I had fun...and I don't feel bad about it!

Let me start off this post with a confession:

I had fun at summer camp and I don't feel guilty about it. I know some of you are questioning my Christianity since there's a commandment in there somewhere that says "Thou shalt not have fun."

Alright, this is tongue in cheek, but sometimes we act like that at church. I've heard the comment too many times, "all the kids are doing is having fun." In the past I would defend the program and try to point out deep theological and spiritual lessons that were being taught. Now I simply say, "so what?"

I've changed my mind. Having fun at church, in a church program, does not need to be defended. It needs to be applauded.

These past summers while I worked at camp, I've realized that children and youth today have experienced too much brokenness and sadness for an adult life time. The loss of parents, the breaking up of homes, terrible home situations and more. Their childhoods have almost been taken away. I've seen some who are uncomfortable smiling, laughing or even playing.

As we've played silly games like "who sold out", "walk around", "feed the baby", "bullfrog", I've seen faces crack a smile. I've seen some fall into the sweet release of laughter. I've seen some even learn how to play and for those moments the innocence of youth returns.

What if church were a place where a kid can be a kid? What if we were the people who taught children that they can lay down their burdens and have fun with us?
What if like Jesus we bid them come: find hope, find joy, find laughter, find fun?

What if we didn't apologize for having fun but we celebrated having fun?

Access Granted!

A few months ago I found a new short cut to our house by accident. I was so excited about it and with things I'm excited about I can't wait to share them with my wife. The next time we were in the car driving together, I proceeded to drive that route. All of a sudden we ran into a road block. That road was closed and access was denied to us.

I've been recently reading a book about justice and the need for us as Christians to move beyond just providing service but moving toward being agents of justice in this world. Micah 6:8 tells us that God expects us to do justly and love mercy.

Briefly the difference is service is providing meals to those who are hungry, justice is removing the barriers so that they have access to get their own food and empowering them. We shouldn't do either or but both and.

Well I began wondering did Jesus go beyond service and do anything that can be characterized as doing justice. Sure He fed the five thousand but did He remove barriers that allowed them to feed themselves?

Then I read Matthew 21:12-14 for my devotion this morning. Jesus gets upset and turns things over. This isn't the gentle Jesus, meek and mild here. He is angry.

I often wondered what made Jesus get angry and throw things over. Here is what the Lord showed me today. In the system of the day, if you didn't have anything to sacrifice you couldn't enter the temple. And in order to get a sacrifice you had to buy it. These money changers were charging prices that the poor could not pay. No sacrifice meant access denied. So here it is a place that was to be a house of prayer for all people is turning people away because they didn't have enough money.

But Jesus turns these tables over and allows the blind and lame to come to Him in the temple. The thing that was blocking their access to worship of God and to His house had been removed and now these overlooked people had "Access Granted."

This looks like justice to me: Jesus did not want people being denied access to something as important as the worship of God so much so that He gets violent in His pursuit of justice.

All should be given access to food, clean water, education, housing and more importantly all should be given access to God! Let's be agents to tell people "Access Granted!"

That was nasty!

Let's get something out the way upfront...I'm not a good cook. I think I could be a good cook but I am just too lazy to do it enough to get better. There are times when I have to cook (meaning my wife is out of town, money is low, restaurants are closed because of national holiday etc) and it takes me all day to have food ready because I follow my recipe book to the letter (how much is a dash of salt by the way).

Anyway there is one thing I make that my kids and wife acknowledge that I am not only good at but great at. They say I make it even better than my dear wife. It's tuna fish (now I know for some of you reading this it does not count as cooking but hey it's the best I can do). I make a mean tuna melt etc.

Well this morning while getting ready to "cook up" some tuna fish I made a huge blunder. I got out the can, cracked it open and poured it out into a bowl. Then I opened the refrigerator for the main ingredient beside the tuna fish - mayonnaise. Why didn't anyone tell me we were out of mayo?

What do you do with tuna fish in a bowl and no mayo? If you are like me you improvise. I got out some butter (or better yet "I Can't Believe it's not butter") and added it to the tuna. Then I added some salt and pepper and seasoned it up.

It looked different but not that much. Then I tasted it....ewwww. That was nasty!

I can't eat that stuff...maybe I'll give it to the kids when they are really hungry (especially my son - he'll eat anything). But it taught me a lesson. Sometimes in life we try to replace the right thing with a substitute that seems just as good. Maybe you haven't tried it so let me talk about myself.

I realized a couple weeks ago I was replacing spending time praying earnestly and reading my Bible with doing work for God and helping others. Don't get me wrong those things are important. But they are not substitutes for spending time with God. I picture God looking at our lives when we replace the things He asked us to with substitutes, bad (worldly entertainment, illicit sex, drugs etc) or good (friends, church work, school work) as looking at us and saying "That was nasty!"

In fact He says so in the Bible - "So because you are neither cold nor hot - I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Rev 3:16. Powerful stuff.

I don't want God to say that about me. I'm going to get the right ingredients in my life....and my tuna fish as well!