I Am Still Mephibosheth

Yesterday I read 2 Samuel chapter 9 with my friend from Wartburg, Noah Dodd.  I enjoy looking through the life of David with he and Jackson from Wartburg.  It's such a highlight in my week.

2 Samuel chapter 9 is one of my favorite chapters in all the Old Testament.  I was recently asked by my friend Karl what my favorite Old Testament character is.  I said I don't know about my favorite, but the one I most relate to is Mephibosheth.  Eight years ago I wrote about this character and I want to share it with you today.

I am Mephibosheth

2 Samuel chapter 9 has a great story about David and Mephibosheth.  In the story you and I are Mephibosheth.  Take time to read this chapter.

At this point in David's life he is the king.  Now, in those days when a king was part of a dynasty change the first thing he did was destroy the family members of the old dynasty.  David was a warrior and we would expect him to do this, but David was a promise keeper so he didn't.  Remember, that David promised his best friend Jonathan, the former king's son, that he would always love Jonathan and Jonathan's family.

In keeping with this promise David asks if there is someone of Jonathan's family still around that he can show kindness to.  And there is one.  This one is Jonathan's crippled son Mephibosheth (the crippled were seen as worthless in this day).  David finds him and gives him everything the king's son deserves, including a spot at the king's table for the rest of Mephibosheth's life.

In this story David represents Jesus (although David doesn't always live up to this standard) and Mephibosheth represents you and I.  Let's look at why we are Mephibosheth.

First, we are Mephibosheth because we were crippled in The Fall.

If you read 2 Samuel chapter 4 verse 4 you will see that Mephibosheth was crippled in a fall he took.  We were crippled in The Fall.  The Fall of man made it so that you and I are less than at full capacity.  We are crippled by sin.  Because of this crippling Mephibosheth, you and I are little use to either king David or King Jesus, right?

Secondly, we are Mephibosheth because we deserve to die.

Romans says, "The wages of sin is death."  Mephibosheth was on the wrong side of a dynasty change and was supposed to die.  So are we.  Right now Satan has rule over the earth.  When Christ enacts His dynasty change He will destroy the old ruling house.  Mephibosheth should have died but didn't due to the mercy of David.  We should die but don't due to the mercy of God.

Lastly, we are Mehibosheth because we are saved to something great.

Mephibosheth did not just have his life spared, he was considered a son of the king.  We Christians don't just have our lives spared, we are considered a son/daughter of the King.  How awesome is that?  We are seated at the King's table like Mephibosheth was seated at the king's table.

I am Mephibosheth and so are you.  We were crippled in The Fall.  We deserve death.  We are saved to be sons/daughters of the King.  Remember that.  Love that.  And continue to find yourself and Jesus on the pages of the Old Testament today.

10 Year Workiversary

April 1, 2009 I had an interview at KWAY Radio.  Ael Suhr took a chance on a 22 year old kid with a history degree who did radio as a hobby and worked on staff at the campus radio station, KWAR.  I had done some color commentary, sideline reporting and play-by-play at KWAY prior to being hired but overall I was relatively untested in commercial radio.  Thank you Ael for taking a chance on a kid over and over again.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to my coworkers past and present. I especially have to thank two former coworkers: Mark Simpson and Bob Westerman.  The two of them let me glean a lot of knowledge from them and Mark was in favor of a young guy hosting a show with him long before I was any good at it.

I've been at KWAY Radio in Waverly for a decade now.  That seems strange, but it's already been ten years.

Over the course of ten years I've called 1,276 games: football, volleyball, basketball, baseball softball, soccer and even one bowling meet.  Through this I've seen exciting moments and many tears from area athletes, coaches and their families.  It's been great being included in their seasons.

I've interviewed many fun people.  Celebrities like Hall of Famer Bill Walton, Actor and Iowan Tom Arnold, Model and actress Chrissy Teigen, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin, soccer star Brandi Chastain, actor and Iowa Robin Lord Taylor from Gotham, wrestling legend Dan Gable, football star Tim Dwight, comedian and actor Pauly Shore to name a few without mentioning the hundreds of authors with whom I've spoken.  I even got the joy of hanging up on the jerks that starred in the show Workaholics.  I even watched a kid, Maddie Poppe, go from job shadowing at the station to American Idol champion.

In ten years I've announced some of my favorite life moments on the air.  I told people when I got engaged.  I played the song I recorded for my wife to walk down the aisle to live on the air to surprise her. I talked about my wedding plans.  I announced my wife's pregnancies and the births of our children. 

But my favorite memories of this first decade have been serving the community in which I'm now raising my family.  I get to do this because my boss encourages to promote the good of our communities. 

My favorite day of radio was a dark day for many of you.  A couple of years ago there was flooding in our area.  We organized flood relief that day.  People called me in the studio asking for help.  Then I announced whether they needed stuff moved from the basement or sandbags placed or whatever and I told people the address.  It was amazing, within a matter of minutes people would call back and say they had too much help and to send people to another person in need.  That day exemplified what a community radio station was all about and that's why it's my favorite station memory so far.

Thank you everyone that has helped me have a live mic.  Thank you to everyone who graciously has listened over the years.  It has been a pleasure to be welcomed into your cars, your kitchens, your bedrooms, your garages... wherever you've let me be.  It is no small thing to let me be a part of your routine, your moments, your days.

God has allowed me to do my hobby as a living.  He's placed me in a phenomenal community and given me a boss that cares about me and my family.  God has been good to me.

Here's to the next decade.

Don't Waste Weddings

I am trying to write every day during Lent.  I missed yesterday because I had the privilege of standing in my friend Nick's wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding in Knoxville and a fun reception in Pella. 

Weddings are great to go to for anybody, but they are especially good for married people.  At weddings you do at times want to tell people what they're getting themselves into.  There are times when you stare at the happy bride and the grinning groom and think how naively happy they look. 

However, at weddings married people must fight the urge to be cynical.  The wedding ceremony is a powerful reminder.  The ceremony reminds us that we looked at each other like that on our big day, too.  The way the groom glows looking at his bride walking down the aisle is the way I need to look at my wife more.  The happy tears of the bride remind us that we need to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with joy when those moments come in our married life.

But the best part to pay attention to is the charge and the vows.  Yesterday in the charge the pastor spoke of the agape love that is necessary to stay married.  The type of love that looks to give no matter the return.  The unconditional love that initiates love without even expecting a return.  The love that is given regardless of how we feel.  That was a good reminder for me. 

I also try to pay close attention to the vows.  I too made very similar serious promises.  Promises to have and to hold for richer or for poorer and in sickness and in health.  I too promised my fidelity until death parts us.  The vows remind me of the very serious and solemn commitments I made Christine. 

Wedding season is coming up fast.  Married people, don't waste weddings.  Have fun dancing and eat well, but don't miss the powerful reminders the ceremony has for us.  On our wedding day we made major promises to our spouse and our God.  Use these weddings as promise keeping fuel. 

If you're a married person I encourage you to look at photos and/or think back to your wedding day and the love you felt and the covenant you made today.

What Do You Value?- A Repost

This is a post from a few years back that I thought you might enjoy.  We are about to load into the car to go to a wedding in Pella right now.

What Do You Value?

How much do you value Jesus?

In Mark, Jesus spoke to a rich man who wanted to inherit eternal life.  During this discourse Jesus did this:

"Jesus looked at him and loved him, 'One thing you lack,' He said.  'Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.  Then come, follow me.'

At this the man 's face fell.  He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!" Mark 10:21-23

Writing on this passage a couple days ago I asked what are you afraid to leave for Jesus?  Today, I want to focus on wealth.

How much do you value Jesus?  

How much do you trust Jesus?

Jesus doesn't ask most of us to sell everything we have and give to the poor in order to follow Him.  I believe He was pointing out something the rich man loved more than Jesus, and Jesus refuses to be second place to anything in our life.  But, we are too quick to dismiss the money aspect of this story.  16 of the 38 parables of Jesus involve money.  Money and what it provides is one of the chief loves in our life.  Money is one of the most common functional saviors.

Jesus might not ask you to give everything, but are you willing to give anything?

How many of you hate the topic of giving?  Or worse, tithing?  When the subject is broached you may shout "LEGALISM!" in your heart.  We've all heard about the person who left a church because they dared to talk about giving.

Jesus once said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, meaning that the Sabbath is a gift to us, a needed break.  What if I told you that tithing was made FOR man?

Tithing (regular giving that is traditionally 10% although some may give a regular percentage that is more or less than that) and giving are good for the body and soul.  We don't tithe because God is desperate for the cash to keep the heat on in the church building, though your money may go to that; we tithe for the health of our soul.  Few things chart the loves and measure the trust of a person like money does.  Martin Luther King, Jr called budgets a love letter.  What does your household budget say you love?  What does it say you trust?  Does it say you value Christ?

Last night my wife and I were talking about this.  She and I give regularly to our local church.  Before we pay any bill, buy any food, allocate any dollar... we write a tithe check.  We don't even treat that money as if it is ours, because it isn't, we've pledged it to the Kingdom.  We find that the most beneficial way to do it.  We give God our first fruits at the same percentage regardless of what life may have brought our way. 

Some of you may be thinking, "We can't afford to do that."  To that I say, you can never afford to do it.  There will always be a reason not to give.  

The question isn't, "Can I afford to tithe?"  No, the question is, "What do you value and trust?"

"Jesus sat down opposite of the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.  Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling the disciples to Him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything... all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44

What do you value?  What do you trust?

Speaking to his church in Scotland, Robert Murray M'Cheyne said, "I fear there are many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give.  To give largely and liberally, not grudgingly at all, requires a new heart; an old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money.  Oh my friends!  Enjoy your money; make the most of it; give none away; enjoy it quickly for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity."

What do you value?  What do you trust?  May your budget declare that you trust and value Jesus today.

Un-Toxic Masculinity

The term toxic masculinity is everywhere.  Misbehaving men have abused their power, abused women's bodies and ruined many people in their paths.  "Boys will be boys" simply isn't good enough.

But is masculinity the problem?

I say no.  They type of masculinity that is toxic is a faux masculinity, it is a pseudo-masculinity.  One of the answers to the problem of toxic masculinity is not a feminization of men but a return to real masculinity.

Below are five traits of real masculinity I've seen in men I admire and in the Scriptures:

1) Real Masculinity Initiates

Men take the initiative.  Real masculinity sees a need and then looks to fill it.  Real masculinity that initiates is seen in how Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19).  If Christ would have waited for us to love Him then we would be doomed.  Real masculinity initiates, it takes the risk so the other doesn't have to, it embraces the responsibility to act first.  Real masculinity humbly apologizes first; real men end cold wars.  The real men I know do this well with their wives, children, co-workers and friends.

2) Real Masculinity Sacrifices

Men don't have to win, but they have to be willing to make sacrifices.  President Trump once said of Senator John McCain, "He's not a war hero.  He's a hero because he was captured.  I like people that weren't captured." This isn't supposed to be political.  I'm using the quote to show that the measure of real masculinity is not wins and losses but willingness to sacrifice.  Jesus laid down His life willingly for us (John 10:11-18).  This is a marker of masculinity.  Real men don't always win but they do things like shout "women and children first" when the fire rages or the ship sinks.  Real men are willing to not get their way for the good of others.  Real masculinity sacrifices.

3) Real Masculinity is Courageous

God tells the warrior Joshua to "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:9).  A different way of translating the Biblical word courageous is "play the man".  An essence of Biblical masculinity is courage.  C. S. Lewis famously said, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."  Men hold on to their virtues even when it gets difficult.  Real men are faithful to their wives even when she is hard to love.  Real men are honest even when it's easier to lie.  Real men are guided by morals even if it means defeat in the moment.  Real masculinity is filled with courage.

4) Real Masculinity Loves Other Men

I wasted many years of friendship at surface level with my friends.  In an effort not to appear to be anything but über-straight, unfeeling young men we hid our best feelings for one another.  It wasn't until not long ago that some of my high school and college friends started to be more honest with one another.  It wasn't until not long ago that we hugged each other before leaving.  Why?  Because we were masculine back then?  No, because we weren't masculine enough.  Think about King David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 20).  Some modern readers wonder if they were gay together, but that's because some have lost the real masculinity that can love brothers deeply.  Real men don't hide their love and appreciation for dear brothers.

5) Real Masculinity is Appropriately Emotional

The stoic is the modern idea of a man.  Where did we get that?  Jesus wept (John 11:35).  Jesus was angry (Matthew 21:12-13).  Real masculinity is not devoid of emotion; real masculinity feels deeply about the things that matter.  My Grandpa Ray is famous in our family for having been a crier.  When he'd watch Billy Graham Crusades he would weep watching people file down the aisles to give their lives to Jesus.  Some of the strongest, most manly men I know are prone to tears.  Real masculinity strives to understand what matters, to care about what matters and that understanding and care causes deep emotions.  Real men aren't controlled by emotion alone, but real men feel deeply.

Toxic masculinity is a problem in our world today.  Don't be a toxic man with a fake masculinity.  Let's let our men be men, real men.  Let's teach our boys an authentic, Biblical masculinity.  And let's make the phrase healing masculinity replace toxic masculinity.  Let us raise boys and let us be men who enable our families and communities to flourish not in spite of our masculinity, but because of it today.

Complementarianism

This evening we talked about Biblical manhood and womanhood during a class at church.  I subscribe to the understanding of this called Complementarianism.  Complementarianism is, in a nutshell, that idea that men and women are fundamentally different yet equal.  Equal but not the same in a way that complements the other.

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion'... So God created man (humankind) in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:26a & 27

All of humanity, men and women, are created in the image of God.  All of humanity, men and women, are given dominion "over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Genesis 1:26).  This means that men and women share a common and equal glory.  The weirdest person you've ever met is still more glorious in the eyes of God than the most rare bird or most beautiful fish or even most grand mountain.  Humans, men and women, are the crown jewel of the creation story.

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."  'Us' is a strange word for God to use.  Was He talking to the angels or the council of Heaven?  I don't think so, because He says "Let us make..." and then "So God created man in His..."  Singular and plural are used interchangeably.  I believe that this is the Trinity.  Humans, men and women, are made in the image of the Triune God.  This is significant.  God the Father is not God the Son nor God the Spirit.  God the Father is not more God than the others are either.  The Trinity is co-equal, co-eternal and co-God.  The persons of the Trinity are equal yet beautifully different.  Men and women are made in the image of the Trinity in this way.  Men are not more or less gloriously human than women and vice versa.

Yet "male and female He created them."  Why not say "He created humans"?  It is obviously because there is a distinct difference.  God create people and He created them into two subgroups: male and female.  God designed that males and females make up humanity.  God created them differently.

So, men and women must be different yet co-equal in there shared humanity and dominion over the rest of creation.  Men and women have an equally wonderful relationship with the Creator yet our Creator God in His love of diverse beauty created men and women differently.  This is the essence of complementarianism.

I see two major pitfalls we take in regards to understanding men and women.

On the equalitarian or feminist side of things I think we fall off the horse when we tell men the way to be more glorious is to be less Godly masculine and we tell women that the way to be more glorious is to be more masculine and less feminine.  This may sound nice, but in essence we tell our little girls that the worst part about them is their femaleness and we tell our boys that the worst part of them is their maleness.  If equal means the same when it is clear that they are not the same then we demean our women and men and put them on a road to try to live unnaturally.

On the complementarian side there is the pitfall of creating definitions the Bible and our design don't.  Too often I agree with someone's premise but then they sadly get to a therefore with which I can't agree.  We do complementarianism a disservice when we over-define the roles of women and men.  I don't have time to get into all of this in detail, but there are many stupid walls between men and women drawn up by those that rightly understand the silliness of egalitarianism.  If your definition of manhood is that the man always controls the checkbook or always makes the most money then you're making this silly.  If your definition of a woman is the one who cooks better then you're smearing stupidity on what is a beautiful thing.

We must avoid the pitfalls of even good understanding.  Let's make an effort to say what the Bible says and only what the Bible says about our design as men and women.  Then let's display what it looks like when men and women complement one another well in the dance of life.  Let's show the world how men and women in their glorious differences and similarities can make the world flourish today.

What Makes a Real Man

As a father trying to raise a little boy and a little girl I want to do my best to raise a future man and a future woman.  I want my son to know what it means to be a real man and what it means to pursue a real woman.  I want my daughter to find a real man if she is to get married and I want her to be a real, godly woman.

Rather than me writing something I want to share this story that helps highlight what I want my kids to understand about what a man is and what a woman is.

I hope you enjoy this brief clip today.