Fairweather?

Many of you know...I hate the Colts. I have a large number of reasons...but all you need to know at this time is that I do not like them...at all...not even a little bit. As the Dolts (not a typo) enter into the Super Bowl, I find myself in many arguments, most in passing to and from class, with various individuals about their beloved Dolts. They go on about how great their players are and how great their record is.

Here is the interesting thing. I have been a Dolphins fan since I was 5 years old. I have hated the Dolts pretty much just as long. I remember many games I attended in Indianapolis that had more Dolphins fans than Dolts fans. Keep in mind it was a Dolts home game. However, now that the Dolts can win some games...fans come out of the woodwork. They claim that they have always been a Dolts fan...they buy the jerseys...they buy memorabilia...yadda...yadda...yadda. But...in reality, they are merely fairweather fans. Fans who only accept a team when they do well. Fans who bail on their team when the going gets tough. Indianapolis is notorious for fans like this. Are you one? We will see when they begin to stink again like they have in the past. (By the way...Indianapolis Dolts cannot claim the history of the Baltimore Colts. Baltimore does not claim you...so don't claim their history. You never had Unitas...so stop claiming him.)

I am proud to be a Dolphins fan. That will never change...even when they go 6-10. That is what being a fan is all about. Anyone can cheer for a team when they do well. It takes a true fan to support a team when they struggle. Our faith is much the same way.

Anyone can claim Jesus to be Lord and Savior when things are going well. But the true test is when things go wrong. Who is your Lord then? Do we claim Christ when it benefits us the most and shove him aside when it serves us better to do so? The question we must ask of ourselves is: Are we fairweather Christians?

This is an important question that we must all search for the answer to. Being a Christian means standing up and claiming Christ no matter what the outlook is like, no matter how bad things are, and no matter who is winning the game.

My biggest pet-peeve is a fairweather fan. The worst are those who are fairweather fans and ridicule me for being a Dolphins fan and standing firm on my convictions. I believe that those fans do a severe injustice to dedicated fans. What sort of injustice are we doing to the Christian faith if we are merely fairweather Christians? Let us all stand firm on our convictions...and claim Christ!

Go Fins!!! Down with the Dolts! (I had to get one more shot in)

God Shuffled His Feet

Below are the lyrics of a song by the Crash Test Dummies, entitled "God Shuffled His Feet". As I was listening to the random songs on my computer, this one played and I noticed the continued reference to God. So, I looked up the lyrics and read them over. After reading them, I sat perplexed. What is the message here...or is there one beyond simple words? Take a look at the lyrics and tell me what you think...if anything at all.


After seven days
He was quite tired so God said:
"Let there be a day
Just for picnics, with wine and bread"
He gathered up some people he had made
Created blanket and laid back in the shade

The people sipped their wine
And what with God there, they asked him questions
Like: do you have to eat
Or get your hair cut in heaven?
And if your eye got poked out in this life
Would it be waiting up in heaven with your wife?

God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them;
The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him

So he said:"Once there was a boy
Who woke up with blue hair
To him it was a joy
Until he ran out into the warm air
He thought of how his friend would come to see;
And would they laugh, or had he got some strange disease?

God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them;
The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him

The people sat waiting
Out on their blankets in the garden
But God said nothing
So someone asked him:"I beg your pardon:
I'm not quite clear about what you just spoke
Was that a parable, or a very subtle joke?"

God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them;
The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him

A challenge to lead

There is a quote in the book Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington that says something like this...

"Managers are those who do things right and leaders are those who do the right things."

Although this is a quote that we would all, for the most part, agree with, I think many of us would be surprised that we tend to fall into the "manager" category more often than the "leader" category. For those of us heading into the pastoral ministry, or any other full-time ministry position for that matter, this should be alarming.

We are called to be leaders...yet we manage. We want our congregations to grow...yet we maintain the status quo. We want to create new and innovative forms of worship...yet we continue to follow the same format that we always have.

Jesus was an innovative guy. He did not manage...He lead. The simple quote, "Follow Me" illustrates this point plain enough. Jesus certainly did not maintain the status quo. In fact...you could say that He died because He didn't maintain the status quo. Finally, Christ did not continue worship in the same old fashion. He turned what it meant to worship the Living God on its head. Jesus Christ was a leader.

What differentiated Jesus from managers was that He took risks. They were not risks for risk's sake. They were risks for the sake of the Gospel. Maybe we too should take more risks. Maybe we should be willing to fail for the Gospel. Fail for the Gospel? What a great idea!!

Let us move from our fear of failure to an acceptance of failure. Let's embrace new paradigms of worship, new methods of leading, and challenge the status quo. I challenge you...as well as myself...to take a risk for the sake of the Gospel.

If we are taking the risk for the sake of the Gospel and fail...we succeed. Because the failure was an attempt to seek the face of God. Isn't that what we are supposed to do anyway?

Pizza King

Well, Christmas is over and another journey to north Indiana is under our belt. We had a good time. One of the best parts of going to my parents is the pizza. Living in Wilmore, we are faced with sub-par pizza selections. That's right! I said sub-par. The local pizza, that is often raved over, which comes from a drug store...is...how do I say it...not good. Maybe it is raved over because it is local. Or maybe it is because it is from a drug store. I don't know. All I know is that the Pizza King in Hartford City, Indiana blows the local pizza joints out of the water.

Here is a photo of this delectable pizza...or "pie" as some may say...



Is it the best in the world?...probably not. Best in the state of Indiana?...probably not. But...it is the best I have ever had. But...I guess you will have to go to Indiana to see for yourself because my telling you that it is the best will not do the trick because I have been told a number of times that the local pizza is the best or another pizza joint is the best...only to be disappointed in the end.

How does this relate to our faith? I am not sure. Maybe there is no substitute for the best thing...i.e. Jesus. Or, maybe proof is needed in order to believe something to be true. That one would be supported by the closing verses of the 20th chapter of John. However, in the end, I think the point of this story is that the local pizza is really not as good as some think it is.

Maybe this is one of those rare posts where I simply take a shot at something and have no real point to be made...only to post a picture of the pizza we ate.