24 is the only TV show I follow so I was excited for it to start.

I realized last night, however, after the first death on the new 24 season came by the mouth of Jack Bauer ( Side bar: I still can’t believe he bit a guy to death and then spit out a mouth full of blood. That was the grossest thing ever shown on TV. Way grosser than Justin showing us Janet’s Superbowl boobage) … anyway, I realized while watching this episode that he is like McGyver, Night Rider, and Chuck Norris all rolled into one. I can hardly wait to see what the 20 somethings do with this character in 20 years from now… I think re-runs will be hysterical. Gotta go watch episode 2 now… I dvr’d it to save on commercials. I can’t handle the suspense while I sit there waiting to see what happens next.

Today was a great day at our church. We had 80-90 parents of teens show up for a day of training- that was beyond our wildest expectation. Josh and I gave a brief overview of our student ministries philosophy as it relates to parents. Then Ed Noble, our teaching pastor and a former youth pastor of 20+ years, shared his thoughts and learnings. Finally, Kurt Johnston from Saddleback’s middle school ministry and a mentor of Josh’s gave some of his learnings as a parent. We then took questions and answers as a panel while the crowd ate lunch. It was very encouraging as a pastor and a parent to see such a full house come to better themselves as parents. I found myself trying to soak up the learnings from these two men and this crowd who are farther down the road than I in the parenting process.

All 3 sessions: Kurt, Ed, and Josh and I’s were prepared independently of one another. So, as we heard the 3 talks become one seminar, it was great to see some trends emerge. They were clearly Spirit led. I tried to weld them in my brain and be a learner.

Here were my top learnings/reminders in the process of parenting.

I am a parent. I thank God for this privilege, responsibility, joy, and scary endeavour he has called me to.

Ever feel like you have been talking to God all day and then you go to church, and he talks back?

Yeah well, that was my Friday. I talked to God all day about bills, about money, and about my dreams. I complained. I made a list for him of all the things I would change if i could. I told him I know I’m rich on the scale of the world, but that day I didn’t feel rich. I told God I liked nice things. I thought it seemed like an okay thing to enjoy.

I even wondered if:

Then, I went to church on Friday night like we always do.

I walk into the service feeling poor, wondering about stuff and money and whatever… in a conversation I had with God all day still fresh on my brain, and wouldn’t you know it, the message was about money. He reminded me of several key texts where Jesus cautions that money will run your world if you let it. He reminded me of the places where Jesus calls us to choose what will be Lord: Him or our money. The house of God is not big enough for both. Neither is my heart.

However, I’m guilty. I let my stuff consume me and distract me. I daydream. Sometimes I envy others. I occasionally believe the lie that if I had just a little more, that it’d be all I’d ever want. In the middle of the service, a friend of mine who is “richer than me” leaned over and, feeling as guilty as I was at that moment, said he had to repent. I just looked back and said, “get in line”. I felt like a spoiled rotten kid, whining to God that my cell phone’s not new enough, my grass not green enough, my kitchen not nice enough… yatta yatta.

Ed said greed was a “permissible” sin in the church today. He said Jim and Tammy Baker were a good example of this. Their ministry “falling out” was not due to greed, even though they were very well known for an overly lavish lifestyle almost daily. Instead, they were “ruined” when Jim had one sexual failure with another woman and got caught. Our society is sickly twisted and in love with things and money. Ed said we live in a society of “more”. I think sometimes my brain ends up swimming in that society when it should be looking for higher ground.

Here’s some quotes that rocked me:

“Money is a false God from which we must turn if we are going to be a Christ Follower.”

“It’s time to awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick culture is sick.” -Richard Foster

He suggested a 4 fold means of attack to kick greed in the head:

I didn’t see that last one coming. Ed suggested that one great way to kick money in the head is to take a break every week from the process of trying to earn a living. It’s a way to say to money, you are not my God, and no matter what profit I could get from today, you are not going to satisfy. I will rest here and be content. I needed to hear that. I need to rest.

Am I content? I’m trying. I’m trusting. Some days I’m more content than others. Every day, if I’m honest with myself, I confess that I’m rich and God has already blessed me beyond all I could ever ask for, ever dreamed would happen, and certainly more than I ever deserved.

I repent of wealth and am eager to spend eternity absent the influence and distraction of mammon. I truly yearn for it- at the core, even if in the day to day it distracts me and lies to me from time to time. Until then, I’ll keep trying to give generously, live simply, and walk humbly with my God.

My Old Testament professor says that I’m supposed to understand that a lot of what shocks me in the Old Testament (massive animal sacrifices, hand to hand combat to take the land and demolish people groups, polygamy, etc) was all “fairly normal” in the greater ANE or Ancient Near East Culture they lived in. Even if I buy this argument, it still begs a bigger question for me. Like this one:

If it was “normal” and permissible for the Old Testament Kings to have a harem of personal hookers and wives because it was the norm of the A.N.E. culture, but none-the-less was not God’s design for them, what is the parallel to that in my Western American culture today?