Christian Living
Shawn McEvoy is Crosswalk.com's Faith Editor, which keeps his finger on the pulse of spiritual growth, ministry, and religion. As a youth ministry major at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawn discovered through three summers as a Christian camp counselor that he didn't need a degree to do ministry, so he pursued a career as a Christian writer and editor. He holds an M.A. in Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. He runs several fantasy sports leagues, and enjoys pop culture and the discussion thereof. He is married with two young children.
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008Politics from Across the Pond
The author of the piece below, Tim Miller, is a friend and former roommate of mine from Oklahoma Baptist University. He's shared his experiences and thoughts with us at Crosswalk before in the form of an article titled, "The State of Religion in London: Interview with an American Missionary." Tim and I don't agree about everything - he was a devoted supporter of our new president-elect all along, while I felt Senator McCain was the best choice - but his blog post about politics in the light of a new day resonated with me this morning. He gave me permission to use it here after I commented to him:
"Bravo, Tim! Well said, diplomatic, fair. I hope that your hopes are validated. I do probably have a few more concerns than you do, but they are less about Obama himself than a very liberal-controlled government. (For example, if they bring back the FCC Fairness Doctrine, I and others in Christian and/or conservative media could soon be out of a job). Still, the only place I disagreed with you was your take that voting in a minority president was a bigger or more important accomplishment than victory in WWII. But that's a minor quibble. Any chance you'd let me run this?"As always, very interested in Crosswalk readers' takes...
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"Thoughts on Politics"
by Tim Miller, Salvation Army Divisional Youth Officer, London, UKI’ve been trying to write a post on politics for weeks now, thus the silence on my blog. It’s so hard to do the 2008 election justice. And it’s so hard to write this post without bias. In the end, I’ve decided not to try. So the following are my thoughts, scattered as they may be, on what is a historic moment in the history of the United States, but also on the words and attitudes of my fellow Christians during this time.
First, I have known for quite some time that people believe what they want to believe. Is Obama really a socialist? Only if you believe that public schools, a military that fights wars on your behalf, infrastructure built for you, and social security are socialist programs. On the flip side, is John McCain the next George W. Bush? I wouldn’t call a guy who, up until two years ago, was pro-choice, was calling leading evangelical ministers “agents of intolerance”, was and is a war hero, opposes the torture of war prisoners, and would give his right eye to meet Bush out back in a dark alley the next George W. Bush. But people believe what they want to believe. And they do so to justify their own desires. I’m speaking in general terms here, but the majority of people I know don’t watch speeches to help form their opinion, they watch speeches to help them justify it, waiting and watching for any little phrase or slip up that can be used to validate their choice. I recently read the following by conservative columnist David Brooks in the New York Times and I couldn’t have said it any better myself:
"(Ronald) Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition lately, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely.”
Second, in the past few years my hope in the church has been gaining. Maybe it’s because my role has put me in touch with so many churches who are at the forefront of something new and who are looking to reclaim the prophetic social reform witness of evangelicals from the 19th century. But for the past thirty years, no thought has been allowed by the evangelical community when it came to politics. We were taught that there were only two issues when it came to God and politics: homosexuality and abortion. And while I do believe that these two issues are important, I also think that they’ve allowed us to pass the buck when it comes to our responsibility in loving our neighbor. This year I’ve watched as a great number of young and old Christians alike have risen up and voted for something different. Now before anybody gets upset at my suggestion that “voting democrat” is something positive in the life of the church, let me be clear in what I’m really saying; what’s positive about this is that the church is beginning to realize that there are many, many social issues that we are responsible to respond to. I believe that we are finally beginning to let loose of canned answers and really think through our faith and theology, and that gives me hope. In the end that may not cause us to vote for a democrat in every instance, and if we’re educating ourselves and paying attention, it shouldn’t. But as I stated above, a socially conscious church is a positive witness in an unjust world. I believe that if we were leading the way in all the social issues – human trafficking, the environment, fair trade, human rights, etc. – our stance on abortion would not be seen as an affront to people’s rights, but would be seen as a part of our consistent stance FOR the life and well being of others. It would be seen as loving our neighbor.
When all is said and done, I hope a few things for the church in its response to faith and politics:
I hope that it will grow in wisdom, and wisdom always involves the making of a decision based on as much evidence and understanding as possible.
I hope that the church in America will remember that WE are the church, and that WE are the kingdom, not our country. Am I proud to be an American? Let’s just say that I’m a little prouder today than I’ve been in quite some time. But my allegiance isn’t to a country, it’s to a King and a Kingdom. I’m blessed to have been born in America. Blessed beyond measure. But in the end, America is not the Kingdom in which I have placed my allegiance. It is simply my earthly home.
And I hope that we can be constructive instead of destructive. I’ve watched the rhetoric being tossed around over the last few days in relation to an Obama win, and it hasn’t been pretty. In fact, it hasn’t been very Christ like at all. Obama won’t be everything that the evangelical community would like in a President. But he will bring some issues to the forefront that we should be fans of. Take it from somebody who threw words like “socialist” and “communist” around in 1992 in relation to a possible Clinton Presidency; the four horseman are not in sight. Life will go on. And Obama will bring some issues to the table that we can get behind. And when it comes to those issues that we cannot get behind, we’ll need to stand up and make our voices heard. Just like we should have been doing for the past eight years.
Third, and as a member of the international community, I’m proud of my country today and hopeful for what this new presidency will mean for the world. I’ve never seen an international reaction to a U.S. President like I’ve seen to this one. And while there will be some cynics out there who will read this to mean that other countries see an opportunity to take advantage of America, the truth is that most of them now see an America who may not be so quick to take advantage of them. More importantly, they see the America that the rest of the world once believed in. I once heard Bono say that America is not a country, it’s an idea. In doing so he said what so many people have believed about America; that it represents the hopes and dreams of the world. That it SHOULD go without saying that all men are created equal. That race and birth rights should have no bearing in one’s right to the pursuit of happiness. To the rest of the world, if a black man can be President of the United States of America, then anything is possible. I join the international community in celebrating this hope that the world CAN be a better place.
And finally, I could not finish this post without a nod to the black community. I cannot imagine what many of you must be feeling right now. In my lifetime, I never thought I’d see a black President. In fact, Jamie and I have been discussing for years now which would be first; a black Vice President or a female Vice President. The discussion of a possible black President never even entered our minds (though at one time, I did hold out some hope for J.C. Watts). I celebrate with you today and also ecstatically celebrate the turning to a new chapter in our nation’s history. Racism in America is not dead. But we’re much further along than I realized. That gives me hope and, again, makes me very proud of my country. As I walk through London over the next few months, people can say anything they want about my country. But America is the first country in the world to have been able to set its racism aside enough to elect a black man as President. In the five years that I’ve lived in London, I have not advertised my citizenship. But you better believe I will today! Say anything you want! Walking on the moon and helping to win the World Wars pale in comparison to what we’ve accomplished this week. I’m so ready for this new chapter. And I’m so ready to raise my daughter in a country where she will be able to see a strong, educated black leader in front of her (possibly) ‘till the age of eleven. What can it do for the mind and heart of a young child to see a constant positive image of the black race in front of her from day to day? I grew up in a world where the black community was most often portrayed in a negative light. But to have such a strong positive representative of the black community in front of her throughout her childhood…gives me hope that maybe color (race) blindness IS possible? On the top ten list of gifts that I would love to give to my daughter, color blindness has a firm position.
For those of you who read the above thoughts and disagree, I do hope that you will be constructive in your dialogue, rather than destructive. We have a real opportunity to be a witness right now on the world stage. I do hope that we will take it and leave behind the temptation for bitterness and vengeful dialogue.
Dr. King, I wish you were alive to see this. One more underdog rises up. -
Wednesday, October 29, 2008Need a Reason to Trust?
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17Trust is the foundation of every relationship in life, but what happens when loved ones are unfaithful, a friend betrays you, or a co-worker sabotages you? Even smaller misdeeds - like a home repair worker who fails to show up when promised, then overcharges you - can threaten your ability to trust. Unfortunately, our fallen world is full of reasons not to trust. Yet God still calls on us to trust - not through blind faith, but through the wisdom He gives.
In today's verse, Paul tells us the ultimate reason to trust in Christ. If you've ever felt like everything were coming apart in your life, or like you personally were coming unglued, you can know that "in Him all things hold together."
The Matthew Henry commentary says the following regarding this verse: "The whole creation is kept together by the power of the Son of God, and made to consist in its proper frame. It is preserved from disbanding and running into confusion."
One day about a year ago I arrived early at the office. I had gotten my coffee, and I took my Bible off the shelf and turned to this same verse. I was pondering it when a colleague walked by and asked, "What's the verse of the day?" I read it to her. She smiled, and as she was walking away said, "Sounds like glue. We serve a gluey God."
That was an interesting phrase for me...
My father passed away in 2001. Since then, my wife and I have observed, there has been a gradual erosion of the bonds of my once-tight nuclear family. The center has not held. The things we have in common are disappearing. The reasons for visiting each other have become fewer. "I think your dad was clearly the glue," my wife said to me a couple years back.
Many books have been written about the correlation between how trusting we are / how we see God, and the kind of relationship we had with our fathers.
The recent movie The Pursuit of Happyness was, for me, just another example of that notion. I love the scene in the homeless shelter where Chris, the character played by Will Smith, is getting his son ready for bed in this tiny room, a room he, Chris, is about to leave to work on something out in the hallway. His son is scared, so Chris asks him over and over, "Do you trust me?" and tells his young son how he's still right there, doing what's best, and able to hear when he calls.
Only thing is, in that scene, it's the child who is totally trusting, and the parent who isn't quite sure of himself. Whereas in our relationship with God, He is the source of absolute trustworthiness (nothing will spin out of control), while we, even when asked over and over if we trust, are often unsure.
A trusting father is glue. He created your world, and while you're a child his job is to hold everything together. To keep you grounded, and keep things from spinning of out of control.
Think about all the ways God could have described Himself to us, and then consider just how many times throughout the entire Bible he has himself described as Abba, Daddy, Father... and how he used His only son to accomplish the restoration of that relationship, so that in "all things" we can lean back in trust.
Jesus came so that you could get your father back. No longer will things spin out of control, unglued and unrelated, but you can know the one who's Got the Whole World in His Hands.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008Miracle Children: A Reason to Actually Watch Oprah Today!
Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word. --Introduction to the 99 Balloons video story of Eliot Mooney, who outlived predictions to spend 99 precious days on this earth.
My friend Travis Terral forwarded me an email yesterday:
"If there was ever a time to watch the Oprah Winfrey show, tomorrow (Tuesday) would be the day. The show is on Miracle Children and my niece Ginny and her husband Matt were interviewed about their son Eliot's 99 days on this earth and the impact that his life had on people all over the world. Check your local listings if you want to watch. I would advise you to get your Kleenex out."
I had the privilege of knowing this story from the very beginning, through knowing close relatives of Matt & Ginny Mooney, who knew in advance of their son's being born that he suffered a chromosome disorder known as Trisomy 18. Abortion was never a consideration.
Later, after little Eliot's time here was done and the wounds had time to heal, Matt was gracious enough to write an article for Crosswalk about some of the personal things he was going through in his Christian walk. You can read that article, "A Father's Contempt for the Commonplace," here.
The video of their story, 99 Balloons, has been so widely circulated over YouTube that you've probably seen or heard of it. If not, click here.
Their inspiring story has also found its way to our site in the form of daily devotionals, like this one from HomeWord's Kelly McFadden.
Now, this afternoon on Oprah, the Mooneys and several others will get the chance to share stories of Miracle Babies like Eliot.
Check your local listings, tune in, enjoy, cry, and praise. And rejoice with the good news Matt & Ginny have to share...
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008Tough Decisions Ahead? Ask for Advice
Don't go to war without wise guidance; victory depends on having many counselors.
Proverbs 24:6, NLTHow do you make decisions? Do you jump in with both feet, or do you paralyze yourself with what-ifs and fear of potential regret? Are you overly impulsive, or are you wise? Do you take time to pray, or do you lean on your own understanding? There are all sorts of methods, and all of those methods and our usage of them have brought us this far, whether for good or for ill. Either way, here we are now.
And "now," unfortunately, is a very tough time for a lot of people. The stakes are probably higher for a lot of choices you must make. What to do? I don't intend to answer that for your specific case today, of course, but I do want to encourage you not to forget those who are in the fight with you, and those who have gone before!
Decisiveness is a strength of mine, one I'm very glad for. Many's a time I have watched a colleague or peer twist in the wind over something while already being comfortably down one road or the other myself. My wife meanwhile... well, her strength tends to be less in making the decision than in gathering (and gathering, and gathering) the research that presumably is supposed to aid in the making of the decision. We like to call it a good balance, and part of the reason we make a good partnership.
But neither of us alone nor even together complete the circuit. God is to be sought, both in His Word, and in prayer and listening. But even then, we still aren't using every resource He has given us.
Have we forgotten that Christianity is a team sport, rather than an individual one? This applies to practicalities like doing ministry and missions, as well as to more of the "theory" of Christian living, like thinking about the meaning of certain passages and doctrines, encouragement, prayer, and the passing on of wisdom.
Henry Ford was once asked the key to making good decisions. He said, "How do you make wise decisions? Experience. How do you get experience? By making stupid decisions."
Ha ha, true. Thing is, though, we don't always have to be the one making the stupid decision. One of the great things we redeemed sinners share is a litany of bad decisions in our pasts. Don't let those go to waste. Ask about them, and offer them regarding yourself to others.
As our verse today says, don't go into war without guidance!
What's the best piece of advice you ever received? Pass that along to 2-3 other people this week. If you're in need of advice, seek out someone who has lived through your current stage of life and just listen to what they have to say. Whether you accept their counsel or not, chances are it will guide your eventual decision one way or the other. And should you feel led to share unsolicited advice with others, perhaps you'll first accept this piece of advice from Logan Pearsall Smith: "The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right."
More Helpful Advice...
Proverbs 20:18
Luke 14:31
Free Advice for the College Bound
Learning to Give Great Advice
Finances: Finding Good and Godly Counsel
Worthwhile Advice for the Engaged and Newly Married -
Monday, October 6, 2008Rethinking Halloween through 7 Scary Stories of the Bible
Fierce creatures... disembodied hands... bodies rising from graves... witches summoning spirits of the dead... not horror movie plots, but things that are recorded in our Holy Bible.
We live in a world where our very explanation for it is built upon the supernatural, a fact we sometimes tend to ignore - especially at this time of year - because we also know there is a dark side to that realm. We also know that fear is a very real, very confusing, and very destructive force. But it has been overcome through Christ and the Spirit God has given us. Still, there is perhaps something to be gained by studying instances in the Word where scary things happened, where godly men and women were frightened, even where lines that should not be crossed regarding the supernatural were crossed. What better time to reflect upon these things and be thankful we have been given spiritual armor than at the time of year when the rest of the world is revelling in them?
A couple years ago my friend and co-worker Fred "Fritz" Alberti, Salem's Senior Manager of Social Media, shared with me an October lesson he prepared for the boys' class he was teaching. It was a big hit in that it didn't focus on the meaning of Halloween or whether we as Christians should celebrate it. Rather, it just provided another way to get the young lads excited about the Scriptures...
The original lesson Fred taught appears below:
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7 Scary Stories of the Bible
Today we're going to take a break from studying Galatians for a little bit of fun.
Halloween is around the corner and while some may choose to not celebrate it we may still encounter questions regarding the existence of monsters and other scary stories.
The Bible is not without it's stories that would make Wes Craven envious.
Let's study a few of them. But first let's consider...
1. Does the Bible support the existence of monsters in times past?
2. Read Job 41 and list 10 characteristics of The Creature described.
3. If you had to give an explanation of such a beast to someone, what would you call it?
4. The book of Daniel, chapter 5, relates the story of The Knocking Kingly Knees...
The music was playing and the dancers were dancing. It was the King's great feast with a thousand lords in attendance.
The king was making merry and called to bring forth the golden and silver vessels taken out of the temple in
Suddenly a hand appeared and wrote on a wall. The king was frightened... so frightened that his knees began to knock together and finally gave out from beneath him.
He called for the soothsayers and the enchanters and proclaimed that anyone who could interpret the writing on the wall would have bestowed upon them a purpose robe, a golden chain and would be given the position of 3rd most powerful person in the kingdom. But none of them were able to decipher the writing on the wall.
The queen heard the kings fear and told him of a man named Daniel who had served his father. She spoke of Daniel's wisdom and recommended that her husband send for Daniel.
The king summoned him and told him of what would be given if he could just interpret the writing on the wall.
Daniel told the king that he could keep his riches and give his rewards to someone else but that he would still render an explanation.
Daniel first told how the king's father Nebuchadnezzar had become aggarant and prideful that he was stripped of his glory and given the mind of an animal and was sent to live in the fields like a wild donkey.
He remained like this until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men.
But then Daniel turned to the king...
But You have not humbled yourself despite knowing all this that your father went through. Instead you have set yourself up against the Most High God. You had the goblets brought from His temple and used them to drink wine and to praise false gods. This is why he has sent.... the hand. (I doubt the
It has writen Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. This means that you have weighed on the scales and found wanting. Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Daniel recieved the awards despite his objections but then that night the king was murdered and Darius, the Mede, took over the kingdom.
5. What are some other scary things that God has used in order to deliver a message?
6. Has God ever used something scary in order to teach you something?
The Posse and the Ghost on the Water
The men had been waiting for their leader. He had left them to go be alone for awhile.
They had come to respect His desire for these alone times and so when evening came they decided to head off across the sea without Him.
By now it was quite dark and a wind had blown up as it so often did upon this sea. The rough waters crashed against the sides of the boat and the wind whistled through the lines as the men struggled against the oars.
It was when they were about 3 miles out that they saw the ghost. It was coming straight towards them and they were afraid.
Who wouldn't be? On land one could at least run but at sea all one could do was to row harder.
Then... the ghost spoke... "Take courage! It is
It was then that the disciples realized the ghost was actually Jesus, who had walked out to them upon the water.
7. Have there been times when you were afraid of God? What did you learn during those times of fear?
8. What stormy waters have you encountered that you received comfort knowing that Jesus was with you through them?
Day of the Living Dead
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
9. What are some other scary stories recorded in the Bible?
Other stories:
