Fuge Update #1

Alright everybody....synchronize bladders!

Would have been a good thing, but after 2,137 stops, we made it to the hotel in Newnan, GA.  We got everybody settled in and decided for some reason to release about half of them into Walmart to get a few extra supplies.

We made good time.  We will be leaving in the morning around 8:30 to head to North Greenville University to check into camp and get settled for night one of worship.

Please to continue to lift us up as we travel and to stay flexible.  Also, pray for our weather...it's looking like some rain this next week.  We are all excited to see how God is going to work in our kid's hearts over the coming days.

Meet Colton and Moose our new youth mascot!

Parental Advisory: Music and Its Impact on the Brain

Yesterday I had someone blame me for getting a song stuck in her head.  I apologized and proceeded to ask what song it was.  They replied by reminding me of the catchy tune which is stuck in my head now as I am trying to honor my mom the English teacher with proper grammar and sentence structure as I write.

But there really is something powerful about music and how we interact with it.  I can personally relate songs to specific memories and emotions in my life.  I have moods that help me choose particular songs in my iTunes library.  I usually shuffle songs throughout the day, but as I just did seconds ago, I often skip through certain songs I’m just not in the mood for…

(skip, skip, change genre, found something to help me concentrate)

If you don’t think music is an important part of life, try driving a car that doesn’t have a CD player and the radio is broken.  If you don’t think music is important, then why is music probably one of the most stolen things in the world?  People seek after music. 

Teenagers are especially wrapped up in a world of music.  Music has a language of its own for teens that communicates all kinds of things.  And what’s more, science is now proving music has a profound impact on the brain. 

A recent article on this topic from CNN sparked my interest on the subject (you can read the full article @ http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/26/health/mental-health/music-brain-science/index.html?hpt=hp_c1). 

"I think there's enough evidence to say that musical experience, musical exposure, musical training, all of those things change your brain," says Dr. Charles Limb, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University. "It allows you to think in a way that you used to not think, and it also trains a lot of other cognitive facilities that have nothing to do with music."

“The songs that get stuck in people's heads tend to be melodically and rhythmically simple.”

"What we think is going on is that the neural circuits get stuck in a repeating loop and they play this thing over and over again."

Music has always been an important part of learning and teaching.  Judaism used music to help children remember the Torah before it was written down.  Sesame Street uses songs to help children learn.  I constantly hear youth trying to make up songs to help them study for exams. 

“Music is strongly associated with the brain's reward system. It's the part of the brain that tells us if things are valuable, or important or relevant to survival.”

If this is the case, then it is extremely important for us to pay attention to the kind of music we listen to and the kinds of music our students are listening to.  It’s not just about explicit lyrics or trying to eliminate cussing from the musical selections of our youth, but shouldn’t we be making an effort to help them connect their faith to their music, something they are all extremely interested in???

“One brain structure in particular, called the striatum, releases a chemical called dopamine in response to pleasure-related stimuli. Imaging of the brain can reveal this process is similar to what happens in your brain in response to food or sex.”

Our response to music can be so powerful.  It can even influence the motor skills of our body or how we function in groups.

“Armies train by marching to a beat, for instance. Group dancing is a social activity. There also are studies showing that when people move together to a beat, they're more likely to cooperate with each other in nonmusical tasks than if they're not in synch.”

“Another exciting arena of research: Music with a beat seems to help people with motor disorders such as Parkinson's disease walk better than in the absence of music -- patients actually synchronize their movements to a beat, Patel said.”

The complexity of our minds and bodies amazes me.  God certainly made us in a beautiful way and gave us the ability to respond to him.  If music has such a profound impact on how we function and relate with others, then we ought to be paying better attention to the kinds of music we are listening to and the place of influence we give to lyricists in our own lives. 

We should be working to create environments where teens can connect their faith in a musical manner.  Sure, we may not all agree on what the music should sound like or how loud it should be, but if music is a way of helping students remember scripture of biblical principles, then we should be flooding their ears with music that not only impacts the brain, but music that influences and impacts faith. 

(It’s a small world after all)

(Somewhere over the rainbow)

Enjoy those tunes.

Everybody Has A But

There were three things I remember not being allowed to do as a kid (well three things that really stick out in my mind now as I reflect back on my childhood.

            1.  Can’t watch Married with Children

            2.  Can’t watch the Simpsons

            3.  Can’t say the “B” word – which happened to be butt in my family.

My response…I was never in the house in the evenings to really watch TV anyway.  I was usually outside playing cops and robbers until dark.  Thankfully, TV wasn’t really a part of my growing up, unless the Rangers were on TV because that meant I could stay up late with dad because we had to finish watching the end of the game.  However, I did have a big sister and she really got on my nerves sometimes.  And when it came to the “B” word, I just had a hard time complying with that rule.  Butt, butthole, and butthead were some of my favorite descriptors for her (love her to death now).  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I was fairly difficult to handle as a little brother, and once I have kids of my own, you can be pretty sure the above 1-3 will be on their list too. 

It really drove my mom nuts when I would use the “B” word and it got under my sister’s skin so good.  I really hate to admit I got some kind of sick satisfaction by being able to aggravate them so easily.  Mom would always say, “Ross Marion, we do not use that word!”  In my mind, what’s the big deal?  Everybody has a butt! 

I don’t have kids of my own yet, but one thing is for sure – they won’t be allowed to use the dreaded “B” word.  I even feel like I’m headed for a grounding as I write this because mom would not approve of my word usage. Sorry mom, guess I don’t feel too guilty because I’m writing it anyway. 

Sure, everybody has a butt.  It also seems that everybody also has a but.  As dangerous as butt is to sibling rivalry, so too is but to our faith as Christians.  As a good father, I think God would ban the “b” word because he knows just how detrimental it is to our faith. 

One of our older brothers of the faith learned this lesson early in the biblical narrative.  His name just happened to be Moses, and he spoke the awfully dreaded “b” word.  God heard it and he immediately banned it.  “No but’s allowed.”

The story happens in Exodus 4:10-13.  “But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”  But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

What's Moses' problem?  Maybe it's stuttering.  Maybe he's lost his fluency with the Egyptian language.  Maybe he's become accustomed to blue-collar grammar amongst the shepherds.  Whatever his problem, legitimate or illegitimate, it certainly is not enough to deflect God from his path of action.

Moses’ repeated attempts show he is trying to free himself from God’s call.  Moses feels like he playing the central role in the deliverance of Israel.  What Moses doesn’t understand is that God cares more about the Israelites than he does, and God is fully capable of directing the means to bring about their freedom. God calls Moses to carry out his work for his people.  Moses’ response…"Uhh, God don’t you know I kind of have this stuttering issue.  God…I’m not the most eloquent of speakers." 

Here appears the holy God of the universe to Moses and calls him to a task.  He’s showed his presence through a burning bush, given Moses a couple of other signs that he is with him, and tells him he will be his mouth.  Holy God will speak for him.  Moses’ response…"uhhh Lord, can you send someone else?"

I often wonder if our but’s are asking of God the same question.  He is calling us to work and our response is to ask him to send someone else.  Are we crazy?  What are missing here?  It’s all about an identity crisis. We have to stop looking at ourselves instead of looking to God.  That was the problem for Moses, for Gideon, for Jeremiah, for Jonah, for Peter, etc.  Peter failed when he took his off of Christ.  Moses had every but in the book and so too did Gideon.  Jonah was full of excuses and reasons not to do what God wanted.  What did God do?  He used all of them despite the but’s.  Our problem is that we are often but-heads.  We’ve got to get the but’s out of the picture so the cans of God come through. 

Our circumstances cannot be the determining factors in our response to God’s calling. God is not just with us, but in us, and we are in Christ.  We are all called in order to be sent out on a mission. 

Moses’ objections are inconsequential…not BUT’S allowed. 

We have to start thinking exciting thoughts.  God gave us an imagination because he wants us to be dreamers.  However, the dream is useless if we never seek to live it out.  Just look at the missional imagination of the men who lowered the paralytic through the roof.  Without creativity and vision, that man may never have walked.  If we try to sum up life by what we can do, it’s flat out going to be boring.  We’ve got to start believing in what God can do through us.  Missional imagination looks past ourselves and into the living God within us.  A rejection of God’s calling is a rejection of Christ within in.  It’s a living oxymoron.

Everybody has a but.  We are all a little spiritually clumsy and don’t know everything there is to know about faith.  One thing we do know…God doesn’t approve of the “B” word.  If selfish, it’s faithless, and it removes his power to use us in the ways he has dreamed up. 

Moses was just like us.  He was normal, with flaws, and a little uncertain.  God used him anyway!  It is an extraordinary call that comes to ordinary men in ordinary settings.  It is in our inability that God does some of his best work.  Periods of discomfort, doubt and unrest are nothing more than the honest strugglings of God’s people, and it is precisely through such a process that the Lord strengthens us for the task ahead and causes us to grow to meet greater challenges. 

You may be an imperfect follower of Christ, but the perfect Christ lives in you.  In him, your identity is formed.  In his image you were made.  To his mission you are called.  No but’s allowed.

Anybody out there remember Mr. Rogers?  As a little boy, I watched Mr. Rogers pretty faithfully.  There was something about the show that just made life feel good.  I could learn about different people in the world and somehow Mr. Rogers was teaching me to appreciate them despite how different we were.  He just wanted us all to be neighborly.  Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?  Won't you be my neighbor?  That was the mantra of the show.  It came across in a demeanor that all could appreciate.  

Nowadays, we'll do just about everything we can to keep from having neighbors.  We build fences, we buy bigger lots, we put up shades, and we keep to ourselves.  The once front porch of America has now become the secluded and private back porch.  Now longer do passersby see us on the porch and greet us.  Instead, we escape from the monotony of our lives in to the seclusion of our fenced in and very private backyards.  But aren't we missing something while keeping to ourselves?  


What exactly does Mr. Rogers have to do with the Shema and the spiritual rhythm we talked about in the previous post?  Well, maybe this is a stretch, but Jesus and Mr. Rogers seem to have had a lot in common (beside the sweater jacket and loafers of course!).  What exactly did they have in common you questionably ask?  Well, I think their mantra was one in the same.  It was about being a neighbor.  

Not only did Jesus know the Shema as an obedient Jew, but he actually lived it out each day.  Aaaand, he did something radical (not Jesus right...) and added to our understanding of the Shema in the New Testament.  Sure, for Jesus it was great for us to be in rhythm with God as we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up.  But Jesus made it more than back porch faith.  In fact, he was calling us to return to front porch faith that was lived out in the presence of neighbors.  According to Jesus, the Shema lived out ought to engage our neighbors.  So, as families, if the Shema is about creating a spiritual rhythm for our homes and children, then perhaps Jesus is calling us to create as a part of that rhythm something neighborly.  Perhaps, Jesus is calling us to actually care for and invest in our neighbors.  Perhaps Jesus is calling to make his and Mr. Rogers mantra our own.  Does the world hear us asking them, "Would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?"  Do they hear anything from us at all?  Or, is what they hear something that is hurtful and damaging?  


Let's take a look at Jesus' revision of the Shema:


³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)


Everything hangs on these two commandments.  Did you get that?  Not options...We can't really claim to be followers of Christ if a part of the spiritual rhythm we are trying to create in our homes or lives doesn't involve asking people to be our neighbors.  What part of your life as a family is intentionally living out this call?  Will your kids remember the vacations you take them on when they're older?  Sure.  What kind of lasting impact will they have?  Maybe we should be challenged to create experiences that confront our students perspectives or biases.  Maybe we should take family trips where the goal is to serve and etch eternal significance into the spiritual lives of our students.  It's easy to want to create an environment in your home because in essence, you have control.  When it comes to engaging neighbors, it's in God's control.  An exercise in following these two commandments from Christ is an exercise in participating in God's sovereignty, trusting that he is at work engaging the hearts of people before we even come into contact with them.  But remember, he chose us to bless the world (Genesis 15).  As followers, it is a commandment for us to engage and love our neighbors (Am I my brother's keeper?).  


How can we expect students to live out this mantra if we haven't created space for it to become actualized in our own lives?  It's a little scary to be honest.  What if we teach our kids to love their neighbors as if it was the greatest commandment?  Honestly, they might look at our values and our efforts to maintain status quo and see a break in what we say we believe and what we live out.  I want our students to love their neighbors.  I want my one day kids to love their neighbors.  I want them to appreciate the differences that make us so unique and illustrate just how big, marvelous, and creative our God is.  I want them to be better than my generation.  It's time to start teaching them rhythm so the rest of the world can hear the beat of God's heart.   

The Shema and Superficial Standards

Can we be honest here?  None of us are, have been, or will ever be perfect parents.  I haven't been able to identify the perfect parent so I can be their apprentice.  Furthermore, none of us have had perfect parents.  For some of us that is pretty easy to admit.  For others of us, our parents are our heroes.  The fact of the matter is that imperfect people never had the ability to be perfect parents in the first place.  Heck, I’m not even a parent yet!  So before you jump all over me for even trying to discuss parenting teenagers, give me a chance.   

I have caught myself thinking of what it will be like to one day be a parent.  I have thought of the things I want to instill in my kids and what I want to provide them with.  I thought of taking them on great vacations to bond, playing baseball in the summers, buying them a car when they turn sixteen, and sending them to college to get an education.  All great things right?  And then, I had one of those encounters with scripture that reminds you your priorities are all screwed up.  You know?  One of those encounters where God gently tries to remind you that he is in charge.  That moment came when I had this encounter with The Shema (which means hear or listen).  This is the passage recited twice a day by Hebrews taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Somewhere along the line culture handed us a ruler by which to measure success as a parent.  Over time I began to think that college and career were the most important.  It’s not that they’re not important, it’s just that they’re not what’s most important.  I’m to impress on my children that the Lord is one, and it’s our call to love Him with everything we have. 

When Moses speaks these words, the people are standing before the Promised Land about to start a new part of their history.  Moses won’t make it and so he uses this time to pass on what he feels is most important to the people of Israel as they march forward.  He is fighting for faith, and he is fighting for the coming generations of faith because he knows the danger of having a generation lose its faith.  To this point, Israel understood its faith in terms of rules (just try and read Leviticus).   “Moses is establishing a new commandment that supersedes all commandments.  This new rule implies something is more important than the rules.  It elevates the significance of a relationship with God above all else, indicating that our motive for obedience should mature beyond our fear or reverence.  Moses was warning the people about the danger of passing down rules without the context of a loving relationship.”[1]

The danger of passing down rules, practices, or truth outside the context of genuine, compelling love is that you establish an empty religion.  No wonder so many teens are leaving the church when they graduate high school.  Surveys estimate anywhere from 60-80% of teens leave the church for good by age 23. 

How do we bring these numbers down, and how do we combat the danger of passing down an empty religion that no longer sticks to the hearts of our teens?  I think the Shema is cluing us into exactly what we can do.  Our students need us to make faith personal in our own lives in order for them to believe it is worth doing in their lives.  Moses feared what has happened with faith and religion in our culture.  We have compartmentalized faith.  That is to say that God only gets a small part of our lives.  Moses feared God would be marginalized in our lives to only part of the day, then perhaps only to part of the week, and finally to just part of the month.  Our tendency is to segment God into an isolated category of our lives instead of viewing him as the binding force that holds all of life together.[2]

In essence, Moses was worried about us letting life get out of rhythm.  I think if there is anything you can do as an imperfect parent, it is to strive to create a rhythm in your home bent on impressing the truths about God in the hearts of your children.  Moses doesn’t give parents a systematic process or formula for creating children who love the Lord.  Instead, he hands them the responsibility of presenting the truths of who God is, refining and adapting their presentations along the way until there is actual learning.  What he gave them that day was a strategy to create the rhythm of faith, not a formula.  His strategy – talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Rhythm is an important part of life.  We sleep each night, and we try to give our kids a routine based on the rhythm of life.  We feel it is important in growth and development, so why aren’t we trying to create rhythms in our family that create and facilitate spiritual growth and development?  Are we out of rhythm as families in a busy culture?  I think one of the best gifts I can someday give my children is the purpose to create a spiritual rhythm in my home where they see my faith is real, and I’ll be praying that it becomes real for them too. 

Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith. It is faith rather than formula, grace rather than guarantees, steadfastness rather than success that bridges the gap between our own parenting efforts, and what, by God's grace, our children grow up to become.  We will parent imperfectly, our children will make their own choices, and God will mysteriously and wondrously use it all to advance his kingdom.[3]

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[1] Think Orange: Imagine the Impact when Church and Family Collide…, pg. 58.

[2] Ibid., pg 65.

[3] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/12.22.html?start=7

Behavior Based Gospel

A Gospel that Sticks from Fuller Youth Institute on Vimeo.

What if the Gospel was only about behavior modification?  What if the Gospel was only about a set of rules and regulations?  But really, what if...

If that were the case, then the Pharisees would have nailed it down perfectly.  There wouldn't have been any need for Jesus or the New Testament.  But don't we often live a behavior based gospel in which church life and following Christ is simply a matter of do's and don'ts?

Furthermore, if the Gospel really was all about changing behavior, we would all fail miserably.  The very essence of the Gospel is that we all fail miserably apart from the saving grace of Christ.  So why don't we live like that's the truth.  We live as if God just wants to do a few minor modifications to our lives when He is really out to transform us into something completely different.  And unfortunately, this seems to be the message we are passing on to teens.  We expect them to act right at church, at home, and school.  We expect them to set goals for life, usually without any spiritual goals, and ultimately to compartmentalize their faith for certain occasions like Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.  Then, we are surprised when all goes wrong.  That's what happens with the story in this video.

Following the Gospel is so much more than a list of rules and regulations.  Anyone can follow a set of rules without agreeing whether or not they are necessary or beneficial.  What if we lived life as if the Gospel was necessary and beneficial?  We wouldn't just behave when the time is right.  We wouldn't just come to church because it's what we ought to do.  We can't afford as a Youth Ministry and church to teach behavior modification.  What we are out to do is to show teens that the Gospel is about grace and transformation.  The Gospel wants the heart, mind, body, and soul.  Until we show students that the Gospel has grabbed our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and our souls, students will continue to compartmentalize their faith.  It will be something used for certain occasions.  It will be something that can be packed away until it is presumably needed or necessary.  If Gospel living doesn't permeate our lives, how can we expect it to permeate theirs?  If Gospel living for us as adults is simply about right behaviors (leaving out grace, transformation, Biblical worldview, eternal perspective, the call to holiness, losing to win, giving up everything to gain even more, etc.), then we are headed toward a Christianity all about management.  You can behave Christian without ever being Christian...

The Gospel moves and chases after us.  The Gospel won't settle for anything less than all of who we are.    So if we believe in the power of the Gospel, why don't we give it all of who we are?  And why do we expect teenagers to get it if we haven't grasped it ourselves?  The Gospel is meant to change all of who we are.  It is about transformation and compassionate living.  It is about leaving everything to follow Christ.  How can we expect teenagers to leave everything for the sake of the Gospel when their faith is compartmentalized and the Gospel they know is only about right behavior and doing church?

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." -Romans 12:1-2

Be transformed by the Gospel.

Solitude...

Our society has taught us that true punishment happens in solitude, when we are left to ourselves.  Kids have to go to timeout, teenagers struggle as outcasts, single parents feel completely alone, the worst criminals are given to solitary confinement, and the elderly fear that they will be left alone in a nursing home.  Society has taught us to fear that idea that we could be left alone.  

And so, out of fear, we often move toward noise and crowds.  Next time you walk through the mall or a crowded area, look for people who are alone.  Most of them will either be playing on their phone, reading something, or doing anything to keep from looking like they have been left alone.  The earbuds are the usual tool for deflecting loneliness in teenagers, anything to keep from being condemned to silence.  

So, out of the fear of being left alone, we stay busy.  We lack the kind of solitude that we as Christians need to stay centered.  We need the kind of inner solitude[1] that leads to fulfillment.  Loneliness is inner emptiness, but solitude is inner fulfillment.  If we possess inner solitude it keeps us from the fear of being alone. 

The fear of being alone keeps us from practicing the discipline of solitude.  I think that’s a fair statement, right?  It is for me anyway.  But beyond that fear is something even more difficult for most of us to overcome.  It is that we not only are drawn to crowds, but also to noise.  We simply do not know how to practice silence.  If solitude is the means, then the end would be an encounter where God speaks into our lives and we listen.  But the act of listening (and this is where most of us stumble) involves the absence of speech.  The kind of silence we are talking about is the kind where we hear God.  So to simply refrain from talking without listening to God is not silence.  Our distractions have to be silenced.  Our pride in ourselves has to be silenced.  Our need for self-justification has to be silenced. 

But what does self-justification have to do with solitude.  Richard Foster puts it like this – “One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless.  We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others.  If we are silent, who will take control?  God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him.  Silence is intimately related to trust.”

Solitude is a discipline we must practice.  It is where God does some of his most important work on our souls.  “Every distraction of the body, mind, and spirit must be put into a kind of suspended animation before this deep work of God upon the soul can occur.  It is like an operation in which the anesthetic must take effect before the surgery can be performed.”

So, how crowded and how noisy is your life?  How crowded and noisy is the life of your family?  Jesus purposefully made time for solitude with God (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:13, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, Matthew 17:1-9, Matthew 26:36-46).  If he needed solitude (inner fulfillment), how much more do we need to separate ourselves from the noise and crowds of life so we can listen to him speak into our lives?  How much more do teenagers need this solitude as they grow and develop spiritually amidst a world of temptation and mediocrity?

We should know that when we are alone, we are not alone. 

“Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself”  -Teresa of Avila

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[1] For more on the idea of inner solitude, see Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.