Makers of a Legend

This past Saturday was Nebraska's 300th consecutive sellout. I planned on taking Mate' to this special game for his first Husker experience. I was looking forward to our trip and seeing my first game this year in person. Then a couple weeks ago I realized Caleb had scheduled his first gig- his band's very first show- on this very same evening. And to seal the deal, Mate' was playing drums for this new group called 'Makers of a Legend'.

So as I loaded drums and amps into our van for the trip to Sokol Underground I couldn't help but be a little disappointed that I was missing a fun game on a perfect evening. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Sokol Underground which sits below Sokol Hall on 13th and Martha. The place looked a little rough, a bit like the surrounding neighborhood. At 5:30 we hauled in all the band's equipment and waited for the 6:30 PM show to begin. A number of bands and singers were scheduled to perform and 'Makers of a Legend' were to go on at 7:50 PM.

I snuck out to find a place to watch a few minutes of the Husker game prior to Cale going on-stage.Luckily the bar next door had the pay-per-view game on so I could watch. I saw almost all of the first half which left me confident of a Husker win and wanting to watch more- but I had to get back to the show.

When I arrived, Caleb and the guys were doing sound checks and getting ready to play. When the house lights went down, the stage lights shown bright, almost 100 kids pressed towards the stage and 'Makers of a Legend' were ready to rock. It was to be an evening I will never forget.

It's hard to describe how you feel when you see your child doing something they love and do it well. I've had the pleasure of seeing this with each of my boys- Tim with football, Jake with basketball, Dan with golf, and now Cale with guitar. On this night Cale played lead guitar and played so well including a couple solos. The band played every song they knew, all four of them! The crowd cheered after every song, shouting for an encore at the end. The band soaked up the praise and Sherri and I beamed with pride.

As I thought about the evening I thought of the difference between a Husker game and a 'Makers of a Legend' concert. That Husker games make me happy when they win- and irritated (read Virginia Tech) when they lose. I decided that this kind happiness depends on what happens, on 'happeness'.

But what I felt at the concert was more 'joy'- something that touched the deepest part of me. I think there is a big difference between joy and 'happeness'. My joy on this evening wasn't based on what happened, it was based on loving my child first and then seeing him doing something he loves. The band did their best; they are learning to do better. The evening wasn't about how good or bad they were, it was about young men learning to step out in front of a crowd and do what they love.

In the Bible 'joy' is used to describe something greater than happiness. Words like exceedingly glad, exultant gladness are used to describe joy. I think it's nice to have a little earthly happiness (Husker wins) and joy (children doing well) to go with our God-given joy which Jesus himself told us about in John 15 'that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete'. In short we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy as the result of our faith and salvation (1Peter 1:8-9). Faith makes joy a verb, not just something we have but something we do - a way of living, a 'live-style' if you will. My own life verses 1Thessolonians 5:16-18 describes joy like this as well calling us to 'Be joyful always'. Our joy is to be unaffected by 'happeness' because we have an eternal gift thanks to what Jesus did for us on the cross.

I guess you could say that it turns out that this life is to be a joy-ride, a time before eternity where we live a life of joy thanks to our God who loves us beyond our understanding. That's what our God-given faith reminds us of- the joyful hope we have in Jesus. And while we live this joyful life, it's great to share some earthly joy and even 'happeness' as we love those around us and watch them rock on! See you fellow joyful folks this Sunday at Club Atonement!

Joyfully Yours!
kp

Music That Moves You

Sherri and I took Mate' to the Nebraska State Fair a couple weeks ago so he could experience a unique piece of Americana. We chose a Wednesday evening because it fit our schedule best and because the Christian rock group 'Newsboys' was going to be performing. And so off we went to the State Fair!

If you got to the Fair before 5 PM the cost was only $5. After 5 PM the cost is $8 because the average working guy should pay more I guess. We left a little before 4 PM and barely got to the gate in time to get the reduced admission saving us $9 dollars- with which we intended to buy food on a stick. Instead I got a gyro and Sherri and Mate' had Nebraska beef sandwiches so even though we considered trying fried twinkies or pizza on a stick for a true Fair experience we just couldn't do it.

The concert was free with paid admission to the Fair and so we took part of the couple hours we had before the show to look through the only animal barn open which had some calves, enjoy the 4-H photo competition and judge an artwork competition for ourselves before making our way to the show. The open air auditorium was packed an hour early and we were lucky to find three good seats about halfway back in the middle.

Omaha's Christian radio station 100.7 KGBI sponsored the concert so after securing our seats I skipped out to meet these radio folks who had over the years helped us promote our concerts at Atonement. Sherri has kept in pretty close contact with September Turner who is on the morning show and so when I saw her she gave me and Mate' a warm greeting and then pulled out three backstage passes for us to meet the band. We had our seats saved by our neighbors and went off to meet the band! We got the chance to say hello, share a couple laughs and have our picture taken with them which was fun.

When the show began it became clear that this was going to be a very very loud evening. Even halfway back the music was moving my shirt and more importantly vibrating against my chest. In a literal sense, this booming music was moving me! The show was fantastic, powerful music was combined with powerful lyrics which proclaimed the Gospel message and I let the sound of their intense praise wash over me. I wondered if the praise in heaven is this powerful, moving, meaningful and loud! Even more so I concluded.

What kind of music is this that moves me to praise God and just soak up the sound and meaning? Here are some of the lyrics to 'He Reigns' – that makes me want to sing out every time I hear it:
'Let it rise about the four winds Caught up in the heavenly sound Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals To the faithful gathered underground Of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation Some were meant to persist Of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples None rings truer than this And all the powers of darkness Tremble at what they've just heard

Cause all the powers of darkness Can't drown out a single word When all God's children sing out Glory, glory, hallelujah He reigns, He reigns All God's people singing Glory, glory, hallelujah He reigns, He reigns'

There's something about hearing 'Glory, glory hallelujah, He reigns, He reigns' played so loud that it reverberates and moves your chest and your soul. I wished it was even louder, that the whole world would hear and be moved by this music, by these words of life. But I realize that I'm the one that is called to be playing this moving music louder through my daily life. Could we even imagine how moving it would be for all God's people to sing 'Glory, glory, hallelujah' through their daily lives?

When we live loud through our faith people around us can feel it. As the Newsboys sang in another song, I need to 'Shine, make 'em wonder what you've got, make 'em wish that they were not, on the outside looking in'. I pray that we will do just that - that the music of our lives will be shining and moving examples of faith played at full volume that the Holy Spirit uses to win souls! May God help us to be the 'movers and shiners' that this world so badly needs.

Loudly Yours,
kp

Bad-itudes and Gladitudes!

It was his problem really, his bad attitude that caused us to not get along. This past Friday I almost got in a fight- yes me, almost getting in a fight. Can you believe it? We were just inches apart when he threw up his arms and acted like he was going to hit me. I didn't flinch, I stood my ground, I didn't back down even an inch- even though he was bigger than me!

Finally he simmered down and walked away. Then Sherri and I shared a good laugh about how funny gorillas are. On our trip to the zoo we spent time watching them and one in particular didn't like me looking at him I guess. He came at me a couple times, first rising up, pounding his chest and then slapping the glass in front of me. We decided he must not have liked me staring him in the eyes as he sat close by or he didn't like my salmon colored shirt. Either way, he was ready to mix it up with me. He had a 'bad-itude'.

This goofy story came to mind again yesterday as I was doing some Bible study. I was listening to a teacher talk about the Israelites and their bad attitudes and murmuring and complaining. James McDonald commented that he thinks the most radical thing God did in the Old Testament was send his people back to the desert to die. And why did He do this? Because of their 'stinking thinking', their complaining and grumbling- because of their murmuring and bad attitudes (with some disobedience thrown in for good measure).

What hit home for me in this message was Pastor McDonald's reference to 1Cor 10:6-10 where Paul explains this particular historical event and punishment was recorded as 'a warning to us'. Think the Old Testament doesn't have meaning today? Think it's a long and dry Jewish history tale? Think again. God tells us through Paul that parts of it were written as a warning- in this case a warning given to us to stop the grumbling and complaining and bad attitudes. God says to you and me today, enough with that bad attitude! Knock it off!

And I can ashamedly tell you that I am Cinderella, that the shoe of a bad attitude fits me more times than I care to admit here. Maybe you've had a gorilla of an attitude here and there, every now and then as well? Maybe? As I thought about this I came up with my own lesson- that the Israelites' bad attitude prevented them from following God into the Promised land and that same bad-itude can keep us from obeying Jesus' command to 'follow me' today. In short, it's impossible to follow when we stop to complain.

The Good News is, the Bible says its okay to have an attitude. We are taught to have a humble, servant, Christ-like attitude in Phil 2:5 and a thankful attitude in Col 2:4. Other verses implore us to have an attitude of faithfulness, determination, encouragement and gentleness. Just for good measure, the Bible also clearly speaks against having an arrogant, foolish and hostile attitude. Maybe these are all a part of a bad complaining attitude.

There's an old positive thinking statement that says, 'your attitude determines your altitude'. When it comes to that final day, no truer statement could be made. Our attitude of complete trust and reliance on Christ and His atoning work on the cross will propel us to incomprehensible altitudes for an eternity. WOW! How cool is that? Cool enough to give each of us a 'glad-itude' for every single day of this short life? I think so. See you positive people Sunday at Gladtonement.

Blest Happy Regards,
kp

Inglorious

This week the story of a found girl missing for 18 years is all over the news. And the deranged mind of her sex offender captor has me thinking that we need to extract a measure of revenge greater than just jail time. All sorts of painful punishments run through my mind of which I will kindly spare you the details on. It just seems just to do more than put the guy behind bars.

My indignation and desire for revenge reminded me of the Wall Street Journal editorial I read on my flight to Austin last week. The article caught my interest as it pondered the 'problem of revenge'. The author Jordana Horn was considering this topic in light of the box office hit 'Inglorious Basterds' which is a fictional account of a small platoon of American Jews during WWII who are successful in their mission to extract a measure of revenge on the Germans through acts of atrocities (scalping just for starters). They gain such a horrible reputation that even Hitler learns about them. After the premiere of the movie at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York a number of holocaust survivors and their children expressed satisfaction with the movie and had no problem with the theme of revenge.

In fact when the movie ended- with a scene of a movie theatre full of German leaders burning – the crowd applauded. One person said the film made her 'unfortunately happy' and a rabbi called the film "wickedly entertaining". He commented further that the Bible sanctioned retribution against the people of Amalek. Other Jewish leaders noted that revenge is specifically prohibited in Leviticus 19:18 and that the Old Testament 'an eye for an eye' verse really relates to financial matters. I decided I would go see the movie for myself and see what I might conclude.

I found the film interesting and it kept my attention for over two hours. And it did pose a good question for me. Should you root for the American Jewish soldiers to be successful in their audacious revenge? Is using a baseball bat on an opposing soldier ever okay when you have captured him? When the film opens and you see the brutality of the Germans towards Jewish people is it okay to respond in kind? I started this column by telling you I wish it were so sometimes even today but would I like it in reality? I don't think so.

Romans 12:17 says "Repay no one evil for evil" and verse 19 adds "do not avenge yourselves". I'd say the Bible is pretty clear on this topic. Then this morning surfing channels before work I heard someone read Psalm 37 which opens with these words, "Do not fret because of evil doers" and verse three adds "Trust in the Lord and do good: dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness". And I determined God's response is twice as good as ours. We should not do 2 others, rather what is important is what we do 4 others.

Still I think our natural reaction as sinful folks is not to 'bless those who persecute us' but to get even. Our first reaction is not to overcome evil with good or turn the other cheek as the Bible instructs. With the heinous sex offender or the guy who just cut us off in traffic- both cause us to first consider extracting a measure of revenge. In a real way, intentional or not, the 'Inglorious' part of the title of the movie fits the theme of revenge and our first reaction doesn't it? Inglorious means dishonorable, shameful or disgraceful.

Jesus told us to love our enemy. More than that, that was His example. Spit upon, He did not spit back or call upon a legion of angels. Why? Because one day there will be a final judgement. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord- and as one commentary noted, 'The fact that vengeance will truly be taken is a truth to be held in humility and awe'. This thought makes me thankful that the righteousness of Jesus covers my plentiful inglorious sins. On that final day standing in His righteousness we will be glorious- brilliantly beautiful, magnificently splendid. See you future splendid and non-vengeful people Sunday to feed on His faithfulness – or else! Blest Regards,kp