mlk day

This is the exact article I posted last year on MLK day (& the year before). you can go and read that post HERE (there are about 7 comments on that post) or just read it below. I wouldn't say anything different than I said a year ago. I just want to echo it today!

(his b-day was actually on the 15th, but today is the holiday.

.. hence the day for the post.)

I HATE racism... with a passion. There are few other things I hate as passionately as I hate racism - things like injustice (like the fact that some don't have access to clean water... or the GOSPEL), abortion, ignorance/complacency toward the poor & dying, people who would treat my wife or family bad...

I didn't really know what racism or prejudice was until I was probably 12. I grew up in a big neighborhood where I was 1 of 2 white kids. My BEST FRIEND in the whole world from the time I was born until around 13 or 14 was Colin Lomax. He was my next door neighbor for those 13 years. We did EVERYTHING together. Every day! Colin is an African American... but I didn't really know it. That's the great thing about kids... they're colorblind.

Colin and I have since drifted as we grew up, but still keep in touch. He was at my wedding and that was pretty awesome. My oldest friend in the whole world (since I was "zero") celebrating my wedding day with me.

So, in my mind, to think differently of people with a different color skin is the most ridiculous, ignorant, and craziest thing I've ever heard. Crazier than martians and flying pigs.

I celebrate anything that destroys racism and prejudice. God celebrates that too.

I never really knew that much about Martin Luther King, Jr. growing up. (My school didn't even take the day off.) But about 3 years ago I started paying attention and reading some stuff about him here and there. Last year on MLK day I posted about it too = HERE.

I would love to let MLK speak for himself... This is something he said when they were about to take action to bring about civil rights for African Americans & politicians were telling him to "wait... just wait and let us take care of it in due time..."

“We have waited three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights. Perhaps it’s easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say ‘Wait,’ but when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters… when you have to concoct an answer for your five-year-old son’s question, ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’; when your first name becomes ‘nigger’ and your middle name becomes ‘boy’… when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness,’ THEN you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.” - MLK

WHOA. I hope that gives everyone a taste of the emotional background of a people with a different skin color than you. I don't think white folk can truly even imagine it.

*I was actually visiting my grandmother a few months ago in my dad's old hometown. We were driving down the main road through downtown (nothing luxurious, it's a TINY town) when I saw an old brick building (my dad later said it used to be the pool hall he used to hang out in & where he learned to be a pool shark). I was riding with my dad & yelled "STOP"... he pulled over wondering what was going on. I got out & took a picture of the building...

Yeah, no joke. Faded obviously because it hadn't been used in years, but nonetheless evidence of a HORRIBLE and INEXCUSABLE EVILwhere people who simply have a darker pigment in their skin were degraded and forced to use a different entrance to buildings! Are you kidding me???

Think this kind of racism and EVIL is only a thing of the past? Think again. I just had a conversation with my mom the other day about a white girl I grew up with marrying a man who happened to be black. The girl's parents can't talk about it without crying - they're so disappointed. They were going to refuse to go to the wedding... OF THEIR OWN DAUGHTER (but apparently changed their mind). I'm sorry, but that's freaking ridiculous!

This is as insane as hating people with blonde hair! so ridiculous... such an arbitrary thing. It's just color!

I mean even the "christian" (and yes, I use the term very loosely) Bob Jones University - peeps who claimed to love Jesus were full on racists. They didn't even admit black students until 1976! what in the world!? But they would expel anyone who even thought interracial dating/marriage was ok. In 1983 they LOST in the Supreme Court case Bob Jones University vs. The United States!!! for real!!!? They lost their tax exempt status (& still don't have it back) but stood firm that their "racial discrimination was what God intendedand founded in Scripture." That is SICK. I'm sure God is saying "LEAVE MY NAME OUT OF YOUR EVIL!" (To their meager credit the college lifted the interracial dating policy in 2000 because of intense media pressure and actually issued a public apology about 2 months ago. God can change anyone.)

From what I've read, I think MLK was a great man. I admire him greatly. I can't believe what he went through just so everyone could enjoy life without sanctioned hatred.

He had a vision and believed in it. Years later, I am behind his vision still:

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." - MLK

Me too, Martin. Love Wins.

12 years! - happy 7th

12 years ago today Crystal Mitchell (then Crystal Pagels) and i went on our 1st ever date to Applebee's. 12 years later we ate there again to the same Applebee's for date night. back where it all began.

January 7th, 2000. i can remember it pretty vividly. Crystal riding with me to Applebee's in my awesome Honda Civic. she was 16 & i had just turned 17. that was a really long time ago. crazy.

and i was just happy a hot girl like Crystal would go on a date with me. who knew she would be the most amazing woman i ever met. the wife that i would get to grow old with... and an amazing mom.

12 years and it just gets better & better!
happy 7th, Babygirl. i love you more than you'll ever know.

this is going to be the best thing we've ever seen

exactly the way i feel & what i want to say to you, Crystal...

"We should get jerseys cause we make a good team
But yours would look better than mine, cause you're outta my league
And I know that it's so cliche to tell you that everyday
I spend with you is the new best day of my life
Everyone watching us just turns away with disgust
It's Jealously, they can see that we've got it going on

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way
To let you know your more to me than what I know how to say
You're OK with the way this is going to be
This is going to be the best thing we've ever see

Maybe I'm just lucky cause it's hard to believe
Believe that somebody like you'd end up with someone like me
And I know that it's so cliche to talk about you this way
But I'll push all my inhibitions aside
It's so very obvious to everyone watching us
That we have got something real good going on

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way
To let you know your more to me than what I know how to say
You're OK with the way this is going to be
This is going to be the best thing we've ever seen"

- thx old school relient K for putting words to what's in my heart

& thanks to my amazing wife for letting me experience something so amazing.

Keria's intro to the world (video)

i thought i would take a minute to introduce my brand new beautiful daughter to the world...

i hope you enjoyed that. she is not even 2 weeks old. the tiniest thing i have ever seen. amazingly beautiful.
and i love her more than i ever thought i could.

IT'S A GIRL!

wow! this is so crazy!
a little girl!
i am so crazy in love. i didn't know it could feel like this.

something that's always true of you

you are loved.

no matter who you are. no matter where you live or what language you speak.

no matter what you've done or haven't done.

you are loved by God no matter what.

just because you're His kid.

just because.

Impasse (love & racism)

(This was originally posted to renown on August 1, 2009. it's still just as powerful over 2 years later. even with no words. art can be that way... powerful without words.)

what do you think?

happy anniversary - 6 years!

happy 6 year anniversary to my amazingly beautiful and loving wife, Crystal. she's as perfect as it gets. not sure how i'm so blessed to have a wife like her.

the last 6 years have been awesome. some days i can't believe it's even been that long.

today it's raining and storming pretty fierce. August 5th 6 years ago it was crazy hot. i can still remember that day like it was yesterday. i can remember tearing up when the most beautiful bride of all time stepped out of that limo and i saw her for the 1st time.

i can't imagine living my life with anyone else. Crystal, you're my best friend. thanks for being so good to me.
it's only gonna get better. happy anniversary.

love always wins

i just happen to firmly believe that love wins.

no matter what. every single time. love wins.

i believe it even though it goes against my nature. sometimes i don't want to let love win. some days i wish revenge or hate or laziness or apathy could win.

but it never does... because love always wins.

i believe that if you extend your hand enough times... if you extend love enough times EVENTUALLY love will win.

but today this belief will be challenged. something will happen to you and to me TODAY that will challenge this belief. something will begin to make us think that some reaction other than love will win.

or maybe we know it cognitively, but we don't want to let love win. revenge would be more fun. doing nothing would be easier.

i know what they did to me. but love wins.
i know the injustice that is happening. love wins.

because we all live life with a ton of different people. our family, spouses, co-workers, friends, teammates, roommates, bosses, coaches, teachers, employees, neighbors, and fellow drivers on the road... and all these people challenge this idea that love wins.
because they will mock us, cuss at us, say mean things about us behind our back, hurt us, etc...

but ultimately, with every single one of these people love wins.

if we live this way people will definitely think we're weird. they'll probably laugh at us and say we're "weak". that we're just letting people walk all over us and not sticking up for ourselves.

but i still say love wins.

it's even harder to live this way because no one lives this way. this is so not normal. in fact it's opposite of how normal people live. it's revolutionary.
love wins.

it's hard to live that way

this week i've been writing about the idea that love wins.

no matter what is happening in the world, in your life, and no matter what is done to you... love wins.

but it's hard to live that way. and i believe that Jesus knows better than anyone how hard this is.
because Jesus was ridiculed, hated, mocked... and He had a choice of how He would respond to all this. He chose love every time.

He could have picked up a rock and fought back. He could have spit back in their face. but He never once became the evil that was thrown at Him. You never read about Jesus saying "just give me a little time and I'll get even." He never once responds back with what's been done to Him.

and Jesus changed the world.
people who live like this... like love wins... change the world!
because love defeated evil.

& love still beats evil. evil can never beat evil. only love wins.

every time. because love never fails. it can't fail. it is incapable of failing.

somebody has to LOVE to stop the madness. there's an evil cycle and we all contribute to it when we get revenge, fight back, etc... but when we love - love wins & the evil stops. the world changes.

so yes, it's hard. but isn't it worth it to change the world. the only other alternative is the same way everyone else lives. you see where that gets us.

is the world any different because of you?

you lose

love wins.

it's that simple.

but without love... you lose.

yesterday i was diving into what this guy, Paul, said love IS. you might be surprised at how BIG love is and all that it encompasses. you can read that HERE.

but 1st, Paul lets us know that pretty much anything else doesn't matter without love.

he could speak in other human or angelic tongues... but that's just annoying noise without love.
if he could tell the future and understand pretty much everything... that's nothing without love.

he could have enough faith to literally MOVE a mountain. that would be CRAZY. maybe a little freaky, but also crazy awesome... but as cool as that would be, without love he's still nothing.

he could literally give everything he owns to help the poor... even that, without love, is worthless.

wow. so love is a pretty big deal.

if we don't love we lose. but LOVE WINS.

love is...

love is...

patient.

kind.

content.

humble.

honoring.

not all about me.

chill. (not easily angered)

forgetful. (keeps no record of wrongs)

digging truth not evil.

protecting, trusting, hopeful, persevering. it never stops.

never fails.

- Paul (1 Cor. 13)

wow. i thought love was just love.
nope.
way bigger than that.

how are you doing loving?

it's pretty important because
love wins.

The Revolution - love wins.

there are a lot more of these bumper stickers floating around today than there were yesterday.

i hope the meaning takes our city and culture by storm.

we gave a bunch of these out to the students yesterday @ Ridge as we finished up a series called "The Revolution" with a day that revolved around the phrase LOVE WINS. (Thanks, Rob, for empowering us with that phrase & letting us borrow it.)

The series was all about the Kingdom of God and what Jesus had to say about it. That's all we've talked about for a month.

it's interesting that Jesus never actually defines the Kingdom of God. He never says "the Kingdom of God is..." He only says "the Kingdom of God is LIKE..." and then He tells a story.

we tried our best to explain the Kingdom of God in 1 sentence the 1st week. our meager attempt was that "God is making everything the way God wants it to be and He wants my help."

and then it's crazy that the Kingdom of God is so OPPOSITE. but then again, that's the essence of what a revolution is. because "normal is boring. opposite is revolutionary."

and if Jesus were here today He probably wouldn't call it "the Kingdom of God". He chose that phrase because that was the hot button of the context He was in. Not sure what we would call it today, but we went with The Revolution.

because that's what it is. a revolution.

and this revolution is not for some specific place or for some specific time or in 1 compartmentalized area of our lives. it is literally "Revolution Everywhere."

yesterday in Student Impact we were brave enough to try to sum up this Revolution in 2 simple words. "LOVE WINS."

because Jesus summed it all up with "love" (Matthew 22). Paul summed it all up with "love" (1 Corinthians 13). and everything we had talked about all month long that Jesus ever said about the Kingdom of God really comes down to LOVE. love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, turn the other cheek, give, etc... etc... it's all so opposite. more of the same doesn't win. evil for evil doesn't win... love wins.

can it be possible that the most humble, vulnerable, lowliest, and seemingly "weakest" position of LOVE can actually WIN in this world we live in?

tomorrow i want to dive into some more thoughts about what Paul had to say about love when he was trying to help this group of people in Corinth live their lives as a part of The Revolution.

AS

On Monday i wrote a few thoughts about "a new way of believing". you should read that HERE before reading below.

So if it's about a way of "being" in the world and not just "believing" things about the world, then Peter Rollins' approach "emphasizes the priority of love: not as something which stands opposed to knowledge of God, or even as simply more important than knowledge of God, but more radically still, as knowledge of God."

love = knowledge of God

WOW! did you catch that? real, true knowledge of God = LOVE. not facts, theology, knowing stuff, reading books, having all our beliefs lined up, etc...

but LOVE is as good as it gets when it comes to knowing God.

because think about it... love is the chief thing. without love i am nothing. Jesus summed it all up with love. and GOD IS LOVE!

what better way to know someone than to become what they are?

date night rocks! (repost)

(This was originally posted on Febrary 1, 2008.)

I feel like one of the best decisions I have ever made for my marriage is DATE NIGHT!!! Every Friday night my smokin' hot wife (Crystal) & I go on a date. It's not even on the calendar, not up for discussion, it's just a natural part of our lives. I really can't even remember when we started doing it, but it's been at least a year or so. We don't schedule stuff on Friday nights because they're just not free. If something must happen on a Friday night then we simply move date night to another night of the week... but we absolutely have a date night every week! It's in the budget. For as long as we're alive there will always be a date night.

I think a big part of the importance of a "date night" is this = no matter how crazy the week has been or how crazy the weekend is gonna be my wife KNOWS that on Friday night I am fully hers and all my focus is on her. Now, of course she has my attention the rest of the week too, but you all know how it can get with jobs & responsibilities. Without a date night it would be easy to go 3-4 weeks or even more without having a "date." So, even if everything else in the week is goin' crazy and Crystal & I haven't had very much alone time... we know that date night's comin'! Everything else stops & I focus on my wife.

This is something I won't ever budge on either. It's not like this is something that you can convince me to stop. Like you could maybe convince me to stop drinking lemon lime gatorade, or cancel my HDTV service, or sell my beloved old caddy, or stop wearing these ridiculously comfortable & pimp green, yellow, & red Pumas I wear... it would be tough, but you might be able to convince me of these things. BUT, you will never convince me to cancel date night. My wife is too important to me. Our marriage is too important.

So, if you've been married 30 years or 30 days I would really encourage you to start a "date night". I think it could totally change your marriage & definitely change the future of your marriage.

Thanks to some gift cards, in a few minutes we're going to Outback (one of our favorite restaurants) to hit up some filet mignon & then come back home to enjoy a movie together. I love date night & I love my wife... I don't know what I would do without them.

Only light can do that

“Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder.

Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth.

Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate.

Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.” 

– MLK 

(Where do we go from Here? At the 11^thconvention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

this is so obvious, and yet in our own day to day lives we try to do the opposite and the illogical. we fight back with the same dark tactics. 

we forget that love wins. 

we forget that more of the same only takes us further in the wrong direction. 

we forget only light can do that.

hard to even describe

it's hard to even describe what i got to be a part of last night. i am still wowed and in awe of an awesome God who does awesome and wowing things.

maybe i'll post some pics and/or videos later of Family Birthday Celebration last night @ Ridge.

it was incredible. God has radically changed the lives of 8 kids because of His overwhelming love. and we CELEBRATED that last night.

we celebrated like crazy. we partied. we cheered. we cried. we laughed.

what am i feeling that i can't explain?
proud. humbled. wowed. overwhelmed. excited. passionate. worshipful. blessed. inspired.

and since last night i have the urge to constantly throw up a fist pump.

i love each of those kids and can't even comprehend God's love for them and all of us.

rich in love

(I originally posted this on November 14, 2008.)

Sometimes I enjoy reading back through my journal... just looking at what I said to God and what He said to me. Reviewing the conversation we've had for the past months... years...

I came across a really cool day from about 1 year ago. I think I can actually remember the day - where I was, etc... Most of what I said is much too personal to share here, but I read something that day in the Psalms that still amazes me and I think it's one of those phrases we easily glaze over when reading...

Psalm 145:8 -> "The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."

YES! That is SO COOL. I mean, it's really amazing that our God is gracious and compassionate and slow to anger. Without those parts of His character we would be screwed for sure. I love God for those things. I want to be just like God = full of grace, full of compassion for everyone, and patient (not get angry)! I really want to live that.

BUT, the big thing that astonishes me every time I read it is that last phrase about God!

"RICH IN LOVE"

Whoa. What do you think when you hear that. Where does your mind race too? What about just the word "rich"? Obviously someone "rich in money" is someone with so much money that they really don't have to worry about money anymore. You know? They don't give any thought to paying for stuff. Maybe the coolest thing about being "rich in money" would be to be able to

give huge heaps of money away and not even worry about it.

***Do you really want to know what image comes to my mind when I think of the word "rich"? I'm sure at least one of you wants to know... you might laugh. Ok, do you remember the cartoon back in the day... I think it was called Duck Tales? You remember what I'm talking about right? (no, not Darkwing Duck, although I did watch that one too.) Well, there was always a part of the show where the rich uncle (can't remember his name) would go to his safe/vault to check on all his money. (He was the richest duck in the world by the way). The thing was set up like a swimming pool! The rich uncle would go diving into all his money off a diving board. He was so rich he would just swim around in his money! In fact I just found a clip of the opening of the show... watch below and you can see some shots of all the money & him diving in like I'm talking about.

I just remember thinking as a kid that that is the height of "richness". If you have enough money to make it into a swimming pool then you're definitely rich.

I think sometimes we skip over phrases in the Scripture that are HUGE and have a lot of power. (read HERE for another post about that idea.)

SO, when I think of God being RICH IN LOVE... I'm in awe. First of all, of course He's rich in love!... He invented love. Not only that... He IS love! He is so rich in love that He gives it away like crazy and will never run out... not even close. He gives so much away but won't even ever make a dent in His love that's piled up in the safe.

The amazing part is that we're the ones who get to "swim in it" (like the duck uncle)... I get to enjoy that love. I rest in it, enjoy life in it, and "swim" in it.

Now, I WANT to live that way. I desperately want to be rich in love as well. I want to give it away like an endlessly rich man could give away money. I really want to be almost "careless" with love. Not just with the "lovable" people either... I want to be someone characterized by richly loving everyone! I wouldn't even mind if that's what they wrote on my tombstone or something.

I'll take being "rich in love" over being "rich in money" any day.