Feel My Pain

Rather than write a blog, I’ll simply post my latest experience on AT&T customer service, as I recorded it live, on Facebook.  This is my life today… a bleary Monday…

The Hand-Off (A Commencement Address)

It was my privilege to deliver this commencement address for the Graduating Class of Fall 2009 at Simpson University, January 23, 2010.

This Scripture Passage was read earlier in the program:

17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, 19 “serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; 20 “how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 “except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:17-24, NKJV). 32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32, NKJV).

Introduction

President McKinney, members of the faculty and board, distinguished guests, parents, friends, family and Simpson University Class of Fall 2009, I am humbled by this opportunity to speak you.  Thank you.
I want to honor all of today’s graduates, while giving a special tip of the cap to our ASPIRE graduates. My own undergraduate degree was from a similar program in Chicago.
I crammed a four year college education into seven years.
Maybe you can relate to that.
So I offer my personal testimony to you, that the diploma you will receive in a few moments is real. Your studies at Simpson have prepared you well for a host of career choices, graduate education, and ministry.
Today is a special day: congratulations.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a special day too. That’s because it’s the Championship round of the National Football League. Tomorrow’s games decide which teams go to the Superbowl.
I grew up in Chicago… I’m a lifetime fan of the Chicago Bears… who will NOT be playing tomorrow.
If you follow football at all, you’ve heard of the legendary running back, Walter Payton. The 1980’s were the Bears’ glory days. The memories are etched in my imagination: Jim McMahon takes the snap, hands off to Walter Payton, and the magic begins.
When Walter Payton had the football, something special happened. It isn’t always pretty. Sometimes he got tackled and picked himself up. Sometimes he fumbled, and ran off the field shaking his head. And sometimes he scored: 110 touchdowns in 13 seasons.
When Payton had the ball, it was special, and glorious.

The Arena

The Bible reveals a truth that you will find either incredibly wonderful or incredibly disturbing: it is the truth that all the world is an arena. And you, the Simpson University graduate… you are right now trotting onto the field of play.
Spring training is over. It’s game time.
The angels of heaven pack the arena. They look at you, says the Scripture, to see, through you “the manifold wisdom of God.” They watch you. The angels cheer and the forces of evil snarl.
It’s fourth and goal, and the play is to you.  The hand-off is to you. It’s your play to make or break. The pressure’s on.
Here’s the handoff, it’s your ball.
Throughout all your years at Simpson, your faculty and classmates have joined with parents, grandparents, pastors, and a great host of people who have loved you… in order to hand off to you the single most precious and indispensible commodity in the universe. What is that?
Today’s Scripture reading calls it the gospel of the grace of God.
St. Paul visited his dear friends. They were leaders of a thriving church.  Paul had coached them, equipped them, taught them, and prepared them.  They have toiled together, learned together, grown together, and bonded their hearts together.
But this is his farewell. He will not see them again. He is a prisoner and will soon be dead.
So he hands off the ball. He says, I kept back nothing that was useful. I proclaimed it to you night at day. My whole life has been a passionate testimony of the gospel of grace of God. Now it’s your turn. Today’s your commencement, he says.
Here’s the ball. Run with it. That is exactly what we are saying to you today.

I’ve brought this football with me… And I’m going to ask President McKinney to help me. He’ll be the Punky QB, and I’ll snap the ball to him. He’ll hand it off to our graduates. I’d like to ask our esteemed graduates to just pass it around among yourselves… whoever is last, would you kindly hold onto it, please.  Just as a symbol of today’s spiritual handoff.

Let that football represent your piece of God’s cosmic gospel project.

The Gospel

The Scripture summarizes that gospel in the simplest of terms.
It is the good news that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. And that he was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. (1Cor 15:3,4)
Christ died… that is historical fact.
For our sins… that is theological interpretation.
This is the gospel. The God-man whose sandals trod the dusty streets of Nazareth, that man who embraced lepers and welcomed sinners and reached out to us at our worst…
That man, Jesus, died, on an old, rugged Cross, on a hill called Mt Calvary.
And when he died, all your sin, and my sin, and the sin of the world was transfered to him.  He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Christ not only carried our sins, he paid for our sins too. The Supreme Court of Heaven found Jesus guilty, and condemned him as if he had done what we had done, making eternal reconciliation with God free for the taking, and free for the believing.
The historical fact is that Christ died.
The theological intepretation is that he died as a substitute for our sins.
And the beautiful term that sums it up is “the gospel of grace.”

Liberal Arts

Odds are stong, however, that you have not majored in Bible, ministry, or theology, though many have. Perhaps you majored in business, education, music, history, mathematics, nursing, chemisty, psychology, or the arts.
I hope your time at Simpson has given you an inkling… that when you peer beneath the surface of business, education, music, history, mathematics, nursing, chemistry, psychology — or any other field of study — when you look deeply enough, you will find, looking back at you the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because all truth is God’s truth.  All beauty is God’s beauty. If you contemplate it long enough, it will lead you to the foot of the Cross… and from there, to the Risen Savior, Jesus.
You don’t have to be a full-time pastor to be a lifelong minister of the gospel.
The Simpson University family is saying, “Here is truth; here is the fountain of all knowledge. Here is Jesus.  Here is the ground zero of all truth. Here is the gospel of grace. Here is the difference between hope and despair, life and death, heaven and hell. Here is the secret that the world around you desperately needs. You are passing through the gateway to world service.
Here is the gospel of grace. Here is the football.
We may not see you again, dear graduate, but if we do, we hope it to see you racing down the sidelines toward the goal, with the love of Jesus radiating in every direction… and the angels of heaven giving you a standing ovation.
Here is the gospel.
Run with it.

Payton

Walter Payton stood 5’10” and weighed 200 pounds. He could bench-press 390 pounds, leg-press 700 pounds, throw a football 60 yards, punt it 70 yards, kick 45-yard field goals, and walk the width of the field on his hands.
Everyday, he ran 20 laps up and down a steep hill.
He said, “I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field.”
When he retired Payton left behind 26 Chicago Bears team records and numerous NFL records.
Walter Payton died young, of a rare cancer, at age 45.
And you should also know he was a committed Christian. He was not shy about his faith. He told his biographer to make sure his faith shined through… and to spell all the words right…
Pretty much what our faculty wishes for you.

Our Prayer

By the way, that football you’re passing around was personally autographed by Walter Payton before he died.

What you have received is precious.

If he dedicated himself so ferociously to carrying a football down the field…
How much more should we, who have been handed something far more precious and wonderful, dedicate ourselves with equal ferocity to carry the gospel to the world.
Run with it into a world groping in darkness.
Run with it into hospitals and schools and families and businesses and construction sites and banks and mission fields and subdivisions and shopping malls and big box retailers.
Run with this gospel into dark places.
You are delivering the antidote to death. You are delivering the elixir of everlasting life.
This is what you’ve been preparing for. Your journey won’t always be pretty… you might get tackled; you might fumble.  It won’t always be pretty, but it will always be glorious.
And when trials come to drive you to the turf and stop you cold… echo the words of St Paul:
“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24, NKJV).
You’re not on your own. You have God’s own enablement. God’s own resources. God’s own storehouse of treasures.
WHATEVER GOD CALLS YOU TO DO, HE GIVES YOU THE POWER TO DO.
You have God’s own perfect Word – the Bible – written, living, and powerful.  And through that word of grace, God himself will build you up, bulk you up, suit you up, for your very own Superbowl celebration.
If you can endure the long haul of a university education, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.

Tomorrow

Today we celebrate your epic achievement: you have earned a degree. You should be proud of yourself. Congratulations. Thank you for your hard work. And, on behalf of the graduating class of Fall 2009, I want to thank you, moms, dads, husbands, wives, grandmothers and grandfathers, family, and friends, for standing with your graduate, and making his or her dreams come true.
Enjoy this day.
Beause tomorrow and all your tomorrows, it’s game day.

Can I have my football back?

And the Winner Is…

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Caption Contest for this picture.  With 80 entries, it was tough. So many really good ones! After much agonizing, analyzing, analogizing, and other things that begin with ana-, our impartial panel of judges I has have reached a decision.

First, the runners up… These entries made the final cut. You should be proud of yourselves!!! For your labors, you are the proud winners of A FREE LINK! (CLICK IT, GO AHEAD, RUNNERS UP ONLY). Enter this super-secret password: winner

• Upon reflection, Diego decided that free range cattle branding wasn’t such a “hot” idea after all… (KENNY)
• PERSEVERANCE: The courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other in the face of certain doom. (JOSH)
• If you think this photographer’s interpretation of “the cow jumped over the moon” is original and bold, you should see what he does with Hot Cross Buns. (MATT)
• ‘Where bull movements and bowel movements meet.’ (JOSH)
• Expecting the world to be fair to you because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. (DONNY)

Are you ready for the big REVEAL?  The GRAND PRIZE, FREE, AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF HOW TO KEEP YOUR INNER MESS FROM TRASHING YOUR OUTER WORLD goes to…

Protected: Told you…

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Hammered What?

It’s called a Hammered Dulcimer, and the best player in the world lives right here in our own little town.  Dig it…

Congratulations, Garrett!  You can hear more and see more videos at www.GarrettViggers.com.

It Ain’t Compassion if It’s Someone Else’s Dime

“Give me your money, so I can show compassion with it.“

Absurd, right? Especially at the point of a gun.

By definition, governments and their agencies, cannot show compassion. That’s because they fund their activities — benevolent or not — through the threat of force. If you don’t pay your taxes, terrible things happen to you, such as having to wait on hold, stand in line, talk to IRS agents, and go to jail.

If I take YOUR money by force, and give it to the next guy, who’s showing compassion?  Answer: NO ONE. Sorry, Robin Hood.

Compassion cannot be coerced.

Compassion cannot be legislated.

Compassion cannot be charged to someone else’s credit card.

Please notice I have NOT said that our government should get out of the business of doing good for people. Of course not. Our federal government exists, in part, “to promote the general welfare…” So, please don’t leave a comment about how I want to throw impoverished children onto the streets. I am simply arguing that NOBODY gets “compassion points” for anything governments  do.

Nor am I suggesting that all individuals employed by our federal government are heartless bureaucrats. Some are. Most aren’t. When I processed the 501(c)3 application (tax-exempt recognition) for my Chicago church at the U.S. Post Office in downtown Chicago, I met with a most wonderful, kind-hearted, compassionate, federal government minion. Yes, they’re out there.

But, as personable and compassionate as she was individually, she still followed the letter of the government’s laws.

The “passion” part of the word refers to emotion, and governance mixes with emotion as well as Kanye West with Taylor Swift. The government does NOT feel your pain, presidential claims to the contrary notwithstanding. In “Men in Black” Tommy Lee Jones deadpans the camera and says, “We’re the federal government, ma’am. We have no sense of humor.” Right. And no compassion either.

Can the current health care debate be about compassion as long as it is about government, too?

Can we delegate compassion to a soulless bureaucracy?

You can’t shift the burden your compassion to the government. Nor can you pat yourself on the back for voting for a candidate because his/her policies are “more compassionate.” THEY’RE SPENDING SOMEONE ELSE’S MONEY ACQUIRED THROUGH TAXATION!  IT’S NOT COMPASSION! Never has been, never will be.

“Compassionate conservatism?” No such thing; not unless compassion is a marketable commodity. “Compassionate liberalism?” No such thing; not unless feelings of mercy can be coerced by government regulation. A “compassionate” government is inevitably dysfunctional; governments run by laws, not feelings, and no amount of legislation can codify compassion. Good governance is dispassionate.

Can institutions weave compassion into their core values?  Yes. They can and should. But that compassion ceases the instant the institution’s funding becomes coercive. Samaritan’s Purse, Bongolo Hospital, most churches, and other eleemosynary organizations… compassionate institutions all. Yes, compassion can be institutionalized, but NOT by government or any other coercive agency.

But mostly, it’s personal.

Compassion is one man taking off his shoes and handing them to a neighbor who has none. Compassion is a woman pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity. Compassion is kids pulling money out of their piggy-banks for medical missions or literacy or to give a Happy Meal to a family on the streets. It is putting your arm around a hurting friend and stumbling through a prayer. It is cooking meals for new moms, and stopping to put on a spare for a senior citizen. It is the tenderness of heart that results in joyful self-sacrifice to meet another’s needs. It is person to person and neighbor to neighbor.

It doesn’t kick the cost down the road to our neighbors or their children.

It isn’t funded by someone else’s dime.

Jesus volunteered for the Cross. He didn’t shift the burden. He didn’t agitate the Roman government to create a compassionate society. He accepted the full weight of God’s love for our needy race. He cared. He came. He gave. He paid.

That’s compassion.

Got Caption?

Blow me away with a great caption for this picture, and I might send you a free Inner Mess book. Yep, that’s right. Your very own copy, autographed, and shipped gratis.  So, what you got? (fine print below)

(Fine print: minimum of 12 captions from different people, or fuhgetabout it… so tell your friends to chime in with lousy captions so they make yours look better… winner chosen next Friday… I’ll try to contact you twice via this blog or whatever info you gave me when you posted your caption, and then I’ll give up! My whimsical and capricious decision is final, so no whining).

Bureaucracy is the Foundation of Tyranny

Bureaucracy is the foundation of tyranny. What made old style Soviet Communism so onerous was having to wait in line for everything. Even worse, once you crushed your way to the front (when I was in Yugoslavia, they really didn’t take turns–they pressed forward and waved their hands until they’re called on)… you weren’t assured “permission” to build, buy, or operate what you waited in line for. The “permission giver” — let’s call him or her the bureaucrat — operated by whim, old-boy networking, mood,  bribery, or lust.

You had no rights, except the right to persuade the bureaucrat to see things your way.

Tyrants do not work in a vacuum. They cannot sit a thousand miles away, issue a decree, and expect serfs in their fiefdom to fall in line. The dictates of tyranny require a vast, unseemly administrative architecture. Enter, the bureaucrat.

Lenin could not have enslaved millions without bureaucrats regulating every facet of Soviet life. Hitler could not have dominated the masses so completely without acquiescent clerks: “Your papers, please.”

The administrative architecture does not see itself as aiding and abetting a Tyrant. The bureaucrat rarely sees him- or herself as a cog in a dictatorial machine. No. “I’m just doing my job — my hands are tied… Permission denied.”

Bureaucrats see themselves as protectors of the public good (God save us from those who would protect us). They are “reasonable people” saddled with Herculean demands from nameless clouds of functionaries above them. Disembodied “aeons” who connect to higher ups who connect to higher ups who connect to higher ups… all they way to the Big Guy, whoever he or she may be.

They administer the beneficence of their protection through regulations so convoluted no two reasonable people could possibly agree on their interpretation.

Ask to see a a superior even once and you’re screwed forever. The scowl on the functionary’s face tells you so. Unelected. Serving for life. Gatekeepers of the blessings of power and permission. You will make this person your friend, or your trash will never be collected again.

Yes, bureaucracy is the foundation of tyranny.

Everyday life devolves from the happy exercise of liberty into the monotonous pursuit of permission. Permission from a person who knew somebody who knew somebody and got a job — the primary skill of which is knowing how to ink a stamp pad — and is thus qualified to have a say in your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

It’s not the Tyrant per se that alienates your inalienable rights. It’s the bureaucrat that won’t let you (or will charge you prohibitive “fees” to): fell a tree, build a deck, pave a driveway, dig a well, light a fireplace, obtain a license, expand a business, add a drive-through, build a warehouse, sing a Christmas carol, or preach the gospel. In vast stretches of modern, so-called civilization you must obtain a “license” to preach Jesus. In China you must obtain a license to conceive a second child.

The Tyrant is so far removed from the scene, we may not notice his or her tyranny. We may deem the Tyrant a Very Nice Person. The Tyrant never stamped “Denied” across our papers. We do not yet feel the need to throw off his or her shackles. It’s that damn clerk down at the permit office that drives us nuts. Remember, Haiti called its dictators “Papa.”

It’s coming.

You will stand in line and you will learn to love it.

Welcome to the New World Order.

Your New Year’s Resolution ARCHENEMY

Copyright 2009 Bill Giovannetti ARR

Admit it: you’ve given up making New Year’s Resolutions, or at least have flirted with it. It makes no difference. As soon as you start, you know you’re doomed. Lose weight. Read the Bible. Tithe. Love your family/spouse/kids/parents better, write the Great American Novel… You know that by the second weekend of February, it’s all over. You started with a bang, and fizzled out.

Why?

Could it be that your best intentions have an archenemy? Could it be that for every voice within you that calls you to do good, another voice whispers… “We’ll see about that!”?

Your New Year’s Resolutions have a nemesis: your flesh, a.k.a., your Inner Mess.

15 I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15, NLT).

“I want to [insert your resolutions here] but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the opposite.”

You do not understand your life until you understand the force inside you that longs for the opposite of everything good.  Your flesh crouches like a beady-eyed troll at the intersection of moral guilt and personal corruption. He spoils every party, trashes every relationship, and sabotages every advance in your life. You are messed up. But don’t take that personally — it’s universal. When Adam sinned, we all fell, teaches Romans 5.

That means your best intentions have an adversary.

The trick is learning how to not be a flesh-dominated person.

As a lifelong confirmed legalist, I hereby testify that these strategies DON’T WORK:

1. Self punishment
2. Self sacrifice
3. Guilt and Shame
4. Making excuses
5. Covering up
6. Trying harder, pedaling faster, determination, resolve, will-power.
7. Denial

These strategies share the same fatal flaw: they represent attempts to solve the problem of the flesh by means of the energy of the flesh. The flesh can’t solve your flesh’s problems!

You need the power of God.

And that is exactly what Jesus brought with him when he saved you.  He brought supernatural, divine resources. He brought the Holy Spirit. Christ himself lives in you. He brought the promises of God. You have all the power you need to escape the gnarly clutches of the flesh. It is divine power, God’s own power, infused into you.

There are two secrets activating this power on a daily basis:

1. Faith. Trust Jesus Christ to live through you by his Spirit. Ask him to and he will. You received Jesus through faith, and you receive his ongoing provision through ongoing faith. You need a muscular faith. You need a mature faith.

2. Growth. Spiritual maturity, spiritual growth, discipleship… call it what you will. You need to grow up. We Christians expend so much energy solving problems and fixing dysfunctions. Most of our effort is wasted, because we’ve never addressed the problem behind the problem. The problem behind virtually every problem in your spiritual life is simple: LACK OF GROWTH. IMMATURITY IN THE LORD. If you’ve ever enjoyed the company of a well-trained dog, you’ll get this analogy: some Christians are an absolute pleasure to God. Others are annoying little puppies: beloved, but a pain the neck.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (Hebrews 5:12, NKJV).

Your resolve is only as good as your faith. Your resolve is only as certain as your growth curve. Your resolve is only as doable as your willingness to tap into divine resources allows.

Determination can only take you so far.

The gracious provision of God can take you all the way.  Christianity is always about us looking away from SELF and looking more and more to CHRIST.

Happy New Year!
Bill

For more about escaping a flesh dominated life, check out my book: How to Keep Your Inner Mess from Trashing Your Outer World. It’s an ideal topic to begin the New Year, with the best part of you in the driver’s seat.

Think About Jesus

Here’s what happens when a funky groove meets Jesus-preaching… thanks to Bob G’s creative editing for this.  It’s about 2.5 minutes audio about who Jesus is and what he’s done for you… Just in time for Christmas.  Click the link below.

Look at Jesus