Author: Wick

So on Facebook, you may have noticed everyone and their mother telling the world “25 Random Things About Me”. Along with it, they tag 25 people they “want to know more about”. Apparently my Facebook friends don’t know enough about me, cause I’ve been tagged a ridiculous amount of times. I normally abhor “forward” type surveys/etc. I still do. But in the interest of being able to honor these “requests for more information” if that’s truly what they are, here are 25 random things about me, in no particular order. (and no, I won’t “tag” 25 more people. That would only continue the madness. Just consider it a safe bet that I want to know more about you, and post your own random things.)

1. I love Jesus Christ, and am a new creation through Him.
2. I’m afraid of Trolls. Whether goofy or legitimately scary.
3. I tried to have a ponytail in high school, and it didn’t work out so hot.
4. I once sang lead role in a Community Theater production of the Opera, “Amahl and the Night Visitors“.
5. I’m a dedicated fan of the Detroit Red Wings.
6. My favorite hockey player currently is Brett Lebda.
7. Favorite all-time hockey player is Steve Yzerman.
8. I’ve appeared on, and kicked butt on, Wheel of Fortune.
9. I’m obsessive compulsive about where/how the cups go in our cupboard.
10. My favorite show to watch with my daughters is YO GABBA GABBA.
11. The best place to get chocolates for a special occasion is Jacques Torres.
12. I like to wear flip flops as much as possible. (and it IS possible whenever it’s dry)
13. I’m very much a fan of GOOD hip-hop.
14. One of my favorite desserts is creme brulee.
15. The blacker the coffee, the better it tastes.
16. My wife is better/more beautiful than yours.
17. My kids are all smarter/cuter/all around better than yours.
18. I have to work purposefully on my humility.
19. You’re probably a lot more interesting than I am in your 25 random things.
20. I’m okay with that.
21. I don’t really like doing surveys like this.
22. I’d rather go out for coffee.
23. I’m laughing that you’re still reading this.
24. I wonder sometimes what I should put as my final “random thing”.
25. I think it’d be more fun to let you fill this one in – so leave it as a comment:

I wanted to post some thoughts on this…but couldn’t say it much better than NT Wright has in a Feb. article on ABC News: (click link to read full article – I’ve pulled out some main points here)

“Believers and unbelievers have strong views about what happens when you die. For centuries, Christians have believed that their destiny after death is heaven: a spiritual place where they — along with a myriad of angels, — sing praises to God for eternity. But is it possible that Christians may have gotten that part of their faith badly wrong”

“Wright points to films like the romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral” where, in the absence of a clear grasp of what happens when you die, people invent ideas about the afterlife that are not in scripture.

“I think we have allowed ourselves to drift in what we say about the dead,” Wright said.”There are a lot of funeral services sadly which go that route these days, [where] death is nothing at all, I’ve just slipped away into the next room and so on. Anyone who’s grieved and anyone who’s worked with anyone who’s grieved knows that it’s a lie. Death is a monster, death is horrible.”

“In a radical departure from traditional belief, Wright says that Christians are not ultimately destined for a spiritual place called heaven. He says that at the end of time as we know it, God will literally remake our physical bodies and return us to a newly restored planet.”

“Heaven is important but it’s not our final destination,” he explained. “If you want to say that when someone dies they go to heaven, fine. But that’s only a temporary holding pattern that is life after death. And what I’m much more interested in, or the New Testament is much more interested in, is what I’ve called life after life after death.”

“I’ve often put it like this, if somebody you know has been very ill, you say, ‘Poor old so and so, he’s just a shadow of his former self.’ And the extraordinary truth in the New Testament is that if you are in Christ and dwell by the spirit you are just a shadow of your future self,” Wright said. “There is a real you to which the present you corresponds as a photocopy corresponds to the glorious original. You know, there is a real you, which God is going to make and it will be more physical — more real, not less.”

“But this interpretation is the exact opposite of what many American Christians believe. The hugely successful Left Behind series of movies and books is an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world — a view shared by many evangelicals. According to those who believe it, the end of the world will start with the so-called “rapture,” when all Christians will be taken up to heaven in one momentous swoop. The earth then enters a period of cataclysmic wars until it eventually disintegrates, in a final chapter of fire. Wright says that is more mythical than Biblical.”

“It’s a myth,” Wright said. “It is an attempt to make sense of some bits of the New Testament. It was always the literature of the dispossessed … it’s now become the literature of the rich masses in parts of America.”

“It’s because I believe in God’s kingdom of justice and peace already existing because of Jesus, and yet to come in the future, this gives me the energy and the focus to work for the kingdom of God in the present.”

This past weekend we had “FROSTBITE“, a winter retreat for Senior Highers from all over the Gateway Conference of the Free Methodist Church. It went awesome. Here’s a quick recap:

We had over 130 people from over 10 different churches. We brought in Jeremiah Bolich as our speaker, and hired BREAM as our worship band for the weekend. We had carpetball, football, counselor hunts in freezing temperatures, and the other expected youth-oriented activities. But our preparation, fancy bells and whistles, and amazingly un-camplike food were not the source of what made the weekend.

From registration on Friday evening, through the various activities/services/meals/etc., into clean-up time on Saturday – Christ was praught/taught/proclaimed and studied. The reminder that we can easily become someone who is following Christ, and yet still not a Christian, was an appropriate message for the teens AND we adults. Especially those of us involved regularly in church-ish things.

When Jesus fed a crowd following him (John 6), he realized these people were following him for the wrong reasons. They wanted to make Jesus King of the Jews, and associated Him/His power with political potential. He wanted nothing to do with them, and escaped.

How often in our own lives, are we “following Jesus”, and yet being someone he would look at and want nothing to do with? Do our ministries reflect Jesus, or our desires? So what does a life transformed by the Spirit of God look like?

For that, we have examples throughout the word of God, or people/disciples who lived out their faith. The New Testament is filled with stories of a spirit-empowered life under the new covenant. People who’s lives were guided by, and wrapped around not who they wanted Jesus to be – but who Jesus revealed He was – and how He revealed His Kingdom to be.