What we do in life echoes in eternity

A senior Coug will play his final game in the Crimson and Grey today.  There won't be epic stories told of his heroics and other-worldly ability, he hasn't rewritten the record books, and those on the outside might not remember him long from now.  But those who had the incredible pleasure to play with him, or were highly invested in Cougar football for the past 5 seasons will remember him.

As a life long and highly devoted Coug, who is often told that he has too much Cougar gear (not possible for the record), and some one who had devoted himself to personifying what "Cougar Pride," means I can honestly say that there is no Cougar who could represents what it means to be a Cougar than Marshall Lobbestael. I cannot think of a better guy to get to start this game.  His final game, his last chance to beat the hated Huskies.

The ultimate competitor who I battled against in high school, and then played with at WSU, knew exactly how to exhibit his competitiveness.  He never used it to tear people down, only to build people up, encourage others, and motivate them to be better than they were.  Constantly pushing people to train harder, work longer, study harder, and never give up.

No player may have gone through more in a football career; injuries, staring games young and winning, being replaced, sacked a record number of times, starting again, being replaced, starting, being replaced, starting, being replaced.  Losing more than  anyone should be able to stand.  Yet he stood firm, he kept fighting the good fight, and he ran the race in such a way.

A brother in Christ, who came to know the Lord in college, and used his infectious personality and his situation allow him to share who Christ is with teammates and friends. Never allowing his situation to dictate his actions or reactions, he stayed steady stayed focused, and stayed all about Cougar Pride.  He stayed about the team, always the first to give praise and show excitement for his fellow quarter backs when they started, and played well.  He was always the first to bring in the rookies, show them the ropes and teach them what it meant to be a Cougar.

He may not reset the records, and he won't go down as the greatest qb to come out of a school known as Quarterback U. But "The Lobbster," as he is affectionately known will go down by those who played with him as one of the greatest Cougars; who embodied Cougar spirit, Cougar pride and Cougar heart more.  A man who I will forever feel honored to call a teammate, a brother-in-christ, and a Coug!

Thank you Marsh for being the man that you are, and being instrumental in helping change the culture of the program and its direction.

Once a Coug always a Coug.  Go Cougs!

I love sports, I really do.  There are so many great things that come from sports, it can develop work ethic, teamwork, morals, character and a positive attitude.  However, at no point should sports become more valuable or important than an individual.  Unfortunately this happens all the time.  People put more value on the success or failure of a team, on winning, and fail to focus on the people who play the sports.  We place sports, and the iconic figures of the sports on pedestals and let them be people who we scoff at otherwise.  The value of win is more important than the cost to people.  This article shows this mentality that has permeated the sports culture in this world.  And not just the sports culture but culture in general.

People are the most valuable component of God's creation, each of us is wonderful and uniquely made, a master piece knitted together by God in the womb.  Yet we treat people like pond scum.  We stink and we bite, and we treat people terribly.  Its sad.  If only we could see people as God see's people and treat them as he calls us to.   Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love people with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.  If there was just one person involved in this story at any point, how different could this girls life story be?

 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
-Matthew 5:3

The Bible is one story, one meta-narrative, that is told through so many different lenses and mediums, and people.  A testimony to the power of God, that no matter who is in the story it still reveals the unity, love and redemption of Christ. It never contradicts itself, and when you get down to the deeper meanings of what it says it actually backs it self up, everything is connected.  It's fascinating.

Most philosopher's are external processor's, that is, in order to wrap our minds around ideas we must talk about it, have discussion, dialogue.  This is why philosopher's write and talk so much.  Not because we think so highly of ourselves, but in order to think things through we can't just meditate on it.   i honestly believe that this is one of the best ways to learn and everyone can benefit from this type of interaction.

One of the best examples of this external processing took place for me during M.I.T. (Minister's in Training) class on Thursday.  We were learning about Jesus' sermon on the mount specifically the end of Matthew 6 and the beginning of Matthew 7.  The very end of the class we got to where Jesus says "do not give dogs what is sacred, do not cast your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces"  Not an easy passage to understand, especially when you read all of what he has said leading up to this point.  Aaron explained his interpretation this way,  do not cast your cares on those that cannot handle it.  Be careful not to expose what is sacred (our pain) to those who will try to destroy us with it.  i absolutely believe Aaron's view is spot on. But it raises so many other questions that needed to be wrestled through.

"How do we reconcile this, with the idea that we are 'more than conquerer's in christ'?"  Devon asked,  (great question).   It was a question i had but didn't realize it yet, but external processing kicked in and the threads started to come together.  Because even if we are careful with our deficiencies and pains we will still get hurt.  When you invest in relationship as God calls us to "love your neighbor as your self," people will tear us to shreds, they will bite us and hurt us, it's the fact of life.  And when we minimize this risk, we minimize the reward.  But we need to have discernment with whom we share our cares and deficiencies with, and when people share theirs with us we cannot judge them, because when we judge people we make a value statement about them and, "when you make a value statement about someone you miss their pain," (Aaron Couch).

This is how i reconcile these things, at least this is where i am at right now.  This is not inspired so take it as you chose.  Jesus starts his sermon on the mount with the 7 most paradoxical statements in the Bible, and presents what i believe is a theme running through out, following God, and living in his Kingdom is paradoxical at least to us. The first two statements tell us; "blessed the poor in spirit, because of them the Kingdom of Heaven is," and "blessed those who mourn, for they will be comforted"  A few quick notes,  poor in spirit, is the greek word anas meaning utterly destitute; comforted is translated from the greek word paraklete which is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit, and means some one who comes along side.  Finally, blessed is the greek word markioi, which is best translated as internally happiness.

Often times we get to a place where we have been hurt so bad by people that there seems to be no way out, we feel broken and completely defeated.  During these times Jesus tells us we are happy, because we are the Kingdom of Heaven.  Also during these times we will be mourning, and again we are happy because we will be comforted.  But we can only be comforted when people choose to journey along side us.  Back to more than conquers.  So we are told that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us," The inclusion of the fact that it is through him who loved us is of high importance in my mind.  The ability to be more than conquerors comes through love, which means we will conqueror through love, and when love is used its more than conquering, its freeing.  When we share God's love, his redemptive story with people we free them from the bonds of slavery to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. When we choose to be poor in spirit (yes it is a choice - "take up your cross daily and follow me), we choose God's love for people we represent the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because of us the Kingdom of Heaven exists.

So we are more than conquerors because even when people hurt us, and they will, and the world says seek vengeance and revenge and justice we are to love them as Christ loved the church. We are to forgive them, and by doing so we help to free them to God's love, God's story, and the beauty that comes from following the God of the universe.

"This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Church."
-Ephesians 5:32


P.S. Thanks for the inspiration Devon! :)

We live in a world marred by mediocrity, a world content on complacency, a world saturated by stagnancy.  Our culture is permeated by the putrid pithy sayings "i'm only human," "i did my best," "what else do you expect from me?"  Our culture stinks of rotten staleness, false advancement, and steadfast hypocrisy.   And we love it!  We breed it! We foster it! WE EXPLOIT IT!

As a follower of Christ it disgusts me, because i am to blame, i feed into this culture, i "thrive in it".  And if you call yourself a Christ follower a "Christian," then you should be just as abhorred by the state of our culture and the part we all play in it.  It is time for a change, a radical change, a rebelution.  These thoughts stem from a book i am reading "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" by Alex and Brett Harris.  They are 19, the book is fantastic. Read it. Now.  It geared towards teens, but is applicable to all. Read it.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:30 "Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me."  This isn't a metaphor, or figurative speech, it is the truth, it is how we are called to live.  With God, in his will.  And guess what?  Jesus was a rebelutionary, he came to radically alter the way we live, think and act.  He came bringing the good news, the Gospel,  Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here.  The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand it is now.  The Gospel is not just salvation, salvation is merely the entry way, the door way, the Gospel is ultimately about Kingdom Living.

Jesus challenged us not to become complacent and apathetic,  Kingdom Living is living out the Commandments that God has given us.  Why do we live out these commandments?  1 John 5:3 "This is love for God: to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome."  The question that we have to ask ourselves is are we known for what we do? or what we don't do?  Jesus was known for what he did. Those who change this world are know for what they do.  Why? because it cuts across the grain, it goes against the patterns of this world.  It's rebelutionary. Is following Christ about avoiding the "bad-stuff", or is it about doing "good, hard stuff" for God?  The answer is clear and Psalm 1:1 reiterates it.

Our charge is to make disciples of all the nations, as we are going.  As we are living life we are to make disciples.  You cannot make disciples by living within the patterns of this world. We cannot make disciples by following a cookie cutter pattern for how to live rebelutionary, how to live Kingdom Minded.  Ephesians 2:8-10 makes this evident - "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." We are wonderfully and fearfully made unique,  none of us will follow the same path, you cannot live your life vicariously through someone else.  


Doing hard things, that is going against the cultural standards, to do rebelutionary things means doing things that cause you individual to grow and be stretched.  We must be committed to growth because that will kill complacency.  We must be committed to a constant unique battle for growth, and doing things that challenge us.  We must not accept the low expectations the world has for us.  This is the only way to live for God.  The only way to live in order to truly change the world.

Whether they want to accept it or not, professional athletes are Role Models.  The more that they accept it the more they can truly make a difference in this world.  It is good to see that these three were willing to step into that role boldly.

The young boy is also a hero and hopefully an inspiration to kids all over the US and world.  Bullying is a huge problem and we need to battle back against it.  Especially as Christians, because we cannot truly love God unless we love people.  "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." - Galatians 5:14

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: fish would not feel wet. Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too-for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist-in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless-I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality-namely my idea of justice-was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.”
-C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity


i majored in philosophy and Religious studies.  As a result a lot of the classes that i took dealt with the issues of God, and the attempt to fully prove or disprove his existence, his being.  This came in the form of philosopher's we studies, christian, not christian, agnostic, atheistic and everything else, and people in classes who fell in the same spectrum. i often found myself to be one of the few Christians, or at least one of the few who wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with those who didn't believe he existed.  No matter what the discussion was focused on the idea of the problem of evil always came up and was presented as the trump card.

The problem of evil goes like this in its simplest form
Premis:
1. If God exists he is omniscient, omnipresent, and omni-benevolent
2. Because God is omni-benevolent everything he creates must be good, there can be no evil
3. There is evil in the world
Conclusion
4. Therefore God does not exist.

From a strictly logical philosophical point of view the argument is sound, the conclusion follows from the premises and there are no logical fallacies.  However, there is an understanding fallacy with in the premises.  That fallacy being that we are able to understand God.  It is illogical to think this way.

To think that we can stand on par mentally with the creator of the universe, the being with out beginning is the ultimate display of hubris and lunacy.  Our brightest minds cannot grasp the full capacity of the human mind, or physics, or how our own biological process works, or calculus. All these things that God created we cannot and do not understand completely.  Yet we think we can fully understand the creator?  It is laughable and incredibly narcissistic.  The ancient roman philosopher Cicero said once "Either God wishes to remove evils and cannot,or he can do so and is unwilling." The famous atheist Sam Harris comments on this quote by Cicero saying "Therefore God is either impotent or evil."


i would say that the only thing Cicero proves and Harris as well is what the Word of God says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord" - Isaiah 55:8.  Both of these men believed that they understood God and his nature, they couldn't have been farther from the truth.


The existence of evil in the world no more disproves the existence of God than the existence of the sun disproves the existence of darkness.  The suffering, the evil, the injustice and all the things people say negate God's existence are actually saying it negates their ability to reason God and his nature based on our nature.  i don't understand nuclear physics one bit, doesn't make any sense, don't really know how it works.  But just because i don't understand it, and there are parts that seem unexplainable doesn't disprove it as a real thing, just simply beyond the complexities of my mind. 


Atheist or agnostics either don't want to or don't know how to put faith in something as big as God.  They are too scared, or proud, or self absorbed, or all of the above or any other reason you can come up with.  They may claim that they don't believe in faith they believe in science, but that would just make them a global skeptic on a metaphysical and epistemological level.  They would have to say that nothing exists and we can have no knowledge.  In fact they would have to be skeptics of skepticism.  The fact is Atheist, et. al. do have faith, they put faith in a lot, they just chose not to put faith in God.  They make science their god, they make the golden cafe their god.  The saddest part is, we[christians] live our lives in a way that allows them to do this.  We make these same things our god, we follow in the exact same footsteps of the Israelites, who we scoff at and say how could they reject God like that? We put our faith in the creation not the creator.


The problem is not with evil, it never has been, which is why God doesn't get rid of it, because we don't understand what God is doing.  Suffering has a purpose, is it fun no, but not everything in life is fun and pleasurable.  Hedonism can not be the driving force in the world, because hedonism is a lie.  It is fueled by lust. The problem is with humans, with their mindset, with the decisions we make from the free will that we have been granted through God's divine providence and knowledge.  If you accept the fact that we cannot understand everything about God's nature, all of the arguments against God become lunacy and hubris.


Harris in a recent publication used the analogy of Hurricane Katrina to illustrate his point. "Only the atheist," he writes, "has the courage to admit the obvious: these poor people [who prayed to God in New Orleans then died] spent their lives in the company of an imaginary friend." Harris is wrong, he lacks understanding.  In reality only the atheist, has the hubris to make the claim: that as the creation they had the same amount of knowledge to call themselves the great "I am" to count themselves equal with the creator.  

“One philosopher formulated an argument against God this way: First, there is no reason that would justify God in permitting so much evil rather than a lot less; second, if God exists, then there must be such a reason; so, three, God does not exist….
That’s like saying it’s reasonable to believe in God if six Jews die in a Holocaust, but not seven. Or sixty thousand but not sixty thousand and one, or 5,999,999, but not six million. When you translate the general statement ‘so much’ into particular examples like that, it shows how absurd it is. There can’t be a dividing line…. At what point does suffering disprove the existence of God? No such point can be shown. Besides, because we’re not God, we can’t say how much suffering is needed. Maybe every single element of pain in the universe is necessary.”
- Lee Strobel "The Case for Faith"

"Speak, Lord, for your slave is listening."
- 1 Samuel 3:9-10

Prayer.  Its an interesting concept, or maybe a misunderstood concept, most likely both.  Its Power is not something that we will ever be able to fully wrap our heads around.  The whole of the New Testament does not emphasize prayer as much as the Old Testament, in and of itself this is not a bad thing, but in the modern "biblical" church in America this results in a significant problem.  The Old Testament is often times left out, and so people dont always get the full picture of God's story, we don't get insights into prayer that are so prevalent in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is full of different conversations that people have with God, yes conversations.  These are moments of prayer, images of how to communicate with God.

Often times it is God who attempts to initiate with us, but for a myriad of different reasons we do not here him or we do not.  To us prayer is telling God what we think we need and want and then expecting God to take care of everything.  No interest in a real relationship, just benefits of one. What if we treated our spouse this way? Unfortunately some do.  No relationship, just fulfillment of needs and wants; food, clothing, shelter, transportation.  And too self absorbed to see the situation for what it really is, not a relationship, a parasite. We lach on to God and we take and take and take, and there is no give back.

What if instead we responded to God, and treated prayer like Eli instructs Samuel to do in 1 Samuel 3.  Samuel is asleep and keeps hearing his name called so he keeps going to Eli, Eli is not calling but realizes it is God.  So Eli tells Samuel to respond "Speak, Lord, your slave is listening."  What a response. The craziest part?

He meant it.

Acted upon it.

Lived every day with that mentality.

So, God used him.  In big ways for His Kingdom.  Samuel is one of the most prominent Prophets.  All because he listened first. He chose to respond. Acted in accordance with God's will. Freely chose to be a slave.

Prayer is a conversation, it is communication.  And the most important piece to communication is not talking, it is listening.  Which quality do you desire in a spouse and friends?  A good talker or a good listener? We are created that way, and we are created in God's image. We are created to be good listeners, all of us, we just need to choose to be good listeners to God. And to those around us.

We must be still, and know that he is God.  Because God as powerful and great as he is, doesn't always speak in a thunderous voice, it isn't always the raging storm where he is heard.  Often it is in the quietness, in the sound of silence that comes after the storm where God speaks.

Will you choose to hear him?  Will you respond?

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
   And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- 1 Kings 19:11-13