This is a Great Story

My friends Michael and Julianne Cusick were featured on the 700 Club this week. Their story is a tremendous testimony to God's grace. Check out their ministry at Restoring the Soul.

Troy's Daily Prayers

My friend Troy - a good friend and colleague from our years serving in Europe - writes a short, one-sentence prayer each day. He posts it on Facebook and Twitter. I have come to use these as my own prayers. They are powerful, insightful, humble. Check them out on his blog HERE. They are listed on the right sidebar under "Twitter Update."

SUNY Cortland Athletics - Cortland Beats Endicott, 49-35, in NCAA First Round

I attended university at a somewhat small, somewhat unknown school in central New York. So this news today that Cortland State football won their first found game in the NCAA Division III playoffs means very little to most of you. But I'm proud of my Alma Mater! Go Red Dragons!


SUNY Cortland Athletics - Cortland Beats Endicott, 49-35, in NCAA First Round

Generous Justice

I have begun reading Tim Keller's new book, "Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just." So far I am so impressed with Keller's thinking about this subject.
      Here's the central issue, as Keller points out: Conservative Evangelicals have been very concerned with evangelism and people coming to personal faith in Jesus. Protestant liberals have been very concerned with social justice and caring for the poor. Both groups have had a very incomplete understanding of the gospel. As Keller points out, evangelism and social justice are two sides of the same coin, called the GOSPEL.
       In recent years the Evangelical church has been waking up to doing justice, and speaking up for the marginalized. Sometimes we have done this to the detriment of evangelism, almost shunning the latter. We have self-corrected and perhaps over corrected.
       As keller points out, maturity is living in the dynamic tension of the "both/and" rather than the "either/or."

Tim Keller and Church Planting

Few people in the U.S. is a better spokesman for church planting in Western Culture than Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. He critiques the Church in the West without deconstructing "church." He offers a positive way forward in reaching out to our culture. Check him out:



Redeemer City to City from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Outrage: Cholera in Haiti

There is a cholera outbreak in Haiti, reaching the capital of Port-au-Prince last week. Cholera is a brutal disease. I watched people in Africa die by the hundreds from cholera during the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s. It was like hell on earth.

       Cholera is a water-born disease of the intestine which causes acute diarrhea and dehydration. It can kill a person in a matter of hours.
       This epidemic was almost inevitable, 10 months after the massive earthquake which devastated the country. The earthquake was horrible, the assistance from donors around the world was anything but helpful. In the rush to help we in the west have perhaps caused as much harm as anything else.
       What is needed is for major organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, CARE, and World Vision along with government relief agencies (such as USAID) to run the relief programs in Haiti.
       It's time for all the church groups and other nonprofits to step back from going to Haiti and simply send money to the Red Cross and other organizations which can work on a large scale.
       

Tribute to Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta

On Tuesday this week U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta received the Medal of Honor , the highest honor given to a soldier. He is the first and only active and living soldier to receive the award.

       You can read about why Sgt. Giunta was awarded the Medal. Check it out HERE.

Or you can watch this video:

Very Kind, Gracious, Generous People

In the past week I have had the great pleasure of visiting with or otherwise being in contact with very kind, gracious, generous people. Some 5 or 6 of them. I count them as good friends which is a great privilege. I won't mention them by name because they would prefer to be anonymous - typical of their humility.
       I have asked myself what these people have in common, what are the characteristics of lives lived so well.
1. It is not about them! This is the first and most important common thread, and it sets them off from the large majority of the rest of us. They care deeply about others and will sacrifice themselves for others.
2. They are generous with their time, treasure, and talents without being asked to use them. They give before they are asked to give! WOW!
3. They are dependent people, as opposed to INdependent types. They are utterly dependent on God for their lives, and they take little for granted.
4. They know what is most important in life. God, family, close friends, helping the most vulnerable. They have an intuitive sense of right priorities and live consistently in that way.
       To those who so enrich our lives by your life, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Daring to Dream Broadly

Few of us dare to dream big. I mean really big.
As Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."
Here are some questions I have been asking myself about this:

• What do I fear would or would not happen if I pursued the dream?
• What will others think about the dream?
• How will this dream be financed?
• What if the dream is really folly?
• If God is birthing this dream, why should I care about any of the above questions?

A Great Article on Pastoral Narcissism (really!)

The most recent edition of Leadership Journal is all about AMBITION - the good, bad, and ugly of it, especially in ministry contexts.
       Let me say at the outset that I am mentioning this issue on my blog because I am 'the chief sinner" when it comes to matters of ambition, drive, narcissism, and the like. I do not mean to point fingers here.
       Here is a link to an article from the journal. It is titled, "Pastoral Narcissism." Whether you are a pastor or someone in a church where there is a pastor, you should read the article. It is insightful and profound - and convicting.
       The author, JR Kerr, quotes T.S. Eliot in the article. He sums it up very well:
"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm does not interest them ... or they do not see it, or they justify it ... because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."


And now for something on the lighter side of narcissism:

The $27 Sports Car Rental

I got to the rental car counter in Tulsa yesterday afternoon to pick up my economy class car, pre-paid for a whopping $27.
       The young gal at the counter said they were out of economy and compact cars and would I mind driving either an SUV or a Mazda 3.
       "I'm not familiar with a Mazda 3," I said. "Do you have a picture?" She showed me the picture to the right and said there was only 2400 miles on this 2010 car. It was a no-brainer - I took the Mazda 3.
       I had to drive about 100 miles from Tulsa to Oklahoma to have dinner with good friends. As I drove on the interstate (long, flat boring roadway with few cars) I noticed that the speedometer went up to 160 miles per hour. Hmmmm, I wonder if that's just for show or if this car really goes that fast?
       I drove to Oklahoma City late in the afternoon, when more people were out on the road. So I kept my speed to 80 MPH, only 5 miles over the speed limit. Good self-discipline!
       On the way back to Tulsa - at 11pm and without a soul on the road - I just had to see how fast the road would go. I think it's a guy thing or something. I chickened out at 120MPH and took my foot off the accelerator. But it still could have gone a lot faster, I could tell.
       Boy, that car was SMOOTH AS SILK on the road!

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day in America. It used to be called Armistice Day back when it was created by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 after World War I.

       I used to make little of Veteran's Day - I am not too nationalistic and do not necessarily believe that the United States is the greatest nation on earth. Now before some of you get too upset, let me say how much my respect has grown for the 25 million Americans alive today who have served in the military. My dad is one of them. Our very dear friend Nate is a retired two-star general from the Air Force.
       This is what I appreciate the most about Veteran's Day: It honors ordinary people who have done extraordinary things for their country. The people who have served in the military are not super-human; they are plain folk like you and me. And yet many of them have responded to incredibly difficult situations with extraordinary valor.
       The other reason Veteran's Day has become more important to me is that the veterans of World War II (those amazing people who Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation") are dying off, and soon we will not have them in our midst. For me Veteran's Day is about those 80+ year olds. Here's all of them!

An Impressive Interview with George W. Bush

I listened intently to Matt Lauer's interview with former President George W. Bush a couple of nights ago on NBC TV. It was an amazing, mesmerizing interaction.
       Breath-taking really.
       Here's some things I respect from the interview:
   1. Mr. Bush was articulate, much more than I remember than when he was in office;
   2. He owned up to his mistakes, he admitted when he had been wrong on some decisions (something Barack Obama could learn from);
   3. He seemed honest, open, direct, and clear. He did not mince words as politicians usually do;
   4. Mr. Bush never criticized his successor. To quote Mr. Bush, "President Obama has plenty of critics. I am not going to be one." Wow, CIVILITY from a politician! Well done, President Bush. Thank you.
   5. "I believe in justice, not in revenge." ~ George W. Bush on being at Ground Zero after Sept. 11th.

A Mind-Blowing Thought from Richard Rohr

"We all remain who we are. But on the way to healing or liberation we have to do what the Romans called agere contra: we have to act against the grain of our natural compulsions. This requires clear decisions. Because it does not happen by itself, it is in a way "unnatural" or "supernatural" . . . (we) simply have to cut loose now and then, and in the process . . . make mistakes."

~ Father Richard Rohr

Check out the Center for Action and Contemplation which Rohr founded.

Every Monday, the Economist Magazine

Every Monday the Economist magazine arrives in the mail at my house. I love the Economist. I feel like I re-enter the global conversation when I pick up the magazine and begin reading it.
       They always cover subjects, countries, and issues overlooked by much of the rest of the global media. There are usually articles about some out-of-the-way place that nobody has heard about. And they have a very different perspective on the U.S., which makes sense since the Economist is a British publication.

       Here is some of the article titles from last week's edition:
* Argentina after Kirchner: End of an Era
* War in Afghanistan: Lunch with the Taliban
* Sri Lanka's Moral Policing
* Blogging in China: Breaching the Great Fire Wall
* Can Kenya make its New Deal Work?
* France's Pension Reform After the Protests
* Technology and Obama: End the the Silicon Honeymoon
I can't wait for the mail to arrive today!