees?  Why is it that he has to start spinning and run the risk of getting hurt?  And furthermore, why won't he listen to me?

And it hits me…

I'm the one that's spinning.  Every time I focus on the negative, the things that aren't right, my frustrations, and what I'm not good at, I'm spinning.  And spinning is destructive - it can cloud a beautiful day.

It's interesting to note that the Bible addresses such things.  In a letter written by the Apostle Paul, he says, "…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

While we all find ourselves in the destructive pattern of negativity, may we be reminded of these words of scripture.  When our spinning becomes so intense that we feel like we're going to lose our balance, may we open our eyes to the beauty of the day.

The birds are singing to be heard.
The trees are waiting for you to acknowledge their colors.
The crisp air is trying to get your attention.

Stop spinning and look up.


It's a beautiful day!

"our" story

This weekend, Kelly and I were blessed by the opportunity to share our story with Impact Church (both the Lowell and Saranac campuses).  As we spoke, we witnessed the joys and tears of others who find themselves in the middle of a story as well.  While each of us have our own story, we must remember that our stories form a much larger story.  How is it that God can orchestrate so many stories when I can hardly keep track of and communicate my own?  This is the beauty of the Church.  When a community unites themselves and finds identity in Christ, something magical takes place.  The community who grounds themselves in Christ then becomes His physical presence to the world.

This is humbling.  

It isn't about me or my story.  Why did I ever think it was?  

This is about us...

   about we…

   about our story.

This is about God's Spirit moving in the hearts of a community.  It's about an internal longing to see God's Kingdom unfold right in front of our eyes.  

As Kelly and I shared a bit of our story, we humbly acknowledge that it's only a fraction of "the story."  I'm blessed, honored, and pumped about serving as the Saranac Campus pastor.  What God is doing through Impact Church reminds us of our smallness and His greatness.  May we continue to look at our stories within the context of "the story."  

insane eight >----[an overview from september '11 to april '12]

~In the summer of 2011, we had plans.

Kelly, my wife, was going to finish her LPN degree in December, and soon after we would be on our way to Kentucky to attend Asbury Theological Seminary.  It seemed as if the path was laid out for us.  As a pastor of four years, I had felt the need for higher education.  Asbury was our plan, but plans quickly change, don’t they?

News.   In mid-September, I received a phone call that changed the trajectory of our lives.  In the early afternoon, I received a phone call from Kelly’s mom, Mary.  Her voice was frantic, full of fear and horror.  With a tone that sent sheer terror down my spine, she told me that Patrick died unexpectedly.  Patrick was Mary’s husband (Kelly’s dad) and was only 52 years old.  Mary then said, “You need to tell Kelly!”  Numbness permeated every nerve ending in my body as I started processing this nightmare of information.  In the moment, I felt like a helpless child with absolutely no idea of what to do.  How could I tell my wife that her dad just died?  Furthermore, Kelly was pregnant at the time; would this affect the baby?  I remember crying helplessly on my parent’s shoulders as they prayed with me before I left to pick Kelly up. 

Devastation.    Loss - unrecognizable emotions that neither Kelly nor I can put in to words…  Patrick’s death was an earthquake that sent shockwaves hurling towards the family as well as the greater community of Ionia.  We spent the next week in Ionia with Mary and the rest of the family.  We laughed in celebration of his life, but mostly, we cried as we missed (and continue to miss) him.

Implications.    What did this mean for our family?  How would Kelly and I respond with a 20 month old and another baby on the way?  When it came down to it, we didn’t want to be ten hours away from Mary nor my family.  Asbury was out.  So if Asbury was no longer a reality, then what?  Grand Rapids Theological Seminary (GRTS) was second on my list, and because of Patrick’s death, it was now first. 

~In the fall of 2011, we had revised plans.

Aid.    Kelly did it.  After everything that happened, she continued the completion of a high intensity LPN program and graduated Magna Cum Laude.  I still don’t know how she stayed so strong.  At the same time, I was approaching my last days as the associate pastor of a church in Bad Axe.  We were in a peculiar position.  God was leading us toward seminary, but we wouldn’t have any income and Kelly was nearly 9 months pregnant.  She couldn’t work, and neither could I with my upcoming semester’s class load.  We sent out letters to some our greatest supporters asking for prayers and financial support.  Apparently, enough people from both the church and the community of Bad Axe (as well as our families) believed in the mission God put on our hearts because the support we received was nothing short of miraculous.  In January, I began seminary at GRTS soon after our second child, Calvin, was born.  The prayer, encouragement, and financial support continue to provide for our family as we pursue the calling of full time ministry that God has placed on our lives.

Tension.    Finances.  Housing.  Church.  Babies.  School.    The tension was heating to a boiling point.  Something had to break.  This wasn’t working!  We realized that if we didn’t trust the Lord in this, the stress would literally eat us alive.  God wouldn’t call us to follow Jesus in such a radical way to simply abandon us, would he?  It felt like we were walking off a cliff…

Needs.    Kelly and I sat down to talk and pray about what we needed to do to move forward.  I needed to adjust full-time seminary classes to part-time – something that would be more realistic and healthy for our family.  Kelly needed to get a job to support our family.  I needed to look for a church where I could fulfill my longing to serve in a pastoral capacity.   We needed to find a group of Christ-followers that we could do life with.  We needed to find (or start looking for) a place to rent.  So, we began to specifically pray as we looked for ways to fulfill our family’s needs. 

Puzzle.    We had connections in Bad Axe that we didn’t have on the west side of Michigan.  That was one of the hardest parts.  We felt like the different mega-churches we attended didn’t really fit.  Sure, they were big and flashy, but an element of community seemed to be missing.  We wanted something attractive but deep, personal and communal as well.  One Sunday, we attended Impact Church in Lowell, Michigan.  Kelly and I were shocked; it was exactly what we had been looking for.  I set up a meeting with one of the pastors to talk about his vision and heart for the church community and a possible internship/residency program through school.  Come to find out, they just planted a church in Saranac (a town between Ionia and Lowell).  One of the pastors invited Kelly and I to come check out that campus and meet with another pastor.  Have you ever had that feeling when you just click with people?  It was like that.  Everything from the way they looked to the way they talked to their heart for people and the kingdom of God was parallel to ours.  This is what we had been praying about.  We felt like a puzzle was being masterfully fit together.  Come to find out, the Saranac Impact Church was averaging 200 people and needed a pastor.  Are you kidding me?  From there, things started to snowball and conversations started to progress. 

~In the spring of 2012, we realized that perhaps God had a bigger plan.

Surrender.    We tend to screw things up.  It’s been the human story from the beginning of time.  When people do their own thing, they have a tendency to mutate into something ugly.  Kelly and I are shocked and amused by these recent relationships that are developing.  We’re currently in the middle of a transitional process, but we realize that the best thing we can do is surrender.  In everything from Kelly’s dad passing away to the decisions we continue to make, the best thing we can do is trust that God can and will orchestrate something far bigger than we can ever know.  We want the Lord to use us for his purposes.  If that’s in the Saranac community, may God’s will be done.

To Be Continued...    This Sunday (4/15/12) I was introduced as the campus pastor at Saranac.  This will allow me to pastor and continue seminary at the same time.  It’s happening much faster than we ever imagined, but we believe there has been a divine work in bringing us together.  Speaking of divine, one of our prayers has been answered.  Kelly has been recently employed at a long-term-care facility in Grand Rapids.  We’re grateful with the way this transition continues to unfold as we consistently place our trust in the LORD.  Our story continues to progress, but God seems to be saturated in the things that are happening.