This past week I lead worship with the AMP Band @ LDBC. This medoley was part of the set. It includes Dance with Me, How He Loves, Jesus, Lover of My Soul. Enjoy.

If you know anything at all about the Bible you have likely heard the story of Jonah. It is a popular children’s story (heck, it was the subject of a full length ViggieTale movie). I will not take time here to retell this story, if you are unfamiliar with the story I would direct you to your Bible, conveniently it is located in the book called…wait for it…Jonah.

While we can draw numerous lessons from the story of Jonah, this week I have gotten a new perspective on this story. Jonah has a past before this story (George Lucas failed to obtain the rights to go back and make a stiffly acted trilogy about the younger Jonah) and Jonah has life after the short story we have in the Scripture, but he is defined by his actions here. Jonah was obviously a respected man of God. The people knew him and respected what he had to say. He built a reputation and was well known where he lived. But we don’t remember who he was, and there is no mention of what he went on to do after his trip to Nineveh.

In many ways Jonah has been reduced to an Old Testament punch line or a good flannel graph story, but that is a mistake. Jonah is not about a whale and the man that ran…it is another story of God’s grace. It is a continuation of God’s love story. It was because God loved the Ninevites that Jonah was sent to them. God could have simply judged them and been justified for it, but God loved. Jonah ran, but instead of giving up on him God brought Jonah back because God loved. And even when Jonah raged and challenged God’s judgment God still loved.

Jonah obeyed God (eventually) but he did not do it out of love. Jonah’s story reminds us that God loves all people. I once saw a demonstration against gay marriage where supposed Christ followers held up signs declaring that “God hates fags”. This was the outlook Jonah had, but its not God’s perspective. God opposes sin, but God loves without condition. God judges justly, but God is mericful in justice. To say that God hate any people for their actions, beliefs, or lifestyle is to place an inescapable judgment on all of us, “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s rightousness”.

Place in your mind the person or people you most dislike or distrust. Is it an image of the Taliban, of Obama, or some radical hate group? Whoever it is what if God called you to love them? Wait God did call you to love them. What would it look like if we did? What if our prejudices took a back seat to God’s unending grace? How would your life be different?

God is still writing a love story with each of us. We are the expression of God’s grace and love. God is everywhere.

Camp is a special place. It is a place somehow outside of our normal existence. While at camp there is no outside world. Everything that is not camp gets put on pause. Stay here long enough and time begins to mean less. By the end of the week campers refer less to time and more to scheduled activities. When you’re at camp there are simple rules and a schedule to guide you through your day.  It is so much simpler than real life.

We are in an environment that separates us from many of the distractions that take our attention from God. It is an easy place to focus on God because everything we do has been scheduled around God. We’ve set aside time to study God, time to exercise, time to eat, and time to worship. It’s a full day but its also a complete day. It’s a day that meets our spiritual and physical needs.
But why is it that we struggle to bring that into our real lives. I know we can’t stay at camp but isn’t our calling to make God the center of our lives? Is it so unusual to set our schedule to revolve around our Lord? Too often our schedule makes us instead of the other way around. When we are driven by our schedule it is easy to rationalize away gross neglect of what we should be focusing on. We’re just busy…that’s not a crime.

What would it look like if we brought a little camp home with us? While the food and the smell of a room full of six middle school students are things that can stay at camp, what if we brought home the idea that everything we do focuses on God. What if we look for Holy application in our studies, our entertainment, and even our free time? What if just assumed that God is everywhere?

This week, while the rest of LDBC has been hip-deep in VBS I have had the pleasure of teaching a middle school week dubbed “Unhindered”. Now normally the words pleasure and middle school would be mutually exclusive (if I use big words they don’t know what I’m saying….let’s keep it between us), but I have really enjoyed this group.

 Our focus has been 2 Corinthians 5.14-15. Take a second and read it and you’ll see why it took a whole week to break down just a couple verses. Done reading? You didn’t read it did you? Come on, seriously? What do you mean you don’t have a Bible? You’re on the internet! Have you not heard of Google? Sorry, we had to wait on SOME people. Now that we’re ALL together…

Paul begins by saying it is Christ’s love that compels us. To be compelled, it gives the picture of being driven toward, pushed along a path, or motivated. It is the love Christ has shown us that motivates us into action. We are compelled because Christ’s demonstration of love has convinced us. We don’t have to except on blind faith Jesus’ claims, but rather we are given more than enough evidence to convince us of Christ’s unending love.

It is Christ’s love, which was demonstrated on the cross, that compels us. It compels us to give up our selfishness, and trust Christ with the whole of our lives. Once we have given our trust though we realize that Christ doesn’t weigh us down with more rules and judgement but instead Christ compels us to a life that is freeing. We are free from our sin, and free from our guilt. When we trust Christ fully (not for a couple hours on Sunday) we find freedom in his love.

That is what it means to be unhindered. To be free from all the distractions that draws our attention from God’s glory. It come when we see God as the prize to be treasured not the obligation to be filled. And it comes when we stop and find God’s grace and goodness everyday. God is Everywhere.

It is a dark day indeed. My ipod touch has finally stopped working (oh the pain to even type it!!!). It has been coming on for a while now. It began a couple months ago. I started losing the sound in one ear and if I adjusted the headphones it would work fine. I thought at first it was a bad set of ear buds but after replacing them the problem continued. It got progressively worse until now my headphones don’t work at all.

For most people this would be an annoyance and they’d move on. Perhaps those are healthier people but for me my ipod is practically glued to me most of the time. It could be an addiction, but I like to think of it as a tool. When you are as easily distracted as I am it is very helpful to drown out as much as you can. It is my defense against ADD (febble defense).

My ipod is not that old but it has probably gotten 10 times the use of a standard model. I use in the car (safely of course), at work, at home while doing chores, and even to help me sleep. Alas, it has been a time of mourning in our home. I thought all hope was lost. I began checking price on a replacement I wouldn’t be able to afford, but things looked bleak. Apple no longer makes a 16GB touch and the 8GB is too small and the 32GB is a little think on the price end.

But in the darkest night there shined a glimps of hope. I called Apple just so they could tell me there was nothing they could do, but it turns out I’m still covered under my warrantee.  

Hoorah! There is justice! He told me I’d have to go to an Apple store. He said there were 2 near by. Even better! One was in Alpharetta and the other Birmingham. You know right around the corner. It took some explaining but I finally conveyed the point that those were not in fact “close” though I guess if you are speaking in relation to Australia then yes they’re next door.

So now I am off to the UPS store. I will send my baby on a journey that will take it to unknown lands to see the ancient ipod witchdoctors of old. There will be trails and hardships but when it returns to me it will be a man. Good luck my faithful friend. I hope your trip is safe and I will miss you terribly while you are away.