Archive for the ‘Blog’ category
by Christian on June 05, 2008
Two days ago I finished Godology. Well, no one ever finishes a book, but two days ago I abandoned it to my editor. It should come out next year sometime. That’s the thing about books. You spend several months writing them and then by the time they hit the shelf it’s like, “Did I write that?” Here’s a portion from a chapter entitled “Mardi Gras and Icicles:”
“So I’m standing on a parade route in New Orleans yelling my head off for beads. It’s Mardi Gras and electricity zigzags through the air. The jazz is swinging, the floats are rolling, and I’m dancing like the world’s about to end. To my regret, I catch a glimpse of a topless fat guy catching doubloons. On his belly was a bright red fleur de lis, the official emblem of New Orleans. The pedals wiggled as if independent from his body. I winced—it’s no wonder they call it “Fat Tuesday.”
The next Sunday I stumbled into church. The excitement was low and a general boredom hung over the congregation. As the music played, I didn’t feel like getting my praise on. My hands wouldn’t clap. My feet wouldn’t dance. I tried to squeal out a few notes, but my throat was hoarse. I was all used up—just another dehydrated Christian sucked dry by the fangs of worldliness.”
. . .
“The Trinity is a mystery. No doubt about it. But this is what we know: God has forever existed in three persons—Father, Son, and Spirit. Before cities were constructed or worlds created, God hung out with himself. He was His own party. Some say three’s a crowd, but in this VIP club, the King, Prince, and Advisor share a perfect blend of intimacy, community, and eternity.
I’ve always been a sucker for thrift stores. Give me a few dollars and a free Saturday and I’ll come back with anything from a torn up pair of jeans to a urine stained couch. On one such day, I stumbled upon a faded blue Bruce Lee T-shirt. He was really laying down the law with a flying dragon kick. The shirt didn’t have any bloodstains, so I decided to try it on. As I stepped into the three-way mirror, a thousand kung fu kicks appeared in the distance. Each pane of glass reflected the images of the others. And I stood in awe, gazing at the Bruce Lee infinity.
How can God be one and three at the same time? Got me. I’m still trying to figure out how Bruce Lee jumped that high. The English language can’t articulate the unity of God. Though grammatically troubling, it’s perfectly accurate to say that God are one and They is three. Like a three-way mirror, each person in the Godhead satellites the other—an eternal reflection—forever bright, forever burning, forever dressed in glory. Most families have some degree of dysfunction, but not God. In Him there is no distant stepfather, prodigal son or absentee spirit.
Believe it or not, the word Trinity is actually not written in the Bible.3 But the Scriptures clearly teach the unity of God: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV), and they also teach the diversity of God: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NIV). So we believe them both.
One of the beauties of living in a postmodern era is that we don’t need a cold scientific explanation to believe in the supernatural anymore. Modernism is behind us. In the eighteenth century the Age of Faith gave way to an Age of Reason. But now in the twenty-first century, we are entering into another great Age of Faith. We are living in an age when we know that the more we know, the more we know that we don’t know much at all. You know? And such knowledge makes us small again.”
by Christian on May 15, 2008
This is the cover of my latest book, “Godology: Because Knowing God Changes Everything” (release next year). Each chapter contains an attribute about God, a spiritual discipline in sync with that attribute, and an outward expression of that truth for the world. It’s the whole upward, inward, and outward thing.
I must confess, though, that as I am engaging God’s characteristics I find that at my best, I can only sit before His attributes and behold them. They are too beautiful to analyze; too exhaustive to wrap into a twelve page chapter. I’m writing this book barefoot–sometimes in rubber Crocks– because the ground of God is holy. It’s somewhat embarrassing to attempt to describe the indescribable, to articulate the Eternal. So thank you for your prayers. I’m currently on chapter eight and the horizon is on the horizon.
With the Lord’s help, I am also writing a Trailblazer book with Christian Focus Publications in Scotland on the Great Scottish Reformer John Knox. I think John Knox was the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to have lunch with. He was stubborn as a mule, his temper was out of control, but he was also in love with the Savior. I guess it took a brazen kind of guy back then to reform the church. But mercy. To see him at Starbucks or something would certainly be a sight.
by Christian on May 01, 2008
It’s jazz fest down in here in New Orleans and I wanted to show my support with a quick jazz painting. I played the saxophone in highschool and college and love the raspiness of the instrument. But down here, the sax players are unbelievable. Their fingers move a mile a minute. I think it’s all that crawfish eating–pulling tails from torsos. I heard a guy make his saxophone sound like a duck the other day–QUACK QUACK QUACK.
I’m currently on chapter 6 of my new book, Godology. It’s easy, sometimes, for writers to breeze through chapters without letting the subject matter really sink in. But for some reason, this book is making me slow down to really engage the character and nature of God. I’m discovering that the deeper I go, the more I get sucked in. For example, this chapter is on God’s holiness. I’m finding that God’s holiness is much more serious, and even dangerous, than I previously expected. To be in the presence of a holy God could cost you your life–like Uzzah in I Chronicles 13:7. Yet, the mystery of salvation is that the Holy God, the One who lives in “unapproachable light” flickered to earth as a man. Holiness found a very human place to live.
by Christian on April 22, 2008
Back in high school I sketched this portrait of my granddad, Robert Wyse, only months before he died. I’ve never released this picture to the world, but feel it is right to do so now. My granddad was an amazing man. He was a Christian, a carpenter, an engineer, and believe it or not, a renown aviator. He built his own red bi-plane from scratch. Some of my earliest memories are sitting in the cockpit, eyes on the skies. He and I often shared lengthy theological discussions and he instilled within me many things: a passion for incarnational living, fishing, woodworking, and most of all, dreaming. He once told me that nothing was to hard to tackle if God was behind me. His words are proving true.
This portrait is charcoal on tinted paper. 1999.
by Christian on April 19, 2008
This is my radio interview with Debbie Chavez from yesterday. I sensed the interview went well, but I was rather surprised at the end when she brought up the notion of hell. Most radio personalities won’t touch that topic with a ten foot microphone, but not Debbie. No sir. We discussed how my generation doesn’t want to step on any toes by embracing a taboo on the topic.
It has become popular, if not completely widespread, to underemphasize the biblical view of hell–that lake of fire with brimstone and gnashing of teeth. It’s written off as uneducated and medieval. But Jesus talked more of hell than heaven, and if we are to be biblicists, we must consider the heaviness and seriousness of this long forgotten mystery. Health only comes from an understanding of sickness.
DebbieShow.MP3
by Christian on April 17, 2008
Picking up a paintbrush was difficult, but I must admit, it was rather refreshing to work with pigments instead of paragraphs. This is an oil on canvas entitled “Eyes Wide Shut.” In this painting I wanted to communicate the power of prayer. It’s kind of like Picasso meets Saint Benedict.
Sometimes we have to embrace the blindness so we can see God. We have to embrace the deafness to hear him. And when we do, we find sweet communion with our Savior. Hope you enjoy!
by Christian on March 22, 2008
Christianity is sinking into the Global South. For Americans, particularly myself, this is somewhat offsetting. We are an insular people. We enjoy thinking, talking, and studying ourselves. Most of the time, we are the subject of our sentences. Yet South America and Africa are exploding with revival while North America and Europe are declining in authentic faith. Having traveled throughout Europe, I can testify to this phenomenon and it seems to me like the church in America has a very important decision to make:
Either we revive or we rot.
Either we get on our knees and pray that God will spark another awakening in our land or we become irrelevant to global Christianity. One thing I’ve noticed about Christianity in our country is that we are absorbed with ourselves. This is expressed denominationally and post-denominationally. Yet the essence of the Gospel is the emphasis on others, not ourselves. We are here for one another. We are in this world to be light and salt in a dark and bland society. And twentysomethings are realizing this. The past reminds us that Christian cultures that obtained great prosperity became too comfortable and their faith disintegrated. But we are ready for a revolution.
The past is teaching us how to behave. We are going back in order to go forward, and we’re learning that it is costly to be a Christian. We are learning that true freedom comes from sacrifice and obedience is more important than success. The way up is the way down and darkness shows us Christ more than sunshine does. Instead of asking What would Jesus do? we are asking, What would Jesus have me do? And we are doing it. We are learning that God doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t call us to forget us. He doesn’t equip us to discard us.
And the God who pulls us to himself joins us for the journey.
by Christian on March 14, 2008
Here is an interview I did with Gus Lloyd from Sirius Satellite Radio. It was “seize the love” day on his show, and there was certainly some Catholic love to go around. I’ve been doing interviews with Gus for a while, beginning with Sacred Travels, and I really respect his show. He travels quite a bit and has some really interesting insights into pilgrimage and the Christian faith.
I am currently writing a chapter on the trinity for a new book and the more I am digging, the more I am finding that the human brain cannot comprehend the incomprehensible. We are ants trying to figure out the mechanics of aviation–it’s way over our heads. But God has given himself to us so purely that the little we do know about him is enough to reduce us to children, gaping at a God who is bigger than the universe.
SiriusRadio.m4a
by Christian on March 12, 2008
Today my wife’s grandfather is going to have brain surgery. Last week they found a tumor in his brain and today they are going to take a sample of it for analysis. Please keep him in your prayers.
by Christian on March 08, 2008
So the rumors are true . . . I’m a Mac addict. Not going to deny it. Ever since I purchased my MacBook Pro I’ve been writing up a storm. And the Keynote powerpoint program really helps when I speak at colleges and need a good slideshow. I think if God had a computer it would be a Mac. Even the apple logo is biblical–Genesis 3–Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit.
Not long ago I did an interview with Gabe Taviano, the founder of GodsMac.com. I highly recommend subscribing to his podcast. The guy is very excited about the Christian faith and is not ashamed to talk about how technology meets spirituality and eternity. His insights are fresh and relevant. Here is my interview with him. Enjoy!
GodsMacInterview.mp3