My Appointment With An Empty Can

This morning, Christmas Eve, I had a divine appointment with an empty beer can.

I don’t normally come into work on Saturday mornings, but then again this has not been an average week.  My schedule has been rearranged and thrown topsy turvy by all sorts of seasonal excitement.  My nights have been late working in “Santa’s Workshop” and the mornings have been early thanks to a double ear infection in my youngest. 

For some reason when I got into my car this Christmas Eve morning I opted out of Christmas music on the iPod and went for some Mumford & Sons.  The driving bluegrass folk rock does nice things to my psyche and their lyrical content is amazing.  But I digress.

Dawn was still breaking, the trees were bare and the chilly 24 degrees was just enough to remind your lungs why most stay indoors this time of year.  The ride was very quiet as most people are still shaking off the cobwebs.  

As I drove into Hawley I saw it.  In the middle of the road there was an empty beer can rolling around haplessly back and forth submitted to the will of the car drafts that were pushing it. 

I wondered who had the drink that came before the discard.  Why would they discard and pollute the planet, the carelessness of possibly drinking and driving.  What sadness grips a person to drown in substances that destroys?  Then my ear turned to the music I was listening to.  The haunting melody played the perfect soundtrack for what I was seeing:

And there will come a time

You’ll see

With no more tears

And love will not break your heart

But dismiss your fears

Get over your hill and see what you find there

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair

All of a sudden, I felt like was punched in the chest and was overcome by the sense that what I was experiencing was something far bigger than myself, my day, my Christmas.  I was experiencing something holy.

I was blindsided by the reality of what we celebrate as Christmas.  I always know-but there is a big difference between head and heart knowledge. 

This was for the heart. 

As I thought about the empty beer can, the image of Jesus as a baby in the manger penetrated my heart: discarded and unknown to all except a few first century peasants.  His obscure birth and humble life were all intentional and part of the design for us to experience the divine.

Christ came for the obscure and discarded to bring them joy.  And when I say joy I mean what is described in the aforementioned lyrics.  Who would not want to leave the pain that brings about tears?  To possess a love that does not break your heart, but dismisses your fears.

This is not something reserved just for people who can afford it but the humble birth of Jesus shows that God seeks out all.  It is a gift that feeds a deeper part of the soul than any physical object or possession.  So as you celebrate tonight and tomorrow I ask you to just step away. 

Make time to step away. 

Grasp at something that goes beyond what will come and go.  Reach for the eternal who has become a centerpiece of this season.  Don’t let it be just a gentle decoration see off to the side of a party.  But let it be a deep truth. 

Christ comes to feed and enrich the deepest parts of the human soul.  To bring us back to the divine.  To show us real love.

Descending Into Greatness

by Jim Corbin

Remembering childhood experiences can often be difficult given the biblical command to ‘become less’. What kid ever enjoyed being last in line at a party with piping hot pizza? Most high school boys rarely wanted less in the muscle department and few girls ever wanted more ugly. In borrowing this title from pastor and writer Bill Hybels I would like to call our attention to an important matter of depth as Christ followers: God and his will are always first and foremost. Jesus said it this way – Not my will but your will be done. Do I have an idea? It must fit into his idea. Do I have dreams and ambitions? They must meet his criterion for the future. Do I want to do great things? I really have to know how to define great! ‘He must become greater; I must become less,’ says John the Baptist.
Pursuing greatness often results in blurred vision. Our initial pursuit seems outstanding combined with energy and awesome reason for our chosen path. “This is gonna be great,” we say. Sometimes we even enlist others to go along for the adventure. So what’s the big deal you may ask? Your mission may be an iron clad reflection of God’s heart. However, the heart of the human is drawn to those things that feel good and bring pleasure. Instead of staying simple in God’s call for us we begin noticing all the perks along the way. We gather more and more stuff as we go. We begin to lose sight of the simple call of God to love him and others. We ignore the prayer he taught us to pray when he only mentioned possessions once: give us this day our daily bread. Just enough for today! Descending into greatness takes hard work. It means giving sacrificially. It requires submitting to your leaders even when you want to prove your point. It calls for a return to a life of peace, joy and serenity based in a trusting relationship with God, through Jesus.
Joy. Peace. Contentment. Wow – that sounds great! Happy New Year.
It is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest. Luke 9:48

Who Is your Support Crew?

by Chris Freet

As some of you may know, I enjoy running as a means of exercise and stress relief.  There is a man named Dr. David Horton who is an exercise science professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Dr. Horton is also a legend in the world of ultra running.  For example, he has the third fastest time in history for running from Los Angeles to New York.  He is only one of nine men who finished the Barkleys ultra marathon--100 mile run has been around for over 25 years!  He also has held numerous speed records on long trails such as the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail.  The Pacific Coast Trail is over 2600 miles long and he ran it in 68 days!

But I bring Dr. Horton to your attention for another reason.  Not only is he a running legend but he is also a born again believer.  And during his attempt at the PCT spped record a few years ago God laid something on his heart.  The illumination Dr. Horton received was this:  We need people.  Sounds simple, right?  It is really more important than we realize.  Dr. Horton could not have set the speed record on the PCT without a good support crew--people hiking food to remote spots, a doctor to 'doctor' his feet and blisters regularly, people to set up camp daily so that when he arrived at the certain point everything would be ready.  This simple but deep truth is something that is vital for Christ-followers as well.  For example, the apostle Paul wrote:

"Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."  - Galatians 6:2

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  - Hebrews 10:24-25

You see, in the New Testament alone there are over 60 "one another" verses calling the church (gathered people, not an organization) to encourage, build up, edify, etc.  This means that it is vital for the church to regularly meet together.  If we are not regularly meeting with the church then how can we edify each other?  This is the point of spiritual gifts according to Paul in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.  They are given to edify and build up others.

With this we can see how important it is to meet together with other believers.  It is not something that can be negelcted if we are to grow in our faith in Christ.  Like Dr. Horton realized so must those who call on the name of Christ--we need people.

Christmas Miracles

by Ken Platt

It's that time of year again when inevitably you see the commercials, pictures, and movies that stress the importance of making Christmas something special.  One of my favorites is "Christmas With the Kranks" where Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis make plans to go on a cruise since their daughter is over seas.  When their daughter surprises them and tells them she will be home they rush all over the place to make sure everything is just right for their daughter.  They try to get the perfect food- a Hickory Honey Ham- which ends up getting run over by a semi, meanwhile, Tim Allen steals a tree from a neighbors house all in the hope of making Christmas 'special.'
I am all for making Christmas special.  Renee and I have a tradition of making Cinnamon Buns on Christmas morning.  Some friends of ours invite us over on Christmas eve for a party which includes Crab Bisque from Cooper's Seafood in Scranton.  This is a tradition I love.

But I have to wonder...in the midst of our traditions and making Christmas special, are we missing it?

It is almost cliche to say keep 'Christ' in Christmas, yet many of the people who may say that are the people Jesus decried in Matthew 23.  We get frustrated and angry that they are taking down nativity scene's yet in our anger we say and do things which in no way represent the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which the birth of Jesus represents.
You see, the miracle of the birth of Christ was only the beginning.  A part of the story that ushered in a new era in the divine drama.  A birth which would ultimately lead to death, resurrection, and in-dwelling.  
I don't care how many nativity's they take down, or how many times they write X-mas, or if people say happy holidays, or whatever.

A follower of Christ is the true sign of Christmas. 

If you proclaim Christ and follow him-You are a Christmas miracle.

Live the miracle-act justly, love mercy, walk humbly.*

*Micah 6:8

Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn

by Jim Corbin

In the great American Wild West the title of ‘fastest gun’ was coveted. The greatest gunslinger could draw quicker than the eye could see (or so the stories say). For most, the life of a young and immature person is much like the fastest gun in the west: quick to speak and slow to listen. Young Christians are often characterized by an overflow of opinion followed by an unquenchable desire to be heard. They draw fast and unleash a fury of ammunition aimed at shooting down opposing ideas and the thoughts of those who seem to be far less informed about the things of God. For them, to listen simply provides more time to reload.

Many of us are like the gunslinger. Wherever we venture our six shooters are loaded and we are ready to use them quicker than the eye can see. We don’t learn much because we already know all we need to know about a deep relationship with the Lord and his people. What we may not know is, after all, just incidental. If people would just see things our way everything would fall into place. Listening remains a foreign concept.

In the Keel Life we can go deeper than this. Listen to Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 5:

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

 ² Do not be quick with your mouth,
   do not be hasty in your heart
   to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
   and you are on earth,
   so let your words be few.
³ A dream comes when there are many cares,
   and many words mark the speech of a fool.
It’s amazing what you hear when the noise of your own words is silenced. The Keel Life is where one ‘learns to listen and listens to learn.’

As Raw As It Gets

I try not to use clichés.  I blame it on Mr. Sullivan my 12^th Grade Shakespeare teacher.  We had weekly writing assignments, which we handed in each week and in my desperate attempt to be poetic I would regularly use a cliché, because it just sounded right.  My papers would come back with the same thing written in the column-“Please do not use clichés.”

It’s the unoriginality of it; they are sell-outs of truth that prevent us from using the brains God has gifted us with.  The definition of cliché is: an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, "played out."  Unfortunately this can happen all the time in our spiritual lives. 

There was a song written 7 years ago by John Mark McMillan called How He Loves.  Most people know this song because the David Crowder Band recently covered it.  It is an incredible testimony of God’s unwavering and overwhelming love for us.  I have heard both versions and even performed it myself with our music team.  I appreciate both versions written by two artists and two styles.  There is also one subtle difference within the two version, one lyric has been altered.

In McMillan’s original he writes:

“And heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss…”

In Crowder’s cover he writes:

“And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss…”

This lyric is talking about the way in which the divine God meets the imperfect human and engages in a relationship that seeks to make man more in the image of the divine.  I will admit when I first heard McMillan’s lyric I was taken aback.  I was at a conference and the music team was leading us in this song (pre-Crowder) and when I got to this lyric I said to myself,  “Did that really just say what I think it said?”

When Crowder’s version came out I was relieved to hear they had changed the lyric to something a little easier to swallow.

Recently I have thought differently.  My different thinking comes from a deeper appreciation of McMillan and the message he is trying to send.  The message is rawness before God and about our relationship with God.

As I was talking with my good friend Jeremy we began talking about this particular lyric.  An “unforeseen kiss” is nice.  It is a sweet little surprise that might make us smile, it may even contain some passion but it is not mind blowing, is it?

But this other lyric is raw.  It emits a raw passion that is unmistakable, undeniably, and beautifully confrontational with the receiver! 

This is what we need to be pursuing with God;  A rawness which makes us rediscover the reckless love God has for us and to express it to him in new ways.  You see, God is not afraid to hear of all the terrible things we have done, to take those burdens on himself so he can give us life. 

We have gotten so used to proper language with a God created the passion, which lives inside of us.  Why shouldn’t we bite down and honestly express everything our heart needs to say to God instead of neatly packaging it into a little prayer we say before bed, meal, whatever.

Our journey with Christ should never become a cliché, where we lean on pithy sayings instead of the raw truth God reveals in our hearts through the salvation we receive through Jesus.

So be more raw, and know deeper passion.

It's Too Early

by Ken Platt
4:30am is early-not just for me, but everyone.  In fact, not many people were ever up that early until the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the light bulb.  I think it was God's specific plan for us not to wake up until the sun rises.  I also think someone should tell my son that.

Liam Harper is nearly two years old and loves music.  I cannot say that I am surprised because my passion for it is pretty obvious.  But his young age he already possess a level of showmanship I don't know that I will ever possess.  My favorite is when he dons his air guitar, gets in a wide stance a rocks out Ala Pete Townshend.  Well Renee and I decided the air guitar and the pink Barbie guitar were no longer sufficient-he needed a real one.  We found one in a catalog for 25 dollars and ordered it.  On Monday it arrived.  Renee and I made a huge deal out of it, as if this were going to mark some major holiday or a a clip in an episode of VH1's 'Behind the Music.'  We broke out the camcorder and slowly opened the box.  Even though he is two Liam is no stranger to guitars.  Every time he is around mine he is like a moth to the falme, he can't help himself.  He needs to feel the strings under his fingers and hear the sound of the vibrating strings.  So when he realized what it was he got excited.  For the rest of the night he kept it very close.  When I put him down for bed, he would not settle until his new guitar was present in the room.   After he went to bed we finished cleaning up the packing material strewn about the floor and went to bed ourselves.
At 4:30am we heard him get up.  It was my turn to go check to see that he was okay.  As I walked through the door I witnessed the coolest thing.  There was my boy-groggy eyed sitting on the sofa seat, guitar in his lap, and he began to play.  I reveled in the moment then told him it was too early for guitar.  As I picked him up to get him back to sleep he sobbed.  He kept crying "Guitar, guitar, guitar" He eventually settled down and slept til 7.
I think Liam is on to something.
He loves that guitar more than anything right now, and just want to have it nearby and play.  I wonder if we seek that type of relationship with God in our own lives.  I have recently started getting up earlier than my allotted training time to spend some quiet time with God.  I would be lying if I told you I desperately seek this time with my Savior.  Because like I said-4:30 is early for everybody.  Yet I do not do it out of a sense of duty.  I do it because I want to know the heart of God that much more.  I know that the best time to do that is when there is the least amount of distractions.
But what if someone were to take that time away from me and tell me I could not have that time of meditiation?  Would I cry as my son did?  Would I be distraught?  Do I desperately seek to know the heart of God so badly that to lose anytime with him would be a sever detriment to my spiritual health?
You see, there is an acute danger for us to formulate our own idea of God.  These ideas of God are not always based in our passion for learning more about God, but our own passive experience with how we think God ought to act.  We feel our own experiences will dictate who God is and how he responds to us.  Yet we have been given a very consistent picture of who God is and how he interacts with humanity through the words of the scripture.  But we don't always seek it.  We always have some excuse like: I don't have time, I don't understand it, I can't focus, I don't read, I listen to preachers, add yours here __________________ because we all have one.
4:30 is early, but it is not too early to engage in things we are passionate about.  Liam woke up and made a bee line to his guitar. I would urge us all to make the priority in our day seeking God through his word.  I would challenge you.  See if it doesn't change you.  See if you are not more passionate about the heart of God.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. ~Psalm 37:4 

Don't know where to start?  Try these daily reading resources:

Daily Reading www.dailyscripture.net

My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Liam and his guitar

The Keel Life Defined

by Pastor Ken Platt

There is something beautiful and graceful about watching a sailboat.  The idea that a giant sail catches the wind and pushes forward is pretty awesome.  As a 13-year-old kid watching my grandfather go back and forth across Blue Mountain Lake in the heart of the Adirondacks I too wanted to harness the power of the wind. 

My grandfather was always excited to teach others about the things he loves.  Just this past summer I got a thorough lesson on our family lineage.  I found out that my ancestors have been involved in some pretty historic stuff like colonizing America.  But when I asked him to teach me to sail he was pleased to help me learn.

One thing about me is that I am tragically impatient.  I cannot wait for anything.  Even now I sit here thinking about our second child-only two months away from being with us-and I want her here now.  This has also been a hindrance to me while learning new things.  Sailing was no exception.

I donned my life-vest and climbed aboard the small Sunfish.  My grandpa began to give me instructions.  I was hearing a lot of different things, and to this day I cannot tell you the finer points of the instruction.  I do know I had to hold the rope for the sail and drop the keel down the little slot in the middle.  When he was done I started my maiden voyage.  The boat began to inch forward then gather a little speed.  Within seconds though I was in the water along with the boat.  My big mistake-I did not drop the keel.  I repeated this same mistake numerous times and finally got tired of climbing out of the water and inevitably quit.

This brings us to the purpose of this blog.  When we look at bigger boats the keel is build in.  It does not have to be dropped, it is very pronounced in the water.  One definition I found says this regarding the keel it has two functions: it prevents the boat from being blown sideways by the wind, and it holds the ballast that keeps the boat right-side up. 

Many of us wander through our lives totally satisfied with where we are in our faith walk.  Our challenges are minimal and we are very complacent about who we are.  When tragedy or difficulty hits our lives it is no wonder that many people fall apart at the seams.  They turn to self-medication via relationships, substances, food, media outlets-whatever.  This is because they are okay with just living on the deck of the ship.  The storm comes and sweeps them into the water and they grab anything they can get their hands on.

The keel of a ship runs through the center of the ship and all the main connecting parts of the ship’s frame are attached to the keel.  The ship gains balance and stability from the keel.  Because life is not all smooth sailing, you will want a relationship with God that stabilizes you through the storms of life.  God will take you deeper if you seek him. 

This is the Keel life.

Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins

 at Blue Mountain Lake