Archive for January, 2010

i went into a certain wireless phone store to try to get a third replacement phone this weekend.  as i walked through the door i kept thinking to myself…”i wish i had an iphone”.  but that’s not the moral of this story.  what i want to tell you about is what i saw as i was looking through all of my possible choices of replacement phones.  there it was right above me.  the most feared vision of anyone who owns a computer (unless that computer is a mac…but that’s not the moral of this story either).  BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!

now…i’ve never considered myself a genious, but if you walk into a store that deals in electronic, computer based pieces of equipment and see this…you should probably run the other direction.  i didn’t…i got a replacement phone, but i didn’t leave with a smile on my face.  this isn’t the moral of the story either.  this is…

when someone sees you or me what do they see.  if you’re a follower of Christ, then they should see joy, hope, love, kindness, unity with other Christ followers.  they should see something radical, something different, something that makes them want what you have.  mabey this will help us understand.  most of my friends have iphones.  they look happy.  they look like they are enjoying their iphones with all of it’s sleek apps.  they get to hang out and laugh and chat about their awesome iphones.  i want an iphone!!!  is this what people see when they look at you or me?  do they want what you have?  or do they look at you and see a blue screen of death?  when people see us do they want to run the other direction?

the people of haiti have been on many peoples hearts and minds after the tragedy of yesterdays earthquake.  as i came into work this morning there were many things on my mind, but this tradgedy was at the top.  i kept asking myself what i could do to help.  i knew that i should pray, but should i pray as i head to the airport on my way down to haiti so i can help in anyway possible?  but when i got into work i jumped on my computer and i came across this blog by a guy called carey nieuwhof and it hit me upside the head like a ton of bricks.  check it out.

“We’re all watching and responding to what’s happening in Haiti.  We don’t know the full extent of what the damage is or how many have lost their lives. But we’re praying for them and responding to them.  And we should.  And we will. It’s incredibly sad.  I think it’s only appropriate that our attention, hearts and response are focused on Haiti and helping as much as we can.

But what if we continue to miss something even more pressing than what’s happening now?

Whenever there’s a disaster that strikes, I think about Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13:1-5.  Two tragedies were in the headlines in that moment two thousand years ago.  The government had killed some citizens and a tower had collapsed killing eighteen.   Jesus addressed the meaning of their death by pointing people to the meaning of their life.  Naturally, just like today, people were asking the why question (why did these people have to die?).  Jesus skirted it and said to those still alive - everyone’s going to perish, and our lives will have no meaning unless we all turn to God, confess our sins and repent.  For Jesus, that was the big issue - not just the tragedy of sudden death, but the tragedy of missing the point of life.

I think about that every time there’s a tragedy. We need to respond to Haiti.  We will.  But what if it’s not the biggest issue facing the people of Haiti or the people of Canada, the US or any other country globally?

What if we prayed as hard for people in peacetime as in war time?  What if we worked as hard for life change in the absence of disaster as in a moment of disaster?  You and I tend to turn to God in seasons of despair and tragedy.  What if we just turned to him that way and lived our lives out differently every day?  Love doesn’t just respond to crisis, it responds to people.

What if there was an urgency to the mission of the church everyday as intense as it is in crisis? What if we gave like we’re giving now to the larger issue of changing the lives of people in Haiti, Canada, the US and beyond when there was no ‘crisis’ other than the one Jesus identified?  What if we cared last week like we cared now?

What if we acted like there is a crisis even if there wasn’t a crisis? “