Posted in Uncategorized

hard sell?

Posted on by Wick

I’m a pretty good salesman.  I’m also a horrible salesman.  It depends on what you’re measuring, I suppose.  When we first followed God’s call & relocated closer to family, I took a couple different sales jobs.  I volunteered at a small church in town, and learned what it was like working 9-5 (or 8-6, as it often was).  A few months was spent in Radio Advertising, and almost a year was with Pitney Bowes, selling “postage meters/folding machines/etc”.  I was pretty good at connecting relationally with my customers.  I even closed deals.  I could talk excitedly about what I had to offer them, and honestly believed I could help them out.  But when they asked me for the best deal – I’d usually give it to them.  So even though I made sales, I wasn’t the profit-generating machine that was celebrated in the sales realm.

Because of working on the world of advertising/ROI and the like, my radar picks up on sales-pitchy things much more than legosit used to.  I shrink back quickly from anything that smells like being a “salesman for Jesus/Heaven/Youth Group/Church”.  Unfortunately, that’s a large percentage of what’s out there for people seeking Christ to consume.  Bible studies, self-help books, and small group curriculum all geared toward convincing/reminding humanity that to come to Christ is to come to the end to all of your problems.  To arrive at the doors of the church is to arrive at an oasis of plenty.  To believe in Jesus Christ is to have all your prayers answered, every day is a holiday, and every meal’s a feast.

In a broken world, that sounds awesome.  We’re in debt, and even credit is running out fast.  We realize that something better than what we’re experiencing must be out there.  So when the man with the Bible, the nice smile and smooth words tells us that coming to church (and perhaps buying his book) will help fill the void we’ve got, and open doors of potential we previously thought were closed….we’re quick to follow.  The problem comes after some time of believing.  Time of offering our devout faith to a God/Genie, and becoming frustrated when nothing we ask for happens.

You might be nodding while reading this, agreeing that yes – we need to be honest about our expectations.  We need to remember that a call to follow Christ, is a call to the cross.  That we’re not promised what we want will work out the way we plan, by simply “trusting really really hard”.  But at the same time, I want my children to know the Hope we have in Christ.  I want them to experience putting their faith in Him, and having a life transformed.  I suppose it all depends on what we emphasize:

1 – We could emphasize the wrong things to our 5 year old.  Tell her that God wants everything to go perfect for her, and if she invites Jesus into her heart, it will enable all her dreams to come true (Jeremiah 29:11, right?).  Or, we could take the threatening route and tell her that someday she’ll either spend forever in flames or in golden streets and whipped cream.  If she asks Jesus into her heart, she won’t have to burn.  Sure, these spiritual things are bigger/different, but it’s important to speak in a language they simply understand, right?

2 – We could be honest with our 5 year old from the very start.  Tell her that people have made some really bad choices, that make this world a hard place to live sometimes.  But tell her how God has moved in our family already, and how He’s calling & enabling us to be different.  That we can choose to love/forgive, even when it’s hard.  We can be humble, and look for ways to serve others & love our neighbors globally.  We can pray, and know that spending time in God’s presence changes us.  We ask him to fill us with His love, so that in the simple ways we live, God is changing the world.

Sometimes that will lead us down paths where people know our name and smile or applaud.  Other times it may lead us down paths where people know our name and angrily yell.   Still many more times it may mean know one knows our name, but God is with us.

We are never alone, and that seems to be a pretty big point to a savior who was called

“Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’. “

But in a culture where more and more churches and youth ministries are selling the fun/loud/exciting/blessing/health/prosperity/nice teeth/etc…it may become increasingly difficult to be heard.  Still…this is what we speak.

Posted in Different Books, Different Learning, Different Thoughts

the makers.

Posted on by Wick

I remember learning about the concept of “pax” back in college.  The fact that “peace” was not believed to simply be the cessation of violence, but active sharing/pursuit of right relationship.  That has come up again in both my reading and my parenting.

IMGP8574I’m naturally a “lover, not a fighter” (aka – a wuss).  I remember attending one wrestling practice with my big brother back in high school, jus to check things out.  The amount of grunting, sweating, and sizing each other up to see who could best who…for some reason wasn’t appealing to me.  To brag about how much you can lift, curl, crunch, or how many times you can pull yourself up on a bar….yah, I never understood that.  But someday when the zombies attack and I’m eaten first, all the jocks will be able to say “I told you so.”

I generally find myself agreeing with the kinds of things that pacifist Mennonite and Anabaptist writers might say in regard to conflict/war/etc.  But I was reminded recently by Jurgen Moltmann is his book “Ethics of Hope“, there must be something more.  That it’s not simply about allowing swords to do their thing, and retreating into ploughshares; but rather reforging swords into ploughshares.  Moltmann says:

“Nonviolence, like the forgiveness of sins, is only a negation of the negative, out of which nothing positive as yet proceeds.”

Or the more obvious quote:  “We are not told: ‘Blessed are the peaceful’ but ‘blessed are the peacemakers'”

It makes sense.  I don’t want my girls to simply shy away from an inflammatory situation.  Especially in our drama-rich culture that celebrates the ability to reduce your opponent by well-placed physical or emotional blows.  It can be easy for someone who’s been taught humility and gentleness to simply bow out, quietly walk away, and keep to themselves.  Certainly I hope they know when it’s wise to walk away.  But that’s not always the best response.

I want to raise my daughters to be filled with the wisdom, hope, and Love it will take to diffuse a tense moment.  To help bring healing and reconciliation when two of their friends are conflicted.  To mediate arguments, and offer solutions.  To speak up for the voiceless, and reveal the underlying and uniting Truth beneath the facade of drama.  To enter the places where swords are drawn, and bring redemption for the sake of all involved.

Oh snap.   It sounds like I want my daughters to be like Jesus…

 

Posted in Different Moments, Different Thoughts

Always be sexy.

Posted on by Wick

There’s quite a buzz about the video of (Chris) Ashton Kutcher accepting an award recently in front of thousands of teens.  As a youth pastor, and as a parent, it struck a chord in me.  The kind of chord that wants to say a couple things about what has been said. (and viewed several million times by others since then)kutcher

We’ve had statements like this by famous people before throughout the years.  Statements apparently grand and wise because it’s by someone who’s achieved it all, and has some great nugget of wisdom to pass along to those following behind (or beneath) them.  Although I definitely applaud Chris with using an opportunity to point somewhere other than himself, and make teens think…I also want to use this moment to encourage us to go a step further.

Because what he said isn’t enough of a foundation.  it’s not incredibly deep wisdom to live from.  It shouldn’t be passed around to millions and millions of people because of how crazy-different it is than the commonly accepted way we all think.   Unfortunately however, because of the low standards/ethical & moral decay/and brokenness in our world, his simple reminders DO actually stand out in a way that make people want to get those 3 points tattooed on their shoulder (or at least make a killer meme).

Here are my main beefs with his quick statements: (That I realize are unfair, because he just stood up and spoke seemingly “off the cuff”.  But as popular as his words have become already, and the fact that he thought out his main 3 points….I think this is worth saying.)

1. Opportunities look like hard work.   He then goes on to talk about several jobs where he had to work hard and sweat it out.  It’s definitely a great reminder to our young people they are not “too good” to work at dirty jobs.  But it comes with the unspoken tag, “As long as those jobs get better and better, stepping up until ultimately you find yourself here.”  He doesn’t mention working without pay, serving others sacrificially, or working for something larger than your desire to get ahead.

2. Always be sexy.  He closes with this line, and it’s memorable.  His point was to “redefine sexy” as being:  Smart, Thoughtful, and Generous.  I’m glad he’s pointing teens to look at something other than physical appearance, but he still uses the same vocabulary.  As much as they cheer in the moment, and might forward the link to others – the very word “sexy” is about being and wanting to be desirable/appealing to others.  The goal then becomes to appear smart.  To act thoughtful.  To seem generous.  But all with the goal of being thought of as “sexy/desirable” by others.  Not because you’re actually compassionate, intelligent, and loving.  My advice?  Don’t worry about redefining “sexy”; just be compassionate, intelligent, and loving.

3. Don’t live life – build one.  His work on a recent movie about Steve Jobs apparently reminded him of this foundational truth.  But it’s about as vague as anything he said.  “Everything around us that we call life, is made up of people who are no smarter than you.”  That could be encouragement, or a slam against the mental capabilities of his entire audience.  It’s true that we’re not required to simply “follow” everyone who came before us.  But to assume everything that exists simply came from other human beings, and there will never be anything better than what the sum of humanity can conjure….is not as hopeful as he made it sound.  Look around at what we’re doing: to our planet, to animals, to each other.  I don’t wanna tell my kids or my teens – “sure you may have limited capabilities, but you can still dig deep & try really hard to make things better than the people who lived before you did.  In fact, you must!”

I’d much rather point them in the direction of a source, and a foundation, much more solid than the words here.  Point them toward a life of serving and sacrifice for the sake of Loving others.  Toward a life of knowing they’re infinitely desired by God already, and living in the peace & confidence that brings.  Toward a life that doesn’t put hope in humanity coming up with better and newer things, but instead joins God’s creative moving in our world to bring about transformations of Love, Grace, Mercy, Healing, Justice, and making all things New.