GaGa over Kanye

I am having an Andy Rooney moment right now...

When I was in 9th grade, the most famous musician of my ear blew his head off with a shotgun, leaving his wife, child, band, and millions of devastated teenagers behind. I was so broken hearted that day that I lit a candle and left it burning as a vigil to my hero, Kurt (or Kurdt, or Curt...) Cobain. That week, the semi senile and snarky 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney laid down the law that Cobain was the most selfish S.O.B. that had ever walked the face of this earth. A man who had everything and still wallowed in self pity. I was so angry at him I could have exploded. But he was right.

We make gods out of people and then wonder why they raise the bar time and again. They do it to shock us, to impress us. We celebrate selfish indulgence and feral lifestyles and then when they manifest themselves as they did at the VMAs, at the SuperBowl a few years back, etc. we see what we have created and we are aghast.

The Enlightenment has added much to humanity, but has also left its share of casualties. Among them seem to be decency. People are so fiercely individualistic that they are simply out of their minds. That is why I have said and will continue to say that we idolize those whom we ought to institutionalize. I am only half serious here. But think about it. Who really wants to watch Snoop Dogg's wife get onto him for breaking his diet, or hear Ozzy and his kids drop F bombs like cluster bombs, or see an 80 year old man in his pajamas surrounded by sorority girls. Yet this is the world that we have created, and when it reaches critical mass we don't know what to do with it.

Think about Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick may be the greatest sitarist of our age. His films are brutal, offensive, and intentionally so. They give the people what they want in copious quantities. It would be comic if it were not so wicked. And I suppose I feel the same way about Lady GaGa, and her crew. If you want to watch someone simulate sex with a piano and smear blood over themselves (things which only Gwar could get away with five years ago) then that is your choice. The sad thing is that this sort of thing hardly even raises an eyebrow anymore. But someone out there (many someones apparently) want to see that.

This my friends is sad.

Those Who Wait Upon the Lord...

28Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. 30Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. 31But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NLT)

Those who know me know that I never do anything “half-way”. As much as I'd like to believe this to be an asset, I know all too well that it can also be a liability...

The word for this summer has been “relentless”, and lately we have been “feeling the burn”. Funerals, family needs, camps, VBS, concreete, pastoral counseling, church needs, etc. have come knocking on our door day after day. It is no ones' fault really, things have just stacked up in such a way that there has been little if any time for respite, for restoration, relaxation, for revival.

On one hand the sense that God is using you (of all people) as his instrument is awe inspiring. Yet, I am so often reminded that even Jesus took a time out from time to time (cf. Mark 14), as it is said, “if you do not come apart, you will come apart...”. I have been coming apart.

The first place this shows itself is my tongue, and my attitude which has been less than ideal the last three weeks or so. Words I'd hoped I'd forgotten how to say, and attitudes I'd hoped I'd left behind rose to the surface last week in particular.

Saturday as we were on our way home from somewhere, Vicki and I felt a discussion morphing into and argment and we both decided to button up for a bit. After a time she broke the silence and said, “Our problem is that we need to pray more...”. This gnawed on me all day (when God cannot get through to me Himself, he sends my wife after me). So yesterday our family went to the altar and asked for God's help. I made peace with them, and with God. Then, today as I was preparing for the day, I realized how long it had been since I had “waited upon the Lord”.

What does that mean? It will mean something different for eveyone. For me it means to carve out time every day to pray, read the word, journal, and maybe even strum a bit to God and God alone. It makes all the difference if we take time to stay our mind and heart upon Christ. It sets the tone for the day.

Vicki and I know that God is preparing to ramp things up in our ministry. As a consequence, we can feel the Enemy nipping at our heels, but we have to know that: “those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” It is clear that now, more than ever, if we are walking in our own strength we are sabatoging our own work. Not only I suffer, but my family and moreover, my church family suffer as well. But if we rely upon the Lord for strength and guidance, we can not fail.

It's time to get back on track.

God forigve me, help me to redeem the time, and help us to make the most of each day by beginning it with You.

Amen.


(Cut and paste for a favorite song that goes right along with this)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUwRX2HPLKY

AND

Here is another link for over achievers: :)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19060705/Preaching-Preparation-by-George-Muller