It used to be that I could be outside at night and I could hear the Pope high school drum line as they practiced. I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that I can’t hear them anymore, even though I know they are out there practicing. I came to the conclusion that they just must not be as good as they used to be and that they have fallen off of their game.

A couple of nights ago I was out in the yard and all of the sudden I could hear the drum line. I was so surprised by it that my head literally snapped up toward the school. I remember wondering where they had been all of this time and was glad to see that they were finally on their way back. Then it dawned on me – maybe the problem was with me. I wondered “when was the last time I actually spent any amount of time working in my yard with anything other than a lawn mower?” I realized that the drum line was probably there the whole time, I just had to shut out all of the noise that was preventing me from hearing the drum line.

Then it hit me harder. Maybe the reason I don’t hear God as often as I would like is because I have too much noise in my life and I haven’t put myself in a postion to hear Him.

Yeah… the problem was definitely with me.

About Vampires, Werewolves and True Love

A few weeks ago I asked our students to tell me about this phenomenon  sweeping the nation called “The Twilight Saga”. These are a series of books and movies about vampires, werewolves and love (and a very “hot” guy named Jacob if you believe some of the girls). Yeah, I know… I don’t get it either. Several of the students gave me a very dynamic summary of the storyline but finally had to give up because there wasn’t enough time and there was just way too much information to properly tell the story.

But What About Our Story?

I then asked them to tell me about our story. The one found in the Bible. The one that tells of the love of God for us. The telling of that story wasn’t nearly as dynamic and was spotty in a few places. There  were no complaints that they didn’t have enough time and that there was way too much information to properly tell the story.

Nooooo… He Didn’t Just Say That… Did He?

So I asked them what happened in the retelling of our story. The retelling of the vampire story was detailed and energetic. Not so much with  our story. Then one of our students put it as bluntly as I’ve ever heard it. He said “Girls don’t find Jesus hot.”

Say Again???

Yeah, that kinda took me back for a second, too, because that statement on the surface is unsettling. However, I immediately recognized the wisdom and truth in that statement. That one statement is a fairly accurate and unfortunate summary regarding the mindset of society as a whole. We’ve managed to push Jesus aside for the next “hot” thing. This isn’t just a youth thing, either. I suspect if I would’ve asked adults to do the same thing, many of them would’ve responded in the exact same way. Fortunately, this is a problem that resolves itself. All it requires is that we take a good look at our story, its hero, its triumphant ending and take it to heart. Ours truly is “The Greatest Story Ever Told!”

Too many times we are a mediocre people content to live mediocre lives and accomplish mediocre things. These tendencies toward mediocrity do not compel us to seek great things from God. If we profess that “Our God is Greater” (see Chris Tomlin song for reference), then we have to believe that God doesn’t call us to achieve mediocre things.

Also,

• If our God is greater, that means He doesn’t call us to be comfortable.
• If our God is greater, then we must go beyond looking at what is possible and start looking at the impossible.
• If our God is greater, than that means our vision must be greater.
• If our vision is to reach and be relevant to other church goers then our vision is way too short sighted. That’s why we must filter our vision by looking through God sized lenses so that our vision compels us to reach the lost and be relevant to a community and generation that is radically different from the one that was here 20, 50, and 100 years ago. We must then be willing to reevaluate every aspect of everything we do and change those areas that fall short of achieving that God-sized vision.