Posts tagged Reflection

Following the Rabbit Trails

Dec15
2011 2 Comments Written by Nate Ray

How much time do I waste in my day following rabbit trails?

I see some news article, read it, and it triggers a thought about something else, so I it, and then I see a link in that blog to another article, and I read it, and then I decide I’m curious about the author, so I read that, and by the end of it all, I’m reading about a dead dog that woke up right before it was supposed to be buried.

Or I’m on facebook, and I notice an old friend, or someone who hasn’t posted in some time, and then I notice a friend who’s not my facebook friend, so I friend them, and as I’m looking through their profile, I find out the name of their favorite book, and I google that, or I find out they’ve converted to some weird religion, and I google that, and by the end of it all, I’m reading some very interesting, albeit, useless information.

How do I get tricked into thinking, “I really need to read this” or “I really need to learn about this?” How do we get lured in?

Perhaps I’m a knowledge addict? Perhaps we’re knowledge addicts? Just wanting to know more and more and more, but most of the time, at the end of these rabbit trails, I realize my time would have been better spent doing something else. Something purposeful. Something (at least) somewhat worthwhile.

So today, I’m going to try and not follow the rabbit trails. We’ll see how it goes…

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Taking the LORD’s name in vain… not simply a language issue

Nov22
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Nate Ray

I used to think taking the LORD’s name in vain meant saying things like “oh my god,” or using Jesus’ name as a swear word, or saying “oh god!,” or any variation or similar phrase.

While I’m certainly not condoning the use of these phrases, all of a sudden the commandment not to take the LORD’s name in vain has bigger implications than I ever knew were packed into that little commandment.

Last night, I was listening to a sermon from Mars Hill Bible Church. This is the church that was started by Rob Bell, and since 2005, I have listened to many sermons from this church. I don’t always agree with everything I hear, and sometimes I very much disagree with some things, but the thing that keeps me listening is I’m always provoked to think through what I believe the Scriptures teach. I can’t NOT think about the Scriptures and what they say as I listen to the sermons from Mars Hill Bible Church.

“Test everything. Hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Last night it was 3 AM and I couldn’t sleep, so I started listening to a Shane Hipps sermon (the other teaching pastor as Mars Hill Bible Church). It was a sermon loosely based of Acts 4, but Shane Hipps pointed out that the phrase “Jesus’ name” is repeated over and over in these few chapters (9 times in chapters 3 and 4 to be exact). So Shane chose to teach, not necessarily about what was directly happening in Acts 3 and 4, but instead on some observations about the theme of “Jesus’ name” that interweaves itself throughout the text.

There’s a difference between our culture – a literate culture – and an oral culture.

The culture at Jesus’ times was predominantly oral. There was a lot he said about the difference between our culture and an oral culture, and I’m still processing it, but one thing he said that struck me was that in an oral culture, a name was more significant than simply a designator.

In the modern world, a name simply designates what we call someone to identify them.

In the ancient world, a name reflected the very essence and identity of a person. So much so that sometimes, people would be “renamed” because their name doesn’t fit anymore. (Example: Simon renamed Peter.)

So when we read the name “Jesus” in our modern world, we think of the name as simply a “designator.”

But when the ancient world heard the name “Jesus,” they didn’t think designator.  They thought essence and identity.

What does this mean?

For me, as I’m reading Exodus 20 this morning, and I read “not to take the name of the LORD in vain,” I all of a sudden realize that this is not simply a commandment about my language. Because in oral cultures, names were more than designators. They were identifiers of a person’s very essence and identity.

So… to “take the name of the LORD in vain” is not simply to use the name wrongly. To “take the name of the LORD in vain” is to misrepresent that name and everything that names stands for.

All of a sudden, “not taking the LORD’s name in vain,” means more than just watching how we talk…

“Not taking the LORD’s name in vain” is inextricably tied up in how we, as people who claim to follow Jesus, live. If we claim to follow Jesus, and our lives don’t reflect our claim, we are “taking the name of the LORD in vain.”

Pretty cool how this commandment takes on a bit more flesh and relevance as we seek to understand it as it was understood by it’s original audience.

(Shane’s sermon was helpful in helping me understand oral culture’s a bit more, but I believe he draws some dangerous conclusions towards the end of his sermon I would be cautious of. I think it IS important that we realize Jesus is at work all around us, and He doesn’t need us to “invoke” His name for Him to be at work. But in the same breath, I believe we need to “name Him” when we see Him at work. And I believe it is incredibly important to say it is “Jesus,” and tell others it is Jesus.

Shane says some people may call it something else… and he says we can say to them, “You call what you see at work “this”, but I choose to call this Jesus.” In teaching this, I believe Shane downplays the significance of other’s recognizing it IS Jesus. It almost appears that he teaches it’s not that important what they call it because it is Jesus at work. And while I agree we can claim it as Jesus at work, it IS important TO THOSE PEOPLE to also understand this to be so. I hope these last couple parenthesed paragraphs make sense if you choose to listen to the sermon. As I said earlier, I’m always provoked to visit the Scriptures as I listen to the sermons at Mars Hill, but there are many times I disagree with some of the conclusions. “Test everything, hold fast to what is good.”)

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$123 Million for a “spiritual oasis in the heart of downtown Dallas”…

Oct12
2011 1 Comment Written by Nate Ray

First Baptist Dallas is a church of 10,000 members in Dallas, TX. They’ve recently made the news because their pastor recently said Christians shouldn’t vote for Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon, and Mormonism is a cult, and instead they should vote for Rick Perry. He has since backed down to call Mormonism a “theological” cult, but has also gone on record saying that Christians could vote for a non-Christian before voting for Barack Obama (read it all here).

All this political jargin from Christian leaders just gets me upset.

But that’s beside the point I’m going to write about here. What I’m about to write about gets me far more upset than any of this silly political stuff happening in Texas.

First Dallas is in a building campaign right now. As it says on their website, “Dr. Jeffress is currently leading the First Dallas congregation in a $123 million campaign to re-create its downtown campus.  The project is the largest in modern church history and will create a “spiritual oasis” in the heart of downtown Dallas.” (You can read that here on FBC Dallas’ website.)

THIS is sick. $123 million. For a building.

First Dallas has 10,000 members currently. Let’s say that their new “downtown spiritual oasis” seats twice as many people. Let’s say 20,000 people. You are spending $123 million for 10,000 more people. Their website says, “The project is the largest in modern church history,” but I’m not sure this is something to be proud of.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s wrong to have buildings.

But I am saying Jesus spoke of the destruction of the temple, and at His death, the curtain was torn in two, and in 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed, and we read all over the Scriptures there is no more need of a temple. Jesus’ people are his temple. We don’t need fancy buildings. The Spirit of the living God doesn’t reside in human buildings. The Spirit resides in human hearts. We need communities of people looking to live together as Jesus’ body on earth.

It’s good to come together and worship on Sunday, but that is not the point of church. And the point of the church is not to do everything within the confines of a building throughout the week either. The church is God’s covenant people – Jesus’ believers and followers. And God’s covenant with His covenant people has always been to to use them as a blessing machine for the world (Genesis 12:1-3).

I could go on and on, but I just want to dream for a second… to create a hypothetical situation…

What if, instead of using the $123 million for a new fancy downtown facility – “a spiritual oasis in the heart of downtown Dallas” – they used that amount of money to fund church planters in Dallas… with that money they could fund 1230 church planters with $100,000/each.

And then, what if each of those church planters goes on to plant a church that runs an attendance on Sundays of around 100 people…

1230 church planters, with 100 people each, is 123,000 people…

123,000 people, or 10,000 people?… which will more effectively penetrate the city of Dallas with the message of Jesus?…

Don’t most of our churches have it all wrong?… we seem to always be looking to grow, to find ways to fit the next 100, the next 1000, the next 5,000… we seem to always be looking at addition…

And we forget the power from multiplication…

I don’t think Jesus wants another fancy building. But I don’t think Jesus minds buildings either. I think Jesus wants people fully devoted to following Him, sharing life and mission together. I don’t think buildings will take the Jesus’ life-giving message to the ends of the earth. I think people will take Jesus’ life-giving message to the earth.

The church is the people. Let us not forget.

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… if the evolutionary theorists are correct …

Aug25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Nate Ray

Yesterday, I had a surreal experience driving home from one of the Wells Fargo Bank branches I visit to deposit my checks.

I started thinking about vegetarians. I then started thinking about the progress of many of these eco-friendly movements happening today (please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. I believe we are to be stewards of God’s good creation, and so what I’m about to say in no way voids the fact we should take care of the earth, which is part of our God-intended role).

But while I was thinking about these things, I then thought about the idea of “progress.” Because that’s what all this is really about… progress…

And then, I thought about evolutionary theory (stay with me here…)

And then I thought, even if they’re right, this whole thing is gonna blow in 4.5 billion years… blown to smithereens. So no matter what type of “progress we make,” the things gonna blow, and it’s going to be all for not… (should we call the “idea of progress” the “myth of progress?”…)

And then I think, in the midst of this whole deal… living, earth floating around the sun, solar system, universe, multiple universes, 4.5 billion years and then it’s all going to be blown to smithereens…

I am a thinking being, existing in the middle of all of this…

This thought leaves me speechless…

It’s a miracle. Life is a miracle. The very fact that I have breath and can think and talk and live – a miracle.

And moments like these lead me to one simple conclusion, one truth, that sometimes in moments like driving home from Wells Fargo, I’m reminded of:

There must be something more… more than just this…

And I’m propelled to wonder… propelled to thanks. I’m propelled to worship. Because I believe there is… that God has put this thing together, has set things in motion, and that there IS something more…

And I believe God revealed this most clearly to humanity when He stepped down into human history as a man, Jesus.

It’s with a grateful heart that I write this… I am a thinking being, who exists in the midst of this immeasurably large universe, that will one day no longer exist as it does… and yet here I am, breathing, alive, and typing.

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A few things I learned from Chuck Hermann…

Aug05
2011 1 Comment Written by Nate Ray

Chuck Hermann died yesterday. He was 50.

You may not have known him, but I can just share a few things I learned from this man?

There are those who are hospitable, and then there are the Hermanns.

When my family first moved to Rochester, MN in 2003 I was a senior in HS. To that point, that move was the toughest time in my life. And the Hermanns, from the very beginning, were welcoming to me, my brother, sister, and parents. Seth, Jess, and I were over there MANY nights every week. The Hermanns know how to love people. REALLY love people.

“If it weren’t for God using Chuck Hermann, _______________ wouldn’t be a Christian.”

This is too long a list to fill. Chuck talked to anybody and everybody about Jesus. Because Jesus was the hope of Chuck’s life, and he knew Jesus was the hope of everyone else’s life too. For me, the name in the blank are Dave (known then as DQ Dave). I don’t know who the names are for you, but I thank God for Chuck Hermann loving my friend Dave enough to share Jesus with him!

“The way a husband loves his wife shapes his wife…”

Pam Hermann is a beautiful lady inside and out. Said another way (to steal from the movie Fireproof), “A woman is like a flower: treat her wrong she withers, but treat her right and she blooms.” Chuck helped me understand this in a way that without Chuck, I’m not sure I would have. He helped me understand the weight of my calling as a husband to love my wife, and to continue loving her. He helped me understand that the pursuit of a woman doesn’t stop with marriage, but is a lifelong pursuit of love.

Chuck taught me the love of Jesus is for hitchhikers and people whose cars are broken down on the side of the road too…

On our way to Promise Keepers in 2004 (?), our group picked up a hitchhiker and took him to Promise Keepers. Chuck had an extra ticket and had said he was praying for the chance to pick a hitchhiker up on the way there. The hitchhiker didn’t stay long, but this was not abnormal activity for Chuck. He did this type of stuff all the time.

I was reading an article yesterday on Chuck’s death. It was short, but below were the comments of some people who had known Chuck. One commenter was a writer who wrote a previous story on Chuck. He shared a snippet from that story:

“My prayer has been, ‘Lord, use me today in a mighty way,’” Hermann said. “That’s how I start my day. He deserves the glory.” …

“Lord, use me in a mighty way today”…

We could learn a lot from Chuck on how to start our days… asking to have eyes to see the opportunities God places before us, and then grabbing them by the horns.

Chuck, we’ll miss you. We can learn so much from the way you followed Jesus with your life. Days like these days, I am so grateful for the hope of the resurrection because of our Savior Jesus.

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Victory is mine… just sayin’…

Mar08
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Nate Ray

Do we really believe this?… Christians, people who claim to believe in and follow Jesus… do we really believe the victory is our’s, right now?

I don’t think we do.

I don’t. At least I don’t always. And now its a sermon I’m preaching to myself A LOT.

We all have different sin struggles… different persistent things that keep rearing their ugly heads at us… perhaps they’re habitual sins, things we’re ashamed of, or just things we can’t seem to get control of, or something of another sort?…

Some of us make peace with it (danger ranger!), some of us fight and fall and fight and fail…

Whatever the circumstance(s), whatever’s sin struggle’s got you down or seems to keep beating you up… don’t believe this lie:

“Victory is far.”

Or this lie:

“Victory was then.”

Or this lie:

“Victory is near.”

Or this lie:

“Victory is attainable.”

We have been duped my friends. Duped into believing these lies. And because of these lies, we are still struggling.

What if we held tightly to the truth? Grabbed it and wouldn’t let it go? What if we preached this sermon to ourselves?:

“Victory is here. Victory is now. It’s not something far off in the distance, not something to be attained, not even something that is close, but it is something that is true HERE, true NOW.”

Do you believe it? That the struggle may not need to be a struggle, because you’ve been given the victory?…

Jesus Christ died to set us free. His death has given His followers the victory.

“Let us throw off the sin that so easily entangles (and the lies we often believe) and let’s run the race marked out for us. Let’s persevere. Let’s believe the truth. Let’s live like its truth.” (Loose paraphrase of Hebrews 12:1-2.)

Let’s preach this sermon to ourselves.

Victory is mine. Victory is our’s.

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I’m a little like Moses

Nov25
2010 2 Comments Written by Nate Ray

Today, I was reading in Numbers. Chapter 11 is noteworthy in my life.

Last Sunday, my car broke down in a Wal Mart parking lot. I got a jump, but when my car started, it started smoking, so I turned it off, and looked under the hood (as if I know what I’m looking for, ha!), and there was red residue under the hood. Not what I had asked for when I woke up Sunday morning. So my friend Bob came and picked me up. I went to Jacob’s Well’s gathering Sunday night with a little on my mind.

The thing I just can’t get over, or get past, is that while I may play it cool on the outside, on the inside I was freaking out.

“I don’t want this now.” “I don’t have the money for a car repair.” “God, I don’t trust you to provide for me here.” ect ect ect…

But God had given me this car 2 years ago. God has never ceased to provide for me. I could write books on how God provides, in His time, everything I have needed, and sometimes a whole lot more than I could have wanted.

And yet… here I am – with a God who has never ceased to provide for me – an internal mess having a hard time trusting and believing God’ll do it this time. Why?… why is it so hard to trust a God whose faithfulness has never failed?…

In Numbers 11, God’s people, the Israelites, are complaining. God has rescued this people from slavery, from an oppressive empire, has fed them daily with manna and quail, has led them through the desert by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night, has parted the Red Sea, ect ect ect…

And yet His people seem to so easily forget.

Now the people began complaining openly before the LORD about hardship. When the LORD heard, HIs anger burned… (Numbers 11:1a)

The people want some meat. They’re sick of the manna they’re getting. They have the audacity to complain EVEN AFTER all that God has done for them.

Moses, the leader of these people, complains to God (v 10-15), saying, “This is YOUR fault. I’m sick of dealing with these people that never get it. This is too much for me to deal with. If this is how it’s going to be, you might as well kill me God.”

God says, “they want meat, I’ll give them meat! Meat till its coming out of their nostrils… so much meat it’ll be all they eat for a whole month. I’ll give them meat until they hate meat.” (v 18-20).

And what is Moses’ response to God in all this?

“God, where in the world are You going to get all this meat to do this?!” (v 21-22).

Pause button.

Here’s the irony. The people are the one’s who have forgotten what God has done for them. And that’s the problem. And here Moses is, remembering what God has done and trying to lead this people and at the end of His rope, and then HE FORGETS what God has done or is capable of.

All of this has happened right in front of his face, and instead of saying, “God, You’ve parted the sea, You’ve fed Your people, You’ve led us, (ect ect ect), so I know You’ll do this too and they’ll really get what they have coming,” instead MOSES FORGETS and says, “God, where’s all this meat going to come from?”

Moses forgets.

I forget.

Don’t we all forget? Forget what God is capable of? Forget what He’s already done.

And the funny thing about the whole human experience, is no matter how many times He can provide, and we can be thankful, in the moment, we can forget and not trust… how fickle and funny we are. And yet God is ALWAYS faithful.

We have a lot to be thankful for today. A faithful God to an unfaithful people. Holy smokes. Thank You God.

The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.” (v 23)

Happy Thanksgiving.

PS – Shout out to Pat for being the obvious winner of our blogoff! (This is my first entry in over a month.) Pat, I believe I owe you something, right?

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In a room with 3 major players in my life last night

Oct19
2010 2 Comments Written by Nate Ray

Potential titles for this entry:
“God Orchestrates.”
“God Blesses Obediance.”
“The feast of brotherhood.”

Last night I sat in a room with 3 other men: John Weirick, Brian Kalwat, and Seth Ray. We have been shared more of life together in the past 7 years than some will share in their lifetime. Our friendship has stood the test of distance and time.

We now live far away from one another, but these type of friendships are the lifelong friendships. The type of friendship where you could not talk in two months, or see each other in a year, and still pick up where you left off last.

The type of friendship that seems magical. How does something stand the test of time, stand the test of distance, and still stand stronger than some (not all) relationships where people live in the same city?

7 ½ years ago, my dad listened to the call of God on his life and at the beginning of the summer of 2003, our family moved from southwest Iowa to Rochester, MN.

My dad has always said, “I don’t believe God just calls me, but God calls the family.”

Because of my dad’s obedience, I ended up in Minnesota. One of the hardest times of my life, but in hindsight, the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

Because of my dad’s obedience, and my family’s obedience, my brother met 2 guys named Derrick and Brian soon after he started school. Derrick and Brian knew John. They played music. Seth told me I needed to meet them. I met them a few weeks later. Good musicians.

But who in the world could’ve guessed 7 years ago what the future held for us…

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are my ways higher than your ways 
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

Noteworthy things:

Brian, John, and Seth initially were friends and I was older
Seth and I grew closer than we ever would have if my family would not have moved
Seth has spent a year in Texas back in 2006-07
Brian spent a year in Virginia 2005-2006
Relationships outlasted those distances
John and Brian were 2 of the original 6 core team members of Jacob’s Well.
Now Brian lives in Pullman, WA
John lives in Medford, OR
One of the original 6 of JWell’s core now lives in the slums of India
I have held few men as I have held these 3, in tears, as they know a thing or two about “just being there” when a friend is hurting and also know a thing or two about not saying something dumb when no words will help the situation…
We have visited very dark places and very good places in life together
John, Brian, and I were robbed one time… I got an iPod jacked, Brian lost a laptop and a camera… all less than a month before JWell launched our Sunday Gatherings for the 1st time
This weekend is the 1st time in a year the 4 of us have been in the same room

Somehow, God is the growth, reason, and sustainer of these deep relationships that should have dissolved when distance came into the picture, or its been a few months since we last talked…

When I think of these men, I echo the prayer of Paul as he writes to the Philippians (1v3-11):

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And I pray this: that you love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

God has started something. And He is at work to complete it.
God knew He was going to send us. And He will bless our obedience.
He has orchestrated.

He delights to give His children good gifts.

How blessed we are.

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My day is full of holy moments

Sep22
2010 2 Comments Written by Nate Ray

Yesterday:

I was driving home from Wal-Mart on 280 South. All of a sudden, I look to my right, and the sun is just dipping over the horizon. Awe. I take the first exit just so that I can have a few more seconds to take it all in before the sun finally disappears behind the horizon.

Holy.

I met Bob for breakfast and got this incredible two egg omelette (more like a 5 egg omellette) and Bob and I talked about Jacob’s Well and life. Bob is so great. What a blessing in my life.

Holy.

As with every other morning of the week, I called my girl. What a blessing she is to me. What a blessing to hear her voice.

Holy.

I had coffee with Steven. Steven’s LEGIT. Lover of God. Leader. God is going to use this man in incredible ways. Packed with potential. We met. Talked about life. Read some of the Bible together. Prayed together.

Holy.

My day is full of holy moments. Maybe to most these are simply mundane, but that is simply not the case. Each of these moments is a blessing. Each of these moments is an opportunity for worship. Each of these moments can drive us to thankfulness and have the potential to fill us with joy when we recognize them as gifts from God.

Just a few thoughts… haven’t written a blog in a while, but Pat (yes, you my cousin), I’ve noticed we’ve both been on a bit of a hiatus, and so I challenge you to a blog-off. It doesn’t have to be anything incredibly profound. But just regularly, over the course of the next month, post some thoughts on life. But it has to be a real post. Not just a word to win a contest. Award to be determined?… thoughts cuz?…

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This morning I woke to a broke phone

Aug16
2010 2 Comments Written by Nate Ray

I was not a happy camper. At first.

A little back story though. Last night at 3:30am, I returned home from a weeklong collegiate conference with 6 others folks from Glorieta, NM. And it was great. And God stretched me, challenged me, grew our group together, and will be using the conference as a catalyst for change in my life.

Perhaps more on that in another blog.

This morning, I heard my alarm going off and quickly realized I was on the top bunk, and it had fallen to the ground. When I opened it up, I opened it up to a cracked and broken screen.

After such a great week, my phone breaks.

And in the seconds that followed, I had a choice how to respond. Get upset over a dumb phone, or not get upset and brush it off, because after all, it’s only a phone. No one died, I didn’t lose a friend, nothing big… just a phone that broke.

So I choose this morning to not let a broke phone steal my joy.

I once had a friend tell me, “Don’t let no one steal your joy.”

John, I am resolved to not let anyone, or anything, steal my joy this morning.
Photo 39

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