The Only Thing I Learned in College

I paid a lot of money for college. But I think I really only learned one thing. But it is the one thing I needed to learn, and I still carry with me to this day...

My first semester of college was a lot like a 1980s movie. It was so over-the-top... the way every single thing just seemed to go wrong. You could have cued a Huey Lewis and the News soundtrack behind my daily misadventures.

It’s funny now. Was not so much then. Living in western PA my whole life, then suddenly finding myself at college in Circleville, Ohio - in a place where I knew nothing and no one!

I laugh to myself when I think back now of trying to find the bookstore. The bookstore was right in town, but I seem to remember spending hours and hours and hours driving around block after block after block trying to find the bookstore. And the town wasn’t exactly New York City. So it’s embarrassing that I got lost repeatedly (this was before everyone and their baby cousin had a GPS).

Then the car problems. I remember having so many problems with that Chevy Cavalier. Problems that I, a non-mechanic, had to figure out how to fix, because I didn't have any money. Or tools. Or clue. I remember standing out in subzero weather in the parking lot with the hood popped, trying to replace the antifreeze tank, noting the irony as my hands were freezing. And I think at the time the only tool that I had was one of those little screwdrivers you get with an eye glasses repair kit.

So I'm in the middle of a place where I don't know anyone, I don't know where I'm going, and now I think I broke my only screwdriver and I'm not sure how I'm going to repair my eyeglasses.

Then school started. I went into the cafeteria for my first lunch as a freshman. Feeling geekishly awkward and desperately wanting to fit in, I remember how delighted I was when one of the "cool kids" (he must have been wearing sunglasses) offered me a seat at his table. Finally. Things are turning around for me.  

And right when I went to sit down, another student rushed up, grabbed the seat, turned around, and looked at me with a serious scowl, saying, “There’s no room for you here.“

I stood there with my tray of terrible food and looked around the table. Everybody was just looking at me, some with a “sorry about your luck, pal” expression, others with a “seat‘s taken, Forrest Gump“ look.

I briefly contemplated either dropping my tray and running out the door all the way back to Pittsburgh, or to start flinging my mashed potatoes like a crazy monkey. But I just stood there like an idiot, paralyzed and completely clueless as to what to say or do.

That's what I heard a voice. “Young man, would you like to join us?” I turned and saw the man who was speaking. He was one of the professors, Dr David Case. And he asked me to sit down at the table with all of the other professors and have lunch.

This didn't really make me any less nervous. I was afraid that they were going to talk about a lot of Bible stuff, and at the time I was a new Christian and didn't know a lot of Bible stuff.

But they didn't talk about Bible stuff at all. They just talked about things like where are you from and what brought you here and what’s your family like and what do you hope to do when you graduate and stuff like that.

I graduated from that school almost 15 years ago now. And I'm sure that I learned some things in my time at Circleville Bible College or Ohio Christian University or whatever they call it now.

But the only lesson that really stuck with me was that lesson that I learned on the first day: Some people just need someone to reach out to them, to know they are not alone.

Dr Case showed me (by his example to me) that I should always be on the lookout for those people. Yes, it sounds crazy, but that one simple act turned a lot of things around for me that day.

And it stopped any potential disciplinary measures from the Dean of Students for any unsightly mashed potato flinging damage.

Be on the lookout for people who need a friend.

p.s. - Since college, went on to fame and fortune and got a new screwdriver.

Well, I Just Learned a New Word…

Affluenza.

Did you hear about this?

So a couple of weeks ago, a Texas teenager kills four people in a drunk driving accident. And his defense attorney lays the blame on a condition the 16 year-old has been afflicted with: Affluenza. What is that?

It is the inability to tell right from wrong because your parents make too much money.

Yes, I’m serious. See?

http://kfor.com/2013/12/16/victims-families-file-multimillion-dollar-lawsuits-against-affluenza-teen/

Has anyone else heard of this “disease”? I have to tell you, I never heard of this one. Can it be caught? Should I carry hand sanitizer with me? Is it still safe to use public restrooms? What if someone coughs on me? What if I get coughed on while inthe public restroom? Can I get vaccinated for it?

Sorry for the sarcasm. I just get worn out with people treating sin like a disease akin to the flu or diabetes. Showing my age here, but I remember when being a “spoiled brat” was a description, not an excuse. It is a disease all right - sin is a disease on your soul.

As the calendar turns to 2014, in order to avoid affluenza, greed, covetousness, envy, or any of the other afflictions that come with money this year, adopt the attitude of Agur from Proverbs 30:

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the LORD?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (v7-9)

God, don’t let me be poor - I would hate to dishonor you. But don’t let me be rich, I would hate to start to think I don’t need you.

Here’s a good plan: let’s ask God for enough. And let’s be satisfied with whatever He provides that He determined is enough.

p.s. - doing his part to stop the spread of affluenza

Thanksgiving Leftovers...

Okay, I’m a snob. I don’t like leftovers. Not even Thanksgiving leftovers fire me up. I always feel a twinge of disappointment when it's time for leftovers. Just hearing the word "leftovers" sounds like a big let down, as if we are compassionately making room in our bellies for the food that didn't get picked in the first round. “Man, we asked God to bless this last week.”

But hopefully the idea of remaining thankful doesn’t ever strike you as stale.

In Romans chapter 1, Paul shows the downward spiral of sinful living with no regard to God:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:18-23

God’s wrath isn’t just something that is coming. It is something that is here, resting on everyone who refuses the grace of their Creator. He has made Himself plain to them, but instead they chose sin, which requires them to suppress the truth. If you would rather have sin than God, you will do whatever it takes to deny, discredit, and doubt God’s very existence.

And one of the key things, highlighted above for emphasis, is a refusal to give thanks. Your capacity for faith is directly tied into your willingness to rightly acknowledge that God has provided for you. Much sincere appreciation to God for His goodness shows genuine faith (see Luke 17:11-19), refusal to acknowledge God’s goodness puts your mind on a different track, a Romans 1 track, which spirals into foolishness (v22), idolatry (v23), sensual living (v24-27), malicious evil (v29)… and the applause of sin (v32). How did it get that bad?

Well, it doesn’t happen in a person’s life overnight, any more than it happens society-wide overnight. The gas fueling the furnace of sinful, immoral, God-less living is unthankfulness, just as thankfulness fuels the furnace of faith.

Are you a thankful person? How does thankfulness show up in your life?

p.s. - made it this far without saying “it’s not just about thanksGIVING, it’s about thanksLIVING”. You knew it was coming :)

Think Fast

Last Sunday was Fasting 101. We said that fasting is “abstaining from food (and/or other things) for a measured period of time in order to heighten my hunger for the things of God.”

It’s getting off the table all of the (lesser) stuff that fills my appetites, and focusing solely on my relationship with Jesus Christ.

So what’s this “and/or other things”? For some, traditional fasting may not be physically possible (diabetics, for example). Maybe you need to fast from video games, or Facebook, or even television. The point is this: instead of feeding on the lesser things, I am devoting that time, energy, and appetite capacity to prayer and the Word - focusing on my walk with Jesus.

Try fasting once a day for a few days (skip lunch, for example, to pray instead). Or try a straight 1 day fast, or even work up to a 2-3 day fast if this is new to you. Keep it between you and the Lord. See how differently you focus on Christ during the fast, and afterwards as a result.

When is a good occasion to fast? James MacDonald points out how Isaiah mentions some great reasons and seasons to fast in Isaiah 58. I will go through just 5 of these here to hopefully encourage you to take a season of fasting:

When is a good occasion to fast?

Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

1) When you are stuck in a sinful pattern or feel a heavy spiritual burden. Stuck in a rut? Time to fast and let God get you on track.

Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

2) When you want to give. Are you giving the way you want to? If not, fasting can help get you on track.

Isaiah 58:8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

3) When you need encouragement. Who doesn’t need that reminder of God’s love, presence, and provision? Fasting to focus on our identity in Christ will bring great encouragement.

Isaiah 58:9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

4) When you need an answer to prayer. Fasting and prayer go together like peanut butter and chocolate, like Batman and Robin, like Hydrogen and Oxygen (I think those 3 analogies will cover every demographic). We pray, but do we buckle down and focus on intense, passionate prayer? Fasting helps us do that.

Isaiah 58:10-11 - if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

5) When you need direction. At a crossroads? Need some guidance? Fasting has a way of helping us really listen to the promptings of the Lord.

Let’s call people back to this incredible gift the Lord has given His people!

p.s. - Let's hunger for the things of God.