This has been a difficult political season for America to say the least. Campaign presentations are louder, angrier and crazier than this country has ever experienced. However, I hear a faint whisper in my head that says “I’ve seen these people before.”

Most pastors have.

Who would these candidates resemble if they joined the church?

Donald would be that new believer who has taken over the men’s group that meets in the church parlor on Tuesday night. He is so new to the faith that he has not found his personal filter. He’s cusses while sharing his testimony (which is somewhat endearing but often embarrassing.) People respect him because he just tells it like it is. But DO NOT CROSS HIM. He still has the ability to get hot under the collar about things he doesn’t understand about the church. He’ll rally the deacons to build a building whether you need it or not and before you know it you’ve got a church architecture consultant in your office.

Hillary has the personality of a rogue Women’s Ministry leader. She has lots of leverage in the church and she’s not afraid to go toe-to-toe with you at budget time. She is a stoic serious leader that is married to the life-of-the-party guy who you’ve been trying to disciple for years. He loves Jesus but subscribes to Showtime.

Bernie owns the church thermostat key and keeps a copy of the bi-laws in his back pocket. He is still upset that business meetings are held quarterly and would like to meet with you every day to discuss parking solutions. You love the guy, but you spend more time with him than anyone else.

Mitt is a member with an MDiv who earlier was vying to be the pastor of the church and critiques your leadership aptitude at church fellowships.

Ted is the charismatic staff member that seems to really punch up the numbers on events he organizes. Some of his numbers rival the numbers at Promise Keeper stadium rallies in the early 90’s. His spiritual gift is hyperbole and when you get in a conversation with him you always feel out-spiritualized.

Marco is the upward basketball coach that is on the property and grounds committee, the budget committee, the personnel committee and the committee on committees but he never attends the meetings. Still, he is AWESOME. He creates energy and has lots of cool axioms but he repeats them too often.

John is the quiet man who has amazing ideas for the church but because he is soft spoken, he never gets heard because, face it, Marco, Donald, and Ted are just so dominant in the Long Range Planning meeting. You are kind of afraid he’ll move his letter to Calvary because of all the chatter at your church.

Ben is an amazing guy that you truly love in your church. Kind, gentle, humble. But most of the verses he has memorized are from the Book of Revelations. But who in their right mind could not love Ben?

Take out the substantive issues and important battles our nation faces and these Americans might just remind you of someone you know too! You might even find yourself in one of these profiles. (There are some Marcoisms in my Modus Operandi.)  Remember that God uses the most unlikely candidates in your church to do supernatural things, I only pray that your church, filled with colorful, dynamic personalities will never have the kinds of debates we’ve seen in this election cycle, especially if the topic is carpet color or auditorium temperatures.

photo credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

God’s standard of acceptance and love is not based on…

weight, gender, race, history, genealogy, past achievements, financial status, nationality, location, IQ, mental health, preexisting conditions, athleticism, success in parenting, career, how high you can jump, how far you can run, your speaking ability, your creativity, your mileage, your grace and charm, your ability to cope, experience, debate skills, mechanical understanding, your smell, the size of your nose, your moods, business savvy, negotiation skills, lingual dexterity, humor and quick wit, your voice, your hair, the success of your children, your accident record, life expectancy, the size of your boat, the shine on your floor, the size of your faith, the color of you teeth, the limp in your gait, how many times you failed, the addictions you overcame, your credit score, the college you did or did not attend, the past infidelity, the gravity of your greatest sin, who you know, where you’ve been, the age of your car, the square-footage of your house, the people you know, your tweets, the number of your Facebook friends, how smart your phone is, or anything standard we use to judge ourselves and others.

What gives us acceptance is the love of God that is never based on anything we will ever do, be, attain or conquer. Too good to be true? No. He is God. He can love whomever He wants to love and He needs no one’s permission.

The tone of religion, more often than not, rings as a dirge of condemnation. We see the old crooked finger of legalism and malicious apologetics steadily pointing into the mass of stumbling sinners, almost relishing the chance to find a scapegoat for the brokenness of the world. But as we look at the cross and our Savior affixed to it, we hear these words: “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” His words were spoken in earshot of humanity.

Father forgive the traitor, the Pharisees, the Romans, the soldiers, the harlots, the fearful, the conspirators, the tax collectors, and, yes, even My mother.

And when we read this noble cannon of divine literature, it compels us to understand that these words would include the whole of humanity. He forgives them all: the extortion expert, the mob hit man, the pornographer, the mass murdered, the abortion doctor and the pastor. We all have an open invitation to be forgiven.  Something in the human heart wants to earn or achieve his forgiveness. Perhaps we could make amends for our humanity. But this is not the Gospel. This is not the Good News. The Good News is that Jesus accomplished everything on the cross and, frankly, He doesn’t need our help to finish the deal.

In the story of Gospel we read the revolutionary truth from the lips of God, “For God didn’t send his only Son into this world to condemn it, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

(John 3:17)

As a child, I grew up as a concrete thinker.  Honestly, most of us were. That’s just a fact about kids.  They think concretely and are unable to process the subtle imagery adults use.

I remember I had a deep fear of my aunt who told me that I was so cute she could just eat me up. I didn’t understand and ran away in fear. All I knew was that my aunt was a cannibal and I was spending a weekend at her house. Trauma.

It just seemed like my aunt said things that were strangely macabre. Who is this woman? Is she really my aunt? How many children has she eaten?

“Come here, Sugar. Let me wipe your face off.”

“Wipe my face off? No!”

She thought I was being stubborn but who in their right mind wipes someone’s face completely OFF? There must be a law, an ordinance that would prohibit such a disfigurement. How would one see? How would one breathe?

I was often called a “toe-head.” I still don’t know what that referred to but I spent more than one night performing a thorough inspection of my skull to make sure an 11th toe wasn’t about to burst forth from my temple. That’s not the way I wanted to join the circus.

Later in life, we learn the difference between hyperbole and reality.

It took me a while to understand the concept of Jesus living inside me, dying to self, following Jesus, and giving Him everything. These aren’t just overblown, colloquialisms. These gigantic expressions are a mandate, especially for dads. There is nothing more important than letting these phrases become a reality, as we love our church, our family, and our friends.

I don’t want people to look back at my life and say, “Sure, He talked about dying to himself but that was just an exaggeration. He didn’t mean that literally.”

I don’t want my kids to say, “Oh, when He talked about following Jesus, He didn’t really mean actually following Jesus. He just meant that He admired the Man and thought He’d trying to live a little like Him.”

I want them to say, “He really believed all that stuff about Jesus and He was continually on a hunt for Him. He was obsessed with the fact that Jesus really rose from the dead. He really feared that his friends might go to hell (a real place) not just another PG word.” I’d love it to be said of me after I die, “That crazy old dude actually prayed like Jesus could actually hear him.”

That’s what would make me smile. And it’s something that no one will wipe off my face.

This Fire of Love
unquenched by Eden’s wreck
and flowing seemingly in perpetuity
toward all that soon will be
in all its violent beauty
He shall hold all hell’s poison and heaven’s glory.
Small beginning, love’s grandest story
from the heartbeat in a virgin’s womb
til one Sunday rising from the tomb
One
for all…
Once
for all…
This is the salvation from garrulous platitudes and languorous days
Advent… in slightest breath, in manger lay.
Ten-thousand kingdoms would bow through ages.
The cause of grace and recompense
From distant past to future tense:
Jesus

My grandfather lived

in a rustic house near a sloping cool branch with slipery stones

and verdant woods

I walked slowly toward the treeline where

mystery lay

and there in the shade of autumn’s bough

i see darkness rising

close of day.

but death,

a far

closer

angel visited then and will and again because

it is unchanged, like the virgin nest of the wip-poor-will

though unwelcomed

tender unforgiving visitor on the side of the hill

where i last heard his voice.

away

Everybody ends up
in the belly of the beast.
There are few exceptions
from the greatest to the least.
You stumble into quicksand.
You’re weary of the world.
Lies wreck your reputation.
Insults, viciously, are hurled.
Addiction lies in dormancy
then rears it’s ugly head.
Depression sinks in slowly,
Like the whispers of the dead.
A chronic, stubborn stronghold
infiltrates your weakened mind
Confidants betray you.
Sometimes, friends are hard to find.
Childless in your 40’s.
“Will I ever be a mother?”
Inside an unfamiliar place
Near no sister or no brother.
You’re in the doctor’s office
And hear devastating news.
You lose your hair to chemo.
Indeed, no one gets to choose.
Your marriage ends abruptly.
He left you with no choice.
And for others, it’s the silence.
Separated from His Voice.
Adversity just happens
and no one gets a pass.
But this- your devastation,
is God’s Holy Master Class
Yes, this strong Professor
is bolder than the rest,
His challenges are brutal
and He’s silent in the test.
He’s far above all reason
––mysterious is He.
His text book is His Word.
His school–– adversity.
But in each fearful crisis,
we’re cradled by the light
There’s joy within the suffering,
There’s peace amidst the fight
Within our devastation
––the bleak, forbidding war
God shakes us in our deadness,
with His fearsome roar
What we assumed would end us,
And our melancholy tales
speaks only of His grandeur,
His timing never fails.
And in our silent terror,
He’s not worried in the least
Despite how darkness lingers
in the belly of the beast.

“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.” – George Herbert

How important is it to forgive? Eternally important. 
The past is consuming to the person who doesn’t forgive.