Graduation - Why Does it Matter?

It's that time of year again. Graduation. Where the hard working High-Schoolers who started Kindergarten circa 1998 are finishing up their schooling career and making that 'walk' in that silly robe, to get a piece of paper typed up on Microsoft Word in Blackletter BT font with a fancy golden sticker that says 'I spent the last thirteen years of my life learning reading, writing, and arithmetic.'

It all seems rather trivial doesn't it?

Then, there are the folks that say 'It was about more than learning - it was the social experience. Making memories!' True, good friends can come from school, and so can memories. Again, though - the drama, the needless emotional attacks, the negativity of a cynical failing school system make 'talking to people' not nearly worth it.

But again, here we are. Graduation. Sad music. Tears. The whole shabang. Why do we worship this day so much? I mean, for goodness sake, we dress in ceremonial gowns, and listen to a speech or two, and then we achieve a status ("Graduate") and then we listen to an emotional song and then leave - to go on with the rest of our lives.

Sounds to me like what a lot of people complain about churches being like, does it not? Go in. Sit down. Hear a speech. Achieve a status ("Good Christian that Goes to Church"). Listen to an emotional song. Maybe shed a tear. If you're of certain denominations, babble in gibberish. Then go home. This post isn't even about that - let's go back on topic.

Graduation.

I think teens of today ride their emotions and put far too much weight on Graduating, and indeed, High School in general. Because of our painfully failing school systems that still seem to thing glorifying mediocre teachers and winning 'Fuhbawl' games is their purpose, carries much too much emotional weight and hold on the hearts of a lot of teens.

In reality, it's all rather meaningless.

"MATT!." you might be saying, "Why are you telling me not to go to school or get an education!?" I'm not saying that at all. "MATT!," others might think, "Are you telling me that my friends and emotions are meaningless?" No, I'm not. Putting so much weight on school and the social life developed in the failing school system is not worth the money the government pumps into the public school system every year.

I hate to burst the glib ceremonial bubble of graduation, but you are a number to the School System. Mine was #22499 before I left it to pursue my own education (one of the best choices of my life). They want money. They want trophies and plaques saying 'Our School is Best.' They want you to get high test scores so they can make more money, and build idols and temples (Hmm... Trophies and Football stadiums?) so that they can glorify themselves, while shunning individuality, personality, free-thinking and aspiring teenagers.

My children will be homeschooled - end of discussion.

I would never, ever, subject someone I loved (especially my own children) to the emotional tidal waves, cynical spirited, hateful, vile prison that is Public school. People who think I'm wrong about that are either part of the problem, or so used to it, they don't know what a loving learning environment actually is.

The Bible has all this to say.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom." Proverbs 9:10

Where does wisdom start? In a text book? In a classroom? Nope. It starts with knowing God.

"The first step of education is to have ones' eyes opened and be turned from darkness to light." Acts 26:18

Not only wisdom, but education, in it's purest form, must start, again, with God. You could now be saying that school is important to you! The cheerleading, the football, the classes, the clubs - it IS important! Plus, if I can 'get knowledge from God,' why do I have to give up my attachments to school? Can't I learn knowledge, AND be a part of a school?

"Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom."

HAH, see? Wait...

"...Though it cost all you have. Get understanding." Proverbs 4:7

Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, says this famous quote:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
Generations come and generations go...
No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them." Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, 11.

Doesn't seem too important, does it? The vein, trivial things in this life, do they really matter? Having straight A's, does it matter? Have as many friends as possible, being on the Varsity football team, being on A-squad Cheerleading - all that. Meaningless, as the Bible says?

Afraid so.

You might be feeling pretty angry or depressed by now - especially you College freshman or recent High School graduates (a majority of my friends, haha). What, then, can give you fulfillment? What makes life NOT meaningless? What makes life worth something?

Starts with a J, ends with an Esus.

There is no other way under the sun for you to have worth to your life unless you are pursuing God above all else. Above your girlfriend (or in the Christian community, that 'girl you wish to court someday *gag*). Above your grades. Above your own desires. Above your job. Above all else, pursue God. In the end, he's one of the few things worth pursuing, and He's the ONLY thing that shall NEVER forsake you. EVER.

Proof? Read your Bible. Click here. Read this passage. It may just put things into perspective, which most graduating teenagers desperately need.

Do not think I am not proud of my friends for graduating - way to go! I know it was a lot of hard work, but don't let it define you. You're so much more than that diploma.

Mario Kart and Jesus

For an 18-year-old gamer, Mushroom Gorge is a tough track on Mario Kart Wii.

For a 5-year-old girl, Mushroom Gorge can seem nearly impossible.

My niece Gracie was hanging out over here, at my house today. She's five years old, and she's starting Kindergarten in two days. It's crazy to think, even as just her uncle, that she's already starting real school and growing up. Anyway, today, she was over here, and I introduced her to Mario Kart for the Wii.

At first, she seemed really shaky. If you know anything about Mario Kart, you'll know that the fact she took seven minutes to finish Luigi's Circuit doesn't exactly make her a professional. She didn't really grasp the idea of moving the control stick to steer, or to keep holding down the gas button to keep her car going. After one race, she wanted to quit.

"No," I said, "You can do it - it just takes experience." She tried again, and was a little bit better. She switched to another racetrack, and was even better the third time. She was very happy that she was getting so good at this game that was new to her.

And then, she got to Mushroom Gorge.

Mushroom Gorge is basically a giant hurdle. Half the time, you've got flat, straight roads that are easy to navigate, but the other half of the time, you've got giant gaps to leap, ridiculous cliffs to jump over, uncountable mushrooms to bounce off of and hope that you land safely on the other side. It's tough, even for an experienced Mario Karter, but to my niece, it was almost impossible.

I could see the frustration building in her face and the disappointment surfacing in her heart as she tried desperately to transverse the cliffs of this racetrack. She turned to me and said 'Matt, can you do it for me?'

I thought about it. I could definitely do it for her. I mean, I'm a pretty good player - the best in my house. If there's anyone that could beat it for her, it would be me. But I also thought, too, of how happy I know she'd be if she could beat it herself. Still, she needed help, and I wanted to offer it to her.

"All you have to do," I began, "Is to drive very straight off the ramp. Then, you'll bounce off the mushroom and land on the other side." She tried it once, and failed. "One more time," I said, "But this time, don't worry about it - just do what I said, and you'll be fine." She was placed back on the racetrack, and began to drive forward, as she tried once more.

She flew off the ramp, bounced right off the mushroom, and landed safely on the other side.

"You did it!" I exclaimed as she, literally, dropped the control, beaming, and said back to me "I did it!" She was so very happy that she was able to cross something simple and silly like the first gap on a Mario Kart track. But, you know, she had experience now. As I sit here and write this, she is sitting behind me, playing Mushroom Gorge over and over again. It's her favorite racetrack. She can speed through the entire course in under three minutes now. She rarely falls off the track anymore. She's able to fly over the cliffs, and always land safely.

Christianity can be a lot like Mario Kart.

When Gracie first started playing, it took a lot of getting used to. I mean, who's ever heard of a green dinosaur on a motorcycle racing a princess and a plumber anyway? The concept was brand new to her. The game controller was brand new to her, but in no time, she was up and going. That's how, most of the time, we feel about of walks with God as Christians. Pretty good, they might say. Not great, but pretty good.

Then, she was faced with Mushroom Gorge. Disheartened and discouraged, she didn't know what to do. She asked me, like I said earlier, "Can you do it for me, Matt?" It seems like when we're faced with the tough stuff in life, we go straight to do and ask the same question... for some of us, it's the only time we go to God. When we need him to do something.

But, like Gracie and Mushroom Gorge, sometimes, I believe that God let's us face struggle to teach us something - to essentially train us.

Let's look at David for a minute. This little kid, basically, who goes to bring his brothers some lunch one day, and he sees them all cowering at the very mention of their enemy, Goliath's, name. David approaches King Saul, and says, "Well, I'll fight him." King Saul probably laughs as he says "Don't be ridiculous! There's no way you can possibly win... you're just a boy." Let's pick it up there.

But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!” - 1 Samuel 17:34-37

Now, when David was a young shepherd boy, do you think he enjoyed fighting off lions and bears? Do you think it was easy for him? Of course not. It's a freaking bear. It's a freaking lion. If you've ever seen the Discovery Channel, you know that... bears and lions are vicious and violent. David, obviously a young man who loved the Lord, could have said 'God, PLEASE, do this for me!' But as we read, David would go off and wrestle the bears and lions himself, by clubbing it to death like the warrior he was. God was always with him, preserving him, but it was a struggle to protect his sheep and to do his job right.

You see, when we face hardships, struggles, or challenges in life, and we ask Him to take care of it for us, sometimes it seems like He's inactive. We might feel discouraged, but think for a moment about what he could be saying. "Listen to what I have to say, and do what I say do." Just like Gracie in Mushroom Gorge where I instructed her how to jump the mushroom, just like how, unbeknownst to him, David was being trained up to fight Goliath someday. "The Lord rescued me..." David said, but it was because he was taking action and doing what he knew God had already instructed him to do.

'Well then,' you may be asking, 'That's great, but how do I know what God wants me to do?' That's an easy answer. God's given you an entire book of 'What to Do.' The Bible.

When the hard times come, and we ask God to Divinely intervene, I think sometimes we forget about how much He already has. He's given us everything He's ever wanted to reveal to the human race... all in one convenient, complete, and usually leather-bound volume. The answers are there - it just takes time, studying, and faith to find them in there.

So next time when you're faced with a 'Gorge' in your life, when you pray, consider changing your prayer from 'God, fix this for me,' to 'God, give me wisdom - show me what to do.'

But, seriously, Gracie is still here playing Mushroom Gorge. The song is getting a bit annoying, but I wouldn't tell her to stop for anything.

Thanks for reading!
-Matt

God as Our Father

There are a few Christian authors/speakers/pastors out there that God has used in my life in pretty big ways. People like Perry Noble of NewSpring Chuch, or Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries, or even musicians like Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay or Jon Foreman of Switchfoot. One man, though, who podcasts and books have really effected me and changed my perspectives on a lot of things is John Eldredge of Ransomed Heart Ministries. This blog post isn't necessarily about any particular idea he presents, but one that is one of the simplest, oldest biblical ideas he wrote about in a book(Fathered by God); the idea of God as Father.

My father is a Lt. Col. in our county's Sheriff's office and the commander on our S.W.A.T. team. Lt. Col. is pretty high up in the ranks - I believe 2nd or 3rd only to the Sheriff himself. He's a pretty important guy - he's in charge of a lot of things and a lot of people - has been as far back as I can remember.

I remember as a kid of around seven or so, our area would put on a huge arts and crafts festival where, literally, thousands of people would flock to buy wood-craved yard decorations, old knick-knacks, and basically a lot of crap no one would ever need, ever. It was a lot of fun to just walk around and see everything, though. The Sheriff's office was always in charge of security, and it would seem that my dad was always the head of that. I remember waking up early the weekend of the festival and riding in my dad's cop car all the way to the fairgrounds, and getting out behind the Sheriff's office headquarters. Even as a little kid, I felt so respected and important around the other officers. Why? Because I was the son of the guy in charge!

I was big stuff for only seven years old! I knew that no one could pick on me - my dad was a cop. He was able to give me all sorts of cool stuff that the county would give him for free, or that he's get in the festival for just being a police officer, and he'd give them to me. The popcorn lady would give him a bag, and he'd give it to me, or he'd get me something from the wooden toy place (like these wicked rubber band guns they used to have); all that kind of thing.

But, most importantly, I was the son of the man in charge, which made me feel special, but that's because I was special; still am! The bible says in Matthew 7:11 "So if you know how to give good gifts to your own children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him!" I don't have children, yet, but I know, when I do, it's going to take everything I have not to spoil my kids by just giving them every thing their little hearts desire. I take joy in that sort of thing - making someone else happy, especially children, and I'd imagine especially if they were my own. A father - a dad - that genuinely loves to make his kids happy? You ever think of God like that?

I think all too often we will recall God as 'Father,' but do we ever really think of him as a loving father? I think we neglect that quality of God too often! God is generous, he is good, and he is loving - the perfect father.

"You are the son of a kind, strong, and engaged father; a father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey, offering to walk with you every step. This is perhaps the hardest thing to believe - really believe, down deep in our hearts, so that it changes us forever, changes the was we approach each day." -John Eldredge, 'Fathered by God'

As a Christian, you are an adopted child of God. Ever think of that? Ever think about how your dad is 'the man in charge?' How much he loves you? Like, as a father, loves you? Ever think about how important you are to Him? How proud of you he is when you do something great, or how forgiving and loving his is when you mess up? That's a big one. What about how he's there to offer wisdom when you need it? Or when you just need to know your loved? The father who provides for you, the father who 'walks with you every step' of the way? My friends, God is Father!

I know, personally, if there's one quality of God I tend to overlook so often, it's his ability to father me. Eldredge says, through prayer, in his book...

"You have taken me home, through Christ, to be your own son. I accept that. I give my life back to you, to be your true son. Father me. Father me."

Those are powerful words, aren't they? I don't have much more to say (tonight at least - it's 2:3oAM, haha), but I will say this - will you let God... be your father?

See, now I really want to read through 'Fathered by God' again. :)

"I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me." John 6:57 NLT

Little Kids

I love children. I really do. The people who say they hates kids, or who say they never want to have any make absolutely no sense to me. "People who say that probably have never been around any awesome kids" says a good friend of mine, Erik (He's got a blog), and while that may be true, even in the worst of times, sometimes you can just look at a kid and see so much going on at once, it's overwhelmingly powerful. There's something about their innocence, their sense of adventure, their energy, and their love that makes us as adults envy them and, in a way, want to be more like them. In fact, Jesus himself says in Matthew 18:4 "Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." (NLT). He tells us we need to go back to 'square one' as the Message bible says. We can learn a lot from kids.

One thing I've been seeing lately is how, really, adults and kids work together for something. I know as a little kid, my father would be working out in his workshop, building some new piece of carpentry or fixing something that was broken, or working on something that needed working on. I remember, as a little kid - maybe close to five or six years old - standing there, and asking 'Can I help?' He's hand me the hammer, and he'd guide me in driving a nail into a piece of wood, or screwing a screw back into something, or telling me how to sand down a board while I held the sandpaper in my hand.

Actually, what reminded me of this was something I saw happen at my church the other day. Our church (The Church at the Ridge) is all about the volunteers and serving in the church and the community. I, myself, have been volunteering there for close to two and a half years now, and I've adored ever second of it. I was setting up my equipment (I do video) in the back, and I saw a man on our operations team walking around putting out the communication cards and offering envelops we put on the seats before the services. His son, maybe seven or eight years old, was trailing him. Now, the man was very efficient - speedily placing all the cards with care and precision. His son, though, asked 'Dad - how can I help?' His father smiled, and gave him half the stack of cards, and told him what to do. The boy proceeded to do what his father was doing. Maybe not as perfect or as fast as his father, but he was doing what his father told him to, and the father was smiling as he watched him do so.

So, what can we learn from this? I think both of these examples (mine, as a boy, and this father and son I saw at church) as well as yours can be the perfect illustration of how God delights and loves it when we're doing His work. We think that 'I might as well not volunteer or do anything - if God wants it done, he'll do it himself.' While God has every ability to finish his work himself, he gives us the incredible opportunity to help him accomplish his works. Does he need our help? Of course not - he's God. But he loves to see us ask him 'Father - how can I help?'

I'm not a father yet, but sometimes, I get to work with kids at church. I love serving in children's ministry and childcare, on the very rare occasions I get to. When a child asks to help with something, what do you say? "No, I can do this on my own. Go away." or do you go out of your way to make a child feel valued and important by finding him something, even if something little like driving a nail, or putting out cards, or by letting a little girl add the milk into the mixing bowl, or letting a little boy wash the car - allowing these little kids to do these things, I think, is a perfect model of what God invites us to do when he invites us to be apart of the BIG things he's doing.

But he's not just going to make us, no. Those would be like the chores we had growing up, and kind of a way of us 'working our way into Heaven.' No - we must first ask 'Father - how can I help?' Once we truly and passionately want to not only follow God, but SERVE God, then he will invite us to do big, epic, extraordinary things that are God-sized. How cool is that!? That God actually loves you as a child so much, he basically says "Hey, champ! Guess what? I've got a little job for you to do - you want to help?"

We can learn a lot from kids - this is just one thing. If a child wants to do something like that, don't shoot them down. Invite them to help you, just like God has invited YOU to be a part of his work. Model God for the little kids. If you don't, maybe no one else will.

Beauty, Romance, Love, and Significance

Wow, tonight was one of those night where God has just been moving in my heart in some big ways, teaching me some simple things that hold heavy meaning. It was 2:30 AM, and I was out relaxing in our hot tub (which is an AWESOME thing to have - we got it cheap, too!) looking up at the full moon shining onto the puffy white clouds surrounding it, just the extravagant sky God had painted for me to see, and it was just a lovely time. This was right after my quiet time, too, so God was already working heavy on my heart, and just seeing the sheer scope of the beauty one stretch of sky could have made me start thinking more and more about our Father God, and these four words hit me, in this order: Beauty, Romance, Love, and Significance.

Beauty. There is so much beauty in this world, but if we go too fast, and, literally, don't take time to stop and smell the flowers, we can miss it. Take a look at the flowers, trees, plants - even weeds! - and you can see just the raw beauty and creativity of God. The Bible says that God crowned US, human beings, with his 'Glory and Honor. [He] gave [us] charge over everything [He] has made; putting all things under [our] authority.' (Psalm 8:5b-6) In Hebrews, it goes on to say "Now, when it says 'all things,' it means nothing is left out.' (2:8b). All things! Created for US to oversee, to be over, to enjoy and to live in. Every beautiful thing of nature, every waterfall, flower, tree, mountain, planet, galaxy - all made for us, by the One who loves us dearly.

But beauty doesn't stop there. There is beauty in God's most precious creation - us! There is beauty in every child. I spent years in children's ministry, and as I think about what I know children are capable of knowing and doing, it blows my mind and rattles my heart. There's beauty in their innocence, in their smiles, in their endless happiness and energy, there's beauty in their giving, loving hearts, and there's beauty in the futures!

There's beauty in every woman. Graceful, elegant, rapturous beauty; with wisdom grounded in their hearts, and love for all things. Women personify perfectly God's love, mercy, and nurturing characteristics, and He has made them beautiful.

There's beauty in every man, too! Valiant, heroic leaders willing to fight for what they believe in. With strength, wisdom, vigor, men have in them the beauty of leadership, of God's fathering and teaching characteristics, and the beauty of love.

Beauty is all around us, and God desires us to take notice of it, and especially enjoy it! Which leads me to my next point...

Romance. To pursue, enjoy, and grasp the beauty in this world, in a lover, or God himself is really a biblical definition of 'romance.' The fully delve into the beauty God has offered us freely, simply for our enjoyment, is a beautiful thing. The intimacy God, the almighty king of EXISTENCE offers ME a deep, personal relationship with him, free of charge. I'll touch on this more in a moment.

But not only did he freely offer me salvation, but he's given me - us - this wonderful, romantic, awesome place we call 'earth' to live in. You see in the locked eyes of every couple. You see it in the beauty the rain joining the swaying pedals of a flower. You see it in the sacrifice Jesus gave us. That is romance in it's purest, holiest form.

Love. It wasn't even that I loved God or that I was a Christian he did all of that for me; the Bible makes it perfectly clear 'While I was still a sinner, Christ died for ME.' (Romans 5:8). He loved me enough to initiate the relationship with me - with US! - that while I was still his enemy, he loved me more than I can still fathom. That type of love - love that God IS (1 John 4:8) shakes me to my care when I see the beauty and romance in all of creation. I could write volumes on the love of God - it's so massive and mind-boggling. Love is that not only did God create us, not only did he give us an amazing world, not only did he let us live after sinning against him, not only did he die and conquer death itself on out behalf, but he WANTS US to be in a LOVING relationship with him. He DESIRES us. Which brings me to the last point.

Significance. I was reading in 1 Samuel tonight, I read these words that God seemed to speak to me, affirming something he's been trying to get across to me for a while now.

"Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the LORD your God, secure in his treasure pouch." (1 Samuel 25:29)

See that at the end? Treasure pouch. Tell me: what does one put in a treasure pouch? Their treasure. Their valuables. The things they love above all things. If, metaphorically speaking, that's where God holds us, then holy guacamole, we are significant, aren't we? To think that not only are we loved, but we're treasured by God is something that makes me want to cry! When we think of the love God has for us, I think sometimes, because of the overuse of the word 'love' in our culture, we don't really grasp it. But using words like 'treasured' puts all that weight back in, doesn't it?

I have been struggling with the deal of my significance. Christians everywhere go around talking about how they're 'just a sinner saved' or how they're 'the wretch the song Amazing Grace talks about,' but You and I are SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

John Eldredge says that (paraphrased) "To God, the idea of being separated from us for eternity was too much to bear. So, when faced with his holy decision, he found it would be LESS PAINFUL to give his son - to kill himself, in the flesh - than to be apart from us." Wow. Have you ever realized just how special and significant you are? God has created the beauty, the ability to become intimate with it and God, and he's given salvation... all for you? Not a collective you, but YOU as an individual. YOU as in [insert name here.] YOU as YOU were created to be. You are no accident. Once you've given your heart to the Lord, you are no longer a wretch, and you are no longer a slave to sin. 'You are GOLDEN,' as songwriter Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) says. How awesome is that!?

So, as I write this extremely long blog post, I hope you find encouragement and truth in these words I've written in the past half hour. I know that these things God has taught me are extraordinary things the Enemy would just love to destroy and snatch away whenever he can get his grubby little hands on it, but I am going to fight for these truths. It's when we're discovering significant things and drawing ever closer to God that Satan tries his hardest to pull us back away. Don't let him have you! Show him who's boss; show him who's team you're fighting for. It's team that will not lose. ;)

Thanks for reading! And hey - if you were encouraged at all by this blog post, let me know in the comments, please. It would be a major encouragement to me, myself, and I get to see what you guys think of the blogging here.

Have a great night!