You would be hard pressed to find a verse that American Christians do a worse job of applying that the one above.  This results in part from living in a culture that tells us we don’t have the right to judge anyone or anything, unless that person or thing isn’t tolerant, then you can judge it all you want!

Past that we don’t like to test because it isn’t nice. And if there one word to describe Christian Culture in America today, that word would be nice! In passing allow me to note it’s not a word found much in the Bible.

Moving on…

The New Testament has quite a bit to say about testing. Let’s take a quick and incomplete survey.

According to Scripture we test to see if we’re saved - 2 Cor. 13: 5-6 and to see if we’re right with God - 1 Cor. 11:28.

When Christians do this they usually get it wrong. Why? Because the Bible is also clear that our testing is not to done in comparison to others. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. Galatians 6:3-5 (NIV)

Since we live in such a self-centered society we generally do compare ourselves with others. Of course that is a deadly trap. Paul wisely counsels us to test ourselves according to the timeless standard of the Word of God instead.

The final thing that sets Biblical testing apart from what we normally hear about is that it is God Who should do the testing!

Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; Psalm 26:2 (NIV)

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Lamentations 3:40 (NIV)

After all, Who but God alone truly knows our hearts and minds? He alone knows us, and also knows what we really need in our lives. So according to the Bible it’s to Him that we turn for an accurate picture of ourselves.

That picture can be pretty ugly sometimes. But it’s far better to know what it is, than to live in abysmal ignorance of our true spiritual state.

So instead of trying to avoid the tests of life, why not be different - and Biblical - and invite God to test you today?

Just remember, if you don’t like your test results, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

The tough decision I’m thinking about tonight came up Monday afternoon in our weekly Staff meeting. It was a great meeting, and we got a lot done. Of course it’s easy to have great Staff meetings when you are blessed with a great Staff like we have here at KCC. Brian and Caressa are a real pleasure to work with, and I’m grateful to get to work alongside them.

In the course of the meeting we discussed how preparations for 40 Days of Purpose were coming. The more we looked at how little time was remaining, and how busy the church calendar was in October, the more we all began to think that October just wasn’t the right time for us to do 40 DOP.

So after kicking our options around we decided to move it. 40 Days of Purpose will now begin on January 11th and end on February 22nd. I know that’s a long time away, and it broke my heart to have to postpone it. But we did it anyway - because it was the right choice to make.

There’s a myth floating around in the church that if God is leading you then any decision you make will be an easy one. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you read your Bible you’ll see men and women called to make very difficult decisions all the time. Just look at the life of Paul, here’s one tough decision he made, and it’s still debated today whether or not it was the right one.

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”  Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.  And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Acts 15:36-41 (ESV)

Was Paul right? If you think I’m going to second guess either Paul or Barnabas then you’re crazy! I haven’t earned the right.

However I will say this; by separating into two teams twice the ground could be covered, twice the number of people could be reached, twice the number of churches could be planted. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

No one can think that it could have been easy for Paul to turn away from his old friend Barnabas. After all it was Barnabas who had befriended him and helped him be welcomed into the church. Now they part ways, and we don’t know if Paul and Barnabas ever worked together again.

But we do have a pretty good idea that there were no hard feelings because of this, and that later Mark worked with Paul again. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 2 Timothy 4:11 (NIV)

So it’s clear that God calls into places that will require heart wrenching decisions from us. That’s just a part of following Jesus. So the next time you confront one of those choices, pray it up, step up, and make the best decision you can.

Because in the end, that’s all any of us can do.

Do I really have to tell you those are some of the lyrics from the Elvis Presley song, All Shook Up?

I didn’t think so.

I’m titling today’s post this because, as a friend of mine pointed out to me sometime last week, that’s exactly what God is doing to me. I say sometime because pretty much all of last week was one long, sleep deprived blur.

My friends comment has stuck with me, so I started looking at the whole concept of shaking in the Scriptures. And of course what you find is that the term is usually used in connection with God’s judgment.

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. Haggai 2:6-7 (NIV)

Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. Isaiah 2:19 (NIV)

The problem with saying God’s Judgment is that we almost always associate that with hellfire, mass destruction (see some of the above verses) and the Second Coming.  Normally that’s fine, since that’s when the final judgment will occur.

But is that the only time God judges? Hardly! He is constantly aware of our growth or lack of it, and is constantly seeking to help us become more like Christ. As I like to say, God loves and accepts us just as we are, but loves us for to much to leave us that way! This seems to be what the writer to the Hebrews is saying:

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Hebrews 12:5-13 (NIV)

I knew that this would be a year of huge changes, shaking if you will, in my life. Moving to a new town and a new church is a huge change. I also knew this change would impact everyone at CCR (my old church) and KCC (the new one), my entire family and more.

I had no way of knowing that was just going to be the beginning of how God would allow my life to be shaken. All this has impacted me in some pretty profound ways, and of course the recent death of my Father has shaken me up and down and all around as well.

This shaking isn’t comfortable at all, in fact at times it’s down right painful. But it’s good and needed and will, as the passage above from Hebrews points out, have a powerful impact for good on me if I cooperate with the work the Spirit is trying to do in my heart right now.

God chooses to shake us up, but if we don’t choose to learn and grow, than all we’ll get from the experience is a few bruises from being bounced around. I don’t know how, or even if, God is shaking you. But if He is, I pray that you’ll learn, grow and change as He wants you too, and I hope you’ll pray for me to do the same as well.

]]> http://marshianchronicles.com/?feed=rss2&p=1489 http://marshianchronicles.com/?p=1487 http://marshianchronicles.com/?p=1487#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:00:41 +0000 louie http://marshianchronicles.com/?p=1487 With the recent death of my father, I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. I usually talk about it in my typical funeral message, and do so because I think it’s important. But Dad’s death made it a lot more personal, and as I thought about it last week here’s what I came up with:

Why We Shouldn’t Idealize Our Dead:

1) It’s An Act of Idolatry.

When we idealize our dead, what are we doing? We are forgetting and repressing the reality of their shortcomings and sins, and exaggerating their strengths. We are creating a false image that we can then look up too, praise, pine for and all too often center our lives around.

Or, in other words, we are creating an idol!

2) It’s An Insult To Our Dead.

When we repress someone faults and exaggerate their good points, we are lying about them! We are insulting them by deliberately distorting who and what they were. Everyone knows that none of us are perfect, yet we still seek to make people seem that way, even when they weren’t.

I know for sure that if someone had done that to my Dad while he was alive, he would have eaten them up and spit them out, then stomped a mud hole in them and walked it dry!  All verbally of course!

3) It’s A Way To Avoid Reality.

I think that another reason just about everyone does this is to avoid having to deal with whatever baggage might be left behind after someone dies. It’s hard to admit that you really didn’t like certain things about a loved one or family member.

But it’s true!

So rather than admit and deal with a painful reality, we just try to wish it away.

Which brings me to my final reason why we should idealize our dead:

4) It’s Pathetic!

I loved my father as much as anyone, he was my trusted adviser and supporter and we were very close. But for me to pretend that he was someone super human or flawless would just be plain pathetic! Some of those flaws were part of why I loved him, and his struggles to overcome them an inescapable part of his person story.

I would resent anyone trying to violate that, or change it, just to make themselves more comfortable or happy!

Let’s deal with what’s real, and remember our dead for who and what they were, and are.

Friday, August 1^st, 2008

As I see it, there were four great forces that shaped Dad’s life, and I want to very briefly tell his story in light of them.

The first force was the Great Depression. Dad was a child of it, which means he grew up in a level of poverty that no one alive today can really understand unless they lived through it or are from a 3^rd world country.

Those very hard times shaped a generation, and taught them that hard work was indispensible to life.

His adult life was bookended what would prove to be the second of the four great forces that would shape his life – the United States Marine Corps.

I doubt Dad had much interest in the Corps until December 7^th, 1941. Once he knew we had been attacked by Japan, like most young men of his generation he rushed to sign up! As things turned out he had to wait to get someone to sign for him as he was slightly underage. But sign up he did, with the Marines, because he had heard that’s where the action was going to be, and he wanted to fight!

After basic and advanced training, he heard about this new group being formed. They would be the first to fight, would fight behind the lines, and were hand selecting only the best. Dad interviewed and was selected to become a Marine Raider. He ended up in the 4^th Raider Battalion, with President Roosevelt’s son Jimmy as his first Battalion commander.

The fourth Raiders fought in New Georgia campaign, and the Raiders were disbanded in February of 1944. They were formed into the 4^th Marine Regiment, and fought in the liberation of Guam, then became part of the 6^th Marine Division and fought in what was arguably the worst battle of WW2 – Okinawa.

The 4^th Marines were the first troops to land in Japan after the surrender.

He arrived home and on a blind date met the third force that shaped his life, a young woman named Florence. As it turns out he would end up spending the next 62 years of his life with her. They were married quickly and set up housekeeping as best they could.

Their first child Karen was born, and things were going pretty well. To help make some extra money Dad joined the Marine Corps Reserve, because all you had to do was meet once a month, unless something happened. And after all - what could happen?

North Korea happened! Dad was called back into service and almost as soon as he arrived in Camp Pendleton was shipped off overseas. He arrived to late for the invasion at Inchon, but did join A company, first battalion, 1^st Marines, 1^st Marine Division just in time to invade North Korea.

Dad fought through out the infamous Chosin Reservoir Campaign. About 10 Communist Chinese division surrounded the 5^th and 7^th Marines, along with other allied forces. They performed an unbelievably heroic fighting withdrawal down one mountain road.

There was one critical mountain peak that had to be taken to free them and allow them to rejoin the 1^st Marines, who were fighting just south of them. In a bloody two day assault Dad’s company took that peak. Dad continued fighting in Korea for several months before coming home.

While he was there Monica was born. After his return business picked up as he now had two children and a wife, and slightly less than two years later added a son to the mix – me!

He was working for the Bell System, at the time the only phone company in the country. He was moved to Arizona, and what a move it was! He went first leaving me as head of the household. Somehow we survived that and went on to prosper in here in the desert.

All three of us kids kept on growing, and gradually we began to be drawn back to God. We had gone to church in Indiana, but it was here in Phoenix that we would give our lives to Christ.

Though it all, Dad wasn’t interested in hearing about it. In fact, he’d sooner bite your head off than listen to anything about God! He didn’t attend either my or Monica’s baptisms. And when I came home from church camp and told him I had dedicated my life to full time Christian service – his reaction had to be seen to be believed! It was something of a cross between a nuclear bomb and a volcano going off!

But strangely enough that was a major step forward in his spiritual pilgrimage. I think of this of where he encountered his fourth life shaping influence – Jesus Christ. Because he left town on Monday madder than a wet hen, and came back on Friday a changed man. He told me he had all the hippies up in Prescott that weekend, and knew they needed someone who could reach out and help them.

It wasn’t long afterwards that I was part of an effort in our Youth Group to do a March for Jesus. The Elders at out church opposed it. Being the son of a Marine, I naturally listened to the authorities, and then promptly ignored them! Dad shocked us all by saying he wanted to go! He and Mom walked side by side from South Mountain to First Christian Church!

We were handing out little New Testaments, and he took one with him on the road. He came back on Friday and told me he had read the whole thing. Christ began to work in his life. Soon after that he had a divine encounter with Christ as a bright life in his room.

So on Mother’s Day, in a complete surprise to Mom but not to me, who he had told about this before hand, he went to church. Not only that, but at the end of the message he grabbed Mom’s hand and said, “Come on Flo!” He went forward to rededicate his life to Christ, Mom rejoiced, and all the kids in the Youth Group who had been praying for him for four years, whooped and hollered too!

Dad took his faith seriously, read and studied the Bible like a scholar, collected commentatries and really grew in his faith. I know he was an inspiration to me.

Throughout all this time Dad didn’t talk much about his war experience. But as he grew older he did a little. Finally a great day came, when we were contacted by a group we didn’t know existed – the United States Marine Raider Association.

Dad was thrilled! Sometime after that Mom, Dad and I went to our first Raider Reunion, held that year in Minneapolis Minnesota. I’ll be returning to Minneapolis in about 3 weeks for another reunion, this time without Dad, but I’ll be representing him there.

I managed to nag Dad into overcoming his innate shyness he wrote the basis for the first ever website on the internet to be dedicated to the Raiders – Dan Marsh’s Marine Raider Page – it’s still there and I hope you’ll visit it.

Note: From this point forward I adlibbed my remarks. Here’s the two verses I quoted and the jist of my remarks.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV)

Dad was a fighter. Not only in the Marine Corps but in just about everything in life. He fought the good fight for 26 days in the hospital, and finally on the 27^th entered into the Lord’s peace.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (ESV)

We should mourn with hope. This hope comes from Christ alone. Without Him and His resurrection from the dead – there is no hope in death! But Dad believed in and served Jesus, and we do too, and look forward to being with him again in Heaven.

Finally I spoke about the us receiving the final gift Dad has to give us – an accurate memory of his life. I told them a lot of people get upset when I say this, which I do at almost every funeral. But I don’t really care what you think of me, so go ahead if you must!

We need to remember Dad as he was, faults and all. He had them, we all know about them, so lets resist the temptation to idealize the dead. Instead let’s remember the real, fallible human being we loved so much.

Let’s be inspired by his strengths, and seek to be like him in those areas of our lives. Let’s be hard working, let’s think deeply, read widely and be loyal to our friends.

But let’s also remember his faults – and learn from them! If Dad could speak to us now he’d want us to learn from his mistakes and do better.

I have some thoughts on what idealizing the dead really is, and I just might share them tomorrow!

It was great - and I got to co-baptize one person with Brian.

It was very cool - but there was one extra baptism that wasn’t so cool.

My Cell Phone!

Yes, that’s right, I accidently took it into the pool. It was buried in the water, but sadly has not risen to ring a new life!

So it’s off to the Sprint Store tomorrow morning to see if they can help me out without costing me an arm and a leg!

I’ll let ya know!

Podcasts from Exponential- I’m looking forward to hearing some of these soon!

Islam Goes Completely Nuts!

Pet Police Ban Dogs & Cats In Saudi Arabia

Death if Convicted, Danger If Acquitted?

Cool Site:

Covert Radio - if you want the inside scoop on the War Against Terror - here it is!

Good Blog Posts

Top Reasons For Church Attendance

Does the Weather Hate Blacks?

Pray For Greg Laurie’s Family

Very Scary Site of the Week!

International Coalition of Apostles - Apostles R Us?

In case you aren’t familiar with what that is - here’s a link to the Wikipedia article on it. I have problems with a lot of things on Wiki’s site, but this one is pretty good. Take this quote for example:

Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions. Common to human experience is the death of a loved one, whether it be a friend, family, or other close companion, and in fact the word “grief” comes from the same root as “grave.” While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement often refers to the state of loss, and grief to the reaction to loss. Losses can range from loss of employment, pets, status, a sense of safety, order, or possessions, to the loss of loved ones. Our response to loss is varied and researchers have moved away from conventional views of grief (that is, that people move through an orderly and predictable series of responses to loss) to one that considers the wide variety of responses that are influenced by personality, family, culture, and spiritual and religious beliefs and practices.

Bereavement, while a normal part of life for us all, carries a degree of risk when limited support is available. Severe reactions to loss may carry over into familial relations and cause trauma for children, spouses and any other family members: there is an increased risk of marital breakup following the death of a child, for example. Issues of personal faith and beliefs may also face challenge, as bereaved persons reassess personal definitions in the face of great pain. While many who grieve are able to work through their loss independently, accessing additional support from bereavement professionals may promote the process of healing. Grief counseling, professional support groups or educational classes, and peer-led support groups are primary resources available to the bereaved. In the United States, local hospice agencies may be an important first contact for those seeking bereavement support.

Here’s what I’ve been wondering: Are we making too big a deal of this?

I mean people have been grieving ever since Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden! It’s a normal part of our fallen existence, and this side of heaven there’s no way to avoid or escape it.

I’ve used the stages of grief quite a bit with people who have lost loved ones. Quite often it’s been very helpful to them, a few other times not at all. But then again you could probably say that about anything.

I’m not against the stages of grief or anything like that. But I do wonder if we aren’t making it harder to go through because we make such a big deal out of it?

The real irony here is that if my Dad were still alive and able to read this - I’m absolutely sure he’d give an emphatic yes to that question!

But of course he’s not, so I’m left alone in my families dinning room blogging about it while my Mom and one of my sisters sleeps.

These kind of moments are precious to me, and are one reason why this blog is, at times, so very important to me. It’s giving me the space and reason to ponder about all this, and to let things settle into my heart and soul.

I do think that one of the big failings of modern psychology is that we do tend to make far to much about some of the things we experience. Those of us who know something about it often end up analyzing the why’s and wherefore’s of our experience, instead of being in the moment and the experience itself!

That’s not good!

So read all you can, learn what you want, but along the way don’t forget to live all of life, including the loss of a loved one.

The Slightly Longer Version:

Christians are funny people, and by funny I don’t mean most of us have great senses of humor either!

I mean, odd, strange, heavy on the weirdo-ness factor.

Death brings out a lot of this. I suspect that most American Christians grieve in a way that is pretty much indistinguishable from everyone else. We tend to follow the same rituals and traditions, use the same language and cliches (”he was a good man,” etc.) and generally look and act the same.

Then there are the really serious Christians, and it’s in this crowd, off along the fringes to be sure, that you find the weirdos just waiting to swoop in upon you at any moment.

A death in the family being a peach of a moment for this crowd.

You can hear them coming because they are probably singing (either an ancient hymn, or some dopy, sappy modern “praise song”), and once they get close to you they smile, grab you, and start flinging verses and cliches at such  a rapid pace that you simply can’t dodge all of them.

Aside from being a simply horrible witness, these people prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s far better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt!

Of course one of their favorite themes is how a real Christian won’t feel sad at all that a loved one has died if that person was saved. Why they are in a better place, with Jesus (usually pronounced for this momentous occasion as “jeeeeeeezus!”), so dry your eyes, look up to heaven and shape up you little crying, carnal loser! (Okay, they don’t actually say those last few - but they mean them!)

So let me use this time to point out just how wrong they are! And if you’ve been doing this - for the love of God and sake of the Gospel - PLEASE STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

The Bible does not teach that grieving is wrong or somehow subChristian behavior! In fact, it shows us just the opposite.  Anyone remember Jesus weeping at Lazarus’ tomb right before he raised him from the dead?

Sounds like grief to me,

But here’s the central passage on this issue in the New Testament. I almost always quote it at funerals because it shows once again just how wise and wonderful and balanced is the Word of God!

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (NIV)

I really like the way the Message paraphrases it:

And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (MSG)

Note that Paul does not say not to grieve!  He just says do it with hope! And that hope will sustain you throught he grief and carry you out the other side into the sunshine of God’s love and grace!

Our hope is that because Jesus lived, died and rose again, so too will our loved ones in Christ, and so we will too when our time comes.

So go ahead of grieve!  Just do it with hope!  And if the hyper spiritual, don’t know what the Bible really teaches crowd gangs up on you - keep on grieving!

Just make sure to blow your nose on their sleeve - that’ll get rid of them!

The Slightly Longer Version:

We are told by just about everyone today that death is a natural part of life, it should be welcomed and accepted as part of grand design of nature, and that in the end even though it’s sad it’s a good thing.

To bad the Bible doesn’t say that! Look at the following verses for example. It’s as clear as crystal that Paul and the Old Testament authors he quoted looked at death as anything but natural, or part of God’s original plan for mankind!

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death… Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:25-26; 51-57 (NIV)

According to the Scriptures death is unnatural, not part of God’s plan, and brought about by man’s sin!

Christians fall into this kind of unblblical thinking because they either don’t know what the Bible teaches or they know but let the world (culture) dictate and dominate their thinking.

Believers often get confused because the Bible teaches that when we die we go to be with Jesus - therefore death must be good right?

Wrong Bible Study Breath!

Death is a violation of God’s original intention for the universe, and it’s only through Jesus that we can begin to escape it. As Paul points out above in the end Christ will restore the universe to a pristine condition, and until then we all live in a world filled with death and sin and sorrow.

But because we have Christ, we have hope! Not only in this life, but in the life to come, because when we die we do go to be with Christ!

So death is a perversion of God’s plan brought about by sin, but through Jesus Christ we can be and are victors over it!

Tomorrow I’ll answer this question - Am I Rejoicing Over My Father’s Entrance Into Heaven?