Twin Towers Lights Are Awesome To Behold

The symbolism of the twin beams of light as they thrust skyward from the site of the now ruined but once majestic twin towers in New York is obvious to all who see them.

The first time I saw those twin lights on my television screen, I thought: what a wonderful tribute, what a magnificent way to celebrate and remember the lives of the nearly three thousand people who died there on 9/ll. As their families and friends know, those lights carry a heart-warming message of both encouragement and defiance that is far beyond the power of any of our well meaning attempts to comfort them. But, there is more to it than that.

In my lifetime, there was only one other occasion that compares with 9/ll. That was December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. I was fourteen years old back then. We first heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor as it was announced on our family radio that Sunday afternoon. The next day, everyone in my school gathered in the auditorium and together, we listened as President Roosevelt's declaration of war was announced to the nation, the world and us.

The sleeping giant, that was the USA, was awakened by the attack on Pearl Harbor. We went to war. Then, with the attack on 9/11, the sleeping giant was re-awakened. President Bush immediately declared war on terrorism. As we knew in 1941, and again in 2001, as one nation under God, we have a worldwide responsibility to fight for and defend the freedom of people everywhere...or else.

Back in WW2, and in today's 9/11, lives were both lost and changed. As Americans we will always enthusiastically rise to the challenge to: pray, work and support the God-given rights of all people, everywhere to live in freedom. This means, as citizens, we must enthusiastically vow to support patriotism, our troops, and our leaders.

The Yoke's On You - Freedom In Christ Or Slavery To Sin?

God has really been speaking to me lately. Yes, really. Amazing as it sounds for a man who has been a Christian for 31 years, I am just now learning that God still speaks to us, if we will only listen. For years, I don't think I fully believed this.....that we could really hear the Lord's voice. I just thought that God only spoke through the scripture....an attitude that results from being raised in "the age of reason" where anything of the heart is portrayed as naive at best and, at worst, a trick of the devil. It never dawned on me, until recently, that this attitude does not fit the God portrayed in those very scriptures. A God that actually states, when choosing David as king, that He looks MOST to the heart, while man looks at the externals. A God who continued to speak to and through the disciples even after Christ ascended to His throne.

The question I never asked myself is, "why would He stop now"? Well, I'm not sure why it took me so long (I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake) but I'm overjoyed that God is showing me that He does continue to speak to us, if we will learn to listen. I thank God for the writings of men who really knew Him and walked with Him. Men like Tozer, Lewis, Thomas a Kempis, and others. It is so refreshing to begin to really know God....not just know about God. I can see why God told Moses that nobody could look fully at Him or they would die because just going into a deeper walk with Him and hearing His voice has been almost overwhelming to me at times. How awesome that He is available to us!

One of the areas that He has really been working with me on is what it really means to be free in Christ. As a therapist, I see Christian men and women every day that truly are still slaves to their anger, their habits, their vices......to their sins. I look at the church in general and I still see so many people who look as if their yokes are truly heavy, not light as Jesus promised His yoke was. I even look at my own life and history and wonder why even my life has felt like such a heavy burden over the past few years. If Jesus' yoke is light, if we are to truly experience freedom in Him, why is it that many Christians seem to lack that freedom?

Well, God is still working on me in understanding all of this more fully but I'll tell you what He has shown me so far...

It is simply about where our focus is. I have written previously about my opinion that much of the church's teaching focuses on behavior control, or of how we can overcome certain sins we struggle with. I cannot tell you how many messages I have heard over the years on "3 steps to overcome sexual temptation" or "4 ways to tame the tongue" or "the 5 practices that enable us to be more obedient servants to God" or things like that.

We certainly mention that Christ wants a personal relationship with us but even that teaching is intertwined with making sure we have devotions every morning (and we all know that God is more present early in the morning J ) and that we read a certain amount of scripture each year and other "behavior-oriented" teachings. But what I'm hearing from God is that this preoccupation with behavior is why we are remaining slaves to sin. It's the focus. The tunnel-vision. I really cannot think of a better word than, once again, PREOCCUPATION. When we focus our hearts and our eyes on our behavior, on how we mess up, or even on trying NOT to mess up, this enables Satan to keep us shackled to sin. Even focusing on NOT sinning keeps us in slavery to it.

Can we deny this, really? On one hand, if we are focused on our sin because we are indulging in it, then we know that we are allowing ourselves to be chained to that behavior. Few would argue with me on that point, I'm sure. We see this in those who are stuck in the addictive cycle, whether it is to alcohol, drugs, pornography, or sexual affairs. Much of their lives revolve around where they will get their next "fix". It is blatant slavery to that sin. But, my friends, listen to me. When most of our focus is on how we will NOT sin, it still enslaves us. The truth is that we can only stop sinning through sheer willpower for so long. No matter how hard we try, we will eventually mess up. This is why the world needed Christ, because we were hopeless in ever trying to live up to the standards of the Law.

Yet, what God is showing me is that, much like the Galatian church, we are still trying to do our best to live up to the "standards" of both the Old Testament Law (the Ten Commandments) and a new law we have set up, based on New Testament principles of behavior. So much of our focus, both in and out of the church, is on how we can obey those commands. Even the world places this pressure on us. For instance, if a high-profile minister is caught in sin, the world jumps on his inability to live up to the very standards he teaches about. But that's the point!

We cannot live up to those standards. By trying to do so we are emulating the Galatian Christians, who were trying to get new converts to obey the Law even after accepting Christ. Even worse, by focusing on how we can keep these standards and by teaching others the same (and that it is actually possible) we mirror the very leaders that Christ was the most harsh with, the Pharisees. Christ said they placed a HEAVY yoke on the people, one that they were unable to bear. Without meaning to, I believe that many of us as leaders, preachers, teachers, elders, and laymen are doing the same. By focusing on behavior, we are placing a yoke on people; a yoke of shame (believing they are bad at their very core) caused by an emphasis on standards that we will never be able to live up to. This is slavery, pure and simple, because we are teaching people to either focus on what they are doing or we are teaching them that they are shameful beings, incapable of ever being who God wants them to be. This is a focus of bondage, and it is why most Christians have no clue about what it means to be free in Christ.

The Freedom of Traveling Light

My wife and I just returned from a mini vacation. This vacation was not like any other because we decided to travel light. What I mean by traveling light is that we decided to use regular backpacks only to put our clothes and travel items in. I have been doing a lot of research on simple traveling and wanted to put it in action to see how we would do for an 8 day trip to central America. Well it turns out it that using one bag was a huge success. We both managed to bring what we needed and never felt dirty or tired with what we were wearing or with our activities on our leisure time.

I discovered for myself so much freedom in traveling light. The airport was a breeze with all the security checks and customs. Anytime that we needed something it was very easy to find because all of the things we brought with us were between our feet when on the plane or in a bus. I did not worry if I forgot something because I had way less to keep track of.

To also keep with the traveling light idea we had very few plans on what we were going to do while on the trip. This was a first for myself because I tend to always want an itinerary and have things set up in advance to make sure we get the tickets needed for an event or whatever. This time it was different. We just made sure we had a place to stay and had our plane tickets. We then just took it as it came, and it was great.

We ended up meeting great people and we were invited to multiple trips to different areas of the country which we would not have been able to go if I had everything all mapped out in advanced. It was impossible for the weather to spoil our trip because we had nothing set up to do. So when it rained, which it did, we were able to enjoy it and sit inside a bar talking with the locals with out a care or sitting inside reading and relaxing with no stress. Without having an agenda we were able to be less stressed and could really enjoy our surroundings and each other much more.

Now since this was the first time traveling light we were a little unprepared for some things. So we decided to make a list of everything that we brought so that way we could take notes about what we would add or subtract from the list. We each have one and so next time we travel light we can have a reference.