Looking back on a Decade

2000

Spent Y2K with Lori and the first Presbyterian Church Youth Group. Nothing shut down and the world did not end.2001

Sold, stored and shipped all of our earthly possessions and moved from Ohio to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. We joined the Hanlons and the Striblings and became part of Team Spain with International Teams.
2002

Our first daughter Abigail Belén was born in Santiago. Abigail means her Father's delight and Belén is the Spanish word for Bethlehem. Our team was joined by the Hellmanns.

2003
We slowly learned about ministry within the Spanish context and while hosting short term teams teams we started doing research and fund-raising for opening a cafe in Santiago de Compostela.

2004

Our second daughter Isabel Nora (Isabel means consecrated to God and Nora means light) was born and we opened Cafe Terra Nova with our friends.

2005
The Baileys joined our team in SdC and I began to learn a lot about business, while continuing to be stretched in my understanding of ministry, the church and community.

2006
Our third daughter Eden Olivia was born. Her name signifies Shalom and in a world full of war and conflict we wanted to remember that this is not the way it's supposed to be. We worked very hard at the cafe and connecting with good friends in SdC.

2007
We sold Cafe Terra Nova and said goodbye to many dear friends. We made a second International move to the NW Suburbs of Chicago where we were welcomed by new friends and joined the ministry at Harvest Community Church.

2008
We acclimated to life in the USA and enjoyed having family closer.

2009
Privileged to be part of an amazing team at Harvest Community Church where I continue to grow in my understanding of the Christian faith and who Christ is.

2010

The Cure

“…I must admit that I cannot fully care for one who is suffering without entering into his pain. The sick must be touched if they are to be healed. The weak must be nourished, the wounded embraced. Care is the bigger part of cure…(Jesus) does not allow us to withdraw to the theoretical or theological. He forces us to feed, to clothe, to give a cup of water – to touch the undesirable ones. His words and his life push us to the very place that will change us and fit us for kingdom use. It’s not about root causes, he tells his followers. It’s about revealing the wonder of a God who wants a personal call-me-by-name relationship with every single one of his children.”

Robert Lupton, Theirs is the Kingdom, p. 30

2008 Favorite Blogs Roundup

I wanted to share some blogs with you for the holidays in case you find yourself surfing the web and aren't sure where to go. I subscribe to all of these blogs in my reader and hope you enjoy them.

Art and Design
Design Milk Full of beautiful furniture and design ideas
Elite By Design Web design and Photoshop Inspiration
Photojojo This is a great site for photography tips and gadgets
WebUrbanist Urban design, culture, travel, architecture, and alternative art

Random Interests
Problogger An excellent site with tips to improve the quality of your blog
BoingBoing Bizarre news from all over the web
TreeHugger Everything environmental and green
Freakonomics A look at the world through stats and figures
Lifehacker Life tips and downloads
Sharkride Cutting edge technologies
Don't Taze Me Bro Documents of the abuse of power by those in authority

Science and Technology
Both Ted Talks and Pop!Tech have awesome videos of thinkers from our time who are on the bleeding edge of their field of study
WIRED Technology news
Discovery Science news

World News and Insight
Google News The best web based news service available. You can customize it to follow your own specific interests and it collects data from all the world's news aggregates.
Fox News and CNN are good to read side by side to see what is happening in the USA. Fox leans to the American right and CNN to the American left, so reading both you have a better chance of distinguishing the truth.
BBC is one of the best sources of world news
Al Jazeera is world news from a middle-eastern perspective

Ministry
Tall Skinny Kiwi This is one of my favorite Christian blogs.
Beauty and Depravity The is the blog of a Seattle Pastor Eugene Cho, that I just began following.
His church also runs the Quest Cafe and I find his articles very thoughtful.
Mustard Seed Associates this is a blog run by a Christian group living in intentional community
Todd Hiestand is a pastor who has a blog devoted to missional living in suburbia
SmartChristian keeps it's finger on the pulse of Christian news

Just for Fun
ThinkGeek Great gift ideas for the geek in your life (wink, wink)
Woot! Random item that is on sale for one day only
FAIL Blog Pictures and videos of failed moments

Chicago Blogs
Here is a link to some of my Chicago Blogs of Note

Do you have a favorite blog not listed here? Leave the link in the comments and I'll check it out.

Re:mix Young Adult Conference

I have been asked to facilitate a workshop entitled Ministry Across Cultures at this year's Re:mix conference. The conference will be held at the Lutheridge Conference Center in Ashville, NC March 27-29, 2009.

Re:mix is a Young Adult Conference whose vision is to engage young adults in worshiping Christ and equiping them to follow Him-
whatever the cost, wherever the place, and whenever the call.

Re:mix is open to anyone age 14-30,
and features Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil as the keynote speaker.
Also, Shane & Shane will be leading worship during the weekend.

If you are interested in finding out more for yourself or your youth visit the Re:mix site.

Henry Nouwen: On Solitude

"...solitude molds self-righteous people into gentle, caring, forgiving persons who are so deeply convinced of their own great sinfulness and so fully aware of God's even greater mercy that their life itself becomes ministry. In such a ministry there is hardly any difference left between doing and being. When we are filled with God's merciful presence, we can do nothing other than minister because our whole being witnesses to the light that has come into the darkness."

The Way of the Heart p.22

Life is Ministry

Originally posted on the Swainlife Blog Tuesday, June 1, 2004

Our daughter Abigail just turned two recently and is starting to learn how to use prepositions. However, sometimes she gets them wrong and it entirely changes what she means. For example, at night when it is time to read a bed time story sometimes she says "I want you lay down for me" but what she really means is "I want you to lay down with me (and read me a bedtime story)." Sometimes she will mosey into the kitchen and look up with wide, serious, innocent eyes and say "Can I want a cookie?" Meanwhile I know that she really does want a cookie and is just asking if she can have one.

From the beginning of time God has sought to have a relationship with humanity. God's desire has been for a close relationship, but it seems that humanity always wants to keep him at arms length (if not further). When God was setting up the brand new nation of Israel he declared to them that they would be a Kingdom of Priests as you can read in the following passage.

3 'Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you [1] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' Exodus 19

It is amazing that just nine chapters later that God calls out Aaron and Levites to come and serve as priests. What happened? They were going to be a kingdom of priests but they ended up becoming a kingdom with priests instead. Did God (like Abigail) accidentally mess up his prepositions? Did one of the Hebrew scribes hear him incorrectly? No, God wanted people to come directly to him, but they were not ready to do that.

The people preferred to have a mediator, someone who went to God on their behalf. They wanted someone else to have the job of spiritual work so that they could go on living their lives as they pleased. However, God did not forget what he said about building a kingdom of priests. In the New Testament, Peter reminds us again of God's desire for his people to be a kingdom of priests - a kingdom of people that have direct access to God and come directly before him.

"9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" 1 Peter 2

Often it is easy to think that the work of ministry belongs only to those who work in ministry full time. However, this is contrary to everything that God has worked for throughout history. Yes, we need pastors, teachers, preachers, missionaries, etc. God definitely calls some people to specific tasks, but to what end? Paul says,

"11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11

Why does Paul say that there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers? To prepare God's people for works of service, to prepare God's people to do ministry. If we call ourselves Christians, then we are privileged to be called to a life of ministry. Not just during times when it is convenient for us or only during times when the church does a special outreach event.

Our lives are to be lived with a sense of purpose and mission each day! We need to connect with Christ daily and walk with him and allow him to be part of every area of our life. Everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ needs to reflect the light of Christ and not just expect those with Christian job titles to do the work. And those of us with Christian job titles need to equip, empower and teach those in our care to do the work of Christ and not cause them to depend on us to do it all.

So, no matter where you are in the world and no matter what your vocation is, if you call yourself a follower of Christ I pray that you will live your life as ministry. I pray that you will seek and hear God's voice daily and do his work wherever you are. I pray that you will be encouraged and blessed as you see God's hands mold your life and as you follow him on your pilgrimage journey. Life is Ministry!

Tim Keller on Contextualization

"That is the practical question in ministry. If you under-contextualize your ministry and message, no one's life will be changed because they'll be too confused about what you are saying. But if you over-contextualize your ministry and your message, no one's life will be changed because you won't really be confronting them and calling them to make deep change."

You can find the rest of the interview at DashHouse.com

The Advent Conspiracy

To GIVE clean water click here.

On Pilgrimage

I just read two different blogs by people who are on pilgrimages. My friend Nate Walter lives in A Coruña, Spain and just finish a solo journey on the Camino de Santiago. He kept a daily record of his journey and made a couple posts about it over at Unfamiliar Paths. Immediately after reading some of his entries I stumbled upon this post about Urban Caminos at Mustard Seed Associates. In this post Tim Mathis talks about how we perceive the world around us in relation to God effects our own pilgrimage journeys. Are you being faithful to the pilgrimage that Christ has called you to?

Ask Christian Writers

Andrew Jackson is the author of Smart Christian Blog and just started a new resource called Ask Christian Writers. It is a conglomerate of Christian Bloggers who will respond to questions or may have already responded through their blogs. This resource will point you in the right direction if you can't find what you are looking for on a Google search.

Another Kind of Religous Leader

"If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation it must be by other means than any now being used. If the church in the second half of [the twentieth] century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting. Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will not be one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom."

A.W. Tozer

The Great Giveaway

I just finished reading David Fitch's book The Great Giveaway. This book describes how the church has given away much of it's mission to the culture around us. If you are in vocational ministry I believe that this book brings much insight and asks some good questions about how we do ministry today. Also, it does not stop at questions as so many books that take a critical look at the church tend to do, but instead Fitch offers constructive ideas and concrete insights as to where he believes the church can reclaim the mission.

I want to leave you with some of the quotes that stood out to me:

On our Definition of Success

"Let us turn from only measuring church attendance to measuring the life being lived in Christ. Are we seeing evidence of his salvation in our midst? How many marriages have been saved? How much sexual abuse has been ended? What is the number of times people have come to another's aid in the congregation financially, how many people in the church have invited a stranger to the gospel over for dinner, how many people in the church have reached out to a poor person with the gospel." -pg 45

On Leadership

"We should counter the proclivity in evangelical churches to pay and isolate specialists over and against equipping the laity to do the work of the ministry by encouraging the rise of multiple leaders and respective tasks within the church."
-pg. 93

On the Production of Experience

"Today, the typical American under thirty-five doesn't learn simply through isolated, rationally delivered propositions via the lecture hall. In fact, they are even suspicious of it. They react with questions such as, "Why are you so interested in convincing me of this?" -pg. 99

"But by the time the person makes it to the pew, a post-Christian culture already forms him or her six days a week, and so that person has already been formed to hear what he or she will hear" -pg. 101

Is Christ Divided?

According to Marin Marty in his book The Christian World: A Global History there are approximately 3,800 different Christian church groupings in today’s world. When I was in Spain I once had an agnostic Catholic ask me, “How can I know that the Christianity that you talk about is true when there are so many branches of Christianity around the world? If you can’t agree with other Christians about what is true, how could you ever possibly convince someone who does not follow Christianity?

When Paul came to Corinth for the first time in Acts 18 what he would have discovered a city less than a hundred years old that was bustling with activity. Corinth had an ideal location on an isthmus between two seaports that were four miles apart. Ships traveling from east to west preferred to unload their wares in one port and deliver it over land to a boat in the other port. Traveling south around this isthmus was particularly dangerous so shipping the good over land was the preferred method. This caused Corinth to be a major cross-roads of all kinds of good and services. Along with it’s new wealth and lack of traditions and heritage Corinth was a city known for its licentiousness. It would be comparable in reputation to a modern day Las Vegas or Amsterdam.

During Paul’s time there he encountered opposition among the Jews, but the Proconsul of Achai made a ruling that in essence said that Christianity was a part of Judaism. This legal precedent opened the doors for Christianity to spread across the empire. Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth making disciples and preaching the Gospel before moving on to other ministry fields.

While Paul was ministering in Ephesus he heard reports from multiple sources on the state of the church in Corinth. He finally addressed the church with the letter of First Corinthians. After an initial greeting to the church in Corinth he immediately confronts them based on what he has heard.

It is interesting to me the way in which he confronts them. He begins by saying “I appeal to you…”. He could have said I command or decree but instead he invites, encourages, and implores. Paul follows his own advice of correcting and rebuking with gentleness.

After putting forth an invitation he says the same thing to them three different ways. Whenever something is stated three times in three different ways it is obvious that it is important and that the author wants to avoid any confusion in what he is saying. First, he encourages the believers to agree with one another. Second, he states that there should be no divisions among the believers. Third, implores them to be united in mind and in thought.

The Corinthians had been quarreling and had lost focus on the one thing that they had in common. They began to focus on small externalities of faith and would claim that they followed a particular brand of Christianity. Some said that they followed Paul’s version of Christianity. Some said they followed Apollos’ version. Apollos was reputed to be a great orator and philosopher. Some said they followed Peter’s Christianity, some speculate that he had more appeal to the working class. And then of course there were those who claimed that they follow Jesus. One must wonder if this was a group who was genuinely seeking to be Christ followers or if they were just trying to out trump the others as to who had the best celebrity baptism.

Continuing on in his gentle rebuke, Paul appeals to logic. He asks them a series of rhetorical questions to point out the how ludicrous their arguments are. While they had been focusing on what made them different, Paul brings back into focus what it is that unites us. Again he makes his appeal in threes. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? All three answers point to Christ and how he is not divided. Basically, he is asking, “Why are you willing to be divided over baptism when we all find the same salvation in Christ?”

Then, in verse 17 Paul takes one final blow at the basis of their quarrels. He says that while they were fighting over whose baptism was better that baptism takes a back seat to the Gospel. You can’t have baptism without the Gospel and Paul was sent to preach the Gospel not baptism. They were fighting over a minor issue, a secondary issue and were allowing that to divide them. By focusing their time and energy on the wrong things they were not only forgetting the Gospel but were emptying the cross of its power. Ouch!

Recently I read a book called The Heavenly Man, which was an autobiographical account of the growth of Christianity in modern day China through house churches. This book reads like a modern day story of Acts. One of the things that was very interesting to me was that at the beginning of the church planting movement the only thing these small house churches had were a couple of copies of the Bible. When the Bible was all that they had, these churches worked together in unity, praying for one another and ministering together. This was going on for years and then some well-intentioned missionaries brought along some additional denominational material, which was spread among different groups. As different house churches received books and pamphlets from different denominations something very disheartening happened. They began to say we can’t pray or work with you because you don’t believe the same as us about baptism, or the working of the Holy spirit, or eschatology. As these churches began to focus on their differences factions, schisms, splits, and quarreling became the norm.

As we think about Christian unity we must realize what it is not. Christian unity is not accepting any belief or idea that comes along as valid and true. Christian unity is not a relativistic idea that says whatever you believe is ok for you. Christian unity does not mean that we unquestioningly hold communion with people from every so-called “Christian group, sect, or cult”.

True Christian unity means that should not quarrel and fight with fellow believers over secondary issues when we are all saved through the same Christ. Like Paul we should step above the fray and in humility hold up everything to the light of Christ’s work on the cross. We should be quick to focus on what unites us and cautious about focusing on minor things that might divide us. Focusing on secondary issues weakens the church as well as empties the cross of its power. A church divided brings confusion to the world, to people like my agnostic friend in Spain. However, a church united in the love of Christ is the best witness the world will ever see!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Meditations on the Cross

Practical Ways to Support a Missionary

Yesterday I finished a five week of sermons as part of Harvest's reaching series (sermon podcasts here). In the last sermon I talked about not only going, but giving and supporting those who go to far off places as well. Below is a list of practical ways that you can partner with someone in cross-cultural ministry.

Also, if you are currently living far away from "home" (or have in the past) and have some additional ideas, feel free to drop them in the comments section.

Practical Ideas
1) Contact a missionary on a regular basis- Use some regular event to remind you. For example every holiday that is on a Monday or after every newsletter that they send out, get in touch with them. Use E-mail, Skype, or write them a letter to encourage them. Ask them how they are and how you can pray for them.

2) Support a Missionary Financially- Where we put our money effects how we pay attention to something or someone. Even if you can only afford $5/ month, this will cause you to be involved on an emotional and spiritual level with tose whom you are supporting. Also, be faithful in your giving. When you make a pledge, those who you are partnering with will factor that into their monthly budget. If you are inconsistent you will mess with their budget and ability to do their work well.

3) Inspire others to Join you- If you invite friends to join with you this has a multifaceted benefit. You and your friends will be working together on a common goal, and will potentially build a deeper community as you meet and pray for these workers and the field country. Not, only that but it is very difficult (if not impossible) for workers in the field to connect with new people while they are away, but you may be able to expend their support base by inviting your friends to join you. Also, it seems like the best givers find ways to multiply their giving by inviting others to join them or match them.

4) Support a missionary in their local currency- I was recently brainstorming with a local pastor about ways to support a missionary and one creative way we came up with was supporting them in their local currency. This would require a lot of work on your part, but would be very enlightening as to the everyday needs of a missionary. When we first moved to Spain $.85 bought us a Euro, by the time we left 6&1/2 years later $1.30 bought us a Euro. We lost $.50 in spending power. One interesting thing that happened to us was that every year we had more dollars raised and every year our salary went down.

5)Connect your Children to missionaries- If your students have to do a report on a certain country have them contact a missionary and interview them. I was exposed to Spain in 3rd Grade when a missionary came to our public school and talked about the cultural differences of living in Spain.

6)Unexpected Gifts- Read a good book, hear a good new album? Pass it along and help missionaries feel connected to their home culture. Sometimes it is difficult to find a good book in your first language while in a foreign country. Sometimes you have no idea about what is going on in the music scene.

7)Go on a Short-term trip- If you really want to bless a missionary go visit them. They will surely show you some of the local cuisine. Even if you can't speak the language there are tons of ways that you can serve them from work projects and cleaning to baby-sitting so that they can get their work done or spend more time with people.

8) Vacation- When you are planning a vacation, consider spending time in a country where some missionaries that you know live live. Invite them to join you or stop and visit them for a few days. Even if you only meet with them for a meal, you will be an encouragement to them.

9) Remember Inflation- If you are financially supporting someone, remember that with inflation most costs go up 3-5% every year. One simple way to assist a missionary that you are giving to is to automatically bump up you giving by this percentage every year if you can. If everyone maintains the same giving level, the missionaries wil have to continue to seek a bigger and bigger pool of supporters just to maintain their current level of support.

Speaking on Reaching Out

I am in the midst of a sermon series at Harvest Community Church on the topic of Reaching Out. This is a series that is near and dear to my heart after spending so much time seeking God and praying about reaching out to those who are not yet followers of Christ.

I have already given the first two sermons. The first one is "God is a Missionary God" and the second one is titled "Life is Ministry"(Hmmmm, sounds familiar). Anyway, the first one speaks about God's identity throughout history and his desire to reach all of the nations. The second one speaks about the identity of those who claim to be followers of Christ and what God's dream for us is. If you are interested in listening you will find the podcasts here.

Tozer: the Sacred versus the Secular

I wanted to share another Tozer quote. Here he is speaking of our tendency to consider some things as sacred and others as secular. Then he paints for us a picture of how we should live.

"We come unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed with a feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are pleasing to God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such other acts as spring directly from faith. They may be known by the fact that they have no direct relation to this world, and would have no meaning except as faith shows us another world, "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones. They include all of the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and daughters of Adam:eating, sleeping, working, looking after the need of the body and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves pensively that there's a better day coming when we shall slough off this earthly shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world....

....The sacred-secular antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt, a more perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no divided life. In the presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act. "I do always those things that please him," was His brief summary of His own life as it related to the Father (John 8:29)"

-The Pursuit of God, (Pgs. 112-113)

Mustaches for the Children

That's right! Yesterday I began a six week quest to grow a beautiful mustache. I shaved off the soul patch that I have been sporting for about two years and am starting the mustache growth process. You may be wondering as to the reason for this sacrifice, my only reply is that "it's for the children".

The men in our church are going to be participating in a fund raiser called "Mustaches for Grip". This is how it works. yesterday we all shaved all facial hair and started clean (no gotees, lamb chops, soul patches, etc...) then for the next 6 weeks we will be growing Magnum PI styled mustaches and collect pledges. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to GRIP youth to use for mission trips and camp scholarships. Grip works with primarily fatherless kids in inner city Chicago. They are an amazing ministry doing some awesome work!

So, I am looking for sponsors. Would you be willing to pledge $1, $2, $5, or $X a week for the next six weeks that I grow out this bad boy? If so, just sign into the comments and make your pledge known. I will keep regular updates with my progress on this blog. Please send checks to

Harvest Community Church
200 W. Higgins Rd. Suite 232
Schaumburg, IL 60195

Please be sure to put "Mustaches for Grip" in the memo section.

Live from Fayetteville, Arkansas

That's right Fayetteville, Arkansas. This week I have been taking Perspectives, a course on the foundations of Christian Mission. I think one of the most important things that anyone can take away from this course is that God has always had a heart for all the nations. From Genesis it has been God's desire that his people be a blessing to all nations. We are blessed not as an ends unto itself, but we are blessed in order that we can be a blessing to others.

Missing the Point!

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts."

-Jesus of Nazareth
(John 5:39-42)

As I read the Gospels I am constantly struck by the interactions of Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known as some of the most religiously devout men in that time. They poured over the scriptures day and night and set up all manner of rules and regulations with a desire to become more "Holy". In the midst of doing this they became experts in the minutiae of the most obscure Bible passages. They were so caught up with trying to find God that they ended up missing him when he was standing right in front of them.

It is easy for us to look back on those Pharisees with contempt and haughtily laugh in disgust at their foolish actions. However, it is easy to then turn around and do the exact same things that they did. As people who claim to follow Christ, I am amazed at how often we resemble the Pharisees in our thoughts, words and actions. We care more about what people think than we care about people (please know that I am speaking first and foremost of myself).

Here Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. He says you are "diligently seeking the scriptures". That seems like a compliment, right? Today he might say, "you are actively pursuing your degree in religious studies." Or, "You faithfully attend Sunday Sermons and Bible studies every week." Or, "You religiously devote yourself to a daily reading of the Bible and quiet time."

At first glance, it is easy to say "Yeah, of course I do. What's wrong with that?" His response is that in the midst of doing all these things that are about him, we refuse to come to him. The Pharisees were constantly busying themselves with every kind of religious activity, but in the end they were far from the heart of God. They were so far from God that they were the ones who paved the way to the death of Jesus.

Several summary thoughts:

1) Jesus did not say it was bad to study the scriptures. A cursory reading of the Gospels will demonstrate that Jesus is well versed in the Old Testament.

2) In his recitation of the greatest commandment Jesus says to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength". In order to love the Lord with all of our mind, we obviously need to study.

3) In our study of scripture we do not merely seek Biblical trivia as though we are cramming for a bubble-test to get into heaven.

4) We study as a way of "coming to Jesus"

5) We study so that we learn what it means "to have the love of God within us"

6) We don't want to pave the way to Jesus' death, but we want to pave the way to life with him. To do that we must first "come" to him.