DoxA

TRI High in Scottsdale

Sometimes people ask me what I do. I’m sure you get the same question... I usually tell them I’m a pastor. They look at me and say something like, “That’s nice.” I wonder what’s really going through their head, because “that’s nice” is the universal answer for I have an opinion about that but I’ll be polite right now. However, being a pastor isn’t all I do; I mean with my time and talent. I also like to tell people, “I’m a triathlete or an Ironman.” That brings on a whole different response!

This past weekend was the third annual ICTN (International Christian Triathlon Network) Camp. For the past three years now people from all over the United States and Canada have come to the Phoenix area to train both physically and spiritually.

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. 1 Ti 4:8

In previous years we held the camp at a local church and utilized home stays and hotels to keep people through the weekend but this year the camp was held at the Franciscan Retreat Center; a beautiful setting at the base of Camelback mountain in Scottsdale. The advantage of having the camp here was keeping the campers together throughout the entire camp. This allowed less time in cars and more time together allowing for greater interaction among the campers. Along with campers there are coaches, pro athletes and pastors. Notably, Jamie Whitmore and her husband Courtney Cardenas (Jamie has won more Xterra (off road triathlon) races than anyone in the sport, Chris Lieto an Ironman Champion who this past year led the world championship in Kona for 80% of the race and Steve Born who is the technical advisor for Hammer Nutrition and world champion all-around nice guy. Not to forget mentioning up and coming pros John Shelp and Kirk Nelson along with coaches Brian Grasky and Kevin Palidino made this camp a practical as well as inspirational event!

What I like about this event so much is you have the opportunity to focus intense, A-types with all kinds of energy and drive to be more Christ-like. As I’ve said in the past I know many Christian triathletes who are more triathlete than they are Christian.

I found it funny in one of our small group sessions one of the campers expressed the duality of being a representative for Christ comes easy until she gets on the bike as if being competitive isn’t a godly virtue. As pointed out being competitive not only can be part of a Christ followers life it actually can breed respect and provide opportunity to share about one’s faith. Now being competitive for one’s own glory is another story.

If you look to the banner of this blog page you’ll see the word doxa and the verse 1 Corinthians 10:31. This word is the Greek word for “glory” and the verse states that whatever you do, do it for God’s glory!

So you may not be a triathlete, you’re most likely not a pastor, in fact, you may not be anything... because you may be thinking, “Hmmph, I’m just a person who’s trying to do the best I can with what I got! Well, if that’s you may I suggest you look for a group of people just like you... wanting to learn and train to be the best you can be with what you got! It may not take a camp but it certainly takes a network. Any ideas where you can find such a place?

I can’t tell you how many times I heard from campers, this past weekend, that the camp was their church; a place to connect with other people who share similar interests and needs. All I could think of was how much we need each other and what we can accomplish if we could train and share in our real churches like we did in Scottsdale!

Roe Roe Roe Your Boat

Today marks the 35^th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. The hope was to make the process a private decision for women who are facing the frightening fact of being pregnant before she would be properly able or wanting to be pregnant. It was decided because of the tremendous pressure put on law makers to take this practice out of the alleyways and away from the seedy, “B”list physicians to keep the life of already viable lives healthy and meaningful.

Unfortunately, we have seen this issue become a political football and underneath the rubble of pundits posturing and activist’s stare downs are the children who have never been born and the women who would be mom.

Noah, was selected by God to preserve life. He built a boat on God’s orders and put living creatures of each and every kind in order to keep life going... has anybody notice the inconsistency of God? I’m gonna kill off life and at the same time preserve it? Has anyone noticed the perceived hypocrisy that God gets to kill when a young woman who finds herself pregnant, and didn’t want to be, doesn’t?

Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of inconsistency with God... but then again I’m not God. What do I know?

Far too many people are preoccupied with making this “thing” right. I’m watching, right now, an episode of Boston Legal where they do their best to make a level playing field of the issue of abortion so we can decide. Ethics, based on situation... we decide... yippee! Again, where is the child? What’s really going on inside the mom?

Noah, was supposed to preserve life, on God’s orders... is anyone picking up what I’m throwin’ down?

Yeah, God is that ever present, ne’r do well, cyberdowner who makes blue-suited, pimply faced, republican minded, UB 486 haters, stand up and notice militants against human rights! Oh, yeah, speaking of human rights... yesterday was Martin Luther King Day.

Are we not the most prejudiced and selfish people we know? We celebrate human rights and then celebrate a single person... well, really a woman’s (who constitutes human?) right to do what they think best? Where is TRUE morality?

Oh, back to “Boston Legal” the show ends up being about men and their rights, and how they become helpless victims when a child’s life is at stake... !!!

Aghhhhh! Hello, people? When does the child ever become the victim?

Men, do suffer. In fact, I really believe (and what was the impetus of this post before I turned on the TV); that men are the real silent voices here. If the children can’t speak up, then why aren’t the fathers? We are so consumed with our selfishness that “rights” are myopic. Mothers, women, feminists, fathers, insolents, ensnared and found-out all had a choice: A choice of behavior to not endanger the life of a person like me or a person like you; because you may have or could have been a “mistake.” So, where are your rights? And when did they begin?   

 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.  If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.  Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ge 9:5-7

It wouldn’t be problematic if it the command didn’t exist... Be fruitful and multiply... I know: It's Old Testament mumbo-jumbo.

So, you tell me; what does it mean?

Roe, Roe, Roe your boat.

Discovery Channeled

It's a pretty nice day outside... So, why am Inside? To be honest, I'm feeling a little guilty that I haven’t posted a discussion page in over a couple of weeks. I know there are some small groups that are out there which still use the discussion post for the basis of their gathering and what they’ll discuss. So, I’ll share a story with you that came to mind yesterday as I was considering what I’ve been asking our church to consider as we begin this new year.

As I’ve been saying, for us, people of faith in postmodern America, we must become people of action. I’m not talking about political or revolutionary action but people who are willing to get off their butts and start living the life of faith God intends for each of us. We’re calling it...

 

Why? Well, most people in most churches are content to come every Sunday to sit on the “Christian” tour bus and listen to the “Christian” tour guide, who tells everyone about the “Christian” experience and we sit back and oooh and aaah at everything that is pointed out and when it’s over we go home only to return the next week to do it all over again... People! It’s time to get off the bus!

But some folks say, “Well, I did that once. I took a faith journey and it led me nowhere.” Exactly... life is like that. It’s an exploration and when we explore it will lead us to places we’ll have to turn around and go back the way we came but eventually, like Lewis and Clark, we’ll find the Pacific Ocean.

Let me challenge you with this thought for discussion: How much is your life affected by your excuses?

The definition of excuse, the noun; An explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness.

I’ve been complaining about not getting enough training in to start my new year as I prepare for Ironman 08... I make up excuses, but really – there are no excuses! I talk about how cold it is and let that effect my mood or desire to be outside, but I’ve got coats! REALLY I do (inside joke for all you Twin Oaks folks).

... a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.  When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’  But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’  Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’  Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’

 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’  After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’  So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.  For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’ ”

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Lk 14:15-24

So, when it comes to your life of faith, getting on an adventure into the Kingdom of God, what’s your excuse? Come on... be honest. There is no reason, for whatever reason to keep yourself from doing something in your life of faith. Now you may be asking, “What is this adventure supposed to look like or be like?” Uhhh, again, like Lewis and Clark they didn’t start out their adventure with Sacagawea they met her along the way. 

Here’s a few suggestions from the tour guide...

•  What would you do if you had total freedom from finances and commitments?
• What has been the life dream desire in your heart?
•  Where would you like to ultimately live?
•  How do you feel when you see someone hurting or in need and don’t know what to do?
•  Why can’t you do anything?
•  What are you afraid of?
•  When you’re afraid to do something but still take action what is usually the outcome?
•  What is faith to you now after thinking and discussing these questions?

Like I said it’s a nice day outside and I miss my bike!

I’m going for a ride. I have no excuse.

Dashboard Jesus

My daughters have cars. As a parent this can, no... is a scary thing. Aubrey drove from the bay area to southern California last week by herself. Because she is not allowed to have her car during her freshman year at Point Loma Nazarene University I asked her to drive my car to Palm Springs from where she’ll get a ride back to school and I’ll pick up later next week. She made it safely; yet, I prayed the whole time.

Consequently, Sara, my oldest daughter, was with me later that day as we were driving around returning Christmas gifts, for new sizes, when I discovered  a dashboard jesus in Aubrey’s car.  I looked at Sara and pointed to the little statuette... “Does this work?” She smiled and said, “Aubrey needs all the help she can get.” My first thought was, “Then why didn’t she take it with her.” And the next thought was, “I don’t want that in my car.” I had imagery of Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke” strummin’ a banjo and singing ...

I don't care if it rains or freezes,
Long as I have my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

Then of course there’s the old George Carlin bit (I heard it a long time ago when I thought George Carlin was funny) about why people place their dashboard jesus looking at the driver rather than watching the road... I used to think he had a point. “Hey, Jesus. Watch this!” now I realize Christ is not only aware of who we are but also, where we’re going.

It’s the first week of a new year. And it’s a typical time to look toward the future in light of reviewing our past. New Year’s resolutions are going to be made and many will be broken before they have a chance to become habits. Most people claim good intentions when failing but at the core it fanes empty because anything worth doing and having done once is capable of being done again and again; it all boils down to choice and outcome.

Choice... we decide to do the things we do. Most things are voluntary, only few activities happen without our will. Breathing for instance; we only stop it if we choose to stop. Our heart beat... stopping it takes even more drastic measures. But when we rise, what we eat, how we live... all takes a choice.

Outcome... the result of choices and circumstances. If choice is an act of will then outcomes are as much a part of our will too except during times of uncontrollable interruptions. These interruptions or redirections we’ll call circumstances. The best outcomes are the result of our ability to make good choices while controlling our circumstances... “Hey Jesus, watch this!”

Does God’s will affect our choices and circumstances?

“Hey Dan, God here... watch this!”

Somehow, God has designed life in such a way WE must move in order to get anyplace. In other words, He doesn’t transport us to place He decides for us... “Beam me up, Jesus.” No, our God has allowed us the ability to go from one place to another based on our choices and thereby experience outcomes. The life in between is about controlling circumstances: This is the dance we have with God.

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ps 119:105

We may not have an ineffective god on our dashboard helping guide us to where we’re going or pointing out the potholes of life, but we do have His Word to guide us in His way; helping our choices and revealing outcomes. We can trust the Holy Spirit to work on our behalf by controlling the circumstances and leading us to a new place. So, unlike a dashboard jesus, wherever we go, we take his wisdom and presence by carrying His Word. So, in this New Year, as you seek guidance, direction and protection; don’t go it alone. Get a dashboard bible to remind you to read your real one before you ever turn the key and start your engine.

Now you’re going somewhere!