The reflected glory of the sun

I was driving to work the other evening and as I came up the to the exit of our subdivision I saw this beautiful pine tree with orange needles. It was like nothing I had ever seen and I immediately wanted one. As I came up closer to the exit I saw that another tree across the street was the same color, which was strange since it was a leafy tree. Then it hit me that the beautiful color of the trees was actually the reflected light of the orange setting sun behind me. As I finished my drive it occurred to me that this is how we are supposed to be as Christains. We are to reflect the light that is Jesus Christ and we are to do it in a way that makes peoples first response that they immediately want some of what we have.
Lord help me to reflect your glory!

Tobacco, advertising, and integrity

In the course of my work today I was trying to roundup some tobacco advertising for my next DARE lesson. It talks about the deception in tobacco advertising and how it is aimed at children. I have to small misgivings with this lesson. One is that I have been hardpressed to find any print tobacco advertising, which is what led me to drive around and take pictures of posted advertising at local convenience stores (more on that in a minute). So I'm not really sure tobacco advertising is really that big an issue anymore. Second I am really struck more about the whore-ishness of all advertising. Everything, even razors for shaving are sold with sex as the carrot. I rented a PBS documentary on advertising to youth called "The Merchants of Cool" from Netflix and it really made me realize how competition in the market place drives movie makers, merchants, and advertisers to try to out do one another to grab our attention and unfortunately ever increasing smuttyness is the most efficient means. What was really disappointing was an interview with a 13 year old who was waiting in line to be a contestant in a model search. She said something like, "I always need to be beautiful so that people will like me." She seemed willing to do whatever it might take to get noticed. It really sent home how we are whoring out our own daughters and sisters to sell more widgets. That's pretty low. And that makes focusing on tobacco alone seem so short sighted. It is the same lack of identity that drives some to sell themselves out that drives others to use drugs. Drug use is a symptom not the problem itself. We have modeled that efficiency trumps integrity and then we wonder why they take drugs, cheat on tests, and try out for american idol when they can't sing or dance a lick. After all taking drugs make you feel better a lot quicker than working hard and achieving a goal, cheating gets the grade which is all we adults care about, and if you could make it as a star without ever having to practice once or be reprimanded by a teacher wouldn't that be better? I don't think so.

What's been up lately

I've had a couple of good writing days lately. I've been working on a book on the topic of humility since we moved to Omaha and had kind of hit a dead end with the concept for awhile but felt like the Spirit gave me some new material. I let LA read it and she was underwhelmed. I think I need to work it over some more. A lot of what I write seems to come out very adversarial at the start, which I don't like. I don't know if that's the problem here or not. Anyway its good to be writing again.
I took last Friday off and at Lee Ann's suggestion and the nudging of the Spirit decided to take 15 minutes and check out a trouble light that had been on, or so I thought do to our quirky emergency brake in the van. It turned out to be a leaky sensor on the master cylinder that would have eventually led to a total brake failure! Thank God for his Spirit and my wise wife.
Oh also, I was able to redeem something on Friday that only has value to me and will probably seem stupid. I teach DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to 6th graders at public school. One part of the program is rewarding well behaved students with the honor of caring for DAREN the DARE mascot who happens to be a stuffed animal lion that wears a black DARE Tshirt and no pants. Anyway we've had this old overly loved DAREN laying around at the office and it would have been nice to have 2 DARENs to use in class, so I decided to redeem the cast off tattered DAREN. I put him through the washing machine which cleaned all the yuck off of him. I took a Sharpie marker and colored in where his plastic eye had gotten scratched, and then I took him to the Build-a-Bear workshop (a store that equals Victoria's Secret on the male uncomfortability scale) to find some clothes. I found him some new camoflage military fatigues for $12. I think he'll actually be more popular than the brand new DAREN I have been using. I don't know why I shared that except that I love redeeming things that seem worthless to others. We rented The Sandlot on DVD and the character Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez was that kind of character in the way he acted toward the main character "Smalls." Great movie!
We studied scripture today with my brother and his wife and were trying to figure out in 1 John 5 what the sin that leads to death is refering to, and why you aren't supposed to pray for someone who has committed this sin. It seemed like the sin had to be unbelief or denying Christ but we trouble understanding why it was telling us not to pray for them. Unless maybe the sin was fatal in the sense that they died in unbelief in which case then prayer would be kind of pointless I guess. With the kids we acted out the angelic destruction of our Lego Sodom and Gomorrah. Dicey passage to go through with kids, but we made it and they had fun.
Anyway that's all for now.

Starting life over

NLT 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

NLT John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan-- this rebirth comes from God.

NLT John 3:1 After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, 2 came to speak with Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you." 3 Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God." 4 "What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" 5 Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.

Isaiah 55

NLT Isaiah 55:
1 "Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink-- even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk-- it's all free!
2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!
3 "Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake.
I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised to David.
4 He displayed my power by being my witness and a leader among the nations.
5 You also will command the nations,
and they will come running to obey,
because I, the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious."
6 Seek the LORD while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
7 Let the people turn from their wicked deeds.
Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong!
Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "
And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 "The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.
11 It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
12 You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
13 Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up.
This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD's name;
it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.

The fruits of a "failure"

I worked security at a Christian concert last weekend. It was fun and I got to meet Rob McCartney, a local newscaster, and Anthony ? a guy who wears a red T-shirt that says "Jesus died for your sins" everyday and has a cable axcess show where he preaches at the camera in his basement. They were both interesting characters. The event was poorly attended which gave me another opportunity to think through the motivation for and purpose of such events (do larger numbers mean a success and fewer mean a failure? If important relational connections are made by individuals there, is that success? After all, as a Pastor I'd pay $1000 in airfare and conference expenses to gain little more than a relational connection with an author or other info that could theoretically be found from home). Anyway I met Chad, a Christian leader in the community in which I work, who I happened to run into the next day at the Corporate Cup as well(pictured above)! Nice guy who was definetly very excited about connecting people to Jesus. He had an evangelist who is also a local law enforcement officer come speak. I have heard this officer/evangelists name bandied about ever since I entered law enforcement so it was good to finally meet the guy. He was one of those guys who is so single minded that it almost makes you think he is crazy.
People to make God tired of hearing about me
He challenged me that I need a prayer team of people who share my vision. The conversation made me realize that I do need to solicit the prayer support of those around me. I'd like to ask my readership? to consider beginning praying for me. I realize that not all of you are sure you understand or agree with what I am doing. I think regardless we could all pray that God would guide me, help me to know what to do next, and surround me with people who can help me and who I can help. If you are willing to do this please email me a brief response to emergingkurt@cox.net. I'll try to email prayer updates so that you know what is happening and can pray in as focused a way as possible.
Sharing the Good News
The last thing worthy of note, I thought it strange that amongst all these evangelists there God brought 13 year old Preston to me. He was attracted to my uniform and asked what being a Police Officer was like. I asked what he wanted to be and he said a professional wrestler. Unfortunately his genes have not predestined him for such work. He also said that he wanted to move to Japan not for the shallow reason I might think but because Japanese girls are hot. He then asked how you get girls to like you. The Holy Spirit I believe influenced my words and thinking. I told him that I think you have to figure out who you are as a person, that if you find your identity in whether you have a girlfriend or not then girls can see that you aren't a real person on your own, apart from a girl. Most girls don't want a guy who thinks so little of himself that he thinks he only has value if he is attached to someone else. "So how do you fix that?" he asked. I responded that I think that you have to figure out who you are and what your purpose is. I said that I knew people who had lots of money, fast cars, and big houses and that they never seemed content. They wanted more. Just a little more. Then they'd be happy, but they never are. I told him that for me that started with answering the question of whether there was a god or not. Because if there was then he probably created all this with something in mind, where as if there wasn't a god or fate or some kind of controlling theme in the universe then purpose would be difficult to determine, at least from my stand point. Life would seem pointless. I pointed to the sky where there was one of those clouds with the sun pouring down through in discernable rays that just have to be God smiling at you. I also pointed out a beautiful sport kite with two 40' tails that was being flown in beautiful sweeping circles and suggested that God directs us into the circumstances of our lives just like the wind blows the kite. At this point Preston said that he didn't believe in conincidences and that he believed God had brought us together. Then I asked Preston if he was looking for his purpose. He said he wanted to. I challenged him that people rarely find what they aren't looking for. That was the end of our conversation and I sent Preston off with his mentor, a local pastor. It wasn't the entire gospel, but it was what Preston needed. You have to be thirsty to want a drink.

Pics from the Corporate Cup Run - 6 MILES!

LA and I have been training for this race for several months. We had an adventure running together. This was something we put on a list of future goals right after we got married 8 years ago.

The race went through lower economic parts of town that we wouldn't go to otherwise and put us together with people we wouldn't otherwise come in contact with.



















I was so proud of LA for being courageous enough to give it a try. God has blessed me with a wife who isn't finished tasting all that life has to offer. We both look forward to future adventures!

An excerpt that sounds exactly like what I'm talking about

This is from chapter 2 of the 2004 book "New Way To Be Human" by Charlie Peacock

What would you say "Jack and Jill" is about? I'd say this is a story of two people traveling to get water and having an accident. But what if "Jack and Jill" is about
1. the partnership of male and female in the day-to-day needs of life?
2. the admission of human need (water), and how, in this world, meeting needs is often very difficult, dangerous work?
3. the topography of life where there are hills and valleys, and sometimes you climb a hill just to fall back down again?
4. the fact that human actions with the best of intentions for the purest of needs can still end in tragedy?
5. the ineptitude of men, and how they drag women down with them (Just kidding, I think.)
What if "Jack and Jill" is about all of this (and more), and it is about two people traveling to get water and having an accident?
What we think the story is about depends a good deal on where we stand as we read it or observe it...What if Christianity is about humans as sinners in need of a Savior, but like "Jack and Jill", it is about so much more? What if the "so much more" is just as important as the fact that we are sinful humans in need of a Savior? What if it's the "so much more" that provides the controlling Story for unceasing life beginning right now? To miss something as important as the controlling story would be to miss the script, the operating instructions, the way to be human...The narrative of God acting in human history is compelling, not boring. Yet somehow many of us who profess to follow Jesus have dreamed up the most fantastic ways to rob the Story of its power to attract and invite. Do you ever wonder...
-why people who call themselves Christians are so easily caricatured?
-why Christianity is so often seen as an unattractive religion when Jesus the person on whom it was founded, is considered to be one of the most enigmatic, compelling, and attractive figures in world history...
-why people who call themselves Christians have taken their place among the cliched, bored, cynical masses as if they hold no sure means to escape or transcend such a fate?
-why the talk of professing Christians about "their faith" sounds like a mantra they've grown bored with rather than the story of something profound, myserious, beautiful, and life-changing?
-why professing Christians can't seem to discuss "their faith" with anything near the expertise, enthusiasm, and imagination they have for hobbies, sports, celebrities, films, or music?
Marva Dawn voiced my own frustrations when she said, "One main reason why people outside of Christian spirituality aren't attracted to it is because we (Christians) don't demonstrate a way of life different enough to warrant belief.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this book!

That's what I'm talking about!

Ephesians 5 :1-2 (The Message)
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

6:14-17
Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon.

Freedom to interrupt our schedule

The sky was clear as the big orange sun was preparing to set in front of our van as we drove down Giles towards home, towards bedtime. Freedom seized me! I spun the van around and parked in full view of the setting sun and we all counted the seconds from when the sun was fully visible standing on the horizon to when it had disappeared...130 seconds! It was like watching a miracle and then when you think that someone else on the opposite side of the earth is watching it rise at the same time...AMAZING! The kids loved it.

How to live

Galatians 5:16(The Message)
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit.