Stop defending

I love reading the reviews of music albums on Amazon. Both the good ones and the bad ones are helpful, but a lot of times I read some debate-starting reviews.

Exhibit A: Mr. Allen writes of Owl City, "When one of your favorite artists crosses over into the dark side and fills his song with Christian innuendo, it's time to jump ship. What a shame."

Now, I'm a fan of Owl City. I like the sound of the synthesizer thingy, the flashing lights in the music videos, and the way that my foot starts tapping every time his song starts playing. It also just so happens that he's someone who sings about positive messages and hopeful things...and yes, he is a Christian, so once in awhile some Christian messages get into his music. My initial reaction was to get a little annoyed with the anti-Christian comment.

But as I scanned down the 15 or so responses to his review, some mild and others pretty fiesty, I realized something: Christians, myself included, feel like we need to defend Jesus. Like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, our first reaction is to draw our sword and start swinging at any attackers of Jesus, because we are supposed to protect Him, right? We are his warriors, correct?

Maybe not. I completely believe that I need to take a stance when someone tries to force me go against what I believe--abandoning Jesus in order to perhaps do the more popular thing isn't what God wants. But I don't think that kicking and screaming about what we believe gets us anywhere. Commenting "goodbye and good riddance" to Mr. Allen for not liking Owl City anymore doesn't do any good. Picketing with signs displaying "God hates fags" doesn't help express what Jesus was all about. Yelling at an atheist and spouting reasons he should believe in God doesn't make him or her suddenly believe in God.

So my fellow Christians, let's stop trying to be Jesus' machine gun and instead start being His hands and feet instead. Let's have conversations about difficult issues--without proclaiming (or thinking) "SINNER!!" Let's start letting God do the talking, instead of drowning Him out with our own arguing.

And to my friends who aren't Christians, I apologize for the times that I've sounded condescending, arrogant, or downright hateful by trying to "defend" Jesus. My hope and prayer is that you see the true God I love because of, and sometimes despite, what I do and say.

Blessings

BG

Moses and Fundraising

Wait, you want me to speak to this rock? And water is supposed to come flying out? Enough for the whole community to drink? Couldn't it just rain instead? Are you sure?

If I were Moses, those would be my questions after God told him to speak to the rock in order to bring water for the thirsty Israelite community (Numbers 20:1-13). And after Moses grabs the staff, just as God commanded him to, he speaks. But instead of speaking to the rock, he speaks to the Israelites, then gives a couple of good Babe Ruth sized swings to hit the rock. Water comes spewing forth and everything's good...right?

Then why does God get angry at Moses in verse 12? Because "you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites..."

I've been fundraising this summer to be an InterVarsity Ministry Intern at Creighton University next year, and I write this after several days of cancelled appointments, little money raised, and a general feeling of discouragement during the process. Doubts and fears, both deep and superficial, begin to creep in: Is it something I'm saying that's turning people off? Maybe they weren't a fan of my haircut...or maybe I had spinach in my teeth?!? What if I don't reach the fundraising goal?

Frankly, it's easy to start feeling like I need to start doing more. I need to re-evaluate how I ask for support. I need to find more people who would consider supporting the ministry. I need to send more letters out. While there is a large element of work and planning during fundraising, what is often near the end of my list is my need to trust in God enough. The reason that God got upset was not because Moses hit the rock, but because Moses seemed to forget the multiple ways that God had provided for the Israelites. The Passover was pretty amazing. The Red Sea doesn't usually part for pedestrians. Manna, in quantities enough for one day's worth of food, doesn't often fall daily from the sky in the desert. Over and over, God had taken care of Moses and his community. Yet Moses still wasn't quite sure. And many times, neither am I.

God's done plenty of things in my journey to Creighton to earn my trust in Him: a home to stay in (for free) for the year instead of an apartment, a good friend as my supervisor instead of someone I don't know, and support from people who I didn't think would even give a dime! The benevolence from our great Provider and Father is all around...I just need to remember it.

I will say that fundraising will never replace taking 30 minute catnaps and eating a Cool Mint ice cream cone on my "Top Ten Things to Do In the Summer" list. Fundraising is not one of my favorite things...but is an invaluable tool. Why? Because it is about so much more than green pieces of paper with presidents on the back and getting enough support to be on campus. It's about the trust that I choose to have in Him, even when things don't look so swell, as well as about walking with God as go through the whole process.

You may be fundraising for a mission trip to Ethiopia or St. Louis, or perhaps you're trying to gather funds for another year of campus ministry. It could even be that you're not fundraising, but instead fundsaving, trying to figure out how you're going to have enough money to afford another semester of college. Regardless of what the financial situation is, the aspect of money can be distracting--something that threatens to steal your eyes from God and His power, or from life and the joy that comes with it. Sure, fundraising can sometimes be really challenging...but "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence" (James 1:2-3).

Work needs to be done in fundraising, and sitting on a couch assuming God will drop a check from the sky probably isn't the thing for me to do. But as I fundraise, my goal now is to trust God to do the providing, and wait for the water to start flowing.

God is good...all the time.