Tuesdays are for sorry, I had to make an aiport run yesterday, Ramblings….

Today is the perfect Midwestern spring day. It is just like I remember them. It is cloudy, there is always the threat of rain, the wind is blowing 30 mph, and although it is supposed to be in the 60′s today, you would be insane to wear short sleeves or shorts. Ahh, spring in Indiana, it doesn’t get any better than this. And so, on with the ramblings…

Logical Madness

It was an enjoyable first weekend for March Madness, but they forgot the madness. Where art though Cinderella? Did the clock strike midnight a couple of weeks early this year. You know it is a tournament for the big boys when the lowest seed remaining belongs to Arizona, with a 12 seed, and they have made the tournament 25 straight years. They haven’t been great this year but even they have 1-2 legitimate first round prospects. The big boys have shown up and it is making for some really incredible Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight match ups. Match ups I am really excited for this weekend are Duke and Villanova, UNC and Gonzaga, and Memphis and Missouri. All of the games are really pretty incredible.

Nothing but love for my Terps who won their 9 straight opening round game. They got blasted by Memphis, but then again Memphis is about 6 players better than Maryland, so they should have lost. Dave Neal I will miss you man, but the fellas and I play ball at the Chesterton Y every MWF at 6:15 AM, you can bring your game down anytime.

I already mailed back my bonus

All of this uproar of the bonuses at AIG and the allocation of an extraordinary amount of bailout money has my mind spinning with a bunch of different financial ideas.

This financial crisis seems like it should be the moment when Christians in this country shine out brightest. Our commitment to stewardship and the balance we try to bring to our lives by serving God instead of money should mean that most of us don’t need a bailout, we are less affected emotionally and spiritually by an economic downturn, and we are still trying to be generous, perhaps even more so, to help those who are hardest hit during these times. Of course the reality that too many Christians in our country love money as much as non-believers and we have spent our lives chasing stuff just like everyone else means that we are missing out on an extraordinary opportunity to be a shining light of something different in our country.

If we want to be different, to demonstrate a life that is radically different than those around us, maybe we should start by focusing on money. We talk about different sexual standards, standing up for the lives of the unborn, and demonstrating higher moral standards as a witness to our faith, so why not focus that witness on money now. Let’s be different. Let’s have enough. Let’s be satisfied. Let’s try to get rid of our debt. Let’s save more. Let’s give away more. Let’s blow people’s minds with our generosity and lack of attachment to possessions.

We can call it part of our Spiritual Bailout Plan for America.

The Moment of Surrender

This Lent has felt different from the last several years for me. I was on vacation for the first week of it and so I felt like I have been behind the curve the whole time. With a new church that doesn’t do many special services there wasn’t and Ash Wednesday service to lead and delve into the confessional time of Lent. I also took a different approach to my Lenten disciplines this year. Instead of a specific fast I have been focused on trying to live holistically healthier. This has been a focus on more discipline in my eating, more exercise, more Bible, more prayer, and more desire for Christ.

This has been a much bigger challenge, for me, than a specific fast. It has been harder because I have to constantly work to refocus my attention, no matter the task at hand. I can’t focus on one or two things that I am trying to give to God. I am battling to remain focused at work, at home, in my car, on the phone, when I eat, and when I exercise. Of course, this focus shouldn’t be a six week emphasis but the discipline that should define my spiritual life every day of my life. I guess that is why I chose this for this Lenten season. I guess I am just not satisfied with who I am. I can be more Jesus. I am painfully aware of how much more Jesus I can be. I want to be disatisfied, really disatisfied, so that it will spur new action and energy in my pursuit of Christ.

And so the soundtrack of Lent has been the song Moment of Surrender off of the new U2 album No Line on the Horizon.

This song is my favorite on the new album and it has been running through my soul since the first time I heard it. There are some beautiful images of surrender in the song. They are everyday moments, moments of hidden surrender when no one else is noticing or can begin to understand what is happening within us. Right now that is the focus of my soul, to continually search for moments to surrender my life to God in the middle of everyday life. The ability to constantly surrender, to give up control and acknowledge Christ’s lordship in every day life, is the best picture of discipleship I can come up with. I am thankful for the ability to worship throughout each day and to know and experience God in each moment of life. May I have more moments of surrender this day, and the next, and each day of my life.