Cannibal (Day 32 of Lent)

The message that Jesus is preaching seems to be turning more people away than drawing them near.  It's easy to understand why.  When someone claims that by eating their flesh and drinking their blood, real and eternal life can be found, there's definitely some doubt that must exist in the audience.  And yet, Jesus knows this.  He asks, "Have I thrown you off yet?"  

The Scriptures say that many among the disciples are now walking away, refusing to take the risk in sticking with Jesus.  He's too radical.  He's too liberal for the likes of most people listening to these bogus claims.  I wonder if I would be one of the crowd walking away, thinking, "Man, I was all aboard til' he started talking about cannibalism and ascending to heaven.  That's just too much for me."  

As folks in the crowd start slipping away, Jesus turns to his twelve disciples and asks, "Are ya'll going to leave too?"

Peter says, "To whom would we go?  We've already committed to stick this thing out with you.  Yeah, your teachings are really hard to swallow, but we're in."

Jesus responded, "Everything I tell you is life-giving.  You can't understand the nature of what I'm telling you, but the Spirit will lead you.  You're incapable of coming to me on your own, but the Father is giving you the ability to do so."

We all have what it takes to get to Jesus and his life-giving words.  The Father has given us the ability to do so through his spirit.  Another word for spirit is breath.  Breath is required for life.  Jesus claims here that when we tap into the spirit inside of us, and take notice of his words, that we find real life.  

This is hard to swallow, just like it was hard for the people in the audience.  It's hard to swallow, because it can't be swallowed.  These teachings are not something that we can taste or touch.  They are to be believed or not believed.  Jesus is claiming that when we believe what he says, it changes everything and shakes everything down to our very core.  He's not trying to turn people away, but he's trying to draw people into lasting life.  The people who end up turning away are probably like me, wondering how in the world these things can possibly be true.  

I can't prove that anything that Jesus says is true.  I wish I could get up in front of an audience and say, "This is how I eat the flesh of Jesus, and this is how I drink the blood of Jesus."  I imagine there would be some folks pretty concerned about my sanity, and would be arranging a trip to the local nut ward.  

When Jesus says something like, "My words are life-giving," he's inviting us to believe that his words will make a difference in our lives.  There are no generalizations here.  There is no formula, no food for the senses.  What I experience in testing out the words of Jesus is going to be totally different than what someone else experiences.  That's the nature of belief.  

There is much risk involved in believing.  Since the words of Jesus counter most of the messages that pour at us from the media, family, friends, and religious institutions, it's no doubt that we walk away thinking, "How could this possibly be right?"  The Spirit inside of us whispers to not lose sight of the path.  When we pay attention to the still, small voice, we may find that our very cores all along were yearning to follow the way of the Rabbi.  How easy it is for the spirit to get drowned out by worldly calamity and popular belief.

Jesus invites us to take a huge risk, and to stay true to his life-giving words.  He doesn't ask us to explain everything away as if it were calculable and formulaic.  He simply asks us to believe.  Eventually, our beliefs become synonymous with our very breaths.  We breathe the spirit of the living God, and we find at the core of our beings that which we were looking for all along.  

There's one more thing to be noted here before I wrap this up.  Jesus accepts the crows just as they are. He doesn't tell each person what they need to do in order to follow him.  He doesn't point out each person's flaws, or tell them to come back when they get themselves right.  The people choose to walk away, but are in no way turned away.  It's the same for us.  God loves us just as we are and not as we should be.  We are perfect in His sight.  We are the ones who get so caught up in our own inconsistencies that we lose the ability to hear the voice inside us that whispers, "I love you just as you are.  You are perfect to me.  You don't need to do anything else to prove yourself to me.  I loved you way before you ever started trying to prove yourself. "

Today's Action:  Turn to the book of John in the Bible, either manually or online.  Find a verse in which Jesus gives a direction.  Test it.  Does it bring us life in our own, unique way?  

Life Blood (Day 31 of Lent)

I'm really struggling to take today's passage and to put it in layman's terms.  Frankly, it's hard for me to swallow, and evidently it was hard for the disciples to swallow as well.  The first verse after this passage tells us the disciples told Jesus, "This is a tough teaching, too tough to swallow."  I'm going to lay out what the passage says, and then try to make sense of it.  In many ways, I find myself as a bystander in the crowd, thinking and asking the same things that the Jews have been asking.  Some of the things Jesus says just don't make sense without something tangible to wrap our minds around.  And, again that's one of the defining characteristics of belief - it exists to fill in all the gaps that we just can't prove.  So, here we go.

Jesus is claiming here that only as we eat and drink his flesh and blood, do we have life within us.  Those of us who have a hearty appetite and come to the table have lasting, real life and are fit and ready for the Final Day.  He claims his flesh is real food and his blood is real drink.  By eating his flesh and drinking his blood, we enter into him and he into us.  Those of us who make a meal of him live because of him.  This is the bread from heaven.

Wow.  How do we even begin to understand this.  In my meager attempts to even take a swing, I'm reminded of a group of nomads that I learned about in the anthropology class I'm taking right now.  These nomads are called the Bedouins.  What I've learned about them is, they subsist solely on the live of camels.  They ride camels.  They drink the milk from camels, and they even mix the milk with the blood of the camel.  They never eat the meat of the camel until they've hit old age, and aren't up to the task of carrying around the heavy loads anymore.  When a camel dies, the meat is used to sustain the whole tribe, and not a bit of the camel goes unused.  The flesh is used for clothing, cooking utensils, and warmth.  For the Bedouin, the camel is the lifeblood.  Every bit of the camel is used to sustain a life in the Sahara Desert, a place in which there is no water, no food, and no shelter.  

The Bedouins would have been around the time of Jesus, and they were more closely related to the Islamic faith.  However, the Jews and the Muslims were by nature allies, as both came from the same father - Abraham.  But, the Bedouins were not geographically close to Capernaum, where Jesus is teaching in this passage.  

Obviously, the audience has very understandable questions like, "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?"  That's a good question.  I would ask, and I am asking the same thing.  

I don't believe that Jesus is teaching the audience, or us, the way of life of cannibalism.  There's just something in my bones that doesn't believe that's what he's pointing at here.  If we take the two terms - flesh and blood - and simplify them to a meaning that would make sense to a Bedouin, we can simplify them to life.

What Jesus is claiming is that whoever figuratively sustains themselves on his flesh and blood, or life, finds more life than what they already have or have ever dreamed of.  The problem is, this is figurative, therefore how do we attain something that is somewhat tangible from something that is unseen?  Well, we may have to ask ourselves if we are performing this very same act in any aspect of our current life.  Do we seek things that bring us life, or happiness, or the feeling of "I wish this would never end."?

For me, it's doing what I'm doing right now.  I'm connecting with the passion inside of me that screams to write more and more.  When I follow this desire, I find life.  But, as fulfilling as it may seem, there are some negative results.  For one, I have fear that people won't like my writing.  Two, I just don't know much about alot of the stuff I write about, hence it's mostly my opinion and perspective on things that are interesting to me.  There are limits to this "life blood."  What Jesus is claiming, with the understanding that no one in the audience then or now can prove what he's saying, is that whoever seeks life from Him will find unlimited life.  No boundaries, no death, no decay, no fear.  Does it sound too good be true?  There's no way of knowing until it is tried on for size.  

One of the most exciting parts about believing in Jesus, and "following him," is not having a clue what the truth is.  What I'm left with is a life long adventure of seeking a truth that I may never find.  That's belief.  Throughout this whole book so far, we have been invited to believe in things that we have no conception of.  But again, I remind the reader that every day we choose to believe in things that we have no conception of - electrons, the Big Bang, the revolution of the planets, the heat of the Sun, the birth of a baby.  Jesus invites us to test out his claims, to take a figurative bite out of his body, a drink of his blood.  And maybe, just maybe, like the Bedouins sustaining off the life giving nutrients of the camel, we might find what we've been looking for since we were kids - freedom, peace, and contentment.  

Today's Action:  Examine one thing that brings us life today.  Examine the limits of that thing.  Reflect on the possibility that believing in Jesus provides unadulterated life to the fullest.  Open a Bible, online or manually, and find one suggestion that Jesus gives.  Then, test it.  See if it brings us a new perspective on what life is supposed to be about.  

Sustenance (Day 30 of Lent)

When I was in high school, there was a lady name Paul Magee who worked in the front office.  I knew this lady through her son Ryan.  I spent a lot of time at their house, spending the night and mooching food from the pantry.  Ryan and I would get into a lot of trouble drinking, and would frequently get bailed out by Paula.  She had a way about her in which she would make light of somewhat serious situations, like when the cops ambushed the trailer we were drinking in.  All the participating under-age drinkers lined up in front of the trailer as the cops shone flashlights into their eyes.  I, on the other hand, ran like the wind.  I trampled down the hill, through the trees, and hid for several hours.  After seeing that the coast was clear, I made it upstairs to find a bed to pass out in.  

The next morning, when Ryan and I presented our grubby selves to Paul in the living room, she just laughed.  She was one of those people who would let people experience their own demise without having to add her own two cents.  Sometimes, when things got really bad, she would yell with a smile on her face.  She had this vitality about her that let everyone around her know that life was just too short to be serious all the time.  Paul loved her family, and loved all the friends of her family.  She treated both the trouble makers and the good kids with compassion and kindness.  People gravitated to her.  

During my senior year of high school, Paula got cancer.  It was a fast-moving cancer that quickly took her weight, her hair, and her physical abilities.  It took her job as well.  There was one thing it didn't take though - her spirit.  Although the hair thinned and her body became more frail, she still smiled and treated everyone around her with dignity, no matter how much trouble they caused.  She was the rock in the family.  About a year later, she passed away in her bed.  The family had decided to let her breathe her last breath in her own bed, surrounded by the ones who had benefited from her energetic spirit for so many years.  Paula was a second mother to me.  She introduced me to a life-sustaining manna that - even though her physical body was suffering - gave her real and lasting life.  She died with a smile, knowing that nothing could take away the sustenance that kept her alive.  

Although she never really talked about it, she believed in the Bread of Life.  This Bread gave her the childish desire to dance the nights away at Wild West, while cancerous cells drained her physical life.  She was still the ringleader for once a week girls' nights out.  Her belief in Jesus dramatically impacted the way she lived and loved, and gave her the ability to see much further than her "blink of an eye" existence on this earth.  

Jesus claims in today's passage out of John chapter six that he is the Bread of Life, and that whoever eats of this bread will experience real and lasting life - a life that won't get snuffed out.  He says that God is drawing everyone to himself, wooing us with sustenance that lasts.  He says that when we listen and pray to God, that we are actually connecting with him in a way that leads to tangible experience - seeing and hearing him in personal, unique ways.  

The more I delve into the teachings of Jesus, the more I realize that there are no such things as roadblocks anymore.  What used to be problems with no solution are now adventures with many possibilities.  I believe in the Bread of Life without being able to prove anything.  That's all that Jesus invites us to do - believe.  I believe he knows that no one on this earth can possibly come anywhere close to proving anything, but he invites us to take the risk, get out on the ledge.  What could it hurt?  

Jesus says that whoever eats this bread will not die.  Obviously, physical death happens, so what is he talking about here?  I can't help but picture Paula, sitting up on her bed with a smile on her face, knowing that any moment now her last breath will arrive.  She believed that her physical death was just the beginning of an eternal journey.  In fact, she believed early on that her life on earth was already a journey into the eternal, that there would be a transitional period between the two resembling a physical death.  Obviously, she couldn't prove any of this.  But, she sure gave me evidence of what happens to a person who believes.  She showed me that belief directly affects that way in which one lives, without the need for formulas showing how she got from point A to point B.  

I have two pizzas sitting in my refrigerator as I speak, and they've been in there for nearly three weeks.  I'm pretty sure that the sausage has turned green, and the cheese is probably a shade of fuzzy blue.  We live in a world in which everything spoils.  Food, jobs, relationships, hope, and everything under the sun.  Is it possible that there is a way to experience non-spoilage?  Is it possible that believing in the Bread of Life will take away the "sting" of death, decay, and heartache, or at least not let these things be the brick wall in which we can't possibly get around?  

Today's Action:  Examine the different aspects of our lives which have spoiled, or are on their way to ruin (relationships, struggles, etc.)  Is it possible that believing in the Bread of Life can prevent or change our perspective on these situations?  Looking over the list, courageously pray for sustenance that lasts in each circumstance.  

Bread (Day 29 of Lent)

A few Christmases ago, I was sitting in a service at a local church.  I couldn't help but noticing the baby in front of me.  He was squirming around and doing everything he could to get my attention, to be noticed.  So, I played along with him.  I made faces and grabbed his finger, and tried to help him enjoy his time in the huge place filled with thousands of people.  In actuality, that little baby was experiencing something that I really wanted - peace.  There were no signs of discontentment in this little one, and he had this expression on his face that shouted, "There's nothing important except what's happening right now!"  

At the same time, there was a preacher and a sermon.  There was a choir.  There was a production full of lights, music, and stage acts.  Although we were attending a Christmas eve service, the message somehow took a sidetrack.  The topic of adultery and divorce were brought up, and the preacher exclaimed that repentance from these sins was required in order to avoid hell.  My heart sank as I looked three seats down from me at my uncle, who had just cheated on his wife and was on his way to a divorce.  I looked inside my own heart and thought about how I've committed adultery.  I went into the building to receive a message of hope, but instead received a reminder about how bad I was.  

I looked at the baby again, and noticed that he wasn't paying attention to what the preacher was saying. He couldn't understand.  He just kept giggling and urging me to play "peek-a-boo."  In this moment there were two paradigms going on, two perspectives on life bumping right up against each other.  These two paradigms, I believe, will always be running into each other.  The one perspective is, there is a heaven for the good boys and girls, and a hell for the bad boys and girls.  The other perspective is, "I am a child and don't know anything, but I believe that no moment is more important than right now."  

In today's passage for Lent in John chapter six, Jesus is still talking with crowd who just witnessed the amazing miracle of the multiplication of food.  The crowd is still not convinced though.  They want to see what Jesus can do, as if the prior events were not enough.  Jesus tells them, "Anyone who follows me will hunger and thirst no more."  

The crowd remembers the story of Moses and the Israelites, how they wandered through the desert hungry and thirsty.  They recalled how Moses gave them bread from heaven and struck a rock with his staff, causing a fountain of spring water to flow out to the people.  

Jesus says, "The real significance of that story is not that Moses gave them bread from heaven, but that I am the Bread of Life, the real bread, the bread that is giving life to the world."

The crowd responds, "How can we get this bread?  We want it now and forever!"  

Jesus says, "The will of the one who sent me is that everyone received this bread.  My father wants everyone who sees the son, who trusts in who the son is, who trusts what the son does, and who aligns themselves with the son to experience real and eternal life.  I have come to put everything and everyone together again, whole and upright.  The father's will is that by the end of time, not a single detail will be missed, but that everyone will be restored to wholeness."  

What did that baby boy have that I didn't?  Had I lost something somewhere along the way, in the calamities of life, religion, politics?  

Jesus claims that the Father is leading all of us to himself, and that we all eventually come running to him.  He claims that he doesn't let go of us, and holds us in his care that we hunger and thirst no more.  But, like in my experience in the church that evening, there will always be a voice that says, "You're on the road to hell unless. . . "  That evening, I chose to follow the facial expressions of the baby boy.  I was reminded that throughout this life, there will constantly be opposition to the voice that says, "I love you just the way you are.  I'm holding onto you and not letting go."  

Jesus claims that we are on a road of restoration.  With all of the broken parts of our lives and the world around us, he claims that he is putting every bit of us back together, and that we have the opportunity to be awake to this by trusting in who he is (Restorer), what he does (Provider), and aligning ourselves with him (restoring and providing for others).  He doesn't say that when we don't do these things He is going to hold off on the restoration work.  He says that if we want to be awake to what he's doing right now, then we need to trust him and align ourselves with him right now.  We aren't required to "know" anything.  What Jesus wants is simple trust and alignment, like a baby boy oblivious to the world around him.  He's telling us that he's taking care of what we don't know, and that we have nothing to worry about.  Are we willing to open our minds and hearts to the possibility that by trusting and aligning ourselves with Jesus, we will hunger and thirst no more?  

Today's Action:  Examine one area of our life in which "death was brought to life."  In a courageous attempt to trust in Jesus, say "Thank you" out loud.  Examine one area of our life in which we didn't have what it took or what we needed to get through.  In a courageous attempt to trust in Jesus, say "Thank you" again out loud.  Do one thing for someone else today that helps bring restoration or provision to their life.  

Slots (Day 28 of Lent)

My college life has been anything but spectacular.  For eleven years, my drinking kept me away from the classroom, even though I was signed up for classes for many semesters during that period.  Student loans were piling up with nothing to show for the stacked up debt.  I would hide in my dorm room, depressed, afraid to leave.  Alcohol was my master.  I had soaked up the maximum amount of resources to sustain my behavior through my parents, and had but one last place to run to - my grandmother.  

I knew that my grandma would give me anything I asked for, and every time I showed up the first thing she would ask me was, "Do you need any help with school?"  I didn't need any help with school.  I needed help buying alcohol.  Knowing that she didn't try to figure out my motives, she would give me money anytime I wanted it.  I took advantage of her time and time again.  None of the money she gave me went where it was supposed to go.  Never once did I go to her to develop a relationship or attain some wisdom from her years of experience and knowledge.  I went for a handout.  I lived my life chasing after perishable food.  The thing about it was, she didn't stop giving me what I wanted.  She didn't take responsibility for my actions.  She did what she believed was right.  Maybe she knew that one day I would be going to her gravesite to get on my knees and apologize for the ways I took advantage of her, and to thank her for loving me unconditionally and with no strings attached.  Maybe one day she knew that I would work for food that nourished me, food that lasted.

In today's passage for Lent, Jesus is facing the crowd that he had just fed the day before.  The crowd has followed him back across the sea of Galilee to the city of Capernaum.  He had slipped off after the feast to a mountain to be by himself.  The crowd had wanted to crown him king, but he knew that they were sustaining themselves off of the handouts.  

When the crowd finally finds him they ask, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"  

Jesus responds, "You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs - and for free.  Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food like that.  Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides.  He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last."  

For the longest time, I was convinced that believing in God meant free handouts for life.  Free health, wealth, prosperity, jobs, peace, contentment, and spiritual utopia.  When life didn't work out the way I wanted it to, I would constantly wonder why God was allowing it to happen that way.  I couldn't understand why, since I believed in him and said all the right things and prayed all the right prayers, God wasn't providing the way I wanted him to.  What I was lacking was peace, contentment, and lasting life.  I wanted God to be a person I could manipulate into giving me what I wanted, and I definitely didn't want to have to work for it.  

My experience was that when I tried this method long enough, I hit a spiritual bottom that I call hell on earth.  Living in the delusion that God was a heavenly slot machine who gave out spiritual handouts every time I inserted a prayer led me not to heaven on earth, but a state of mental and spiritual torture.  Any time I encountered suffering, there was no good to be seen in it.  I denied my own responsibility in this life.  

What Jesus tells the crowd here is that they are expecting spiritual handouts, and completely missing out on what it looks like to work with God.  Instead of working for things like peace, spiritual and emotional freedom, and contentment, they want Band-Aids.  I think it's interesting that even though Jesus knew their motives, he still gave them what they wanted - lunch on the hillside.  

Do I believe that God blesses us with no strings attached?  Absolutely.  Do I believe he does it because we have developed a formula for how to get those blessings?  Absolutely not.  Although the blessings come, we can easily get into the mindset that we are doing something right, and in effect God does something right back.  This way of thinking led me to hell on earth.  There came a time when my formulas weren't working.  It turned out that my relationship with God wasn't formulaic, and that scared me to my core.  I had been relying on food that didn't last.  The height of this realization came in the form of a prayer that sounded something like, "God, please take away my desire to drink.  PLEASE!"  The machine would not accept my tokens.  I was hopeless.

I'm afraid that there are many folks out there who are trying to insert tokens into the slot machine just like I tried for so many years.  But, it takes what it takes.  I believe that we eventually come to a place where we see God as a God we can work with.  We don't trail behind or lead the way.  We walk hand in hand.  We see God as a partner, a friend, and not a government or religious program.  When we begin to work with God for food that lasts, we begin doing things that we've never done before - like testing the scriptures, questioning what we've been "trained" to believe, and doing absurd things like inviting homeless people into our homes.  We go to work not to just get another paycheck, but to investigate ways in which we can contribute to the betterment of the lives around us.  We begin following the desires of our hearts, realizing that they were there all along but we had wrote them off as insignificant.  

We begin working for food that lasts because the spiritual Band-Aids just aren't working anymore.  They keep slipping off and the prayers aren't working.  I believe that if we want to experience a life that is truly lasting and peace-filled, we have to show up with a shovel.  When we pray, or when we expect God to do something for us, I believe we have some work to do with him.  

Today's Action:  Examine one thing that we've been praying for lately.  Then, ask ourselves, "How am I working with God to see this come into fruition?"  Do one thing today to work with God in seeing that prayer come to life.  

Two Hundred Silver Pieces (Day 27 of Lent)

In John chapter six, we're told that Jesus has just crossed over the Sea of Galilee with his disciples.  Once they arrive to the other side, they climb up a hillside overlooking the shore.  They sit down, and Jesus notices that a huge crowd has followed them - about five thousand people!  All these people are gravitating toward the man who has performed miracles among the sick, and they can't get enough of him.  Jesus asks Phillip, who's sitting next to him, "Do you know where we can buy enough bread to feed all these people?"  Jesus already has a plan in mind, but he's trying to stretch Phillip's faith.  Phillip says, "Two hundred silver pieces wouldn't be enough to even make a dent in this crowd."  Then, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, comes up and says, "There is a little boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish."  

Jesus says, "Can you go get those for me?"

Andrew asks the boy for his food and takes them back to Jesus.  Then Jesus tells the disciples, "Get all these people to sit down.  There's a nice patch of green grass."

Once the people sit down, Jesus takes the bread and the fish, gives thanks for them, gets the disciples to start passing it around.  We're told that everyone who's seated eats until they're full.  After the feast, Jesus tells the disciples to gather all the leftovers.  It turns out their are twelve baskets full of leftovers!  The people realize that God is at work among them in what Jesus has just done.  Murmurs around the crowd can be heard, "This must be the prophet!  This is God's prophet right here in Galilee for sure!"  

Jesus notices the crowd's enthusiasm, and knows they are about to grab him and appoint him as their king.  To avoid this, he slips off and goes up the mountain to be by himself.  He avoids the kingship.

I'm in Divide, Colorado right now staying in a cabin that overlooks Pikes Peak, one of the five tallest peaks in Colorado.  It's in the middle of nowhere, with evergreen trees covered in snow and sunlight shining through the trees reflecting off all the ice hanging off the roof of the cabin.  

Yesterday, on the way here, there was a homeless man standing on the corner of one of the intersections.  My friend, who was riding in the passenger seat, mentioned, "Should we give him one of our sandwiches?"  

I said, "That'd be great."  

So, my buddy got the sandwich, stepped out of the vehicle and said, "I don't have any cash on me, but I have a sandwich.  Here ya' go man."  

The homeless man took the sandwich and said thanks.  Near the homeless man was a guy riding a bike, and waiting for the light to turn green.  He was watching the whole time as my friend gave the man the sandwich, and as my friend got back into the car, the bike rider went up to the homeless man and gave him some cash.  I was stuck at how much attention the homeless man had been given in just the short amount of time.  In Houston, it's very rare to see much attention being paid to homeless people at intersections.  We had three sandwiches, amongst many other things we could give to this guy, and my selfish thinking up to this point wondered, "Which one of us will get the third sandwich?  I'm pretty hungry."  

The solution was, we had more than enough and my friend was aware enough to realize that.  As I reflect on this passage, the phrase that keeps popping in my mind is, "I have more than enough to go around."  Phillip is still using logic to find solutions to the problem of feeding the hungry people.  He's thinking in terms of currency, not faith.  I don't blame him.  Logic is one of our greatest gifts, not to be taken for granted.  Andrew, however, is thinking in terms of faith.  He doesn't know how it's gonna happen, but he offers the little boy's bread and fish up to Jesus in faith that something good may come out of it.  

What logic is good for is making smart, logistical observations.  It's good for planning, like for a road trip.  You make a schedule, put the financial figures on paper, create a budget, and decide the timing of everything.  However, logic doesn't cover the surprises.  

A good gauge for faith is how we react with the unexpected.  It's in these instances that logic is not enough.  We take a look at our inventory, and logic tells us that we can't afford to give away what we have.  It may cause problems in the future.  Faith tells us that we have enough to go around, no matter what our inventory shows.  Somehow, someway, we have enough to help other people.  It may be money, food, shelter, shower, clothes, or just simply listening.  

Jesus stretches Phillip's faith, trying to get him past his logical deductions of the situation.  We're not told whether he actually steps past logic, but Andrew seems to pretty solid in the faith department.  

When we choose to step out on faith, which is pretty illogical most of the time, amazing things happen. We let go of what we think we couldn't, and other people receive something they didn't expect getting. Believe it or not, there is enough in this world to go around.  There is enough food for everyone.  There is enough water for everyone.  There is enough shelter for everyone.  The problem is, the distribution is completely lopsided, leaving a small percentage of the population with more than enough and a large percent of the population with meager portions.  

I love the phrase, "Be the change you want to see in the world."  One of the most exciting aspects of taking the risk of trusting God is, taking what is logical, setting it aside, and doing what seems impossible.  When mathematics, financial budgeting, and our intellect tells us there's no way, and we follow that still, small, voice inside us that says, "Risk everything.  Don't worry.  You'll be okay."  When we move past logic in the instances where we look hurting people in the eye, we see a few measly coins or a sandwich multiply into something we couldn't have thought up.  

I'm convinced that when we take steps of faith, we are moving beyond our intellect.  The numbers don't add up, it just doesn't make sense, and we're not sure how we're gonna come out breaking even.  But, we find out that everything's gonna be fine.  When we realize that we always have enough to go around, we experience an unbelievable connection with a power much greater than ourselves, and a connection with humanity that we hadn't experienced before.  When faith is not added to logic, we tend to draw lines around our lives, putting up boundaries that confine us to what we can and can't do.  

Today's Action:  Think of a time when our logic kept us from from taking a leap of faith.  Keep our eyes open today for opportunities to go beyond logic, and to help someone based on the risk of faith. 

Guarantees (Day 26 of Lent)

I was hurting for money once, and didn't have a job.  Not to mention, I was spending every penny I had on alcohol and saving the bills and rent for last.  It wasn't working very well, so I got the logical idea of taking out a $3,000 loan from my credit union.  Being a member of this financial institution for fifteen years, I'm guaranteed instant cash.  So, I got the loan.  The second part of my plan was to purchase two pressure washers for a little over $2,000.  I went to the store, and there was a sign in the window that read something like, "No interest, zero money down for twelve months!!"  Of course, I had to get the credit card that came with this guarantee.  So, I filled out the paperwork and walked out with two brand new pressure washers that were surely going start making me some income.  Now, I had total assets of $5,000, and all I had to do was fill out some paperwork and put my signature on it.  I was rich.  

About three months into hustling up business, it started slowing down and I started getting lazy again.  I wasn't getting phone calls anymore, and I was too afraid to go door to door.  Also, after checking my credit line with the store, I noticed that interest was backing up.  They had guaranteed me the opposite.  For that whole year, even though the advertisement guaranteed no interest, I had accumulated $1,000 in interest.  I was in trouble, so the best thing I could do at the time was ignore the repeated phone calls coming in from both my banking institution and the credit card company.  It would be two years before I finally got the nerves to reach both institutions and figure out a payment plan.  It would be about ten years before I got out of the debt I had accumulated. 

People like me have to be real careful about guarantees.  Another time, I used my mom's credit card to pay the startup for "working at home."  I was looking for another easy way out.  This time, however, my parents caught me in time and cancelled the transaction.  Needless to say, I was in deep doo-doo.  

What is it about guarantees that cause us to gravitate toward them like we're under a magic spell?  They're all around us, and in today's passage for Lent, Jesus warns us against guarantees.  In this scene, the Pharisees have showed up and they're really pushing Jesus against the wall.  They're trying to get him to prove himself, to guarantee himself.  They can't stand not knowing the proof of everything he's been saying.  

After Jesus and the disciples get back into the boat (they had just finished feeding four thousand people), it was no sooner than they had left the bickering Pharisees that the disciples started bickering themselves.  This time, it wasn't about Jesus but about the fact that someone had left lunch behind.  Someone committed a major party foul.  So, as we humans do often, they started blaming each other and digging up old bones about the petty offense.  

Jesus overhears them and says, "Be very careful.  Do not let the contaminated yeast of the Pharisees and followers of Herod incorporate itself into what you're doing."

The two people that Jesus warns the disciples about are the Pharisees and the followers of Herod.  These two groups would probably translate today as strict, rule-driven religious leaders and followers of the President.  "Keep a sharp eye out for rule-driven religious leaders and followers of the President.  Do not let their contaminated yeast work its way into batch of dough."  

In the State of the Union Address, we hear many guarantees.  No matter who's the one giving the speech, the guarantees flow.  In this year's we had the following promises:  universal pre-school for four-year olds, renewing the assault weapon's ban, extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit, ensuring New Orleans locals can get recovery jobs, and many, many more.  

In the religious sphere, we may hear guarantees of heaven, hell, prosperity, abundant life, and health if we do what the pastor tells us to do, which is usually to pray the Sinner's Prayer with a sincere heart.  

Guarantees give us a sense of security and certainty.  However, Jesus is tells the Pharisees, "Your generation clamors for miraculous guarantees, and if I have anything to say about it, I'm not gonna give you so much as a hint of a guarantee."  Could this possibly apply to our lives today?  

Jesus seems to be throwing us right in the middle of the tension between truth and belief.  We're not given truth, and we're invited to believe with no guarantees.  Isn't that the beautiful part about faith though?  Jesus has this habit of keeping the audience on their feet, not unveiling the details that for sure would cause them not only to believe, but to accept the truth.  But he keeps them hanging on with doubt and shaky faith.  

We have to be careful with the contaminated guarantees of rule-driven religious leaders and followers of the President.  The yeast can very well incorporate itself into our belief systems, turning articles of our personal faith into personal guarantees.  Jesus invites us to take a look for ourselves to find out if it's even possible that things like peace, love, and grace can show up when we believe in him and test what he says.  I don't believe in spiritual handouts anymore.  I used to think that because I believe a certain way, that peace and contentment were guaranteed.  What would happen was, I would enter into deep bouts of depression with that thought process, and blame God for not handing me those assets.  I would suffer through my own self-pity until my depression got better, and continue waiting for those handouts.  It doesn't work like that.  

Essentially, we are believing in a God who provides no guarantees.  But, isn't that what belief is?  Paul says that faith is the evidence of things not seen.  Isn't believing in Jesus, or Buddha, or Muhammed, a beautiful process of working out what life means and seeking truth?  Are there really any guarantees in any of it?  

When we let go of the expectations that we are entitled to spiritual handouts, it actually deepens our faith.  We stop "clamoring about for miraculous guarantees," and begin letting our faith shape the way we live.  I'm not convinced that the faiths that were laid out by spiritual giants like Buddha, Ghandi, and Muhammed are wrong in any sense.  I am convinced by what I have experienced in the faith of Jesus.  I am trying on and testing what is recorded in the Scriptures, and am finding more and more that I don't have to spend this life worrying about guarantees - that I find enough sustenance in putting what he says into action.  I find lasting life.  I find contentment.  I find everything I've ever wanted, with no guarantees.  

Today's action:  Today we will think of a time we tried to control things, when we had the timing all wrong.  Then we will think of a time when everything went well, and the timing was perfect.  What are we learning about rhythm and trust?