Guide to Christians in the Middle East
The BBC has a handy web page detailing the tiny remaining Christian populations in Middle east countries:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4499668.stm
It's a worthy read.  Please pray with me for our kin in these nations.  They live under the heal of oppressive Muslim and even unfriendly Israeli governments.  May the Lord strengthen and encourage them as they live lives led by The Lord in very difficult circumstances. Take every opportunity to remind people that Arab does not mean Muslim.  These mainly Arab Christians are often invisible in our politics as well as in our prayers.

In Bader and Froese's book "America's Four Gods: What We Say about God - and What That Says about Us", they present a new rubric for mapping how we Americans think about God. (See a review here.)

Here is my post-it note of their rubric:

The basic idea is that cliche models of lift/right. liberal/conservative do not adequately provide for the diversity of  thought and voting presented by US Christians.  Rather, their analysis identifies two important vectors: whether we see God as Judgmental or not, and whether we see God as engaged in our world or not.  This grid gives us four views of God:
Critical: not very involved in our world but judging us
Distant: not very involved in our world but also not interested in judging us
Benevolent: not judging us but yet engaged with us
Authoritative: both fully engaged in our world and also judging of us.
Where we fall will give insight into our views on evolution and science, social action, and a raft of other topical interests.

Personally, my reading of scripture, people and my world, puts God as fully, fully engaged (off the charts engaged, actually) and both Judgmental and Benevolent - balanced between those two.

How about you?

Then I apply this rubric to myself.  Where do I see me? (Authoritative on details, Benevolent until I run out of grace!)  How am I seen? (Probably all four)
Then I apply this rubric to the people in my church.  Quickly several high profile individuals fall into the four quadrants.
Then I apply this rubric to our District leadership here in the New England Church of the Nazarene (Critical)

Then comes the rub...how would God apply this rubric to me?  Oh boy.  Suddenly I want a Benevolent God.

Ruby Bridges - a courageous American hero.

Fifty years ago, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked into a Louisiana school and made history as the first African-American to attend an all-white elementary school in the American South.

Ruby endured screaming crowds and demeaning threats, but her experience paved the way for generations to come and inspired a famous painting by Norman Rockwell.

Ruby and her family are real heroes in the cause of freedom and justice in the USA and thereby, the free world.

"I can choose to be grateful when I am criticized. I can choose to listen to the voices that forgive and to look at the faces that smile, even while I still hear words of revenge and see grimaces of hatred." Henri J. M. Nouwen

Lost in Translation
There are still times, 14 years later, that it feels alien for me to be immersed in US culture. One of these time happens whenever I listen/watch Craig Groeschell preach.  I like Craig. I really like to hear him be interviewed as he speaks such good sense so easily.  He is a great teacher and leader.  I watch and listen to him because I sometimes learn something.  I particularly like his approach to blending business psychology and preaching the Gospel.  This approach can, on occasion, turn up a new perspective.  That's exciting.  It's enough to keep me coming back to him.  However, every single message, there is a choke moment.  This is the moment that I want to hit the pause button and consider bailing out of the message.
It's always the same choke moment.  Usually it's in the first two thirds of the message. And it's always a Craig Groeschell self-aggrandisement moment.  In the past 2 months I have learned the following about Craig from Craig:  He is physically fit; he has frequent intimacy with his drop-dead gorgeous wife; his wife is a genius, humble and great with money, cooks like a chef and parents better than super nanny; Craig is a brilliant investor and is independently wealthy due to investing magnificently; Books pour out of Craig's mind like manna from heaven; All of Craig's children are remarkable; they all invest in the stock market; many are developing sermons at age 6; some are writing books; Craig is a championship level tennis player; he was a star student in seminary; his mentors read like a roll call of the Evangelical Christian hall of fame; Craig is humble enough to give 30 minutes a month mentoring sessions to a select few young preachers, who drink his words like honey; Craig is a stud, according to his wife; Craig's publishers are desperate for his next book;
Seriously.  If you don't believe me, subscribe to the podcast of his sermons and just listen to them.
Such overt self promotion, to my English public school ears, is just vulgar. It makes me wince.  It's so unsullied by grace and humility.  I am beginning to think that this is expected and accepted in the native US mind.  Am I right?  Even his attempts at humility come off as self-stroking to me.  Craig is a great preacher - good enough to keep me coming back, but boy I do wish he'd leave out the self profiling.  He says he is keen to take the focus of LifeChurch.tv off him.  At least he said that 4 years ago.  So far it looks like it's going the other way. If he died today (God forbid) I wonder what LifeChurch.tv would like like in 2 years time?

Pure preaching glorifies Jesus Christ, so that the preacher more and more fades from view, and is forgotten.  The lasting memory and impact lifts up Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory, the profile, the kudos and the lasting image.

NH the Wealthiest State
This from today's Union Leader:
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau report has revealed a list of America’s wealthiest and poorest states, based on the parameters of the median household income.

New Hampshire tops the list with the median household income of $65,028.

The rest of the top 10 states are New Jersey ($64,918), Connecticut ($64,644), Maryland ($63,828), Alaska ($62,675), Virginia ($61,126), Utah ($60,396), Massachusetts ($59,732), Hawaii ($58,469) and Washington ($58,404).

Southern America has nine states with the lowest median household income.

The 10 states with lowest median household income are Mississippi ($35,693), Arkansas ($37,987), West Virginia ($39,170), Tennessee ($40,034), South Carolina, Montana, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina and Louisiana ($42,423). 

The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels latest book picks up on an important aspect of the Christian life: that God still speaks to His people. if you've been a follower of Jesus Christ for anytime you'll understand the little nudges and promptings in your mind, the times you've suddenly thought of a person for apparently no reason at all.  Even before we commit to follow  Jesus, His Spirit is working in us to guide us and invite us to Him.
Bill quotes scripture to remind us that we are the sheep who need to learn to follow the Shepherds voice.

The next question is...how can I be sure that that little inkling was God speaking to me and not just the results of some bad sushi (or cheese)?  Bill helpfully gives 5 filters we can use to test any sense we have that God is talking to us.  The first four you can apply instantly:

1. Is what we've heard consistent with God's character and attributes?  God does not contradict Himself.
2. Is it consistent with scripture (the Holy Bible)?  Again, God has revealed His written word to us and is not going to now speak to us contrary to the scriptures.
3. Is it wise?  God is wise and His whispers to us will be wise too. If you think God is asking you to sell your car and spend the money on lottery tickets, you may need to run that idea through these filters.
4. Is it consistent with your wiring, your life experience, skills and talents?  While not impossible, it is unlikely that God will tell you to become a musical producer is you have no musically gifting at all!
5. Do trusted spiritually mature friends affirm your whisper from God?  God typically speaks to us through community as well as individually. Share your God-whispers with pastors and elder Christians and see if they hear it too.

Bills encourages us to be quickly obedient to a whisper.  I can attest that on more than one occasion, a person at church has popped into my mind, and I didn't pick up the phone and call them.  Later I've discovered that they were having a 'moment' just then, I missed the opportunity to be a part of what God was wanting to do. 

Do you want God to whisper to you?  If so Bill gives us two points to follow:

• Be faithful to the last time you were sure that God spoke to you. Maybe He is just waiting for you to respond to what He has already spoken into your life.
• Ask God to speak to you.  It's entirely healthy to start each day with the simple prayer to ask God to show Himself to you that day, 

Morning Walk
I try to put in 3 miles a day at dawn, and the more I walk the more I like it.  This morning the dawn broke all blue and gold over Moekle's Pond, all misty over the cold water.  Geese just floating on the still water and the trees bronze, gold and red.  It was cold and lovely.  My iPod shuffle gave me the perfect soundtrack just to seal the deal. I decided I'd make a YouTube playlist of the some of my favorite songs:  Enjoy:



Ginny Owens - Call Me Beautiful  (blind and brilliant Christian singer-songwriter)
Tony Melendez - All Creation Worships You (I just found out this guy doesn't have arms!)
Kari Jobe - Revelation Song (It takes the best singer around to carry this one off)
Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen (Could there be a better sunrise song?)
Chris Tomlin - How Great Is Our God (Good to see the master worship leader at work)