Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty

On the weekend I put together some patio furniture. A deck is not a good place to do such things, but that's where I did it. I wrestled a little with the legs fitting in their slots and then the place where they fit into the table top. As I was wrestling with the various pieces, I heard something bounce off the deck - and I looked down to see one of the nuts fall down through a crack onto the ground below. The nut was kind of an important component - so I went below and crawled around on my knees in the dirt for quite a few minutes.

Nearing the end of my patience - I had an idea. The idea was a simple prayer: "Lord, can you help me find this thing?" A few more minutes of looking. Nothing. OK well, I'll put it together with what I got and see how it turns out.

So I went back up and continued to wrestle with the variety of inanimate objects that were the pieces of the table. And before long a bolt slipped out of my grasp and fell down through a crack, onto the ground. A sigh. A shaking of the head.

I go down to look for the bolt - and see it almost immediately. Sitting a inch beside the bolt: the nut. (The bolt was actually pointing at the nut.)

An example, I would say, of one of the ways God answers prayer: creatively (& not exactly how I was looking for an answer, yet - so much better).

Beyond Rational (Curveballs Part 2)

My last post about Coldplay and Rick Astley was devoid of content. After opening my blog a few times over the past few days (kind of half-consciously seeing if anything new had been posted . . . resisting the knowledge that it would have to be me who posted anything . . .) and repeatedly seeing that random story of misadventure in radio . . .

. . . something finally took shape.

Last week I watched a little bit of an episode of The Hour with George Strombolopolous (sp? have mercy on me). His guests were the guys that made the Religulous movie. You can google it, but the basic premise of the movie is that religions are irrational and thereby, religious people are irrational.

In the interview they gave their version of various bible stories, and even a summary of their version of the Godhead sending Jesus to earth to die for the sins of humanity. And they lumped it all together saying: "Rational people don't believe things like this."

I haven't seen the movie (I suspect that if I did I'd have a lot more to mull over) but I've mulled this interview over a bit and have a couple of thoughts.

Among other things, these guys were referring to (specifically) the bible as being a book of fairy tales - - - full of things that "don't happen." The bible is full of irrationalities. Thereby: people who read and believe such things are irrational. Their implication: Christians are (1) not worthy of (at the very least) their respect (2) dangerous.

Well. I agree. I disagree.

The Bible IS a strange book. It's full of all kinds of not so normal occurrences. That's kind of the point. Who is the main character of the Bible? Always, it is God. If the main character of the Bible is a creator God, who not only created us, but also the universe we live in, and the laws that govern it . . . then I think it would be rational that he would reveal himself to us in ways that show he actually is in control of (i.e. above, outside of, not limited to) the laws of nature (that mercifully allow us to exist in a world that is predictable - nature wise).

It's not a perfect illustration - but thinking otherwise would kind of be like basketball players rejecting James Naismith (creator of basketball) if they found him not abiding by the rules of basketball in his everyday life. "How could he be the creator of basketball? He travels, he double dribbles . . . sometimes he's nowhere close to a basketball."

It would be a huge let down if God was really strapped and confined by what he set in order. Don't you think?

My other thought stemmed out of the title of my last post. "Curveball: Never Gonna Give You Up." I guess if the Bible was purely rational, and if God was purely rational = = he probably would have given up on us (read: wiped us all out) by now.

Imagine creating a little village of lego people (. . . strangely similar in ability to us . . . just smaller). Except they refuse to listen to you, they actually heap abuse on you, and many actually spend their lives denying your existence.

A rational response would be: "Why put up with guff from lego people? I'm going to put them back in the box, and maybe try again . . . or just forget the whole thing altogether." (Again, not a perfect illustration . . .)

Strict rationality in our relationships with one another will leave most of us wounded and alone because we hurt each other (insert Bono: "then we do it again"), we break trust etc. etc. What are the irrational ointments that make relationships with one another possible? Grace and mercy (two things the Bible reveals God is full of). And what about forgiveness? Not always a rational thing either. How about . . . love? Purely rational and reasonable? I like Foy Vance's lyric: "You can only love, what you die for (baaaabe)."

And that's just between people. Even more mind blowing is the irrational message of the Bible - that no matter what we do, God likes tossing curveballs. God could probably throw a mean fastball too, but the curveballs he likes best are: grace, mercy, forgiveness, unconditional love. No matter what we've done, or what we do God says (sings - even more tunefully than Rick Astley): "I'll never give up on you. Acknowledge your need of my forgiveness, and my ability to provide it and wipe your slate clean through the sacrifice made by my Son, know the depth of my love for you, know the good plans I have for you, know the pleasure of simply being in my presence. You don't deserve it, no one deserves it - - - but that's what I AM like. I take great pleasure in knowing you, you knowing me, and having you walk with Me through the life I've given you."

Pretty irrational huh?

Healer, Forgiver, Mind-Blower

Is the song Healer made any less powerful by the fact that its writer lived a bunch of scandalous lies in connection with the song (i.e. not actually having cancer . . . not really requiring the oxygen tank he dragged out on the stage for his performance?)

For a while I thought - yes. I also thought - poor Hillsong church, being tainted by such a scandal. We played this song at youth camp. The story broke part way through the week about the deception . . . and I think we all felt scandalized. For quite a while I didn't want to hear the song, I didn't even really want to think about the whole situation.

Last week Kristy got the CD. Today we went on a Thanksgiving Day drive; touring the amazing colours offered up by Autumn 2008. Such a drive required a soundtrack - so we played it (Hillsong - This is Our God). Healer is track 8. When it started playing, my heart sank a little bit - and I wasn't sure what to feel. But we didn't skip it. We kept listening and went through the CD once and then . . . let it play again.

Track 8 the second time through: I noticed how tortured Mike's voice sounds as he lives out a lie that's gotten out of his grasp in a big way. He's being tortured by what he's done (it's being recorded and filmed to be sold . . . think what's going through his mind . . . probably not a very healthy place). He sounds: tortured, fearful, scared.

I think this makes the song more powerful, and adds a whole other dimension to it.

The lyrics are about physical healing - - - but the scandal, the backstory to the song, and the actual performance of the song, make it about something bigger: sin. Many have reservations about the lyrics "you heal all my disease" because experience, and history tells us . . . God doesn't always heal all our disease. We may receive healing from God (even multiple times) but we still all experience physical death eventually.

God has provided healing for all our disease in an ultimate way through Christ. Christ has power over all sickness and death - although that still doesn't mean we won't and don't get sick (topic for another post). The greater joy is forgiveness for sin, and our future hope is resurrection. When you sing (or listen to) "you heal all my disease" think - "you forgive all my sin."

As I listen to the song now, this is what I'm hearing. I hear a desperate man caught in horrible trap he made for himself - - crying out to God for mercy. And I see God giving it: "Mike, nothing IS impossible for me - I forgive you. Let me restore you."

When you look at the world, what is it that you see? I see all kinds of evil that brings people to their knees and I think - - - God's grace and love is mind-blowing because he's made forgiveness and healing available for all of it.