Invincible at 18

Most of our students get around on foot.   

A lot of them use the city bus.

A handful ride bikes.

And a few brave souls skateboard throughout our urban terrain.

Skating is cool.  It is quiet efficient.   But it can also be a meat grinder. 

I was headed from UrbanLife, back home, with Amare and Atsede in the car.   Our summer farm crew had just finished work.  Ernesto was headed home too.  He was on a 5 foot long skateboard, built for speed and 'carving.' We happened to be leaving at the same time.

Heading west from campus, I realized that Ernesto was going to have to deal with one giant, no gargantuan, hill.   Urbanlife sits atop the highest point of City Heights, overlooking the whole community.

As Ernesto approached the drop-in point beyond the crosswalk, my chest became tight.  In a moment, I experienced a significant portion of his adrenaline rush.  In a flash, I was transported back to 1997 at the University of San Diego.  In that place and time, I dropped in on an asphalt mountain, riding a skateboard and carrying a surfboard under my arm. I didn't make it that day.  And neither did my right clavicle bone.    

"Is he really gonna do that?" I breathed again.  "No!"

He was 18 and invincible though.

Accelerating our minivan through the stop sign to follow Ernesto, I saw it.

He dropped in.  

He picked up speed.

He picked up more speed.

Then he leaned into a turn.  He leaned the opposite way, into the hill.   

It seemed to be controlling his speed!

He made it half way down and then pointed the nose of the board straight down.

Ernesto was going to make it!

Then a wheel popped off.

Metal trucks, once spinning four wheels, dug into the concrete.  Sparks flew.   And so did Ernesto.  

Something was going to take the hit.   He sacrificed his rear, elbow and palm, forcing them to act like brakes.   

The skid lasted way too long.   I hated watching it.   I still hate thinking about it.

Speeding up and then pulling over, I rushed out to check his condition.  He was shaken up.  But seemed okay.

"Did my wheel come off? That was so weird."   I didn't know.  It happened too fast.

Like a good soccer mom, I had a full blown first aid kit ready to go in the minivan.

We stopped the bleeding.   We got him some water.  And we transported him to his mother.

"Thanks a lot JP" Earnesto repeated.

"No worries man.   I am just glad you are okay."

With one more thing to say, I added, "Oh yeah, Ernesto?"

"Yeah JP"

"I know that you are 18 bro.   But you are not invincible."

"I got you JP."

Mic'd Up: Ridiculous and Redemptive's Keynote Address

If I could host a Ridiculous and Redemptive Conference, this guy would be your keynote speaker.

Joe Bankard doesn't just get the nod because he is one of my closest friends.

He doesn't earn our attention on the heels of his recently published book.

He doesn't make this short list because he is a Philosophy professor that finds himself discussing elevated topics like: "Moral Instincts and the Problem with Reductionism."

No. Bankard gets the nod because he lives the Ridiculous and Redemptive ethic. This guy is able to crack up, dress up, and bug out with the best of us.

But he is also a deeply committed follower of Christ.   He lives Kingdom priorities as consistently as anyone I know.  And his words challenge me to be more faithful.  They will challenge you as well.

A couple of weeks ago now, Joe was given the chance to preach at his church in Boise, Idaho.  His sermon, "Things I Wish Jesus Said: 'There is Nothing More Important than Your Nuclear Family'" moved me deeply.

In the same way that MLK Jr. used the parable of the Good Samaritan to ask "Who are your neighbors?" Joe uses Luke chapter 9 to ask the question, "Who is your family?  In less than 22 minutes, he was able to capture and delineate what I currently understand to be my life calling: to broaden my concept of family and to be present with the motherless and fatherless.  

I am inviting you and challenging you to listen today.   <<CLICK HERE>>  Be sure to listen to the sermon from 7/28/2013.

In his teaching, Joe reminds us that the task of redrawing lines around family is not the role of a single family pastor or of that one crazy family in your church that adopted 18 kids.  It's going to take all of us.   Each of us that identifies with the name of Christ has a role to play in welcoming God's children that lack family here on earth.

It can look all kinds of ways.  It can be mentoring youth (through UrbanLife, please :).  It can look like inviting the lonely neighbor out to pizza with your own family.  It can look like fostering a baby (like Angels Foster Family Network) or a teen (like Casey Family Programs) with the targeted support of a private family service agency. It can look like providing diapers and respite for a struggling single mother in the church or neighborhood.  It can look like faithfully giving and writing to a Compassion kid abroad in a way that mitigates disadvantage and suffering that come with poverty. It can look like an unexpected invitation to a Thanksgiving meal or a regular weekday dinner.
It should look like all of these things and more.  And when it does, the world will see the church at its best.  The children and youth that we befriend will experience the church at its best.  People will see the church living and laughing and embracing like an extended family.

May we find more and more ways to re-draw the lines around traditional family.  Let's do this until every single child knows they are a child of God and are loved unconditionally.

In the end, it may be the most redemptive thing we could do.                       Ever.

On the Outside of an Inside Joke: Summer Camp Series 5

Imagine you are chosen to participate in an "up-front" game, in front of about 175 people.
You, along with three others, are sent out of the room for a short time.
When they call you back in, it's one at a time.
When you look into the audience, their grins are wide.  Their eyes are expectant.   And you feel like there's something they are not telling you.
You are on the outside of an inside joke.

But everyone is cheering.
And you must concentrate.
The person with the microphone is giving directions and so you must listen.

The game sounds simple:
1. Lift the bucket.
2. Name whatever you find under the bucket.
3. Get the fastest time.

Simple right?  Click to see how it unfolded for one of our (un)lucky students.

The room erupts.
This stuff is ridiculous.

If only they would have warned you about the human head- inside the plastic bin.

The 'ME' Part of Missionality on Eid-al-Fitr

The 'ME' Part

In a previous post this week, I asserted that it was God’s job to transform the hearts of my Muslim friends.   But I am learning that I do have an active role to play in this mix.  Stated simply, I am called to obey Jesus.  Another author, Jerry Trousdale, in Miraculous Movements, is teaching me what obedience might look like in my context.  Trousdale indicates that being intentional, inviting and biblical in friendship with Muslims should include these markers:

• People engaged in real, meaningful friendships over (often) long periods of time.
• Folks committed to much prayer.
• Individuals attempting to find common ground between Muslim and Christian faiths.  Avoiding me-versus-you debates.
• Men and women discipling others even before their friends are professed believers.
• Folks expecting the hardest places to yield the greatest results.

So in my context, and with my friends, I am committed to a long-term friendships with these boys.  It’s not limited to the upcoming academic calendar. For me this looks like visiting them at school, attending their games, and having them over to the house.  They should know my kids, my w, and maybe even my dog, Zion (though Muslims don’t touch dogs). I should disciple them, even before they know Jesus.  Teaching can happen in the context of small groups and large group activities through UrbanLife.  But discipleship is as much ‘caught’ as ‘taught.’  If they are hanging with me, I will seek to model the quintessential Jesus-way of loving enemies, being last instead of first, forgiving offenses.   I should be on my knees praying for them, and their welfare.  That looks like waking up early, even before my young kids! And I should expect a mighty God to finish the work.  That looks like me living with some boundaries, resisting the temptation to act as the Savior.

This Month is Ramadan; Today is Eid-al-Fitr

Ramadan is big time.   Across our town and throughout the world, followers of Islam are observing a dusk-to-dawn fast right now.  This month-long fast commemorates the revelations given from God through Gabriel to Muhammad.  During this time, my friends are praying more and are more receptive to God’s voice.  Today’s Eid-al–Fitr feast marks the end of the holy week. 

Dreams are big time too.  God is using them to call individuals to follow Jesus throughout the Muslim world.  Across the globe, Jesus Christ is renewing the lives of tens of thousands of Muslims.  Of these masses, nearly 70% of the new followers of Jesus report having dreams that transformed them forever.  For “God-knows-what” reason, this is the avenue many are finding freedom and life in Christ.

Knowing that my friends are receptive and that my God is able, I have been praying for dreams this month.  I continue pray my friends may encounter the love and the forgiveness of Jesus. I pray they might experience Him for real and know that He is good.  

Would you pray with me?

Vomit Never Gets Old (To My Crew)

I had to do something.
So I made up two rules on the spot.  

I had to.  

We were driving home from the Summer Family Beach Bash and Baptism.  

I had the van-load of youth.  And the streets were lined with people: walking dogs, lugging beach gear, cruising bicycles, holding hands, and sporting mohawks. Behind tinted windows, I knew my crew couldn’t resist the temptation to interact with most of these pedestrians.  It was going to happen.  And some of it was going to be inappropriate.

So I set the stage.

“Look guys.  I have two rules. One, you can’t be rude or mean."  Pausing to let the first rule sink in, I continued, "...Two, if you yell out the window, it’s got to be funny.”

Being the effective educator that I am, I modeled the strategy.  First, I honked at a grandma.  She waved as if she knew me and my whole van waved back.   Then I prompted a bulldog to look our direction with a simple, “What up doooog?”  This move was also a 'hit' for my passengers.

That's when a student riding in the front seat came up with his own 'shtick.'

Using the extra lemonade from the picnic, this student filled his mouth and then waited for the eye contact of a walking bystander.   Once he got the eye contact, he expelled the lemonade on the pavement below our vehicle, making repulsive sounds to boot.  To everyone watching, it looked like he had caught the flu and was hurling his dinner.  He was fake-puking. And by the third attempt he perfected it all, the ‘heave,” the deep burp and even the dry heave that follows.  

Pedestrians were shocked.

But our van could not stop laughing.

This act followed my rules. It certainly was ridiculous.  But it wasn’t mean.  It didn’t hurt anyone.   And it was exceedingly funny (to us).

So I let it go.

And so it happened over and over, until we got home.

Next time, I'm thinking I need three or four rules.   

On Being Missional (And Not) With My Muslim Friends: Summer Camp Series 4

Getting Muslims to go to camp is one thing.   Getting them to follow Jesus is a whole other thing.   It seems like a humungous jump, a God- sized miracle.

These are not the young men I am referring to. But they are amazing too.

Conversion is up to me?

The crazy thing is, I’m not even convinced that conversion is my job.   Sure, I play a part in the story.  We are, after all, God’s instruments.  The church is to be His hands and feet on Earth.  We are called to love unconditionally, as He does.  But I am not feeling the pressure of converting my four friends in the span of seven days and six nights, in between zip line rides and pool Olympics.  No mam.  I told my friends as much too. 

In a conversation on the front end of the trip, “I won’t be putting pressure on you to convert up there or make you feel weird or embarrassed.  More than anything I want to know you more and make memories together.   Sure, it’s important to me that you hear about the Jesus I follow. You probably know him as ‘Isa al Masih,’ from the Qur’ ran.”

They nodded. I continued, “We will be talking about him and about our lives every night up at camp.   I just want you to be respectful and honest.  But I am not about putting the squeeze on you.”
With the look of relief, “We got you, Coach.”

God is The Transformer

It is still God who still holds the patent on transformation folks.   His Spirit does the work of changing hearts.  It’s not us.  Carl Medearis, author of Muslims, Christians and Jesus, is helping me think through this tension.   After years of ministering, working, and living with Muslims in the Middle East, Medearis shares that “…I stopped making it my mission to ‘convert’ anyone to the things I thought were important.  I learned that by following the Holy Spirit and being obedient to the teachings of Jesus, I could watch God save a person.  I learned that it is the Spirit’s responsibility to bring people to himself, not mine” (143).   In another place, he shares, “…we are not even here to “build the kingdom” but rather to obey the king.  Kings build their own kingdoms.  And Jesus can surely build his.  We are involved in the process because we follow him” (35).

UrbanLife’s Congruent Core Value

Because I am investing resources into relationships with Muslim friends, it helps that my boss and my board are fans.  A core value at UrbanLife is agendaless-ness with youth.  Youth are not and should not only be loved and mentored and invested in, if it’s probable or likely that they will follow Christ. Agendaless-ness – We are committed to building friendships with people in the inner city without an agenda or purpose. If we love people so that they do something or go somewhere (i.e. our church or program), we have ceased to love them and have moved into manipulation. We have hopes, dreams, and visions for what our friends can become but if none of those ever get realized, the friendship remains.  Jesus loved us before we first loved Him.  He loves and pursues and invests in even the most rebellious and apathetic.  See Prodigal Son Luke 15.  So at UrbanLife, we know that many will not turn to Jesus in our time working with them.  We know that, like my four Muslim friends, following Jesus might mean upending a lot that is currently stable in their lives: family, culture, friends.  That’s a big ‘ask.’  And this kind of movement may require a Paul-like experience of God that is so powerful, it cannot be denied.  I’m not off the hook.   But that part is definitely God.