Haiti: When Tragedy Strikes

I went to bed two nights ago with breaking news of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastating Haiti.

I woke up this morning to tragic reports of tens of thousands trapped, missing or dead in the aftermath of the quake.

Tragedy. What do we do about Haiti while living in Atlanta? How should we respond to a tragedy like this or any other of the dozens of tragedies that strike so often?

I believe the first response to tragedy is to pray. Pray for the victims of the quake, pray for their families, pray for rescue workers, pray for doctors, pray for those who will soon start the process of rebuilding. Pray without ceasing. The Bible is crystal clear that there is a power to prayer. How prayer “works” is sometimes a wonderful mystery and sometimes a frustrating enigma. Nevertheless we are called to devote ourselves to prayer (Colossians 4) and are promised that prayer is powerful (James 5). I hope that we are all praying for those in Haiti as well as praying for those in our family, our neighborhoods, our city and our world who are facing tragedies of their own.

The second response to tragedy is to act. For some of us that means being a shoulder to cry on. For others of us that means crying alongside the one who is experiencing tragedy. For some of us that means simply being a good listener. For others of us it means freeing up time and money to physically help those in the midst of the tragedy. For some it might mean giving up travel to a vacation destination to instead travel to the sight of a tragedy. For others it might mean giving up several evenings at home watching TV to instead spend several evenings physically serving a neighbor or a friend in need. As we submit our lives to God’s Spirit, he will lead each of us to respond differently. But you can be certain that he will lead us to act!

The third response to tragedy is to refuse to over-spiritualize or make judgments about why the tragedy occurred. In almost any tragedy there will be some who say tragedy struck because of a person’s or a nation’s sin. “God is punishing them,” they claim. A claim like this is not only irresponsible and self-righteous, it’s almost certainly false. God didn’t cause the Haiti quake. God didn’t cause your suffering. In fact he mourns alongside each of us. What caused the quake? Well, simply put, it was caused by the physics of plate tectonics. Immense plates at the surface of the Earth are in constant motion over a flow of rock beneath. The plates often rub together, pull part, collide or dive under one another. As this motion continues, the strain builds up to the point where the rock cannot withstand any more tension. Finally the rock breaks, and the two sides move. An earthquake is the shaking that radiates out from the breaking rock. That’s the truthful response to why the quake happened!

The fourth response, one that is best given only after an appropriate time has passed since the tragedy, is to acknowledge that, even though God didn’t cause the tragedy, he does desire to work through the tragedy to grow your faith and mine. God can bring good from the bad. In fact, God can bring good IN the bad. We live in a world that makes a fundamental distinction between good and bad, happy and sad, joy and sorrow. “They are always opposites. When you are happy, you can’t be sad,” we are told. And so we read articles and buy books and listen to experts that tell us how we can run from pain and towards happiness. But we are rarely told that joy can found by running in the same direction as pain. And thus death, illness, financial and relational pain all have to be overcome or ignored because they keep us from the joy for which we strive.

But that notion of happiness and joy is opposed to Jesus’ own vision. Jesus taught (and modeled) that true joy can be found amidst sorrow and that, in the words of Henri Nouwen, “the dance of life finds its beginnings in grief.” Jesus taught that “until a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit (John 12); that unless we lose our lives, we cannot find them (Matthew 10); that “a woman gives birth in pain, but soon forgets the suffering, overcome with the joy of a new life born into the world. (John 16:21).

Again Henri Nouwen:
“[Jesus] reveals a completely new way of living. It is the way in which pain can be embraced, not out of a desire to suffer, but in the knowledge that something new will be born in the pain…. The cross has become the most powerful symbol of this new vision. The cross is a symbol of death and of life, of suffering and of joy, of defeat and of victory.”

Jesus never desires or revels in pain, but he does show us that something new and good can emerge from the rubble.

And that leads to a fifth response to tragedy, which is to remember. Remember that we live in an imperfect world for which we were not made. We were made for eternity. We were made for a world of no sin, no tears and no dying. And one day we will experience that world for which we were made. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world (John 16).” Paul wrote in Romans 8:18-23:

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”

And so we eagerly wait for that great day. And while we wait, we pray, we act, we refuse to judge, and we cling to our faith that beauty can arise amid the ashes.

Lists 2009

Last year I started what I think will be a fun, annual post for me to look back on, in a few months and in several years.

Here are my top five lists from this year.

Top Five Movies I Saw:
1. The Blind Side

2. Taken

3. Defiance

4. State of Play

5. Ratatouille (on video with my family… “anyone can cook.”)

Top Five Websites I Visited:
1. Ted.com
2. Ajc.com
3. Pandora.com
4. CBSsportsline.com

5. Tarheelblue.com



Top Five Books I Read:

1. Justification by N.T. Wright

2. Hole in the Gospel by Richard Stearns

3. The Last Week by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg

4. The Future of Management by Gary Hammel

5. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Honorable Mentions:

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

SuperFreakonomics by Levitt and Dubner

How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins

Top Five Restaurants I Ate At:
1. Sweet Tomatoes
2. Cheesecake Factory
3. Sid's Pizza
4. Subway

5. La Parilla

Top Five Things I'm Really Glad I Spent My Time Doing:

1. Growing my relationship with my wife and children

2. Being with my church family on Sunday mornings.
3. Tutoring kids at Esther Jackson Elementary School
4. Helping fund the digging of freshwater wells in Africa
5. Spending time with friends

Ten Great Memories

1. Baptizing my son at Lake Lanier

2. A week at the beach with my wife in January

3. A summer road trip to Niagara Falls with my son

4. Tucking my daughter in at night and picking her up from school

5. Teaching from the scriptures on Sunday mornings

6. Talking on the phone with my parents

7. March Madness -- The Tarheels win it all!

8. Sunday nights at Taco Mac

9. Late night game nights with friends

10. Early morning coffee with friends

Questions for Christmas

We ask and answer dozens of questions this time of year. Sometimes we pause, ponder, and even get "stressed-out" over these questions before answering them. Other times we act on them (and therefore answer them) without even giving them much thought at all.

Will I travel to see friends or family this year?
What will be the drama with that relative(s) this year?
How much time will I take off of work?
Would it be wise for me to attend the office party this year?
Should I attend the neighborhood party?
How many outdoor lights and decorations will I put up?
Should I go to a special Christmas concert/play/production this year?
How much should I spend on a tree? Real or artificial? White bulbs or bulbs of all colors?
What food will I eat? Since it's the holidays, I shouldn't worry, though, right?
How much should I spend on presents? Since it's the holidays, I shouldn't worry, though, right?
When should I do my Christmas shopping? Should I do it online or brave the traffic and the crowds?
Who do I need to buy presents for?
What should I get my spouse?
What should I get my parents?
Shouldn't I do something for those less fortunate than I am?
Do I need to do anything "special" this time of year?
Is Jesus even real?
Jesus wasn't born on December 25, anyway, right?
When do I tell my kids the truth about Santa?
Have I been naughty or nice?


And the list could go on and on and on.
We ask and answer dozens of questions this time of year.

But there is one question that I don't think gets asked and seriously, reflectively, prayerfully thought about enough. And that's this:

What are God's plans for this holiday season?

Wouldn't it be great to have God knock on your door tonight, come inside, sit down at your kitchen table and, over a glass of eggnog, let you in on His plans for the next twenty-one days? (Okay, everything but the eggnog sounds great).

I wonder, though, if God's plans for these holidays are the same as yours and mine?
And, short of God actually knocking on my door, how would I discover His plans?

Well, I want to suggest here that discovering the answer to this question is possible. Although I think it will require at least two things.

First, it will require Surrendering. Surrendering is not being passive or lazy or mad about giving in. It's saying "God, I want, I choose to surrender the next twenty-one days to you."

Surrendering means I set aside a time and a quiet place to actually get out my calendar, open it up, and ask God, through the power of His Spirit, to help me plan my time between now and December 25. Surrendering means I find a place (the Celtic Christians call it a "thin place," a place where the wall between God and you is so thin that he can break right through.) to actually get out my credit card statement and my checkbook and ask God to help me plan my spending habits between now and the 25th. Surrendering means I actually ask God to show me what people he would like me to interact with and bless between now and Christmas Day.

And then, discovering God's plans for these holidays requires Responding. It means that I take steps of trust based on promptings/thoughts I receive during those moments of surrender.

Maybe God has plans for you are to do an act of humble service in your home, your neighborhood, your church, your community or your world.
Maybe his plans for you are to take a step of courage.
Maybe his plans for you are to give a sacrificial gift.
Maybe his plans for you are to receive one.
Maybe his plans for you are to stop working so hard and start spending time with your family. Maybe his plans for you are to stop sitting around the house and start working!
Maybe he plans for you to discover again (or for the first time) his amazing love and grace.

I don't know what God's plans are for you this season. But I do believe that God has plans.

And I trust that if you and I surrender and respond to His plans, it will be one amazing Christmas season!

FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT FOOTBALL!

Each Sunday night NBC airs a program called “Football Night in America.” It’s the show that precedes NBC’s broadcast of the Sunday night football game.

Every other Sunday night a group of us get together at a nearby Taco Mac to celebrate. We celebrate football. We celebrate burgers and fries and sugar-filled beverages. We celebrate the Chocolate Chimi (Chocolate and caramel wrapped in flour tortillas and fried golden brown; served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.)

Mostly though, we celebrate friendships. There’s no agenda to "celebrate friendship." It’s just that even though we are football fans, we spend most of the time building each other up. We tell good jokes (and bad ones), we laugh a lot, we listen, and we talk about our families, our jobs, great memories from the past, the hopes for the future. It’s safe to say that we always leave feeling more encouraged than when we came.

I tell you that for two reasons.

First, anyone reading this is welcome to join us! I doubt you’ll be sitting in a rocking chair someday wishing you had gone to bed earlier when you were younger. Rather, I’d say there’s a good chance you’ll be sitting in that rocking chair telling your grandkids about the days when you used to stay up ‘til 11:30pm sharing life with friends over some football game and one darn good Chocolate Chimi.

Second, I tell you this because part of living life in the Kingdom of God involves sharing the life you are living with others. And, sure, that means gathering together on Sunday mornings for worship and teaching. Yes that means meeting during the week to study the Bible together. Of course it means praying with a friend over the phone. For sure it means digging wells in Africa together and tutoring at Esther Jackson (the nearby public school members of our church volunteer at). Of course it means bringing a meal to your neighbors when they are celebrating the birth of a child or mourning the death of a loved one. I’m 100% certain it means encouraging the discouraged (1 Thess. 5), sharpening the dull (Prov 27), and loving the unlovely (Luke 6).

But I’m also sure it means just being together, drinking coffee at Starbucks, window shopping at the mall, playing with your kids at a local playground, hiking along a mountain trail or biking along a country road, even at Taco Mac on a Sunday evening Football Night in America.

The Theology of Fun

This is worth a watch and a discussion about the importance of "fun" and where we ought to find more of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw