2009 December | R3blog.net

don’t manage your risk, embrace it

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 30-12-2009

Category : barbarian, bible, different, faith, fear, living a life of faith, taking action

Tags: bible, Christian, Christianity, church, faith, fear, God, living a life of faith, Pope, religion, revolutionary, risk management, taking action

While most of us were busy celebrating the holidays, the world was in full motion. In a matter of about 24 hours we learned that a terrorist tried to kill 270 civilians by blowing up a plane. And while all of this was going on, the Pope was attacked during a Christmas service.

Fortunately both the passengers on the plane and the Pope escaped any significant injury (although a Vatican diplomat broke their hip and a passenger suffered 3^rd degree burns wrestling the terrorist).

Reading headlines like this makes it easy to want to stick your fingers in your ears and hum Christmas carols really loudly. (I personally recommend Here Come Santa Claus.) But is that what we should be doing?

One of the things that struck me in the story about the Pope was a simple sentence that read: “Security analysts have frequently warned the pope is too exposed in his public appearances.”

Now Security Analysts are paid to keep people safe. Their job is to limit risk. To create “risk management scenarios.” But is that the job of a Christian? To stay safe? To manage risk? When I look at the Bible I see people who constantly put themselves in danger because that was where God was headed. They lived a life of faith so intensely that all that mattered was following God.

The Pope is a high profile figure. He’s part celebrity. Part politician. Part religious figure. Which means he represents a very “appealing” target to people who may have psychological issues (as was the case with this woman).

I’ve never been the Pope. And not being Catholic, it’s very unlikely I’ll ever be the Pope. I’ve also never had anyone care enough about what I do to want to hurt me. I’m not famous, rich, or a religious figurehead. So I can’t really understand what all comes with that. I also don’t really understand what it’s like to have my life constantly in danger. The most dangerous thing I do every day is scrape the ice off of my car.

But being the Pope is different.

He experiences all of those things. He has to make daily decisions that may cost him his life. And there are many people just like him, making those same kinds of decisions. But far too many people make choices based on risk management scenarios.

There is something seriously wrong with our churches when we put risk management above living out a life of faith. I applaud the Pope for being so accessible and putting his life on the line. I applaud the Christian who walks into danger, because that is where she sees God calling.

As we head into 2010 I want you to think about one question: Are you living a “safe” life? Or are you living the radical, revolutionary life that God calls us to?

an R3 kind of Christmas

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 23-12-2009

Category : choice, different, humor, just for fun, living a life of faith

Tags: Christmas, humor, just for fun, living a life of faith, R3

As we begin to wind down 2009, I want the last few posts of the year to be a bit light-hearted. Life is stressful. We all tend to work long hours. We have hundreds (seemingly) of things going on all the time. We rarely get days off (if you’re lucky enough to have a job).

Everything seems to move at warp speed.

So for this Christmas I encourage you to spend quality, focused, time with your friends and family. Enjoy their company and the community you have. Use this as an opportunity to show what it means to live a life of faith, not by preaching Bible verses, but by being there when they need you.

In the meantime, check out this video. I think we can all wish this was our house growing up…

the waste of faith

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 21-12-2009

Category : God, barbarian, bible, miracles, trust

Tags: Christian, Christianity, church, Ezekiel, faith, God, hope, Hosea, Jonah and a fish, living a life of faith, religion

……….

Every year my church does a crazy Christmas show. This is a full out, laser-snow-machine-giant-screen-booming-bass show. It even has 50 foot tall battle-hardened angels. In fact, it’s one of the best produced (and written) show’s I’ve ever seen.

But almost every year I hear someone complain that it’s “over the top” or “too expensive”. Some even wonder “why go to all that trouble?”

I understand their points. Part of me even agrees with those thoughts. I don’t know how much money is spent on free coffee, free hot chocolate, free cookies but my guess is over the course of two weeks it probably runs into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Shouldn’t we be better stewards of God’s things? Doesn’t God want us to cut out the waste?

Frankly, no.

Because what we are doing isn’t wasteful. It draws somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 people every year. That’s a lot of people to connect with God. Many of them are making that connection for the first time.

All of this has been running through my mind as I’ve been reading the “minor prophets” in the Old Testament. As I’ve been reading I’ve noticed (for the first time) just how many crazy, outlandish, unnecessary things God calls prophets to do.

He calls Hosea to marry a prostitute. He had Jonah swallowed by a big fish (although that was more because Jonah wasn’t cooperating than anything else). He asked Ezekiel to lay on his side for more than a year.

I am sure that some people, even today, would say that those things were a bit ridiculous. “Come on! A whale? Can we really afford something as big as a whale? What about something more the size of a large tuna? Or maybe a mackerel?”

That was a problem even with Jesus. Some people saw his ministry as too extravagant. Too relaxed. And so he was labeled a glutton and a drunkard.

You know why these aren’t unnecessary? Because God is willing to do anything, short of sin, to bring us into a relationship with him. He asked these prophets to do these crazy things so that their actions would cut through the cultural noise of their days. Sometimes the way to get someone’s attention is to go bigger, louder, and badder. And sometimes

Do you really think God has suddenly stopped trying to connect with us in any way possible?

Now I’m obviously not advocating waste. But I am advocating crazy generosity. I just hope God doesn’t ask me to shave my head.

God asks us to do hard things

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 18-12-2009

Category : God, barbarian, bible, choice, different, taking action

Tags: bible, faith, God, Hosea, life problems, religion, The Barbarian Way

……….

Never think that God won’t ask you to do something hard.

In fact, that seems to be God’s favorite thing to do. He never seems to say, “You know what, if you go on vacation to this exclusive resort, that will really get the people believing in me!”

Instead he says things like “love your enemies” and “turn the other cheek”. Or if you are like Hosea, he tells you to marry a prostitute.

Ouch.

A while back I wrote that God never gives us more than we can handle. It’s one of the most popular posts on R3. People have a hard time understanding why a “loving God” gives us hard things to do. We don’t really want a God; we want a super powerful Santa Claus. But taking an easy path in life isn’t always the best way to go about living. I think God knows this. He knows that sometimes the most growth happens when we have to struggle. He knows that some people will be held in bondage unless we act. He knows that evil won’t stop, just because we don’t want to get involved.

Sometimes the only way to advance the Kingdom is to push.

The more I struggle to understand what it means to be a parent, the more I realize just what God goes through. When I look at my own parents I realize they held me to high expectations, not because they were being “controlling” or “demanding” but because they knew I had more potential in me then even I realized.

We don’t really want a God; we want a super powerful Santa Claus.

It’s the same with God. He knows how much we can grow. How much we can handle. And sometimes to bring out our full potential, we need to work really hard.

There are things more important to God than giving us an easy life.

This is clearly seen in the Bible. God has always been more interested in our relationship with him than in our sacrifices (for Jews) or following a bunch of rules (for Christians). But we can’t seem to get that through our heads. We keep trying “harder” to please God, when that misses the whole point.

When God gives us something hard to do (like telling Hosea to marry a prostitute) we change not just ourselves, but the world.

You can’t find a story in the Bible where something amazing wasn’t experienced when hard tasks were done. You can’t find a friend who has been obedient to God, who hasn’t grown. You can’t find lives changed when we, as Christians, do the hard thing.

What else can you make that claim about?

So when God comes to you and says, “I have something hard for you to do.” Don’t fight him. Instead, say, “how can I do it?” And then go and do it.

following a dead god

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 16-12-2009

Category : God, bible, faith, living a life of faith, sin

Tags: Christian, Christianity, faith, Israel, living out a life of faith, money, prosperity gospel, religion

……….

Baal worship was a major problem in Israel. It actually followed them for hundreds of years. It was so indoctrinated into the culture that many Jews thought worshiping Baal was the same as worshiping God. They didn’t even notice the difference!

How could that be? It’s not as if the Bible is unclear on idolatry. It’s not as if God didn’t send prophet after prophet delivering the same message, and I quote, “Hey! Knock it off!”

But Israel was an agrarian society. Farming was a major part of their life. Is it any wonder that they kept getting caught up in worshiping a god that supposedly brought the rain?

We live in a country that is a financial society. Is it any wonder that we get caught up in things like the prosperity gospel? Is it any wonder that our priests fall into temptation of the “all mighty dollar?”

The situation may change, but apparently the human heart does not.

problems don’t last forever

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 14-12-2009

Category : Daneil, God, choice, hope, sin, trust

Tags: Christian, Christianity, Daniel, faith, God, Israel, religion, trusting God

“His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.” (Daniel 11:20)

Why is it that the weekend flies by, but the work week takes forever? Why do we find sitting through a lecture painful, but watching a movie easy? Why does vacation come and go when our daily commute takes so long?

Unless someone has mastered time travel (if so, please let me know) then all of these things can be explained by one simple word: perception.

Perception is that finicky thing that changes our reality. It makes us believe something has happened when it hasn’t. It makes us hot when we should be cold, and cold when we should be hot (this is why you say “boy it’s hot” when it’s 50 degrees outside in February, but not when it’s 50 in August).

Perception can be a major obstacle to our faith.

Perception may tell us that we can never change, that nothing good will ever happen, and we will be stuck “here” forever.

We are most vulnerable to these tricks when we are suffering. We somehow know that “all good things must come to an end” and “it’s too good to last”. We even have clichés devoted to them. But when it comes to pain and suffering we often forget that those things don’t last either.

This was true in Israel’s case.

After centuries of not listening to God, Israel finally found themselves overwhelmed by a powerful enemy (Babylon). As part of their punishment for losing the war, many of their most highly educated men were taken captive to become slaves (this is what happened to Daniel). While most of the women and children were just outright murdered.

Many Jews simply couldn’t believe this was happening. They were God’s chosen people. They had been set free from captivity already. How could they be going back?! They never really thought God would let something like this happen to them. Although if they had paid attention to prophets like Jeremiah, they would have figured it out.

But nothing lasts forever. At least not in this world.

And I think God was reminding them of this. In the story of Daniel, God simply slipped two sentences into the conversation. Gently saying, “you will see tax collectors gathering money for a powerful kingdom, but even in the midst of that, their country will fall apart.”

Not even captivity lasts forever.

That was a lesson that the Jews needed to remember. Because they were going to spend a long, long time in captivity. They had to know that there was hope. They had to remember who to hope in. Those were things they had forgotten.

Bad things don’t last forever. Maybe we need to remember that from time to time.

how the internet influences faith

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 11-12-2009

Category : God, faith, taking action

Tags: Christian, Christianity, Erwin McManus, faith, Greg Boyd, internet, religion

……….

There was once a time when the Catholic Church had a monopoly on information. At least religious information. But thanks to Martin Luther and the printing press that monopoly is long gone. In that moment an explosion of thought, innovation, and not surprisingly, faith occurred. For the first time, people were able to have open access to the Bible.

For centuries, though, our thinking was still influenced by the people immediately around us: our teachers, our family, our friends.

But that’s not the case anymore.

Thanks to the internet, people are once again being flooded with a staggering amount of information. I recently saw a study that said each of consumes, on average, 34 gigabytes of information. That’s not in a year, or a month, or even in a week. That’s per day. That’s 7 DVD’s worth of stuff for those of you scoring at home.

Just by the fact that you are reading this is enough to prove all of that.

Now none of this is new. The internet has been around for a long time. At least by technology standards. The real focus of this post is that despite all of this information most of us don’t take advantage of it. We are content to learn passively. And I think that’s a shame.

The three biggest sources of influence on my theological life come from my home church, Greg Boyd, and Erwin McManus. Without the internet I never would have been exposed to these thoughts, let alone been transformed by them. But their influence is unmistakable on my writing. My faith is deeper. My convictions stronger. And my passion for God fuller.

Of course with knowledge comes responsibility. We can’t simply absorb more information and become “smarter” Christians. We have to do something with our knowledge. And that means serving. It means loving our enemies. And it means being vulnerable.

It also means we can no longer blindly follow faith. We have to know what we believe and why we believe. Knowledge is a double edge sword. Especially on the internet. A little bit can be harmful. It can confuse us, misdirect us, and even convince us of things that aren’t true. (There’s a reason conspiracy theories thrive on the internet!) The web is filled with people waiting to knock your faith out from under you. Knowledge is the best way to stand strong.

There was a time we were limited by region, money, and who we knew personally. But that’s not the case anymore. The internet really is the great equalizer when it comes to building a deeper relationship with God. I hope you take advantage of it.

i deserve this…

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 09-12-2009

Category : Daneil, different, faith, living a life of faith

Tags: Christian, Daniel, faith, God, living a life of faith, religion

………

I deserve this.

How many times have we thought that? How many times have we said it? And lets’ be real here for a minute; It’s all too easy for us to do.

The scary thing is, it doesn’t get any easier when you believe in God. In fact, being a Christian may actually make you feel more entitled to deserving things. At least if you look at how most of us act.

It seems to me that I meet far too many Christians who think they are entitled to things. Whether it’s a belief that society should follow Christian values or that our lives should be free from pain, our sense of entitlement is profound.

Even saying “well I’m a good person” shows just how deep our entitlement runs. Because you aren’t a good person. None of us are. We all fall short of God’s standards. It’s not as if we fall just a little bit short. We aren’t even close. We fall pathetically short.

This is why Daniel’s actions are so interesting when he’s given the choice of eating unclean food (for Jews that meant ceremonially clean food, not unwashed). He simply says to the King’s attendant, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” (Daniel 1: 12-14)

He doesn’t ask for special treatment. He doesn’t say, “But I believe in God, I should be treated differently.” He says, “Let me earn your trust.”

Daniel responds to the Assistant’s fear. Not by powering up and being angry and demanding. Not by being bossy or condescending. But by being willing to earn his trust.

How differently would Christians be perceived if we acted that way all the time!

As you go forward this Holiday season, let me ask you one question: How would Christmas look in your family if you didn’t act with a sense of entitlement, but simply said, “let me earn your trust”?

judging other people (especially other drivers)

Posted by e. barrett | Posted on 07-12-2009

Category : different, faith, living a life of faith, sin, trust

Tags: Christian, God, judgment, living out a life of faith, religion

……….

It snowed last night. Approximately 1/1000th of an inch. Well maybe a bit more than that. But not much more. Now I don’t know about you. But in my city that means everything gets shut down. It also means that there are certain drivers who become more aggressive than normal. Or perhaps they are just the same level of aggression, and it’s just that the rest of us just use common sense. But either way, the bad drivers really stand out in this kind of weather.

Even though I was on the highway for only a few minutes I manged to get one of these lovely drivers behind me. Which means that while everyone else on the highway was driving at about 15 mph Mr. I-don’t-need-to-follow-traffic-patterns decided to try and pass me on the shoulder of an off ramp.

Apparently he was in a hurry to stop at the red light.

Now I’ve written before about being a Christian driver. I’ve also written that we seem to lose that Christian feeling once we get behind the wheel. I’ll forgive my enemies but not my fellow drivers. At least that seems to be what happens in church parking lots. But in this particular case I noticed I had an overwhelming urge to turn to the guy and say something just as he finally passed. Of course in turning my desires weren’t exactly socially acceptable or very Christian. Actually those urges weren’t Christian at all.

Frankly that reaction surprised me. I was taken back (although I probably shouldn’t be) by how strong my desire for judgment was. I wanted to make that guy know that he was an idiot and that I didn’t appreciate him putting my life in jeopardy.

It’s funny though. We work so hard to prove that we are right. To show other people that they are in the wrong. And it’s by that very action we put ourselves and others in danger.

That’s one of the unexpected outcomes of judgment. It puts us, and others, in jeopardy. Think about it for a moment. When you are judging other people, what usually happens? You lose your temper. You act in anger with a smug sense of being right. “I was wronged!” we think. And that attitude lets us feel justified in doing whatever we feel like.

In my case I went from criticizing a bad driver to becoming one myself. I went from being the normal, smart driver to being just as aggressive and insane as he was. I was willing to put myself and others at risk, just to make a point.

What kind of response is that?!

Fortunately I didn’t. I choose to keep my eyes on the road. It wasn’t easy. I really wanted to pass judgment on that guy. I really wanted to say some pretty unpleasant things. At least under my breath. But one of the advantages of writing R3 has been the accountability that comes with being public about your faith. And in this moment, accountability won out. Chalk one up for living out a life of faith!

The irony is that judgment rarely matters in the end. We work ourselves up over what someone said or what they did. We get furious that someone cut in line or smoked a cigarette. We call people horrible names who vote differently than us. We mock people who like different sports teams.

But what does that serve? What good comes out of it?

Nothing.

Instead it just feeds our anger and judgmental nature. The more judgments you make about people, the more judgmental you become. No one has ever become a more loving person by being more judgmental.

Maybe God knew what he was talking about when he said judgment was his to pass, and not ours. Funny how often that turns out to be true.