Soul Surfing

Whatever it is you’re facing today, no matter how exhausted, discouraged or disadvantaged you might feel, those things are only limitations when you rely upon your own strength. Take it from Bethany Hamilton and Nick Vujicic, with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27)

So stop fixating on your limitations and look to the One who gives you strength. And then enjoy the ride.

 

WAITING ON THE LORD

This is Nick. Several times a week, I see Nick sitting in the same spot in Back Bay with his camera, waiting for the birds to come. Where as I go tromping all over the place with my camera, chasing the birds (or chasing them off), Nick waits patiently for them. He sits quietly and lets them come to Him.

Nick reminds me of the students in Ashbury University who have been experiencing an outpouring of the presence of God. They didn’t go running all over the world searching for Him. They simply felt led to wait upon the Lord, to put themselves into a posture of patience, and wait for the Lord to come. And He did. He met them where they were at, overwhelming them with His presence, convicting them of their sin, lavishing them with His lovingkindness, and spilling over into the surrounding community.

So often, I think pastors like me make the mistake of thinking we need to coax God out of hiding, need to attract Him into our church buildings through louder worship sets and more eloquent messages. But if the outpouring of God's presence that we're witnessing on Ashbury's campus (and now spreading across the country) teaches us anything, it's that we can't force God to show up. And we don't need to go running off across the world chasing after Him. He's as present wherever you're reading this as He is on Ashbury's campus. He is the Creator and Sustainer of this Universe. Our world is saturated with His presence. We simply need to slow down long enough to recognize it.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.” Psalm 130:5-6

Heaven Come Down

 

I can’t stop thinking about what’s happening at Ashbury University in Kentucky. A week ago, a routine chapel service at this little Christian college ended, but a handful of the students weren't ready to leave. They hungered for more of God's presence, so they stayed and kept singing and praying. Soon, more of the student body felt compelled to return to the chapel and the worship service continued. It's been going non-stop for 14 days so far, and now people are flying in from all over the country (and the world) to be part of it.

What is so striking is that there are no big-named personalities leading this. No fog machines or slick lighting schemes. There's not even an order of service. What is left is a group of students who are hungry for God. Not for more information about God.

God Himself.

Within the Christian community, we speak of our longing for revival, but most of us haven't witnessed it. Often, we don't even know what we're praying for when we pray for revival, we just know we hunger and thirst for more of God.

More of God.

That seems to be the hallmark of revival. In fact, Duncan Campbell, an Scottish Evangelist, defines a revival as "a community saturated with God." Not with good teaching about God. Not with cutting edge worship music. Saturated with the presence of God Himself.

I've now heard from a number of people who traveled long distances to attend the worship service on Ashbury University. They speak about how underwhelming the worship service is from a production standpoint, but how overwhelming it is with the presence of the Holy Spirit. And that makes sense. How else could you explain its longevity? When we are here for a show, we will quickly grow bored. But when we’re here for God, the quality of the singing or the message really doesn't matter. Even silence can be saturated in the presence of God. In fact, what's happening in Ashbury has long stretches of silence, but that doesn't seem to matter.

Too often, I fear the church compensates for a lack of the presence of God by fixating on the quality of the music or the message or even the mood lighting. Churches split over arguments about these secondary things. But when God shows up, those things don't matter nearly as much. They fade into the background as everyone turns their eyes to the King of Creation. As an old hymn declares, "the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."

Here's the best part: we don't need to travel to Kentucky to step into the presence of God. The King of Creation isn't contained within a place. He pervades this world He created, and He is fully available to any of us who hunger and thirst for Him. He is no more present on Ashbury’s campus than wherever you are reading this. And that means you can have an encounter with Him here and now.

"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth." Psalm 145:18

LIVING UPSIDE DOWN

 

Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart. Contrary to what you may have heard, his greatest goal is not to give you your best life now. He doesn’t call us to comfort. He calls us to come and die: die to our selfishness, die to our self-sufficiency, die to ourselves so that we might find new life in him. 

There’s a reason why the way of Jesus seems like foolishness to those who haven’t yet decided to follow him. The life he calls us to seems so contrary to how the rest of society tells us to live. Jesus calls us to bless those who persecute us, pray for those who curse us, care for those who can do nothing for us in return. What’s more, according to Jesus, the greatest in His kingdom are the servants, and we need to be willing to lose our life if we hope to find it. In other words, if we truly hope to live, we must first be willing to die to the ways we’ve learned to live. 

Welcome to the upside down Kingdom of God. 

Though, on second thought, perhaps we’re looking at it the wrong way. After all, God’s the rightful King, we’re just the stewards that He entrusted with the care of His creation. So maybe His kingdom isn’t the one that’s inverted. Maybe we’re the ones living upside down, we’ve just grown so accustomed to it that we don’t notice it anymore. 

Consider for a moment the crooked ways of thinking we’ve normalized: we are taught to win at all costs, even if in winning we hurt our neighbors and neglect our families. We are taught to idolize the powerful, even if they use their power to benefit themselves rather than to help others. We are taught that in order to rise up, we need to push others down. We are taught to celebrate our freedom to do whatever we want, even if the vices we run to end up enslaving us. The prophet Isaiah had a stern warning for people who lived in this upside down sort of way:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil... Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭20-‭24‬)

Isaiah’s warning is worth considering. Those who live contrary to the way of God will not prosper, at least not for long. Though they might blaze brightly for a moment, they will be destroyed by the very things they are most proud of, their so-called freedoms will enslave them. As Solomon noted ‬, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭12)

It's ironic that the way of the world which seems so very comfortable and safe ultimately leads to death. Meanwhile, the way of Christ that calls us to take up our cross and die to ourselves leads to life that is truly life. We each have a choice: Which way will I go? To which Kingdom will I pledge my allegiance? Whose values will will shape my values? It's the most important decision you will ever make. 

Choose wisely.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

 

The person who loves walking will go farther than one who is focused on the destination. When you are fixated on getting to the goal, the journey becomes an obstacle, something to get through as quickly as possible. But when you love the journey itself, both the milestones and the setbacks are a part of the adventure. 

When you’re focused on the destination, failure can be debilitating. But when you love the journey, you’ll recognize that failure is a natural part of the path each of us needs to pass through. So try something new, fail at it, learn from your mistakes, try again, get better at it and one day people will come to you for advice on how to do what you do. 

In a way, the journeys we embark on are a form of metamorphosis. In the end, the person who arrives at the destination will not be the same one who set out to reach it. So don’t begrudge the journey, because it’s not just leading you to a new destination. It’s producing growth in you that would have never happened had you simply stayed at home.