Fantasy Football 2009, Week 7

A new week, more fun.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish
QB - P. Manning
WR - M. Manningham, D. Driver, Sydney Rice
RB - D. Williams, R. Grant
TE - J. Witten
K - Neil Rackers
DEF - Indianapolis

High scorer: Peyton Manning, 21.30 points
Low scorer: Mario Manningham, 4.70 points
Result: Swish 126.30, marbleheads 120.52 (4-3, 3rd place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League, Bricksquad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats
QB - P. Rivers
RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai, B. Westbrook
WR - R. Wayne, H. Ward
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Patriots
K - Jason Elam

High scorer: Philip Rivers, 23 points
Low scorer: Hines Ward, 0 points
Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 93, county cork 60 (1st place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League, Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys
QB - D. Brees
RB - P. Thomas, C. Williams
WR - R. White, Johnny Knox, Sidney Rice
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Packers
K - Robbie Gould

High scorer: Drew Brees, 21 points
Low scorer: Tony Gonzalez, 3 points
Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 77, TBAR Heels 86 (4th place overall)

When Things Fall Apart, Part 4

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 25, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 42:1-6.

This morning, we are wrapping up our series on the book of Job, and it has been one wild ride to this point. It has certainly been an emotional journey. There are so many points in the book of Job that speak to each of us in very real, and sometimes difficult, ways. I know that this series has probably been as difficult to hear as it has been to work through. It’s very personal. We all have gone through rough patches in our lives. And I don’t say that to trivialize the difficult times, but to point out that while our zip codes may differ, we all live in the same area code when it comes to dealing with suffering in our lives. So, one last time, let’s review where we have been in the last three weeks.

Job is said to be the greatest man in the east. He is certainly a wealthy man with lots of livestock and several children. He is a righteous man. So much so that, while conversing with Satan, God lifts him up as an example of a man who is blameless and upright. Satan makes two assumptions that all of us have made from time to time in our lives.

First, he says that Job is blameless and upright because he has never had to worry about anything. God has always provided for him, which is why Job has been so righteous. Job ends up losing everything in one day, but remains a righteous man. Satan makes his second assumption in saying that Job only remains righteous because nothing has happened to him personally. He assumes that one’s righteousness is based on personal circumstances. We know that both of these assumptions are false. Our righteousness is not dependent on our circumstances, but on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Next, we saw that Job was starting to wear down from the conversations that he has been having with his friends. Job starts to focus more and more on the fact that he wants to talk with God face to face and plead his case. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was some kind of communication failure, and Job was being punished for something that he did not do. You see, Job had the same assumption that his unfortunate circumstances had to do with punishment for sin; a sin he didn’t commit. In the midst of all this, Job was also failing to see God at work, although he acknowledged that God was indeed working all around him.

And in Job 38, God finally responds. As the reader, we expect to hear the answer to the reasons why bad things happen to good people. We are primed and ready to be amazed by God’s response to the problem of evil and unnecessary suffering in the world. But if that was what we were wanting, we are disappointed. There is no such answer, and that is a harsh reality to face. Instead of proving that God has punished him by mistake, Job ends up getting an earful from God. He is faced with tough questions that make him realize that he is in no position to explain God’s reasons for the things that have happened. He cannot know the mind of God, and it is wrong to think otherwise. Job is given a new perspective.

Job has believed that God’s reasons can be simply understood; that God has just made a mistake in this punishment. Scattered throughout the earlier parts of the book, Job has said that he wanted to present his case before God. Surely, if God would just listen to him, He would see that there has been some kind of mistake. But this isn’t the case when God responds. And, instead of “here is why these things have happened,” Job is told to buckle up and answer these questions: who do you think you are; where were you when the earth was made; can you provide for the animals of the earth? Of course, Job can’t do any of those things. Job was nowhere around when the earth was created. Job cannot provide for the animals of the earth. But God can. Job begins to realize that maybe God isn’t so simple afterall.

These questions serve the purpose of showing Job that he is not in a position to question God. If God had answered Job in the way that Job wanted, and really, the way we want Him to, essentially it would have put Job in a position to question God, and, quite frankly, nobody is in such a position. God does not answer to any one of us. We start to see that the book of Job isn’t about the problem of evil, but it is about correcting a false understanding of who God is.

To sum up a quote that was used last week, we get a picture in our heads of what an ideal world would look like; we imagine what the God of this world would do; and we worship this projection. There’s a term for that in the Old Testament. It’s called idolatry. God is who God is; that’s why at the burning bush, when Moses asks God what he should say when the people ask who sent him, he is to say, “Yahweh,” or “I am who I am.” Another rendering of the Hebrew could be, “I will be who I will be.” God is who God is, not who we imagine Him to be.

So, now what? We have gone on a long journey with Job. We have felt his heartache, and have asked some of the very same questions. We almost feel as though we are standing beside Job while God is asking him these questions in chapter 38. So, where does that leave us? How do we respond when it comes time for God to question us? Because if Scripture is right, and I believe that it is, there will come a day when we will stand before God and we will be asked, maybe not these same questions, but some similar ones. Who do we think we are? In Job 42, the focus is on Job’s response to God. And he essentially says three things.

First, in verse 2, he says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” In our Bible study this past Tuesday, we talked a little bit about the sovereignty of God. We looked at the prayer that is offered by the disciples in Acts 4 after Peter and John are released from prison. And their prayer is different from most of the ones that we pray. It’s very different, because it begins by resting in the sovereignty of God. Because God can do all things.

After worship last week, Katie and I were talking about God’s speech in Job 38. And she suggested reading through it again, and instead of reading through it as rhetorical questions that God is asking Job, read it as though these are statements that God is making about Himself. Instead of “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth,” we would read it, as God saying, “I was the one who laid the foundations of the earth.” Instead of “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,” we would read it, “I hunt the prey for the lion.” Reading it that way makes explicit what the text is saying. We weren’t there, we can’t do these things, but God can. And when we get into the issue of God’s sovereignty, we have to realize something very important. God can do what we can’t. God can do the things that we cannot do. Because God is God and we are not.

The first thing that Job does is recognize the sovereignty of God. God’s plans cannot be thwarted. That doesn’t mean we just sit back and let life happen. It means that we are invited to take part on what God is accomplishing all around us. Look around you. Where is God working in your life, in this church, and in the community around us? We should be excited to be a part of what God is doing.

What we do here, in this church, as a congregation, shouldn’t be something that we just do and forget about, but it should be something that excites us, because it is something that God is doing. Do we recognize the sovereignty of God in our life, in our church and in our community? Doesn’t that get your adrenaline going? If you aren’t excited about what God is doing, the first thing you need to do is check your pulse. Second, you need to step back and re-evaluate where you are in your walk with God.

The second key thing that Job says is, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” Job recognizes that he spoke presumptuously before. He assumed he knew how God operated, but in truth, he did not, and now he recognizes that fact. This is so crucial for each one of us. We can’t assume to know God’s purposes. We can’t assume that we speak on God’s behalf. We can see what God is doing, if we are paying attention, but that’s not the same as presuming to know God’s larger purposes.

By paying attention to what God is doing all around us, we can take part in God’s larger purposes. It may be a very small role, but we can still be a part of what God is doing. But, if we assume that we know what God’s larger purposes are in the first place, we begin to miss what it is that we are supposed to be doing. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody, and you assumed you knew what he/she was talking about, and took it in a totally different direction? Sure you have. We’ve all done it from time to time, and you’ve probably had it done to you. And what happens as a result? We have wasted some of our time chasing down something that is totally irrelevant. Do you see the connection here?
When we start chasing things that are not related to what God is trying to do, we waste precious time. And when we assume that we know what God is doing, the likelihood that this is going to happen skyrockets. We have to remember that we are following God, not showing Him what needs to be done.

The final key thing that Job says is, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Hearing about God and seeing God at work in one’s life are two totally different things. There may be people here this morning that come regularly, but have never really stopped to see what God is doing in their lives. Time for some difficult questions, and these are rhetorical questions, so you don’t have to raise your hand or worry that I’m going to sit down one-on-one to ask you these questions. But you should think about them. You should think seriously about these questions this week.

Do you see church as something that takes up a handful of hours each week, or is it something that shapes who you are? Are you listening to what God is trying to tell you through worship and throughout the week, or do you rarely notice that God is even around? Do you just hear about God, or do you experience God in your life? Do you make time to listen for God? Do you look around and try to see what God is doing all around you? These are questions that we seriously have to consider. And maybe, just maybe, if you are feeling a little uncomfortable about these questions, you need to take some time this week and pray through them.

It’s when we stop hearing about God and start looking for God that things happen. Is the church a social meeting, or is it a gathering of people seeking after God? It is amazing what can happen when a group of believers join together in prayer and begin to focus on God. When we gather together and have a common vision for what God can do in the lives of those around us and in our community, we can be unstoppable. And it’s not because of any special talent or skill that we have, but it is because we are finally seeing who God is and striving after Him.

Job thought he knew who God was. Job thought he understood God. The truth is, he didn’t, and it took him being jolted out of his comfort zone in a major way for him to see this. When we come to the end of the book of Job, we don’t have any resolution as to why bad things happen to good people. We don’t have any great answers when it comes to the problem of evil. But what we do have is incredible. We have a proper perspective of who we are, and who God is. Job’s fortunes are restored, but it wasn’t because of anything that he did. It was because of what God was doing.

When you think about this church, do you dwell on the “good ol’ days” – whatever that means to you? Or, are you looking forward to what God is going to do? It’s difficult to walk forward if we are constantly looking behind us. An occasional glance doesn’t hurt anything, but have you ever tried to go for a walk and look behind you the whole time? You will trip and fall in no time. If you look to the side the entire time, you will get off course. So, let’s focus on what is ahead. We don’t have a better understanding of God than Job did, but recognizing where we fall short helps to propel us forward. Are you ready to participate in what God has in store for us?

Movie Review, DVD-style: Sugar

I joined two of my favorite past times together while I was working out the other morning. I watched a baseball movie. It's not a movie that a lot of people have heard of before, but I remember seeing something about it a while back. So, when it came up on the Redbox list, I jumped at the opportunity.

Plot
Sugar follows the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a young man from the Dominican Republic who starts out in a developmental league for the fictitious Kansas City Knights. He is a good pitcher, and gets an opportunity to play baseball in the States. Santos goes through all the highs and lows of attempting to achieve this dream.

Review
I thought this was a very good movie. It is primarily in Spanish, so that does sometimes make it a little difficult to follow. At times the action is lacking and the movie goes a little slow, but you really get to know Santos as a person, not just a baseball player. You start to understand what it is that he is trying to go through, not only as a young man working on a dream, but as a Spanish-speaking Domincan trying to figure out how to live in a small Iowa town.

*Potential Spoiler Alert* While it may not end the way that one would expect, it is a good reflection of what really happens to the majority of those who try to make it in Major League Baseball.

Bottom Line
Great movie. I would strongly recommend it to anybody who appreciates the game of baseball, and is interested in movies that really focus on individuals and the journey that they take in life. Those who aren't interested in these two things should probably stay away from this movie because they will not find it worthwhile.

Best Part
Santos is invited to Spring Training, and the coach gives the pitchers an idea of just how hard it is going to be. He says, "There are guys above you in the organization that are hustling to keep their spots, and guys below you who are working to take yours. We have 75 guys here, and only 50 roster spots. You do the math." That's not an exact word-for-word quote from the movie, but it captures the gist of it.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 6

Another decent week for my three teams. In one league, I had no realistic chance, even if I had played all my top scorers, but a pretty good week in a high-scoring NFL week.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish
QB - Matt Hasselbeck
WR - M. Manningham, D. Driver, Jeremy Maclin
RB - D. Williams, K. Moreno
TE - Dustin Keller
K - Matt Prater
DEF - Baltimore

High scorer: DeAngelo Williams, 29.20 points
Low scorer: Jeremy Maclin, 0.60 points
Result: The Grey Geese 110.92, Swish 71.08 (3-3, 7th overall)

*Horrible week thanks, in part, to major players having a bye week. Fill-ins - Hasselbeck, 1.68; Maclin, 0.60; and Keller, 1.60 all severely underachieved this week.

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats
QB - B. Roethlisberger
RB - A. Peterson, T. Hightower, B. Westbrook
WR - H. Ward, D. Hester
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Patriots
K - S. Hauschka

High scorer: Ben Roethlisberger & Hines Ward, 21 points
Low scorer: Steven Hauschka, 6 points
Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 129, Fla Land Sharks 84 (4-2, 1st place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys
QB - D. Brees
RB - K. Moreno, R. Rice, P. Thomas
WR - R. White, D. Hester
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Ravens
K - Josh Scobee

High scorer: Drew Brees, 38 points
Low scorer: Ravens D/ST, -1
Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 113, Chinese Bandits 86 (4-2, 2nd place overall).

*Great week for two players, Brees with 38 points, and Ray Rice went off for 30 points. I should have had the Packers playing on defense against the Lions instead of the Ravens against the Vikings. They scored 21 points, instead of the Ravens costing me a point. But, I'll take the victory regardless.

Movie Review, DVD-style: Land of the Lost

I like reviewing movies. I like watching movies. In fact, I would almost rather watch a movie than television on any given night... except Thursday nights on NBC. Okay, so six out of seven night, I would rather watch a movie... except when Criminal Minds is on, but that's only an hour on Wednesday nights; oh, and Top Chef.... Hmmmm. All right five and a half nights out of the week, I would rather watch a movie than television.

The advent of a handy little thing called "Redbox" has made watching new movies on DVD much easier, and much cheaper than going to the store to rent a movie. Additionally, Netflix is quite handy in this capacity as well - we switched to the 1 movie at a time, unlimited Instant Watch, and it's less than $10/month.

So, to begin this new, semi-regular feature. Let's take a look at Land of the Lost.

Plot
Will Ferrell plays Rick Marshall, who is a scientist doing research on time travel. He is basically laughed out of the scientific community for chasing this dream until one day a young lady shows up and believes in his work. He ends up finishing his time traveling machine, and they go to a place in the Arizona desert where they think it will work. Sure enough, it does. What follows is a long series of events involving a new monkey-man friend named Chaka, a tour guide named Will, a smarter than expected T-Rex and an alien race known as the Sleestaks.

Review
This movie makes no sense; however, I found myself laughing at nearly every turn. It is totally random and completely goofy, and I find that to be hilarious. I heard a lot of movie critics bash the movie when it came out this summer, but it looked funny, and it came through. You may or may not know that Land of the Lost is based on a Saturday morning television show of the same name. I expected it to be campy and goofy. The language was a little worse than I expected from a PG-13 movie, but it isn't over the top offensive.

Bottom Line
If you like Will Ferrell, and if you like goofy movies, you'll like this one. Don't go in expecting to be blown away by the storyline. Go into it expecting to have a few laughs and a good time. It's out in Redboxes right now, so... enjoy!

Best Part
Shortly after arriving, the trio and their new pal Chaka are being chased by a T-Rex. They run across a bridge, the T-Rex comes up to the bridge and decides to walk away. Dr. Marshall says something about a T-Rex's brain being the size of a walnut, and the T-Rex hears him, turns around, and jumps over the chasm to continue the chase. Later that night, they here a rumbling on the outside of their cave, and they go out to see what it was, only to find a giant walnut about the size of Dr. Marshall's torso.

Good Thing He Played Basketball For a Living

I heard about this happening on Jeopardy! last week, but hadn't had a chance to see the clip yet. Great stuff.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 3

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 18, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 38:1-7, 34-41.

We are now in our third week in the book of Job this month, and rapidly closing in on the end. Before we get into today’s passage, let’s take a couple minutes to review the story of Job to where we are right now.

Job is said to be the greatest man of all the people in the east. He is a very wealthy man, who has a lot of children. Job was also a very pious man. He sought after God and did his best to be a righteous man. Twice God lifts up Job as an example of a man who is blameless and upright. However, Job loses everything. In one day, he gets four messengers and suddenly, he has lost all his children and wealth. Shortly afterwards, Job himself is afflicted with sores from head to toe, and we see this once wealthy, powerful and respected man sitting in a pile of ashes, scratching his sores with the broken pottery from the garbage pile.

We talked about how important it is for us to realize that our relationship with God is not dependent on the things we own, the people we know, or how we feel on a given day. Our relationship with God is not based on our circumstances, but on whether or not we have put our faith in Jesus Christ.

Last week, we looked at Job’s friends who did the right thing by sitting with job while he was grieving, but then messed it all up by opening their mouths and trying to convince him to repent of some sin that, they thought, was clearly ruining his life. Job insisted on his innocence in the midst of everything that was going on. In his speech in Job 23, we see three key things that we often do when we are facing difficult times: we wear ourselves out looking for answers that are beyond where we are at the time; we begin to wish that we could talk with God face to face, which is a rare occurrence in history in the first place; and we often fail to see what God is doing all around us.

Job continues going around and around with his friends until we come to today’s passage, Job 38. In Job 38, God answers Job for the first time, and God’s response to Job is nothing like what Job expected, and it’s nothing like what we would expect as the reader. Job was probably expecting an opportunity to stand before God, plead his case, and then have everything restored. Job knew that he hadn’t sinned, and if he only had the opportunity to explain to God that God must have made some kind of mistake, then things would be back to the way they were. However, that is not what Job gets when God does respond. We’ll look at that in a minute, but first, let’s set the stage.

Job 29 begins what will be Job’s final defense. He begins by reflecting on his younger days. He remembers that there was a time when people actually listened to him and sought his counsel. He was a respected man among the people, and he stood up for the weak. We get the picture of Job as a person who really was blameless and upright, just as God said in the first two chapters. We have this picture of Job in mind when we get into chapter 30.

But, when we get to Job 30, the tone changes. It’s amazing the power of words sometimes. Job’s description of what his life was like draws you in, and his description of what is going on in chapter 30 just tears you apart. People no longer listen to his counsel. He is no longer a respected member of society. It is absolutely gut-wrenching to read what he is going through. He even accuses God of being cruel to him, tossing him about in the midst of these storms. It’s probably one of the more raw, emotional chapters in all of Scripture. And then God speaks. Finally, God responds to Job.

What is disappointing for us as we come to the text is the fact that when God finally does speak, we expect Him to answer Job. As the reader, that’s where we think the narrative is going. We almost are primed and ready to hear what it is that God would say in response to the problem of evil in this world. Why do bad things happen? However, we don’t get it. In fact, if you read through all of God’s speech found in Job 38, you won’t find a single reason for the suffering that Job has been going through. We start to see that maybe the book of Job isn’t about an answer to the problem of suffering in this world in the first place. What ends up getting addressed is just how small our understanding of God is in the first place.

You see, as much as we would like an answer to the problem of evil in the world, we don’t find it in Job. The book of Job approaches the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” However, it never gives a final answer to the question. Because, as we start to see, 38 chapters into the book, Job is really more about who God is, and how can we relate to Him than it is about finding answers to the difficult things in life.

I came across a quote from a professor at Candler Theological Seminary, one of thirteen United Methodist seminaries, down in the Atlanta area. He says,

The Book of Job is, ultimately, not about what it means that humans suffer. It is about what it means to be human at all when God is seen truly to be God... This great text stands over against the prevalent religious impulse to fabricate a wishful picture of the world, to imagine the sort of God who would rule benignly over such a world, and then to bow down in worship before this projection of our own sense of moral order.

In other words, this world is incredibly messy, and our understanding of how things should be and what God should be like in light of this understanding are vastly different than the reality. If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is the representation of who God is in this world, and I think that is what Scripture tells us, then we do know a few things about God. We know that God loves us, and we know that God desires to be in relationship with us; however, I think we have developed this idea in contemporary culture that God should be almost like a fairy godmother. God should grant our wishes and take away the pain that we experience in this life. That’s not what we read in Scripture.

We read in Scripture about a God who balances love with judgment, justice with mercy, sin with holiness. We read about a God who brings judgment on nations for their sins, and a God who takes on the sin of the world in Himself. We want to fully understand who God is in this world, but the truth is we have all sorts of problems trying to wrap our mind around it. Just take a look at some of today’s most popular Christian songs.

Some of the most popular worship songs right now explore the idea of God’s vastness, and you never get the sense that they fully encapsulate who God is. Listen to some of the titles: How Great is Our God, yes, God is great, but what in the world does that mean? Everlasting God, do we know what we are saying when we say that God is everlasting? Can we wrap our minds around eternity? God of Wonders, we know that God is incredible, but all of our comparisons, all of our metaphors still bring us up short of understanding who God really is. We try to come to terms with who God is, but we cannot fully grasp it.

Think about it for a minute. What images come to your mind when you think about God? When you have a conversation about God, or think about the things that God is doing in your life, what pops into your head? Scripture gives us several different portraits of God, but what does that mean?

I went to the fount of all knowledge, the internet, to find out what the definition of a portrait is. And one site says, “A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.” A portrait is not an exact representation, but it gives us an idea of what the original is supposed to look like.

Throughout Scripture, we get different portraits of God that take various shapes. God is portrayed as a creator, a king, a priest, a judge, a loving Father, a redeemer, a shepherd, and there are many other roles that we can see throughout Scripture. Which one of these portraits is right? In some sense, all of them; in another, none of them. They all give us a glimpse of the nature of God, but none of them give a complete picture. The problem comes in the finite (us) trying to understand the infinite (God). It reminds me of the end of the movie Men in Black 2.

Early in the movie, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a watch out of a locker, and inside that locker is an entire world of tiny aliens. At the end of the movie, Agent J (Will Smith) opens his locker to find that K had moved the aliens there, and here’s the conversation that follows.

Agent J: Why did you put them rats in my locker, man?
Kevin Brown/K: I thought it would put things in perspective for you.
Agent J: No, K, it's actually kind of sad, really. We need to let them out of there, I mean, they need to know that the world is bigger than that.
Kevin Brown/K: Still a rookie.
[Kicks open a door to a room filled with gigantic aliens]

That is how we sometimes imagine God though. We imagine that we can understand who God is, and that He will be able to fit into that perception. When we do that, we have severely overestimated our place in the universe. God doesn’t fit into the boxes that we have created for Him in our lives. We live in a society that is so big on compartmentalization, and so we try to separate everything in our lives. Truth is, we cannot compartmentalize God. God will not fit into the boxes that we create for Him. Because what you can contain, you can control. We cannot control God. And that is what Job learns through this conversation with God. God asks Job three important questions, and really, the first one is the key.

God essentially starts off by saying, “Who do you think you are?” How’s that for us to consider when we want to challenge God on the things in our lives. Who do we think we are? Job is said to darken the Lord’s counsel by “words without knowledge.” In other words, not only is Job not in a position to assume whether God’s reasons are just or unjust, but he doesn’t even know what he is talking about in the first place. Job’s words may sound good, but they are not words of wisdom. They are words without knowledge.

Have you ever had this happen to you before? You are having a conversation with somebody who clearly has no idea what they are talking about, but they sure think they do. You know that they are just saying stuff off the top of their head, and finally, you get tired of rolling your eyes and just look at them and say, “What in the world are you talking about?” Have you been there? That’s what God is doing right now. I can just imagine Him rolling His eyes every time Job or one of his friends starts talking, and finally, He steps in and says, “Wait just a minute. Do you even know what you’re saying?”

And here’s the thing: Job thought he was right. But he had a fundamental misunderstanding about who God is. Job fell into the same trap of thinking that God blesses those who are good and brings trouble to those who aren’t. That’s why he keeps saying that he wanted to talk to God face to face; that’s why he wanted to present his case before God. He thought that there was some misunderstanding, and that was why he was getting punished. But if he could just show God that he was an upright man, then all of this would go away. He didn’t really understand God. God knew Job was an upright man. Again, two times, he presents Job as an example of one who was blameless and upright. That wasn’t the issue.

Job assumed he knew all he needed to know about God, and Job was the kind of guy that we would probably assume knew everything he needed to know about God. But the only way we can even begin to know even a sliver of what God is like is by spending time with Him. Reading Scripture, spending quiet time in prayer, being in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ; these are all good ways to start getting to know God, but they are not all encompassing by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps we need to start with the question that God asks Job. Who do we think we are? God doesn’t owe us anything, and yet, He has given us the opportunity to have everything by being in relationship with Him.

I love what God says next. He says, “Dress for action like a man.” Another translation reads, “Gird your loins.” I think He’s saying, “Buckle up, buddy. You think you know so much? Well, let’s see.” And God starts this barrage of questions that essentially come down to: 1) where were you? And 2) What can you do? The emphasis here is on the vastness of who God really is. It is about getting a proper perspective; realizing that we don’t know everything about God.

God is not limited to our understanding of who He is, but we are certainly limited when it comes to understanding God. And maybe that is one of the hardest lessons we can learn from Job. It really is a matter of gaining a proper perspective. Who is God? God is the one who laid the foundation of the earth. God is the one who measured it and laid the cornerstone. God is the one who speaks and the rains come down; who instills us with understanding; who provides for the animals of the earth. Not us. We don’t do any of that, and the sooner we learn that simple truth, the further we will be on our journey to understand just a little bit about God.

Movie Tour: Fame

The last couple of years, we've decided that instead of buying something, we wanted to spend some time with our nieces and nephew. So, we have a special day just for them. When the other two get older, we are definitely thinking about doing the same thing. This weekend, Katie and I took our oldest niece out to see Fame.

Plot Summary
Fame follows a handful (six or seven) teenagers as they audition, get accepted and go through four hears of high school at a special performing arts school (I think in New York City). It traces the awkward beginning, the "coming of age," and the difficulties of their high school career.

Review
Honestly, I didn't expect a whole lot out of this movie. I love my niece very much, and that's why I went to see it. I really expected to be tearing out my eyeballs 30 minutes into the movie. That was not the case. I was pleasantly surprised. Realistically, if I just look at the movie from a "movie snob" standpoint, it wasn't that good. There is not a lot of character development, the plot is predictable and the acting isn't great. However, I'm not a movie snob.

Bottom Line
If you are a fan of music and the arts, you'll love this movie. Don't expect an Oscar worthy script or acting, and you'll be all right. Wait for it to come out on DVD, and stop by a Redbox to pick it up for a night.

Best Part
Soundtrack. Hands down. The music is incredible. I may not be a fan of hip-hop, but I am a fan of good music, and this movie definitely has it.

Movie Tour: Couples Retreat

I figured that I would continue my movie review segments when I go out to see a movie (or even for the occasional rental). I enjoyed doing it this summer, and I think I'll keep it up. Last week, Katie and I saw Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and John Favreau among others (seriously, there's quite a few people in this movie that I have seen before).

Plot Summary
Four couples end up going on vacation together in what literally appears to be paradise. I'm not much of a beach person, but even I wanted to go where they were filming this movie. Absolutely gorgeous! Anyhoo! These four couples end up doing relationship building exercises together during their vacation and learn quite a bit about themselves as couples.

Review
I really liked Couples Retreat. There was certainly some objectionable material within the movie (like the yoga scene, yikes!), but I think it is not done completely out of context or out of character for the people in the movie. Again, the location was gorgeous, which almost makes the movie worth seeing right off the bat.

Bottom Line
It's worth your time, as long as you aren't going to be offended by some colorful language and mildly suggestive scenes. I think Katie and I had a real good time seeing this one, and would probably watch it again.

Best Part
One of Vince Vaughn's kids uses the bathroom at Home Depot... in a display toilet... twice. Hilarious!

A Grand Entrance

If you can watch all of this video, I'll be impressed. I'll wonder what you do with your time, but impressed nonetheless. It's every Kramer entrance in chronological order.... now that I said that, I wonder what the person that put it together does with his/her time!

John Maxwell on Leadership

Came across this very revealing interview with leadership expert John Maxwell. Interesting stuff.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 5

As bad as last week was, this week was significantly better.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Swish
QB - P. Manning
WR - L. Evans, E. Royal, Mario Manningham
RB - K. Moreno, D. Williams
TE - J. Witten
K - N. Folk
DEF - Baltimore

Top scorer: Peyton Manning, 23.36 points
Low scorer: Lee Evans, 1.10 points
Result: Swish 84.06, Raiders 61.78 (3-2; 4th place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats
QB - Ben Roethlisberger
RB - A. Peterson, T. Hightower, B. Westbrook
WR - R. Wayne, Hines Ward
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Patriots
K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Roethlisberger, 21 points
Low scorer: Steve Hauschka, 2 points
Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 96, Silo Nightmare 66 (3-2; 2nd place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys
QB - Trent Edwards
RB - R. Rice, Glen Coffee, K. Moreno
WR - R. White, L. Evans
TE - T. Gonzalez
D/ST - Ravens
K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Roddy White, 33 points
Low scorer: Lee Evans, 1 point
Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 103, Team Quentessentialz 72 (3-2; 5th place overall)

So, 3-0 this week after going 0-3 last week. It my second 3-0 week of the season. I feel good about my teams so far. It's when teams start getting into the bye weeks that you really have to start paying attention and watching the waiver wire.

It's looking like Lee Evans is about to get dropped though; Buffalo is simply terrible. I picked up Edwards for the Rabid Monkeys on Brees' bye week because Buffalo was playing Cleveland; turns out the Bills are just as bad as the Browns.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 2

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 11, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 23:1-17.

This morning, we enter into our second week of the book of Job. As I mentioned last week, there is some debate as to whether or not this is a record of actual history or if it is story that is intended to teach us something important. And as I said last week, in this particular case, I really don’t think it matters. What does matter is that it is included in Scripture, and that the themes of the story should concern us more than the story behind the text.

Last week, we also talked a little bit about the fact that bad things do happen to good people. I don’t think anyone has any doubt of that fact, but just so that we are all on the same page – bad things happen to good people. We also talked about the fact that there really is no definite explanation as to why this is the case. It is a fact of life that we tend to know from our own experiences. It’s intuitive; nobody has to teach us this.

We also talked about the fact that our righteousness is dependent on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and nothing else. Our standing before God is not affected by our wealth (or lack thereof); it is not affected by the people in our lives; and it is not affected by how we feel on a given day. Our standing before God is solely dependent on whether or not we have put our trust in Jesus.

When we last checked in with Job, he had lost everything. His children were dead, his livestock were slaughtered or stolen, and he was afflicted with sores from head to toe. Yet, we are told in 2:10 that he did not sin with his lips. Right after all this, Job has three friends, and if you read Job 3-22, you might question the use of the term “friends,” but these three friends come and sit with Job. In 2:13, we are told that they sat with Job for seven days, and did not say a single word “for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

Now, I know that this wasn’t part of today’s Scripture reading, but I come back to this passage quite frequently. Sometimes it is just better to be there for a person who is going through a difficult time. Job’s friends did the right thing when they just came and sat with him for a while. It’s when they opened their mouths that things started going south. Sometimes it is just best to keep your mouth shut and grieve with a person instead of saying something well meaning, but stupid. Just a little bit of Pastoral Care 101 courtesy of the book of Job, and that brings us back to today’s passage.

Job 23 is part of a third cycle of speeches and responses between Job and his friends. Essentially, his friends are arguing that there is no way Job could be blameless before the Lord, judging simply from his circumstances. Now, remember, two times in the first two chapters, God lifts up Job as an example of someone who is blameless and upright. Job’s friends are trying over and over again to convince Job to repent of whatever sin it is that is ruining his life. However, Job is very insistent that he has not sinned. He doesn’t know why all this is happening to him, but he knows that it is not a result of his sin.

As we get into the passage, we immediately begin to see that Job is tired of the discussion he has been having with his friends. He says, “Today my complaint is bitter and my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.” In other words, “I’m getting sick of complaining; it’s wearing me down.” There comes a time when we continually search for answers that we start to reach our breaking point. That is where Job is now. He knows that God is working in his life, and he is tired of trying to figure out why this is going on. There is something very important that is going on here.

To put it simply, we cannot understand God. We cannot fully understand what it is that God is doing in our lives. I was thinking a while back on the Psalm that says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” And, yes, that is a psalm, not just an Amy Grant song. But here’s the thing about God’s word being a lamp unto our feet. When it is pitch black out and you have a lantern, how far ahead can you see? Not much more than a couple of steps, right? That’s how it is with God.

We can see a couple steps ahead of us, but if we continue to try to see further than that, we are just going to stumble on what is right in front of us. We begin to get exhausted and discouraged from being unable to see too far ahead. But that is a limitation that we have to embrace. Have you ever heard the saying, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” Job has been trying to see in the dark and it is wearing him down. Job is tired of trying to see beyond who he is. He is starting to come to the point where he acknowledges that God is the one who is in control, and that’s all that really matters.

Then Job starts to wonder out loud about something that many of us have probably wondered before. If only we could talk with God face to face. If only we could hear from His lips about why this is going on at this time in our lives. If only, if only, if only. If God could hear things from our point of view, then surely He would step in and things would be different. Trust me when I say this, God knows what’s going on in your life. God is not surprised by the things that are going on in our lives. There may be times when we feel like God is being silent, but that doesn’t mean that He is unaware.

In verses 8-9, Job talks about how He does not perceive God to be near him. When he goes forward and backward, he does not see God. When he looks to the left and to the right, even though he knows that God is working, he still doesn’t see God. That is how it will be from time to time in our lives. No matter where we look, we don’t see God working, but we have to know, we have to trust in the fact that God is at work all around us, even when we don’t see Him.

There are times in our lives that we could refer to as wilderness periods. They are times of testing; they are difficult times; they are formative times. Israel had one after the exodus from Egypt; it had another during the Babylonian exile. We can read in the Old Testament about Moses going to the wilderness before leading the people out of Egypt. Elijah had a wilderness period when Israel was in a drought and he lived by a brook and the birds provided his food. Before David became king, he spent a long time on the run from Saul, and 1 Samuel records more than once about David and his men sleeping in a cave. After Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River (not exactly a hub of civilization itself), he is taken into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. In fact, the Greek in Mark could be translated, “thrown into the wilderness.” How we get into the wilderness is not always easy. The Apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos when he had a vision that we now call Revelation. In all of these times, God may have been silent, but He was not absent. He was at work all around them.

These were all formative times. These were times that shaped what was to come, not just in the lives of individuals, but in the lives of all of Israel, and all the world. The lantern only reveals so much and the rest is revealed as we continue taking steps forward. And that is what we need to remember in the difficult times. One day at a time is all we have, so that is as far as we can move. Just take things one day at a time and trust that God is leading, even when you don’t see Him, and even when you don’t see His work. We have so much that we can learn from Job.

In verse 10 Job talks about God knowing what he is going through. He says, “[God] knows the way that I take.” Job has continued to follow after God, even though he doesn’t understand why all these bad things are happening. Sometimes, when we encounter difficult times in our lives, we may be tempted to abandon God. We may be mad at God for what is going on. There have been times like that in my life, and I’m sure that you’ve had your moments as well. You are mad, and you’re not exactly on speaking terms. Those are the times when we need to come back to Job.

Job lost everything, but he continued to live as he did before. He was a blameless and upright man before all this happens, and he continued to walk in the ways of the Lord. Verses 11-12 say, “My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.” We get a picture of a guy who was blameless and upright before losing everything. And in verses 11-12, we hear the words of a guy who continued to seek after God, even though everything around him was falling apart.

So, what can we learn from Job this morning? I think it comes down to something very simple. When we face the difficult times; when things around us are falling apart, we have two choices. First, we can push God away. We can blame God for everything that is going on in our lives and shut Him out. I’m not saying that it is the best choice, but it certainly one that we can, and sometimes have made.

Second, we can draw closer to God in the midst of our pain. We can search and search and search for the answers, but, the truth is, the search will wear us down, and we’ll wind up empty-handed. We could wish that we could talk with God face to face, but that is a very rare occurrence in history. While we may not see God at work, we have to trust that He is. We have to continue in our relationship with Him; draw closer to Him in the times of pain that we will inevitably face in our lives. Don’t give up on God, because He will never give up on you.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 4

I know that this is a late update (especially given that Week 5 is currently taking place), but as I've always said, "Better Nate than Lever!"

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish
QB - P. Manning
WR - L. Evans, D. Driver, E. Bennett
RB - R. Grant, K. Moreno
TE - J. Witten
K - N. Folk
DEF - Baltimore

Top scorer: Peyton Manning, 21.02 points
Low scorer: J. Witten, 3.10 points
Result: Swish 76.52, Darkness 86.20 (2-2, 6th place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats
QB - P. Rivers
RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai, C. Williams
WR - R. Wayne, D. Hester
TE - K. Winslow
D/ST - Bears
K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Philip Rivers, 20 points
Low scorer: Devin Hester, 0 points
Result: Swish 85, Ltown Eagles 119 (2nd place, Division 2)

Team 3: Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys
QB - D. Brees
RB - P. Thomas, R. Rice, K. Moreno
WR - L. Evans, D. Hester
TE - V. Davis
D/ST - Ravens
K - J. Carney

Top scorer: Pierre Thomas, 18 points
Low scorer: Devin Hester, 0 points
Result: Swish 82, Team Baker 90 (6th place overall)

Rough week overall, 0-3 for the week. Hopefully, Week 5 will be a little better.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 1

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 4, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 1:1; 2:1-10.

Back in late July, I spent some time reviewing the lectionary for the upcoming months, and putting together a plan for what I would be preaching on. When I got to October, the Old Testament readings from Job just jumped out at me. I can’t explain why, but I really felt like Job is where we should be spending the month of October. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this was going to be a difficult series to work through. And it is not a difficult book because of the language, or because it’s hard to understand. It’s difficult because it is intensely personal. It is a book that touches on subjects that, quite frankly, bring us pain. It addresses issues that we all have to deal with from time to time in our lives. Today’s reading actually has us in Chapter 2, but I think it is important to spend at least a few minutes in Chapter 1 to get us into the story.

Job is a story about a man from the land of Uz. There is some debate as to whether or not this was an actual event that happened to a man in history, or if it is just a story intended to teach the reader some important things about life. In my honest opinion, I don’t think it really matters. I know that’s a terrible thing for a pastor to say, but think about it for a minute. Are the themes of Moby Dick less important because it is a fictional story? In a few hundred years, will scholars be debating whether or not Captain Ahab was a real person, or will they be discussing the dangers of obsession? The themes of the story are no less true simply because Captain Ahab is a fictional character. The same is true for the story of Job. Whether or not it is an actual event in history is irrelevant to the point at hand.

Job is a very wealthy man. He has several children and an abundance of livestock. 1:3 says that Job was the greatest of all the people in the east. One day, God and Satan are chatting and God asks him if he ever considered Job as an example of a blameless and upright man. And Satan says, “Yeah, well, why wouldn’t he be? You’ve given him everything he’s ever needed. He has every reason to be blameless and upright. You’ve taken care of him.”

Now, I want to stop here for just a minute. Do you notice what Satan does here? He makes two major mistakes. First, he makes an assumption that many of us have made from time to time. If things are going well for a person, they must be doing something right. They must be great people because God is blessing them will all this stuff. Of course, the problem with this line of thought is that the inverse must be true as well. If things are falling apart for somebody, then they must be getting what they deserve. We even have a word for it – karma; what goes around comes around. We see this line of thinking in Scripture as well.

In John 9, there is a man who is born blind, and Jesus is asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” What a great approach to the problem of evil, right? I mean, bad things happen as punishment for the bad things that you have done. Again, what goes around, comes around. That’s what they are getting at here, isn’t it? Of course, there is a slight problem with this reasoning – it is not supported by the witness of Scripture. In Scripture, and in our own lives, we know that bad things happen to good people. Are you skeptical about that? Here’s all you need to know – Jesus was crucified. The Son of God, who lived a perfect, sinless life was nailed to a cross and died between two criminals. If you had any doubts about bad things happening to good people, let’s just put them to rest now – bad things happen to good people.

The second major mistake that Satan makes here is assuming that one’s righteousness is dependent on the circumstances around him. This, also, couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether or not we decide to do the right thing is not the product of what we own or what we lack. Rich people can sin, and poor people can lead upright lives.

So, Satan says, “Yeah Job is blameless only because you’ve blessed him. Take away what you’ve given him and he won’t be so upright anymore.” So, God says, “All right. Do what you want, but leave him alone.” And one day, Job gets four messengers right in a row, one after another, and suddenly he has lost everything. His children are dead and all of his livestock have either been killed to stolen. Job grieves, but 1:22 tells us, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” And then we hit Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 begins in the same way as Chapter 1. There is a scene with the Lord and Satan talking. Once again, God presents Job as one who is blameless and upright. And Satan says, “Well, yeah, of course he is. A man will give away everything he has if he can just hang on to his life, but if you start messing with his health, he won’t be as blameless and upright as you think.” Once again, God says, “All right, do what you want, but don’t kill him.” And so, Satan goes out and gives Job sores from head to toe. These sores are so bad that Job ends up sitting in a pile of ashes and scratching with pieces of a broken pottery.

In just a short amount of time, Job went from being the greatest person in the east to a childless, poor man sitting in a place that only the worst off in society would be sitting, scratching the sores that cover him from head to toe with the garbage. Things fall apart sometimes. Maybe you’ve felt like Job from time to time in your life. One minute everything seems to be going great, and the next you have nothing. And deep in your heart, you know that you’ve been following God. Sure, you haven’t been absolutely perfect, but you spend time with God, praying, reading Scripture and just resting in His presence. And then, for no reason, the bad stuff comes. Everyone has been there at some point. You just feel like you want to sit in the ashes and scratch your sores with garbage. We’ve all been there.

And as we come out of Chapter 2 we walk away with another false assumption given by Satan. The assumption now is that once Job starts facing something that affects his own body, then he will really fail to be an upright and blameless person. It makes the assumption that one’s righteousness is dependent on personal circumstances. And, again, this is a false assumption. Our righteousness is not dependent on our health, or on how we feel, or on how things are going in our lives on a particular day. Our righteousness is based solely on our relationship with God. By turning to God and allowing God to work in our lives, we become upright and blameless. And it is not dependent on how good of a person we are, or how much God has given us in our lives, or how things are going for us on a particular day. Our righteousness is found in our relationship with God. Let’s go back to Chapter 1 for a minute.

Job 1:5 gives us an insight into what Job’s relationship with God looked like. It says that Job’s children would often gather together and have feasts, and after these gatherings, Job would have them consecrated and offer burnt offerings for each of his children just in case they may have sinned in their hearts. And the end of the verse says, “Thus Job did continually.” We get a picture of a guy who is so focused on God and remaining righteous that he offers sacrifices on the possibility that one of his children may have sinned in his/her heart.

How often do we do that? How often are we so concerned with our relationship with God that we ask forgiveness for something that someone we know may have done? How often do we even do that for the sins that we have committed in our own lives? Unfortunately, even with the serious nature of sin, we tend to gloss over them. Do you know what word we’ve come up for sins these days? Mistakes. A mistake is forgetting to carry the one in a math problem. A mistake is turning a street too early on the way to a friend’s house. A mistake is frustrating, but it doesn’t separate you from God. That’s sin. You can fancy up snails with sauce and call it escargot, but the simple fact is, it’s still snails. Slimy, trail-leaving, backyard snails.

Job was a blameless and upright man because he understood the serious nature of sin. His heart was in the right place. He followed God; he sought after God; and he did his best to live in such a way that he pleased God. Take a look at your last week. Can you say that you sought after God? Can you say that you followed after God? I’m not going to ask for hands, because everyone knows how they’ve done. But the point is, in spite of Job’s righteousness, bad things happened to him. He lost everything. And here’s the thing – there’s really no explanation as to why this stuff happened. Was it a cosmic bet between God and Satan? No, Satan is in no position to make a wager with God. Was it a time of testing? Maybe, the truth is, it’s hard to say. I think the only definite here is that sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives; things that are difficult; things that shape us; things that potentially change us. But the bottom line is – where are we putting our trust?

Are we trusting in the things around us? That wouldn’t have worked for Job. If that is what Job did, then this story would have ended in the first chapter after he lost his livestock and servants. Are we putting our trust in the people around us? That wouldn’t have worked for Job. If that is what Job did, then losing his children and his wife’s words in 2:9 would have done him in. On a side note, I’m glad that my wife has never told me to “curse God and die.” But back to Job.

Job put his trust in the Lord. Job realized that all things belong to God; that ultimately, we are all in God’s hands, regardless of what is going on around us. At the end of today’s passage, Job basically says, “We have to take the good with the bad. We have to stick with God even though everything around us is falling apart.” And that’s the point. Even though everything around us falls apart; everything fails us at some point. But we still have Jesus.
As the hymn says, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” In Matthew we read that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. There is a song by Casting Crowns that talks about praising God in the midst of the storms in our lives. When things fall apart, we still have Jesus.