Walk With A Stranger

Cleopas and one of the other disciples were making the 6-mile trek from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the afternoon of Jesus' resurrection.   They were consumed in conversation, likely focusing on what Jesus' death would mean for their small community of followers. They were joined by a stranger who had seemingly avoided all the commotion surrounding Jesus' crucifixion three days earlier and his recent resurrection.  The disciples welcomed the stranger to their conversation, and the stranger began interpreting all the scriptures, prophesying the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.   The stranger completed the trip to Emmaus with the disciples, but intended to continue his journey from there.  The disciples were fascinated by him and exclaimed, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." The stranger agreed, and as he broke the bread that evening, the disciples recognized him as Jesus for the first time.  And He immediately disappeared.

I have been thinking about how the disciples' walk with Jesus that day compares to my own.  Sometimes, I am so overwhelmed by what is going on in the world, with my family and friends or in my work, that I don't even recognize Jesus when He is standing right beside me.  Spending time reading about Him, or listening to stories about Him, can help me move in the right direction, but He more completely reveals Himself to me only when I look into His face, ask Him to "stay with me," and acknowledge that His body was broken for me.  While I may not able to look into the physical face of Jesus as those two disciples did, His presence is completely available to me and all who seek Him.

To Tell The Truth

I hope many of you made it to church last Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  And if you made it, I hope you were inspired by the words spoken, the music sung, and the people you saw there.   I was.  I also know a lot of churches intentionally direct their messages, especially on Easter, toward people who haven't attended church in a while, or perhaps have never attended, and I completely understand their motives and respect their approach.  Christianity is based on truth and grace.  It's not about 50/50 or some other percentage.  Jesus was 100% truth and 100% grace.   And we are called to the same.  On Easter Sunday, grace frequently gets top billing.   I was looking for a little post-Easter inspiration, and I found this message from one of the greatest evangelists of all time, Billy Graham.  Take 10 minutes to bask in the words from this great follower of Jesus.

Really Old Text Messages

This week is the most sacred of weeks for followers of Jesus.  This is the week that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection.  His resurrection is the basis for all that we believe. Except for brief instances where people appear dead and are then resuscitated, this is the only time in history this has happened - if you believe the ancient texts we have are true.  John Dickson has a PhD in ancient history and is currently serving as a professor at Wheaton College.  I watched an interview with him this week that discusses the reliability of the texts.  Here are my main takeaways:

• Most other major religions have ancient texts, which are revelations passed down to prophets from their gods.  Christianity is the only religion whose texts are based on events claimed to have occurred historically.
• The Bible wasn't assembled for centuries after the time of Jesus, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and James all wrote separate accounts of Jesus's life and death that align surprisingly well.  The texts survived for hundreds of years before assembly, which corroborates their authenticity.
• Ancient texts written closer to the reported events tend to have more credibility.  Texts about other religious and political leaders of that time were written from 80-350 years after the events occurred.  Texts about Jesus were written 10-60 years after his death.
• 99% of ancient writings are missing.  We know this because of the references to them in the 1% that we do have.  Therefore, the Bible referencing events not mentioned elsewhere doesn't mean those events failed to happen.
• Four complete manuscripts, 340 substantial manuscripts, and over 4,000 New Testament fragments have been discovered, dispersed across a vast geographical region.   This is despite political leaders doing everything they could to destroy any manuscripts they found.
• Recent architectural findings support the details described in the Bible.  While Jesus spoke Aramaic, most of the manuscripts are in Greek.  Many of the Jewish architectural finds have Greek inscriptions indicating that many Jews of that time spoke and wrote in Aramaic and Greek.
• Almost all ancient manuscripts were written by the elites of their time.   Christian manuscripts are the only ones written by common men to survive.  Their only reasonable reason for survival is that they are true.

I absolutely love that very smart people have committed their lives to finding and reporting the facts above.  But the evidence for Christ that is most meaningful to me is seeing how believing in Him has changed me and continues to change me every day.  I pray the same for you.

Happy Easter.

Click here to see the complete interview with visual aids.

Locally Speaking

When I was at the University of Georgia, umpteen years ago, one of my core classes was Logic 101.  I had a great instructor, and I loved that class.  The concepts came easily to me, and I enjoyed exercising them.  I remember dissecting complex "if/then" and "and/or" statements to arrive at the correct conclusion.  That gift I was given can frequently be a curse.  I find myself listening to others to find flaws in their arguments.  This dissonance has persisted among individuals and groups for thousands of years.  Ancient Greek philosophers argued about almost everything, but at the highest level, they arrived at the ultimate question: "What is the meaning of life?"  Around 300 BC, there were two main philosophies: Epicureanism and Stoicism.  Epicureans believed life had no inherent purpose and that the best thing to do was to live big and have a good time.  Seek pleasure at all costs.  The Stoics had a seemingly nobler philosophy, which stated that while life has no inherent purpose, we should strive to be good and live as if it did.  It consisted of three main disciplines: logic, physics and ethics. Use logic to observe nature and decide what is right.  When Jesus came along, He spoke extensively, but as far as we know, he didn't write anything down.  Luckily for us, his best friend, John, did.  And where better to get the best intel on someone than from their best friend.  John starts his gospel with this statement: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  That's the English translation, but the Greek word he used for Word was Logos, which our word logic comes from.   And we soon find out from the following verses that "Word" is capitalized because it refers to Jesus.  John settled the debate once and for all: the reason we are here is to know and follow Jesus.  It gives me great peace knowing that Jesus is Logos, but also creates an almost overwhelming obligation to know and follow Him more.

My thoughts today were inspired by one of my favorite pastors and authors, Tim Keller. 

Marvel That

 

I am not a huge Marvel fan, but I am pretty sure the guy in that photo is not Captain America or Thor.   Marvel fanatics are likely aware that several Marvel productions were filmed in Georgia, which helped Georgia surpass California as the state with the most top-grossing films produced there.  But most are probably unaware of the behind-the-scenes work that film industry professionals and politicians expended to make this happen.  A large part of the success stems from favorable tax treatment for studios filming in our state.   I posted in the fall about the death of my brother Craig who was an amazing son, husband, father and grandfather.  Those relationships trumped anything he accomplished in business, but he also made quite an impact professionally.  Craig's company, CMP Inc.,  made short films for companies of all sizes and across different industries, including household names like Massey Ferguson and Coke.   He also had a long-standing relationship with Georgia Tourism, helping to promote everything great about our state.  He served for 8 years as the Co-President of Georgia Production Partners and also on the Governor's Board for Film and Digital Media.  Yesterday, the Secretary of State honored Craig as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen at the State Capitol. Both the Senate and House Chambers issued proclamations honoring his impact on Georgia's film industry.  I was honored to be there with most of his family and felt immense pride seeing his professional accomplishments.  Click here for a link to photos from the day.

Disturbing The Peace

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside the open doors. The rain is welcome and brought about 10 degrees of coolness. I poured a cup of coffee and sat still listening to the rain for a bit.  You have to know how hard that is for me. I usually wake up with my brain buzzing about what I need to get done that day, but today, I made time to be quiet. One of my pastors reminded me recently that while God laid out right from wrong for us, He is less concerned with what we do, and more concerned with who we are and who we are becoming. There are many ways to help with who we are becoming:  reading and learning the Bible, preaching and teaching, community, serving, and hardest for me, quiet communion with God.   This morning while I was quiet this refrain repeated in my head: "I want to know You, and be known by You." I couldn't help ending my quiet time with some noise, but this is the best kind of noise.  Listen, focus on the words and focus on God.  Click here.

Stormy Seas

 

For the past week, television and social media have been filled with the terror of overseas war and state-side inconveniences like higher gas prices.  The constant updates about escalating tension can feel like being at the center of a roaring storm.   Jesus and his disciples found themselves in a boat in the midst of a storm.  As waves crashed into the boat, the disciples feared for their lives, but Jesus slept on a cushion in the stern of the boat.  The disciples woke Him and asked if He was scared for His life, and He said to the sea, "Peace.  Be still." and the wind ceased.  Jesus then reminded the disciples that faith in Him could quiet any storm.  Today, I hope you feel the peace that only Jesus can provide.