What I learned from writing Switchfoot off.

About 4 years ago I wrote Switchfoot off. Let me back up a little for those who don't have a clue what I am talking about. Switchfoot is a band. A very good band actually. Anyway, I wrote them off. Up until then, you see I had tried desperately hard to like them. I had a number of their CD's and really liked one or two songs on each but for some reason I just didn't "get" them. And so I wrote them off and decided to never buy another Switchfoot album again. I'm not sure this was an actual decision that I make consciously but I did make it because somewhere deep inside when their new CD at the time came out I didn't even bother listening and it came and went without me giving it a chance.
Just over 2 years ago now they released, "Hello Hurricane" and I stumbled across the first single by accident. I absolutely love it! In fact I would even say that it is in my all time top ten songs! This made me rethink my decision and I bought 'Hello Hurricane", saw them in concert and I guess I am now a groupie. I am even enjoying their older stuff. It seemed so easy to write the off and give up on them, only to be proved wrong along.

Makes me think how often I do that with people. How often do we "write people off" by labelling them, thinking that they will never change or will always be the same. How often do we miss out on what people have to offer all because we have simply put them in a little box of our making that does not allow us to benefit from who they really are? The fact is that it is probably us who miss out and not them!

I am excited for the new material that Switchfoot are currently recording and that challenges me.

Redemption

I have been thinking a lot about redemption lately. Not surprising for someone in my profession I guess. I mean it kind of comes with the job description. Perhaps when people apply for ministry they should have to sign a contract that says, "Thou shalt think about redemption at least 2 a day, salvation all day and while continually talking to Jesus."

I don't know about signing a contract but I do try at least talking to Jesus as much as I can
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But still have been thinking about it loads. The thing about redemption is that it is like an onion (not parfait), it has many layers. Yes at the core is the wonderful news that Jesus has redeemed us by his death and resurrection. I live in that wonderful news every day. The other aspect to it is that it covers what I need redeeming for and from. Both past and future. WOW.
There's another layer though that has really gotten me thinking recently and it is sort of dealt with the 2 films that I recently saw. Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood playing a "Dirty Harry-like" figure who hates the world and everyone in it, especially those of different cultures. He is "forced" into an uncanny friendship with a boy who tries to steal his car. As the movie expands on this friendship Eastwood's character changes and its is in helping that he is set free from his bitterness. Mmmmm . . . and redeemed.

The other film that made me think is "Man on Fire". A movie I have wanted to see for a long time but just never got around to it. I guess it could be God's timing in me seeing it now.
The 2 films tell very similar stories. Of 2 men finding redemption in a loving, caring and sacrificing for someone else. That makes me think. Perhaps redemption isn't just about me having a clean slate so that I can be in heaven. Perhaps God intended it to be more than that. Maybe there is a very real sense of us working out our redemption while we are still breathing. Not earning our redemption, we can't do that but working it out. How is it worked out? In our relationships with others, as we care for, love and make sacrifices for them.

I think the Bible say it best in Phil 2:12 "Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." (NLT)

Just something I have been thinking about.

I'm a faker

"Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good." Romans 12:9 (The Message)

I found out today that I am a faker. It was news to me. I thought that for the most part I was a pretty up front and real person. What you see is what you get (you see the floor in my thinking already don't you, fakers out there?), that is until I read and fully took in Romans 12 today. Never read the Bible if you don't want to be challenged.

It's a tough bit of the Bible because it set such a high standard for those who follow Jesus. But it's verse 9 that caught my attention.

"Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good." Romans 12:9 (The Message)

Did you get it? It tells us to love from the centre of our beings and not to fake it. Centre meaning the part that make us who we are. Its where our passion lies. It's who we are!

And so I am a faker. I don't always love that much!
I don't always give you my full attention. I don't always tell you the whole truth. I don't always let you know how I feel. Sometimes I hide things. Probably more often than I would like to believe.
It's not because I don't want to. Hopefully it's not because I am a bad person. It's because I am human and not perfect.

So my challenge for the day . . . try not to be fake. Does that give me licence to be mean to people for the sake of the truth? I don't think so but it does mean that I will be aware that God requires me to love with everything I have and sometimes that hurts. Reality sucks!

I pledge not to be a faker anymore.

How about you? Have you been faking it? Have you not been loving from the core of who you are?

Maybe it's time to be real?