“Don’t Act Like You’re Not Impressed.”

I love to impress people.  I mean, who doesn’t?  For example, just last night at our friends’ house the topic of Giants baseball and my long time fanhood jumped into our conversation.  I was asked how painful it has been to be a Giants fan for so long and I quickly responded by retelling the gut-wrenching story of the Mets’ Benny Agbayani hitting a 13th inning game winning homer against us in the 2000 playoffs.  My friends were impressed by such specific Giants’ knowledge (or maybe they just thought I was pathetic) and I was happy to oblige, especially now that those memories aren’t so painful having won a World Series.

A trusted counselor of mine once told me, “Jon, you probably write/teach about the importance of authenticity, but you need to do a better job modeling that in your own life.” Ouch…

On my best day, I write what God has put on my heart and I share it with conviction.  On my worst day, I write while asking the question, “What do people want to hear and how can I impress them?”  I don’t have the time, desire or calling to simply write what people want to hear.  Plus, that is just bad writing and doesn’t make for a compelling story.

Over the past three years, I have sensed an overwhelming conviction to tell the stories that often get dismissed, over looked or that are culturally taboo within our Western narrative.  Whether stories from the alley behind my apartment or stories from our travels in a war torn Middle East, I commit to tell them with honesty, conviction and creativity (more on this in my next post).

For now, help me live out the advice of my counselor by engaging in critical conversation and story that sheds light on God’s Kingdom, even if it rustles our feathers and makes us a bit uncomfortable.  Because if I’m authentic in telling these stories, we will be uncomfortable…and hopefully inspired towards action.

Embracing the Clear Sky of Thanksgiving in the Dense Fog of Wal Mart

As I conclude a Thanksgiving weekend full of the joys of family and friends, it is a time for me to process how much I have to be thankful for.  Every year, this weekend is a bitter-sweet paradox for me.  On Thursday, I embrace the clear sky of family, gratitude and a celebration feast.  On Friday, the thick fog of consumption roles in and Wal Mart workers get stopped to death by Black Friday mobs.  What is up with this paradox?  A post from earlier this year served has a healthy reminder for me, so I thought I would re-post.

I recently listened to a great sermon on finances from Nathan George, founder of Trade as One. He began by asking how many of us had had a shower in the last week. He said that those of us who had are rich and that 4 of the 6 billion people on earth hadn’t been so fortunate. I got up late for work yesterday and didn’t get my DAILY shower. I felt gross all day and my hair was kinda sticking up like Alfalfa…

Last semester I took a class @ Fuller Seminary titled, Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. My professor, Daniel Kirk(who wrote this book)had us read PLENTY of commentary on the Synoptic Gospels(Matt., Mark, Luke)outside of class, but in his lectures he never picked one up. He read straight out of the Greek Bible and translated to us as naturally as I read the english versions. The humanity of Jesus came alive and the Kingdom He inaugurated took a hauntingly (maybe I’ll explain why I use that word later) tangible form. So much of the WORDS and DEEDS of Jesus centered around His interaction and justice for the “least of these (Matt. 25).” Jesus’ face was illumined in the face of the stranger, the hungry, the prisoner and the homeless. Yes, Jesus spent alot of time preaching this Kingdom to the wealthy and highly religious, but He embodied this Kingdom through His deeds and interactions with those who inhabited it…the poor(Luke 6).

I can live a life with multiple degrees of separation from these inhabitants of the Kingdom of God. I sleep in a warm bed with a heating blanket, they sleep under a tarp with a newspaper. I eat fresh produce, they eat my leftovers. My possessions rest in cabinets and closets, theirs rests on their backs. It’s a strange tension…should I feel bad for having what I do. No, I think I should feel thankful, but in order to be fully thankful, I am finding I must have an understanding and heart for those who don’t. Not just a “oh that sucks for them” kind of understanding, but a “how can I learn from your story and be part of its healing” understanding. It is often my “blessings” in the form of material excess that sometimes keep me from full participation in the Kingdom of God(Matt.19:24)…

So by serving, learning from and hanging out with these Kingdom Inhabitants, does the Gospel Jesus came to proclaim through WORD and DEED come to life?

Jesus, in order for us to fully be grateful for what/who we have in our lives this Thanksgiving, we must not forget the stories of those who have so little.  May we stand in solidarity with your Kingdom inhabitants this season and for the rest of our lives.

Living the Dream

We have all heard Katy Perry’s huge hit “Teenage Dream.”  And, we (by “we,” I mean me) have all found ourselves singing this song at the top of our lungs while driving to Target…by ourselves.   Here is the chorus:

“You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream

The way you turn me on, I can’t sleep

Let’s run away and don’t ever look back

Don’t ever look back”

Having spent most of my adult life coming along teenagers to help them navigate the high seas of adolescence, the lyrics of this song scream of shipwreck.  Further, having just had a daughter, these lyrics make me want to circle her up in bubble wrap while spending the next 18 years of her life reading her books about pony’s and dandelions.

Despite my fears, I think Katy Perry may be onto something.  Maybe we shouldn’t be telling Katy Perry to stop dreaming, but instead we should help her learn how to dream.  Not only should we teach her how to dream, we personally should be dreaming and living out those dreams in our own lives.  I think one of the main reasons the “Katy Perry’s of the world” have come up with dreams like in this song is because the dreams we have offered with our lives haven’t captivated the hearts and minds of our next generation.  A captivating dream needs to involve risk, conviction, passion and a whole bunch of people thinking, “That person will come to their senses and grow up someday.”

“Dreaming” may sound a bit elementary, but I believe living out the Dream we have been created for is anything but elementary…instead, it is central to our understanding of God’s Dream for Creation and his dream for our lives.  When rooted in understanding God’s Dream for our lives, pursuing our “dream” is anything but elementary or immature…it is a profound act of obedience.

Especially over these past couple years, I have been trying to act on my God given dreams.  At times it feels lonely, counter-cultural and terrifying, but I have never felt so obedient and enlivened.  It is in setting aside the dreams others/culture imposes upon me and in discerning the dreams that God has hardwired into me that my will most aligns with His.

So, what is that trip you have been waiting to take “someday?”  Or mission you believe in, but doesn’t pay very well?  Or person you know you should pull over and hang out with but don’t?  What makes you come to life?

DO IT!!

Pic: With my friend Milad in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the West Bank…he is a Christian Palestinian peacemaker

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Over the past decade, few books have had the impact on the art of Story than Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  He doesn’t simply speak about story, he challenges himself and others to live a better story…a story that could change everything.  As you can imagine, Don is paying me thousands of dollars and is going to write a review of my book to pay me back for this post as he sees it as being the exposure that will jump start his career. (oh wait, that MIGHT not be true…).

With endless books to read for seminary, I hadn’t had the opportunity to read this book until a couple months ago when I had a couple days without a textbook to tackle.  This is super rough and unedited, but as soon as I was done, I slapped down the cliff notes.  Hopefully they are clear enough to give a glimpse into his main points!

Ways to respond:

1. If you have already read the book, add a comment on some aspect of the book I didn’t include (there are lots) so we get a better picture of his direction

2. If you haven’t read the book, go buy or borrow a copy!
Donald Miller seeks to articulate that each person’s life tells a story.  With each decision we make and action we take, we decide what kind of story we will tell with our lives.  Further, our story is not just for our personal good, it will influence others.  Either it will affirm their belief in the American dream of consumption and laziness or it will ignite in them the desire to seek out an adventure as one’s created to participate in the unfolding Story of God.


Fear can paralyze us from taking actions that will advance our stories for our own good and the good of others.  Don uses the story of meeting his father as his driving illustration.
Good stories will NEVER be easy.  In fact, there will be times where the conflict (he uses the term “Inciting Incident” – see his bike trip or hike to Macchu Pichu) seems too great to overcome.  We can jump out of the “kayak” and sink to the bottom of the ocean in search of a new/easier story or we can continue forward and allow our “character” to fully develop into who it is we are created to be.   Don continues by saying that the reward at the end of such a journey is never as good as we think it will be…but that is not the point.  The end/reward is not what develops our character; it is the “character arc” or the adventure that leads us to the end.  Don uses the family that stays together (specifically the father that sticks around) through difficult, nearly hopeless times, as his driving charge towards the reader.


When our story begins to not only achieve self actualization and fulfillment, but the story we tell with our lives impacts the good of others, our life as the potential to become an “epic.”  An epic requires that the main characters life is at risk and overcomes huge obstacles time and time again for the benefit of others.  Don uses The Mentoring Project as his illustration for his life becoming and “epic.”


In the end, our story can never fully tell the story of God.  No, that can only be told when Jesus returns and makes all things right…When heaven is fully realized and we sit at the wedding feast with Jesus.  Don consistently used the examples of “funeral” and “wedding” as symbols of life and death.  So it is in heaven, when we fully experience life that we will be at the “wedding” with Jesus.

Our Stories Determine Our Values

This past Sunday night I had the opportunity to teach at our local church gathering.  We have been studying the book of Acts all fall and I was assigned chapters 19-23, which make up Paul’s 3rd missionary journey.  There are two incidents in the passage that end up turning into all out riots against Paul and the early followers of The Way.  The first riot (in Ephesus) comes at the hands of the Greeks, while the second (in Jerusalem) comes at the hands of the Jews.  Each riot gives insight into the values that were inherent within the two narratives (although not ideal, “worldview” may be substituted for narrative).

(Pic: Roman Road where Paul would have walked in Ephesus)

Values of the Greek Narrative – Ephesus

  • Reasoning, intellect and philosophy  bred out of Socrates, Platoand Aristotle
  • Religion and magic – They would create gods that would give them power over the forces of life/nature. The god of Ephesus was the fertility goddess Artemis.  She represented wealth, security and power.  Having sex with prostitutes was a form of worship to Artemis.
  • It was acceptable to worship any god, but it was unacceptable to claim that your god was the ONLY god

Values of the Jewish Narrative – Jerusalem

  • Oral/written, literal authority of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Test.)
  • Monotheistic (YHWH is only God to be worshiped)
  • Liberation from exile will be found in the coming Messiah.  He will be a Davidic king who will overthrow the ruling power by military conquest.  Jesus did not fit such a description, so (in this narrative) he was not the Messiah.
  • Ultimate obedience to Hebrew Scriptures and the Temple

Values of the Narrative of The Way (early church)

  • Jesus is the Messiah.  He is the Son of God, who after his life, death and resurrection is now enthroned at the right hand of God.
  • Kingdom of God is welcome to ALL
  • Not measured by wealth, tradition or intellect, but by believing and living as followers of Jesus.

Riot #1 in Ephesus: Acts 19

Although Paul was a brilliant philosopher, who carried much weight in his abilities of intellectual argument and reasoning, his radical message of The Way (affirming the narrative inaugurated in Jesus) posed a threat to the values of the Greek narrative and their god Artemis in Ephesus.  To enter his narrative, the Greeks would have to set aside their idols of wealth, security and power.  They responded by gathering up 25,000 citizens in a mob-like frenzy and chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for two hours.

Riot #2 in Jerusalem: Acts 21 & 22

Although Paul was formerly a Pharisee, steeped in his understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures and traditions, he was nearly killed in Jerusalem when he was accused of bringing a Greek (foreigner) to the Temple during festival.  In his defense, he tells his story of encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus and the crowd responds by saying, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

(pic: Temple Courts in Jerusalem)

Summary: The values of the narrative of The Way were offensive to the Greek and Jewish narratives.  To re-align their values with the values of Jesus would call into question their livelihood, comfort and security.

Values of the Western Narrative

  • Mass consumption leads to stronger economies and a better way of life
  • Freedom and peace are found in military strength and overthrow
  • Intellectual ascension and reason are more true than experience and story
  • Nominalistic religion (faith is inherited/assumed rather than embodied in ALL of life)

As Jesus followers whose primary allegiance is to the narrative of The Way, we have to ask the hard questions of our cultural narrative.  We can easily be blinded by our Western values and assume they most clearly define truth, when in reality they often are designed to simply ensure wealth, comfort and security for those of us on this side of the globe.

To question our values hurts.  To change our values hurts. I am not saying all of our values are wrong, but I am saying that we have to ask the hard questions of them.  Does mass consumption lead to a better way of life for all inhabitants of the earth?  Is lasting peace and the freedom of Jesus best achieved through military advancement?  Does having all the right answers trump authentic experience as an invitation into God’s Story?  Did Jesus’ life, death and resurrection allow for a faith that only impacts certain segments of our lives?

When our values are called into question by the values of Jesus, may we not start a riot, but willingly give up our idols…even if our idols have the appearance of bringing life to our immediate needs.

Which story will we choose to define our values?