Author: Wick

We got our new articles of clothing all washed and tags removed.
Got our required reading materials, and subscriptions to appropriate learning magazines renewed.
We got internet speeds approaching way to fast, and stacks of mousepads to burn.
And we haven’t forgotten what we learned last year, at least what we really learned.

We’ll zip the bags so tightly packed, our shoulders unforgiving.
And walk through halls filled with might-be friends, and we all pretend we’re living.
The lives we want with t-shirts on that tell you where we bought ’em.
Except for those who snuck around in salvation army’s where no one caught ’em.

“Nice shirt” you’ll say, “thanks you too” they respond – a high five lifestyle as you run through another turnstyle.
Just another number on a locker that got cleaned out last May.
And will get cleaned out again.

But Christ offers much more for how you begin.

Shed the brands, the fads, the knowledge that allows you to be in the know.
No staying up late nights making sure you keep up with the informational and social flow.
No more status quo.

You’re free.  Free to wear the air-brush t-shirt your grandma bought you in Orlando.
Free to sit by the kids you thought look interesting but didn’t wanna risk being labeled cool-aphobe.
Free to go to bed when your body needs sleep, and free to eat what keeps you healthy.
Free to trip on your own left foot, free to sneeze, and free to not be stealthy.

Free to be human, in need of God, a God who is constantly forming.
His identity in your being again, and the creation around you is storming
Like thunder clouds before it hits, and buzz and anticipation, a positive mess
You’re free to unplug from the stereotypical beginning of another year, living wireless.

Free from pretending to be flattered when he’s says something unflattering.
Free from having to compliment her body when there’s other things more mattering.
Free to treat the people around you like their made in the image of God
Free to live according to the Kingdom that’s coming even though you’ll be labeled odd.

And don’t translate it into becoming cool in some sort of Christian hip sub-culture.
Jesus didn’t come to start new trends, he came and submitted to torture.
He loved in a way that let go of what the world thought he should be.
And the best way to start school this year, is to accept that He’s made you free…

I got to preach ( otherwise known as “I praught” ) this past Sunday on Luke 12:49-59. The topic was “Reconciliation”. In these verses, Jesus actually says “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

Check it out to hear how this is still very much a message on reconciliation…

I mentioned the topic of telling stories earlier this month, in response to a message on a youth trip to San Diego.  But lately it continues to be on my mind and heart, as my oldest (about to be 4 on Thursday! Yikes!) daughter continually asks me to tell her stories.  Thankfully I’ve not only got a collection of stories from years of hearing/telling the stories we have in scripture….God seems to have also given me a mind that can mine the mundane for new tales to spin.

Sure, there’s the bedtime ritual, “daddy, tell me a story” that you never know if it’s a plea for literary genius, or simply a scheme to squeeze a few more minutes of consciousness into that day.   But there are plenty of other times where she’ll randomly say the familiar phrase “tell me a story”.

I’m reminded of the concept of “Story” from Donald Miller’s recent book, and how part of parenting is crafting and writing a compelling story for your family.  A story that connects them to something larger, and calls them into a character identity, so that they don’t feel the unresolved need to search elsewhere.  Which even as a write, I realize could sound very close-minded to a non-believing reader….if I have any at all.

And I suppose I’m okay with that.  I will not beat my kids with a “must love Jesus” bat, but growing up in my home I pray they will find themselves characters in a story worth living within.  That their identity is both solid/firm, and beautifully/mysteriously open to their creative interaction with the God who gives it and His Universe.  To invite them to find their identity in Christ, and to parent in a way that reveals that invitation as foundational Truth, and Hope-bringing to every area of their life.

I work with teens and other people on a regular basis, who are still searching for that compelling story.  That character they’ve been called and created to be.  That incredible role they’ve been given.  It’s sad when we see someone missing out, unaware of the transformational story breaking through even now.  The story of Love, Grace, Hope, and New Life that God is writing over a creation that began to write on its’ own.

I hope that’s even a little encouraging.  Because I’ll confess, for me, these words come as a needed reminder.  To not tire of telling stories.  To hear my daughter’s plea for one more story as a testimony to how God has wired my children….they are hungry for Story.  And I am a parent.  A story teller. 

I pray they hear the story God is telling through me, above all the 2 dimensional stories the world tries to throw at them…