I’m a little late in getting to this, but I wanted to put some of my thoughts on the beauty I saw and heard going through this weekend; this holiest of weekends. This may be a little all over the place, so bear with me.
So where to begin?
Maybe the beginning……
Last week started with a good bit of stress, and a pulled back muscle that I thought might keep me from the Athens, Greece mission trip I leave for tomorrow. By Friday morning the pain I felt was so much that I couldn’t put much weight on my left leg. I was lamenting the possibility of missing this incredible opportunity. But then I remembered that the enemy loves to try to hold us down when God’s put us on a path to something bigger than ourselves, and major for His Kingdom.
I breathed, calmed down, realized that He could and would give me the strength to make it through the pain, asked Him to use the pain to spur me on, and sent out an SOS prayer request to the prayer warriors in my life. Like clockwork, shortly after responses from friends that they were praying, the pain started to gradually subside. By Friday afternoon, I could walk with the pain. This was good since I was joining my life group and several other believers for the annual citywide Good Friday event that night. More on this in a bit. I woke up Saturday morning with barely any pain, and by Saturday night I was pain free. The enemy tried to attack me with physical pain, but as per usual, his attacks count for naught when God is brought into the mix.
Now to get to the real heart and meat of it all.
GOOD FRIDAY
I had been looking forward to the Good Friday event for months, especially after learning that For King and Country was the guest artists for the night. Having the day off allowed me to show up early, but that didn’t really help with trying to save 15 or so seats by myself. I gave up on that and decided to wait for more of the group to arrive. Once they did, we split up with some of us choosing to head upstairs. Shortly after the bulk of the group joined us upstairs, the night started. It started as it always has. A giant white LED cross was carried down the isle on the ground floor, and raised into the rafters, above the stage.
Shortly after that a time of praise and worship started. I was excited to see my friend, and brother in Christ, Blaise singing with other worship leaders from churches all over Austin. I could write a whole post about what God is doing through him and the groups he’s founded and helped co-found. I won’t though. I’ll just say I’m looking forward to being a small part of what God is doing through him and those groups.
After that was a time for some of the pastors in attendance to speak.
The first one to hit me hard was Pastor Paul Ojeda. I met Pastor Ojeda a few years back, when we did a series on Near Death Experience (NDE) at my home church. The story he told was of a cocaine addict who had overdosed and died. He described meeting Jesus, and how that meeting and the opportunity to return with a new life visible before him changed the trajectory of his life.
He didn’t bring up his NDE this night. But he did bring up his addiction. He reminded all of us that we are not defined by what we do; what our addictions, struggles and bad habits are.
“It’s not ‘Hi! I’m Paul, and I’m a cocaine addict.’ It’s ‘Hi I’m Paul and I’m a child of God. I’m sanctified and redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.’”
As an addict, and one struggling with my addiction of late, this was the loving gut punch I needed. Too often we sit in our guilt and shame over what we are doing that makes us “bad people”, “less than”, “unworthy”, and so on. Our identity should never be in what brings us guilt and shame, rather it should be in who we are in Christ. In Him, we are saints. We are sanctified and washed clean by His blood. We are not held captive by guilt and shame but made free by God and His (freely) given grace.
I hope you read that and heard what God wants to say to you through that message.
The second pastor to hit me hard was Pastor Gaylon Clark. I’ve heard Pastor Clark speak every year at the Good Friday event, and I’m always shook by his words. This year especially so. He spoke about Christ and the horrific suffering he endured for our salvation. It was not the great detail he used to describe the ordeal Christ willingly underwent. What struck me was what he said about God and Christ’s love for us, even though, as sinners, we war against Them more times than not.
Now I’m paraphrasing and providing what I heard from him….
He said that God loved us; all of us—every race, no matter what we may have done in our lives—so much that He sent His only Son to be born fully man, to live, preach to us, suffer unspeakable hatred and atrocity at our hands, and die nailed to a cross, to conquer sin and death so that we would not be condemned to eternity away from Him.
We’ve all heard that before, right?
So, what’s different?
What he said next struck me. For those of us who are believers, we know this. But we forget the significance of it. If you’re reading and not there yet, That’s okay. Keep reading, and keep an open mind as you do.
God loved us enough to send Christ to die for us. Yes.
But what gets overlooked is that Christ made the choice to not give in to the repeated tempting of the devil. He could have called down an army of angels to strike down the soldiers sent to arrest him in Gethsemane. He could have denounced who He was as He stood before His own people who were yelling out “Crucify Him!” He could have forgone the flogging and brutalizing that would have killed most who endured it. He could have summoned the strength within Him to come down off the Cross and bring down righteous vengeance on those who mocked him, even as He struggled to lift himself up to breathe a labored breath. Instead, He prayed and pleaded on their behalf, “Forgive them, Father. For they know not what they do.” Christ made the decision to submit to the will of His Father, even though He, who was fully God and fully man, could have chosen to forsake humanity to save himself.
But He didn’t.
Christ endured more than anyone could possibly endure, for us. The most painful of it all was seeing His Father turn away, because He could not bear to look upon His Son, who had taken upon Himself the sin of all—for all time. His disciples abandoned Him, except for John. His Father’s chosen people had called for his death. And still He endured it all, for all of us.
Even more than God sending His son to die, His Son, made the choice to fulfill the last of the prophecies and obey His Father’s Will. He did so because He also loves us so much that He laid down His life for us.
But what if that was it? What if it stopped there?
Then there’s no salvation for anyone…
But it didn’t stop there. Sunday came. The stone was rolled away, and the body of Christ was not found in the tomb.
Death was defeated for all time.
He had risen. Because of this, every one of us, now had a direct path to salvation and personal relationship with God. EVERY ONE OF US.
That’s a good bit more than what Pastor Clark said, but that’s what was put on my heart as he was speaking.
Now, on to For King and Country, and what I took from them.
Their concert was incredible as always. But I want to focus on what they said, and what I saw that really struck me.
The first was the adorable child dancing around on the ground floor.
During the beginning part of their concert, I looked down to see a toddler dancing—more like waddling like a penguin—up and down the center aisle. Immediately, I thought of the times that Jesus reminded His disciples that the children are blessed, and if we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must have faith like a child. I don’t think I’ve had a bigger or more goofy smile on my face in a long time. Watching the toddler bob along to the music, it felt like my heart was smiling too; like the child suppressed within me was leaping and dancing (badly) for joy.
One of the songs they performed was one most of us know by now; Priceless. Before they did, they spoke about the sex trafficking industry being 100+ billion-dollar industry, annually. It’s sickening and disheartening to hear that such a despicable industry is thriving as it is. But there is certainly hope amid it. Groups like For King and Country are helping to fight the battle against this industry. They are working to put a stop to the loss of innocence and humanity that comes for so many young men and women throughout the world. This song is an anthem for anyone who feels that they are worthless, because of any form of sexual abuse and loss of innocence. If you’ve read this far, and are struggling with a lack of, or misplaced sense of worth because of past abuse, please listen to this song. Let the words permeate your heart. Hear what God is saying to you through them. Know that you are worth more than the purest diamond. You are priceless in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of any who would stand up against sex trafficking and sexual abuse.
The other big piece that stuck with me was the younger brother, Luke, who shared the story of being on tour in Austin, back in 2014, and getting a call from his wife that shook his world to its foundations. His wife called to tell him he needed to come back home. She was struggling. Her addiction had taken her over, and she could not fight it alone. What struck me was the way he described the addiction. He didn’t say he needed to go home to help her with her problem. He said, “We have a problem and we will fight it together.” That is what agape love is. That is sacrificial love. So often, in today’s world, we choose to run, or we choose to stay but from a place of obligation. Obligation will turn to resentment, and resentment to something far worse. We are not called to stand because of obligation. We are called to stand because of love; godly, agape love. To be in healthy, Christian relationship with someone, no matter on what level, is to stand with them from a place of sacrificial love. Without love, we can accomplish all the philanthropic achievements we want, but we are nothing. To quote one of their songs, “We are bankrupt without love.”
So, yeah…that was Good Friday.
I won’t say much on Easter, because…well…see above.
What I will say is this, being a part of Easter at our North and South campuses was a true joy. From the four services at North, to the 6pm service I decided to attend at South (from the booth, of course), to the time in fellowship with some wonderful framily at a Crawfish Boil (I’m not a crawfish fan, but the fellowship was enough to sustain me), this Easter was overflowing with Joy.
I’ll leave you with this.
I mentioned at the beginning (by the way, God bless if you’ve read this far) that I’m embarking on a mission trip to Athens, Greece. Our LDP (Leadership Development) group leaves tomorrow. We’ll be walking in the footsteps of Paul and working with Greeks and refugees while we’re there.
To quote one of the greatest heroes in literary history, Samwise Gamgee, “If I take one more step, it will be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.” Sam never would’ve become the hero he was meant to be, had he chosen not to take that step. I look forward to taking that step, and many more over the course of the next 10 days.
In keeping with the Tolkien quotes, as Bilbo said, “I’m going on an adventure.” To step out in faith is ever an adventure. And it’s always one worth taking.
So, find your adventure. Take the step that’s further than you’ve ever been. You’ll be amazed where God will take you, when you do.
The Random Musings of a Nerdy Christ Follower 