Valentine's Ash Wednesday Day

This year Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday are the same day.  I think that is about perfect. 

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning to the church season known as Lent.  Lent is the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter for fasting as a way to prepare our souls to celebrate all that Easter is.  Growing up I didn't do Lent.  I watched in college as friends gave up candy and meat on Fridays for this season, but I never did it.

Several years back I decided to change that and I'm so glad I did.  I am a Baptist and didn't celebrate Lent simply due to pride and ignorance.  I thought I didn't have to celebrate Lent, I'm saved by the grace of God alone and not by works so why would I follow some man-made season of fasting?  Well, I was missing out on this man-made yet God-honoring sanctification and worship tool for a long time because of my pride and ignorance.

Christians do not have to celebrate Lent or Advent or any other date on the church calendar.  However, I think we can grow a lot from following the example of our more liturgical brothers and sisters.  For those of you that have never observed the Lenten season or haven't for a long time, I challenge you to do it this year.

Here are some ideas for observing Lent based on the remove and replace theory that I've seen a lot of wisdom in following.  See, I've found in my life that if I remove one vice or luxury I will replace it with another.  Therefore, when you fast from a vice or luxury fill that space with something good.

Without further ado here are ten ideas for Lent:

1) Remove a social media app from your phone and look at a Bible app whenever you feel the urge to look at Snap Chat, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

2) Remove all TV time or a specific TV time and replace it with a personal or group Bible study time.

3) Cut out beverages or a beverage other than water (pop, coffee, beer, tea, etc) and donate the money you would have spent on that to an organization that digs wells for those who need access to clean water.

4) Turn off the radio on your daily commute (as a DJ it kills me to this) and replace it with a time of prayer or a sermon podcast.

5) Remove a night out on the town and replace it with a visit to your local nursing home to spend time with some of our most forgotten brothers and sisters.

6) Fast for lunch one day a week and replace it with eating the Bread of Life from the Scriptures.

7) Give up criticism of coworkers and replace it with a concerted effort at giving them compliments.

8) Replace idle time with daily Bible journaling.

9) Take out a mirror that you often use and replace it in that same spot with a verse that you will look at and memorize.

10) Fast from sweets and desserts and donate the money you would have spent on that to an organization that feeds the hungry.

We don't have to do Lent, but we can observe Lent this year.  Lent begins on Valentine's Day and that is so fitting because it is a great tool to help us organize our loves in a way that honors Christ. 

You can and should observe Lent.  Think of a way that works for you today.

What Randall Margraves Reminded Me

Larry Nassar has been sentenced to more years in prison that he will live, and that is justice.  Nassar is convicted of child molestation, sexual abuse and more of the disgusting like and has been accused of the same by hundreds of women who were girls at the time. 

During his sentencing a man named Randall Margraves, whose daughters were abused by Nassar, spoke.  Margraves in pure anger rushed at Nassar to attack him and was stopped by bailiffs.  Margraves was in the wrong to lose self-control in the courtroom.  He was wrong to try and exercise vigilante justice.  But as I watched the video I cried because I understand his anger. 

                                                 (Warning: crude language in video)

"The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference."  Elie Wiesel

"Anger is actually a form of love." Tim Keller

Anger is not the opposite of love; rather it is love in motion.  The reason that father lashed out like that is because of an intense love for his daughters.  Love can breed hate and it can create anger when what we love is threatened or hurt.

As I watched that video I hoped that I would have more self-control than Randall Margraves and the same passionate love for my children as he obviously does.  His daughters may feel love and embarrassment mixed together, but boy did he show them that he loves them deeply and will literally fight for them.  He was wrong in doing what he did but he displayed love for them and despite his wrong approach his love moved me to tears and has moved me to tears each time I've watched the video.

But here's what I thought soon after seeing that clip:

It is a lot easier to kill for someone than to die for them.

Jesus hates our sin because He loves us.  God's love for us would not allow Him to be indifferent (not that any force or emotion has reign over Him).  God's love brewed up into righteous anger multiple times in the Bible.  God's love for us is like King David's love for his sheep for which he fought the bear and the lion.

It is a lot easier to kill for someone than to die for them.

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8

Christ's love brewed up into an anger, a hatred of sin.  Jesus' loving anger brought Him to die for you, while you were still His enemy (Romans 5:10).  It is a lot easier to kill for someone than to die for them and Jesus died for you and me while we were undeserving, and we will never be deserving of it.  In fact, Jesus was willing to die for Larry Nassar and if Nassar would only cry out in repentance Jesus would show, even a man so obviously evil as that, the full extent of His infinite love.

Being a husband and father has given me a few people I could kill for or even die for.  I understand the depths of the well of love a little more, but Jesus gets to a depth that is unfathomable.  Jesus' list of those He did die for includes those that you and I would rather kill than hug.

Jesus' love for you is SO great.  I pray that "you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge... that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:17b-19)

Mediate on that sacrificial love today.

Little Children and a Chumbawamba Faith

Today at lunch my 8-month-old son Joshua, who loves to pull himself up on EVERYTHING, tipped over and fell on his head.  This is a common scene in our house.  Joshua gets up, Joshua tips over, Joshua gets back up (occasionally needing one of Mom's magic kisses).  He's basically a Chumbawamba song.

"If I fell as much as he does I wouldn't try anymore."  Christine said.

"When do we lose that determination?' I replied.

When do we lose that determination?  Why does the fear of pain and failure cause us to retreat to our safe places?  At what point do we in our adult wisdom become such cowards?

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:14b-15

What does it mean to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child?  Well, there is a lot to that phrase and pastors, scholars and commentators have much to say about it.  But I want to look at the thing the Holy Spirit used Joshua to teach me today.

Little children, like my son, do not simply receive the gift of life and stay put.  No, little children see life, whether you teach them to or not, as something to conquer and explore.  Joshua was not satisfied to lay on his back, so he learned through much effort to role over.  He was not content to just be on his stomach, so he strained until he could scoot places.  He wasn't happy just to scoot, so he began groaning to pull himself on to anything he could find.  He's not satisfied to simply stand, so he's trying to move places on his feet.  As he tries to move he falls and yet he keeps trying.  It will be the same when he learns to walk and ride a bike.

Are you content with the life you've been given or are you determined to explore all that you could do with this life?

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you ned someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."  Hebrews 5:11-14

Are you an infant with no goals for growth in your understanding of the truth?

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."  Galatians 5:25

Are you scooting around contently when you should be walking in step with the Holy Spirit?

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14

Are you content to be immobile in your faith when you should be straining to move forward?

We should accept the gift of eternal life, which is the person of Christ, like a baby accepts the gift of his or her life.  We should not simply breathe and have a heartbeat, which is living by definition, but rather we should be growing and maturing.  Joshua takes chances because he thinks life will be more enjoyable when he can walk, feed himself and get to the cats.  This unshakeable, joy-filled, determination shapes so much of his activity.  Shouldn't those words describe our faith?  Shouldn't we have an unshakeable, joy-filled determination to mature that perseveres through all the bumps, bruises, falls, failures, persecutions and pains?

Accept the Kingdom of God like a little child.  Enjoy the gift of new life the Father has given you through the work of Jesus Christ and push further into this gift through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Discover more of what God has in store for you.  Find all the abilities and joys available to you in this gift of life even if you feel some pain in that process today.

Failed Resolutions

The new year is a time where we feel we get a chance at a restart, so we make New Year's Resolutions.  31.6% of New Year's Resolutions fail before the end of two weeks.  41.6% don't make it the month of January.  Only 8% last the entire year.  Chances are fairly good that if you made a New Year's Resolution that you've already failed.  This post is not written to discourage you, but to encourage you.  You can restart your resolution.  You can get back on the horse but let's look at the Bible's examples of famous restarts.

You probably know the story.  God creates the world and Adam and Eve in it.  The world and everything in it was perfect... until Adam and Eve sinned and screwed it up.  Soon their own children were killing each other and to use John Milton's words paradise was lost.

Genesis tells us of the Bible's first restart.  The people of earth became violent and utterly sinful so God decided to start over with one family led by Noah.  Noah builds the ark and the whole world was flooded leaving only Noah and his family.  And they lived happily ever after, right?  Wrong.  Soon after the ark lands on dry ground Noah plants a vineyard and gets drunk and then his son either lustfully stares at him or flat out rapes him ("uncovered his nakedness" is used as a euphemism for homosexual incest in Leviticus)  This first restart fails soon after it starts.

Genesis also tells us the stories of Abraham.  Abraham was to be the father of a new nation with which God would have a special relationship.  Well, Abraham has all sorts of problems being the new start.  He lies and has people sleep with his wife because he says she's his sister... twice, has a child with his servant because he thinks God is taking too long, and lives a life that is well short of the perfect restart.  His family line is filled with fighting, scheming, murder, and more.  This restart didn't work out well.

Abraham's family becomes the nation of Israel and eventually becomes enslaved in Egypt.  God sends Moses to rescue His people.  The nation of Israel was led out of Egypt and given new laws to govern them toward holiness.  Immediately they spend much of their time failing and breaking laws right and left.  Moses gets frustrated time and again by their inability to follow through with what they promised to do in their covenant with God.

The book of Judges is a cyclical story of failure, restart and failure again. The nation of Israel sins, then gets dominated by an outside force, then God sends a leader to redeem them from their enemy, then things work out well, then the leader dies and the nation of Israel sins worse than before.  Rinse and repeat and you have the book of Judges. None of the restarts worked.

Later Israel gets a king instead of having judges to rule them.  The very first king, Saul, fails and is rejected by God.  So God restarts with a man after His own heart named David.  David leads the Israelites and they live happily ever after, right?  No.  During David's time there is unrest and civil war, his son Solomon sees some success but David's grandson sees the country ripped in half.  The kings in the line of David were mostly evil.  This restart did not fix the problem.

Time after time the restarts failed.  Time and time again the person who was set up as the second Adam, if you will, failed to bring the restart that was needed.

Until Jesus.

Jesus is the second Adam.  From the time sin enters the story of mankind the Bible makes us feel the need for a restart.  We failed out of the shoot and we need a restart.  Jesus is the only restart that works.  He is the judge and king who is perfect and won't die.  He's the Noah who provides rescue from destruction and guarantee of the rescue working perfectly.  He's the one that fulfills all the promises given to Abraham that Abraham and his line couldn't fulfill on their own.  Jesus is the restart we needed.  He is the one who is making all things new (Revelation 21:5).

So, when you seek to restart something in your life don't try to do it with your own power.  The Bible is filled with men and women who quickly learned that they couldn't do it on their own.  If you want a restart in your life don't look to yourself but look to Jesus who offers a regeneration, a rebirth, a restart that won't fail.  Let Jesus be the second Adam you need today.

Top 10 Posts of 2017

Another year is coming to a close.

This year has included eighty posts on this blog and those below were very unscientifically chosen as the top ten of the year:

Do You Kiss Your Wife With That Mouth?

You Must Lose Yourself

The Curse and Being Beastly

'Tis But a Scratch

Satan's a Rotten Pimp

Ashamed of Holiness

God is Good

Love That Requires Effort

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The Wordless Word

Happy New Year!  Count your many blessings from 2017 today.

Christmas Letter 2017

We hope this letter finds you warm and well this Christmas season.  At our house we took a vote and unanimously picked 2017 as our favorite year yet.  We had many exciting changes and experiences over the last 12 months that are pleased to share.

The biggest change was that Joshua was born on Mothers’ Day.  It was a Mothers’ Day we’ll never forget, but we think we’ll just go out for dinner in 2018.  Joshua is 7-months-old this month and is growing and learning so fast.  Having a child, as many of you know, is perhaps the most challenging and rewarding things God brings us. 

In August we took an amazing vacation.  We went to Europe for 10 days with Christine’s parents, her brother and his girlfriend.  And yes, we took 3-month-old Joshua and he did great.  We stayed near Christine’s cousins in Vevey, Switzerland and also spent a few days in Dublin, Ireland.  Being in Switzerland was like waking up in a postcard every day.  It is breathtakingly beautiful with Lake Geneva and the Alps both right there.  Ireland was spectacular as well mostly because the people are so friendly and there is so much to see.  We also loved our stop in Dublin because Christine’s brother Michael proposed to his girlfriend Becca.  She said yes and Joshua is pretty proud of his uncle for securing him another world-class aunt. 

Speaking of world travels.  Matt’s sister Maggie and brother-in-law Tom traveled to Iowa from Australia in November.  It was so great to see them and for them to meet their new nephew, too.

Christine had a slight job change this year.  She went from working full-time at the Waverly Health Center to working PRN.  PRN basically means she only has to work one night a week though she can get more hours if she wants.  She loves it because it is like being a stay-at-home-mom and still a nurse at the same time.

Matt began his 8^th year at KWAY radio in April.  He is still hosting the morning show and doing sports play-by-play.  On top of that he’s currently in his 13^th school year working with the youth at church.

2017 also saw us gain a nephew and a niece.  It’s so thrilling to see the family growing with new kids and in-laws, though the in-law increase is ending once Michael and Becca get married.

This year was a banner year in the Ray house and we thank God for it.  We also thank Him for all of you who make our lives so much better than we deserve.  At this time we’re also reminded to thank God for sending us Christ to be Emmanuel.  Knowing that God is with us gives us the strength and courage to celebrate 2017 and look forward eagerly for what He has in store for us in 2018.

May you have a blessed Christmas season.

Merry Christmas from the Rays: Matt, Christine and Joshua.

The Wordless Word

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." John 1:14a


"Mary!  He's crying again and I have no idea why."

Joseph paced the floors trying to calm his son.  Mary had already tried to feed him and he wasn't having any of it.  So, Joseph paced and bounced and paced and pounced while attempting to sing a soothing lullaby over the increasingly loud sounds of his infant's cries.

"I can't wait until you can just tell me what you need, Son."

Joseph neared his wit's end when it happened.

"BURP!"

Silence.

"Jesus, was that it?  That's what you needed, little guy?"


The Apostle John calls Jesus the Word.  The Word who was from the beginning.  The Word who not only was with God, but the Word that was and always was and is and always will be God.

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death...
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11

The humiliation of Jesus during His entire earthly life is incredible but let's just think about His infancy.  There are so many reasons to be captured by awe and wonder when we meditate on the birth of Jesus but tonight I'm struck by the fact that He humbled Himself so far as to be wordless.

Think about it.  The person of the Trinity that is called the Word was unable to tell Mary that He was hungry.  The One who spoke galaxies into being couldn't tell Joseph that He was bothersomely gassy.  Jesus, who sustains all things by His powerful word, couldn't communicate that He needed to be changed.  This is a lowering and a humiliation of supernatural proportions.  Jesus the Christ did all this to be Emmanuel, which means God with us.

There are many miracles to ponder during Advent and Christmas and I hope you do ponder many of them, but this is one I ponder as I pace and bounce my little baby boy.  That God so loved us that He would do that for us should make us lost in awe-filled worship of Him today.