Did you fall for yesterday's Back to the Future scam?

Oh Back To The Future.

You are up there with Ferris, the Breakfast Club and Ghostbusters as movies that inspired my generation's mindset (probably explains a lot about my weirdness). You also inspired us to skateboard more than Tony Hawk ever could and to play guitar before we ever heard of Guitar Hero. And though hardly any of us had ever seen or heard of a DeLorean before you (just admit it), nothing can take your place in our minds when that word is by chance uttered.

So yesterday was a big day.

It started slow but then grew like wildfire on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Yesterday was the day that Doc set the time machine to in Back to the Future II:

Obviously anyone who grew up with these movies would get instantly excited and then share the big news. I did. It was like an instant reaction: BOOM! RETWEET! RESHARE! REPIN!

Thing is...it was a scam.

Some of the best reminders about God - Pt 1

Sometimes the best place to be reminded that God is all knowing is in the midst of a situation where you have no idea what is going on. 

Maybe the best time to be reminded that God is in complete control is in the midst of an hour where you have no idea what to do.

The trick is to to not allow your situation to define who God is, but to allow what is true about God to help you define your situation.

Some apostates have come about because they gave the power of definition to their situation and in turn the character and heart of God became misinterpreted and misrepresented. 

Batter My Heart

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

This is one of my favorite poems, a sonnet by John Donne.

It is a dangerous prayer to ask God to batter your heart in such away that it becomes untangled from all other things but Him. But such a prayer must be offered, that we would be divorced from all other allegiances and found only with eyes for Him.

A dangerous prayer, a possibly difficult prayer, but a necessary one.

Clouds of power, clouds of beauty

In Nashville for work yesterday, the city was under tornado warnings. The guy who handed me car keys at the rental booth said, "Might want to hunker down in the afternoon." Yes, he said "hunker down." It's Nashville. A Starbucks and a CVS I stopped at both had signs up stating, "Closing early due to impending weather." Apparently the storm was something to be concerned about. And of course the church I was at was smack dab in the middle of it all.

In the afternoon the sky shifted hue in the blink of an eye. Darkness came in an instant. I stepped outside when it first started up and took this video of the hail coming down:

The father who keeps his promises

Sunday night our family visited Mosaic, Erwin McManus' church in West Hollywood. It was an incredible service and Erwin gave a phenomenal message, as expected. Before we left for church though, our kids had their hearts set on going swimming at the hotel. We knew we wouldn't be able to make visiting Mosaic if we took a dip, so we ensured them there would be swimming when we got back. 

While buckling Baylee in after church the first words out of her mouth were, "We're going swimming when we get back, right dad?" I love swimming and having fun with my kids, so with complete confidence and intention I said, "Baylee, we are going to swim! I promise you! Unless the pool is broken, we will swim. And if for some reason it's closed when we get back then I promise we will go in the morning." The result was one huge smile.

Now take the fact that 8pm Los Angles time is actually 10pm to Baylee and Jaxon's little Chicago bodies and add to it a 35 minute drive back to our hotel, and result is two zonked out little kids. Gone. Comatose. At this point it didn't matter if the pool was open or not.

But it did matter in the morning. At 7:45am Baylee was awake and the first words she said were, "Daddy, do we get to go swimming?" But she didn't stop there. She added the other words. She played the trump card. She called me out.

Some thoughts about the fact the world is ending today

Harold Camping

Today the rapture might happen, the world as we know spinning into chaos. I type this while sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Orlando. Guess if I can't be in Chicago then the land of Mickey is as good a place as ever. It's unfortunate though because Baylee and Jaxon were anticipating the Magic Kingdom on Sunday. [insert churchee crack about the real Kingdom here].

Harold Camping predicted that this would all happen on May 21, 2011.  It didn't.

Mr. Camping explained his error and then rescheduled things. For today. Oct 21, 2011.

I'm going to bet my kids will be able to take a picture with Mickey this Sunday afternoon.  

A few thoughts on Mr Camping and end of the world predictions:

When was the last time you went to church?

Just because the last message was incredibly boring doesn't mean today's will be.

Just because no one said HI before doesn't mean no one will smile and say welcome today.

Just because fakes were at the last place doesn't mean they aren't genuine at the new place.

Just because you were hurt at the last church doesn't mean you can't find healing at the next one.

Just because the last pastor was a prideful jerk doesn't mean the next can't be a humble servant.

Don't condemn all Christians as guilty because a few act like complete idiots.

Don't attempt to hold Jesus hostage because of how His children behave sometimes.

Don't allow a few worse case scenarios to blind you to all of the best ones.

When was the last time you went to church?

Don't miss an opportunity today.

It's worth your time to check these blogs out

Supposedly, there are 152 million blogs on the internet. "What in the world is a blog?" you might ask (please don't ask what the internet is). It is basically a way to share information. That's a pretty short, unsexy definition, but it works.  

Blogs can be a way for people to record their daily ongoings and feelings, or they can be a means for corporations to share about their products and vision. There's pretty much a blog out there for any area of life, and any nuance is passionately detailed and received by those who care. 

I follow about 135+ different blogs. Some are written by people that I know, most by people I've heard of. Some have to do with ministry, some with culture, some with techie news, and some are just for fun. Here's a breakdown of some of the blogs I follow that would be worth your time to check them out: 

Give yourself permission today

We are not machines. You were not meant to work 24/7.

God doesn't want you to be like that.

So give yourself permission today to take a break.

Go for a walk

Watch a movie

Play Monopoly

Start a novel

Take a nap

Watch the Bears

Eat ice cream

Play dolls with your daughter

Wrestle with your son

Lock the kids out of the bedroom

Make dinner from a receipe

Sit in a coffeeshop

Visit Lincoln Park Zoo

Get out of the city, go to a forest preserve 

Play Xbox

Go apple picking

Go pumpkin picking

Read your Bible - Try Psalm 139 

Color or paint

Knit

Window shop

Visit Navy Pier

Go on a boat ride

Play guitar

Take another nap

Do something...other...than...work!

Read this or this for some other insights.

You need to take a break. Give yourself permission to do it.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  Exodus 20:8-11

DEFIANCE: Turn Your World Upside Down

Today at church we are starting a new teaching series called DEFIANCE: Turn Your World Upside Down. It's going to a great few weeks of digging into the Bible's letter of 1 Thessalonians. 

Here is our explanation of what it's all about:

Our culture invites people into a life of doing whatever you want. People live with no real thought of implication or consequence. To jump in and go with the flow would be pretty easy. But God calls those who follow him to a greater standard. Following Jesus today means going against the flow, because living a holy life flies in the face of our world system. It's anything but easy and yet it's what our returning King calls us to do. So join us for our newest sermon series: DEFIANCE – Turning our world upside down!

One of our incredibly talented artists/video guys in church, Juan Zavaleta, made this awesome teaser video for the series:

Come on out to New Life Lincoln Park as we get this thing rolling: 1110 W Lill, Chicago, IL 60614

Services are at 10am and 5pm (I'll be speaking at the 5pm).

Week in Review #6

I'm sitting in LaGuardia airport, waiting to catch the flight back home with the fam. 10 days in NY was amazing, but we're ready for being back in sweet home Chicago. Just the same, here's the past week:

Critiquing Criticism: a lesson from The Smurfs movie

Transformers. G.I Joe. He-Man. Mask (come on - who remembers Mask? It was a-maze-a-zing!). Thundercats. Voltron. These were my favorite cartoons while growing up. But I must be honest, I must confess: I also watched the Smurfs. Yes, yes I did. Papa Smurf, Jokey Smurf, & Hefty Smurf were my favorites. Smurfette was dumb and annoying (young guy's perspective). Yes...I am a closet Smurf fan.

The idea then of a live Smurf movie was a mixed bag for me. It could be cool or it could be horrible, there didn't seem to be a lot of room in-between. But, having a 4yr-old and a 2yr-old that can be taken advantage of to see kid's movies without losing my mancard, I was willing to give it a chance.

And then the early reviews came out.

Me & N.T. Wright

Yesterday I was fortunate to have met N.T. Wright. For those who have never heard of him, he is one of the top Biblical scholars in the world, a prolific author, and great speaker. For me, this interaction was the equivalence of a junior high girl meeting Justin Bieber. Except I didn't scream like one.

When you see a leader like this from afar you wonder what they will be like in person. He was incredibly kind and engaging. We were able to chat for about 10min, talking about when he came to the Theological Lectureship at Wheaton, a little about Logos, and also his current work. Yeah, pretty awesome.

Bono, the blind man, and the 2nd commandment

We are going through the 10 Commandments at church, and I've been fortunate enough to have spoken on the first four of them. It's been an incredible time and a really amazing series.

Last week I saw a sweet video of U2's recent concert in Nashville that reminded me of the power behind the 2nd commandment.

My 2yr old Jaxon & G.K. Chesterton

Monday we had lunch at a McDonalds near Midway airport. Because I was flying out for work in the afternoon, we went to this particular Golden Arches so I could laugh with the kids in the play area up till the last minute before having to head over to the airport.

It really is amazing to think of the minds that artfully concoct the different tube and slide patterns. Kids go through laughing and sweating and enjoying every minute, parents go through at the risk of needing reconstructive knee surgery afterward.

This particular play area had an enclosed section that I could actually stand up in, thanks be the maker, my head just an inch or two from the ceiling.  It was circular, about 5 feet across, and for whatever reason my two-year-old Jaxon loved this part of the structure. Probably because he didn't have to really climb anything to get to it, just one tube crawl into the enclosure. 

Why Super 8 is an amazing movie

On Saturday, some friends and I went to see J.J. Abrams' newest movie: Super 8. It is easily one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.  That being said, it's one of those movies that you can't say what it's about without giving away the plot.  So in trying to avoid spoilers, I'll say that Super 8, in its most basic sense, is similar to the movie "The Sandlot." But a sci-fi version.

In writing and directing Super 8, Abrams included everything that makes for a great movie: great dialogue & plot development, humor, big (but not over the top) special effects, emotion, and characters you want to root for.  At its core though, Super 8 is just a superb story. J.J. Abrams has a knack for doing this, and to me, he is one of the best storytellers in Hollywood. 

It's because he is a master at using mystery. 

Timing

Yesterday we were scheduled to welcome our son into the world. Jeannette's C-Section was to be at 9:30am, shortly thereafter followed up with, "It's a..."

As you can tell from my previous post, our timing expectations were not met. Our son, Jaxon Zion, came two weeks early (technically three weeks from the actual due date).

Why in the world would God do that to us?

I mean, come on, we were going that Wed to get baby stuff out of storage; there weren't even any diapers in the house. Plus we already had the date on the calendar, we were dreaming of end-of-July birthday parties.

Why would He spring this on us?

Confession time: I'm so glad Jaxon came early! Seriously, we were praying and old school crossing our fingers for him to come early.

The obnoxiousness above comes from yesterday morning, 9:30am to be exact, when I was thinking that we rarely, if ever, question God's timing when it benefits and blesses. And hey, as long as the outcome is positive then we're good with early as well. But look out if God is late or negative on delivery. We'll complain, question, accuse, and doubt if it seems that God's timetable is out of sync with ours.

And in essence that's the problem: we have a plan we expect God to approve of and execute, rather than trusting His plan and will. Instead of putting faith in God's infinite foreknowledge, we lean on what we assume to foreknow - an outlook which in reality is finite.

Holding Jaxon for the first time that afternoon on the 13th, we thanked God for His goodness, His love, His faithfulness. Even though how He timed things was a curve ball, our thankfulness was thick.

Now I just have to remember that He never changes. Those characteristics are constant even when the timing curve can't be hit; even when it seems like it hit me in the face. We may never understand His timing, but we can believe He will always be true to who He is (that belief does need a proper understanding of who He is).

May we trust His timing.
May we have faith in His constantant goodness.

-- Posted From My iPhone

Speaking about Sabbath

I was able to speak at church yesterday and was ecstatic to be able to dive into the topic of "Sabbath & Stress." Here's the link to the message: New Life Sermon Achieve.

There are two things about Sabbath that are not only genuinely special to me but also carry a lot of weight in my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

The first is that Sabbath is meant to be a reminder of CREATION & REDEMPTION. Just like celebrating communion is a sign to remind us of what Jesus did on the cross, Sabbath is a sign to remind of us of these two core truths:

CREATION: God is in control, not just of the universe but also of my life.
REDEMPTION: I am not a slave or a machine, my identity is based not in what I can produce but in my relationship with God.

How often do we forget those two things? The significance of CREATION & REDEMPTION should be real to us when we realize that God wants us to remember them WEEKLY!

The second thing about Sabbath is that God gives me permission to take one! God literally wants me to every week take a day when I don't work, when I don't produce or create, and simply exist. God wants me to take a day every week when I focus on connecting with Him, with family, with others, and with creation! How amazing is that! It's not a day about being "bored for the Lord" - it's meant to be the most important day of our week when we celebrate and experience that we're alive!

I told everyone yesterday that I was again the target of God's sense of humor. He always gives me the topics to talk about that I most need to hear. I don't practice Sabbath very well, at least not on a regular basis. But...this message got to me in a real way. Sabbath is going to become a regular thing in the Moss family! It needs to be.

And it needs to be for you as well!

I don't want a New Testament Church!

I've had conversations with people and have read in books the need to get back to church the way it was done in the New Testament. I understand the principle, the idea behind this I think. Yesterday at the Sticky Church conference though I had a thought: I really don't want a New Testament church - I want a 21st century church! Let me explain.

To truly have church the way those in the New Testament did, the following would need to be true:

• I can't use my guitar for worship- even the acoustic one.
• I can't use my TNIV Bible, or even an ESV, NIV, NLT, or even a KJV. Well, maybe a KJV.
• I can't sing any of the songs that I know - even Amazing Grace.
• Obviously Power Point & Media Shout aren't necessary then - but regardless, I couldn't use them anyway.
• I couldn't use my car.
• Would need to delete my email, blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.
• Any books that I have now on ANY subject matter would have to be ditched simply because they are bound books.
• And I'd have to tell most of the people that I know that they can't come to my church because I can't fit them in my house.

Those are just a few examples, I'm sure more can be thought of, but the point is: the NT church didn't have any of these things - so if I'm really going to have a NT church then I can't either!! Time to brush up on Greek & Hebrew, huh?

I want a 21st century church!

Let me clarify, I want a 21st century church built on New Testament principles. That distinction needs to be made. Little harder to discipher because we have to actually study and learn what God is telling us about this beautiful thing He came up with called the Church - but I think that is better than just reading and mimicking without really understanding what is being said.

Like I said, still chewing on this. Any thoughts?

Were we wrong with the 21 Day Fast?

A week ago today New Life ended a 21 day season of fasting and prayer. Some fasted from a meal a day or a couple meals a day, some only drank juice for the season, some said good-bye to forms of media. The emphasis throughout was for personal spiritual renewal, and we encouraged one another to keep at it, to pray, and to draw closer to God through the act of removing.

But was it the wrong thing to do?

To clarify - did we go about it the wrong way? Fasting isn't wrong, the Bible clearly teaches and encourages it. But is the manner in which we as a church went about it done in a wrong way?

The question was raised, "Jesus says to not let people know that you're fasting. We're letting everyone know, it's even being pushed on our website. How much more obvious can we get that we're doing it? Isn't that wrong?"

The passage that's being referenced in this great question is from Matthew 6:17-18:

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

So the honest question is valid - by being obvious that we were fasting were we doing something wrong?

When we bring our good questions to the Bible we have to as much as possible look at the whole message of the Bible, not just a part - not just one verse. Using one verse to back up an idea is called proof-texting, and a lot of damage is done in the name of Jesus by those who do it.

So to bring in some more context, here are some other passages that mention fasting:

There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him." So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23

Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. 2 Samuel 1:11-12

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 13:1-3

You can also read many other passages throughout the Bible that speak of fasting (click here).

The point of showing these 3 texts is to show that there has been a practice throughout the centuries of God's people joining together to pray & fast. Not just individuals but communities of believers participating in the removal of things so as to add more time with Jesus.

So how do we take the community reality of fasting and the "don't be obvious" Matthew 6 passage at the same time?

"so that it will not be obvious" comes from a phrase that means "so it will not be seen." It's the idea of an appearance, an appearance that isn't necessarily connected to an inner reality. Another way of thinking about it would be putting on a costume for a play. It gives you the look of the part, but it's not who you really are.

The Pharisees of Jesus times, the so called religious guys who got it all wrong, were very theatrical with their fasting. For them fasting was an opportunity to put on a religious show through which they would get lots of applause for what they were doing. They wanted to be famous for being spiritual.

Unfortunately, loving God means that we make Him famous - not ourselves. God sees the heart, the secret reality of us all. And that is the point of the Matthew passage. He sees the depths of our hearts and the motives that are connected to our actions. The Sermon on the Mount is the revolutionary teaching of Jesus setting the record straight on what deep spirituality truly is like, flipping the Pharisee's idea of life on it's head. With fasting he basically says, "When you fast - don't do it to put on a show - do it to connect your heart with mine."

I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrases the Matthew passage:

"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well."

So were we doing something wrong with the 21day fast? No & Yes.

No, because it can be seen from Scripture that people joining together to seek out God is a powerful and necessary thing. Seeking God for spiritual renewal was the reason we were doing it, the motive of our hearts, not to look cool and spiritual. To be part of such an honest, heart focusing season with our church was amazing! The 21 days was a powerful thing for me because fasting is a spiritual habit I never really developed. But over the course of the 3 weeks I really got to a point where my heart and mind were more in tune to the heart of God and His word than previously. Knowing I wasn't alone in that but was joining in with my church family was even powerful. I need to fast more, our church needs to fast more. So no, we weren't doing something wrong.

But also maybe a little bit Yes. Not at the community level but at the individual level. Because maybe some did put on a show. Maybe it wasn't a thing of the heart for some. And that should be a constant reminder to those who do desire to fast. If it is going to be a temptation for you to try and get compliments or attention from people by telling them you're fasting - then keep it a secret. If you desire for people to be looking at you instead of looking to Jesus, then keep your fasting a secret.

May the next 21 day fast not be the next time we exercise such a spiritual habit.

May New Life always be a place of people who are constantly seeking to make Jesus famous.