Ben Meredith, Author at BenandJacq in the Browser

May 10, 2010July 19, 2010

Jesus Is Not On Your Team.

I have bad news. Jesus is not on your team.

There are two teams, see. The bad guys, and Jesus. The crooked, depraved, self-serving, religious folks; and Jesus.

He’s not on your team. He didn’t come for your agenda. You can’t recruit him to your cause. You can’t get him on board with your timeline and market projections.

In Joshua 5:13-14, we get an astonishing view of the pre-incarnate Christ. He shows up, and Joshua worships Him (and given that the man in the story doesn’t tell him to stop worshipping, I assume that man is Jesus, whom it is OK to worship). But the astonishing part is that when Joshua asks Jesus, “are you on our team or theirs?” (referring to the inhabitants of Jericho) Jesus doesn’t say at all what I would expect.

This is the Old Testament. God’s chosen nation, Israel, is going to fight against a pagan city, Jericho. I’d expect Jesus to say, “I’m on your team. Let’s go kick some pagan butt.” And then he’d go all Jack Bauer on the other team and call in a tactical support team of angels to extract Rahab from her place like Dana Walsh (the Rahab-Dana Walsh comparison could be taken WAY deeper if Dana had repented, by the way). He’d scream “DROP YOUR WEAPON” to the guards outside of Rahab’s place, and use the phrase “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to” multiple times in an episode.

But read what he says! (mouse over the verse above to read it) He treats the question like a multiple choice, and adds an option (c). He’s not on either team!

Joshua saw an impressive dude with a sword, and got all strategic. He needed a little help with the folks from Jericho. But Jesus gently reminds him that if he wins the battle, it’s because God wins the battle. He didn’t recruit God onto his team. Israel didn’t earn God’s favor, and they were no better than the people of Jericho. It’s by grace that they were saved, through faith. Not as a result of works, so that Joshua couldn’t boast.

That sounds familiar.

May 13, 2010July 19, 2010

Gideon was a bit of a Taunter.

I just read Judges 7:1, and was pretty floored by the nickname that Gideon apparently embraces. The previous chapter translates the name Jerubbaal as “Let Baal contend with him.”

Gideon had just destroyed a pagan altar to the god Baal. The modern day equivalent might be burning down a mosque and a whorehouse next door to the mosque. Then he embraces this nickname “Let Baal contend with him.” Basically, by starting to be called that name, he’s essentially saying “bring it on, fake god.” Imagine after burning down the mosque (which I am in no way recommending) you start answering to the nickname “Allah can’t touch this” — with all due respect to MC Hammer.

The attitude of courage and boldness here is pretty intense. While I certainly wouldn’t recommend such a brash approach to people of other faiths as mosque -burning, It does raise the question of why Gideon, Joash, and company were so confident. That’s why there is a distinction to made between brashness and confidence. God had spoken to Gideon specifically, telling him to tear down the altar to Baal. Knowing God had called him to that specific act of destruction gave him the confidence to embrace the nickname. A confidence that God is who He says He is is what motivated Gideon here, not some religious vendetta or agenda.

So much of what I do, by contrast, has been an effort to build my confidence. In high school and college I was the super-Christian “good kid” not because I was confident, but in order to make myself confident. If I kept all the rules, God would surely love me and protect me and my interests. My attitude and actions could not have been father from the gospel. What Gideon does here is completely different from what I did. He acts based on confidence in who God is. He’s still scared–the story indicates that he chickened out of destroying the altar during the day–but he is not acting out of the fear, he’s choosing to trust God at His word.

Even today, my default mode is self-reliance and lack of confidence. I trust in my ability to parent, or to develop ministry partners, or whatever else! But the gospel, the most amazing news ever told, assures me that even in the face of my doubt, sin, and disobedience, God has already won. In Christ, I am victorious. Now, I am free to obey, and even join Gideon in mocking silly religious people that think they can earn God’s favor–with the sincere hope that they will join me in repentance.

What are some ways you can move from fear to confidence in God and his Word? Comment below.

May 17, 2010July 19, 2010

Potty Training in a Public Restroom.

When I first saw that positive pregnancy test roughly 2 years and 9 months ago, a lot of thoughts filled my head. Throwing ball in a park with my son. Teaching him how to ride a bike. Tender moments before bed praying to Elmo.

Here’s a bit that didn’t make the mental brochure: Trying to get your toddler to simultaneously urinate into a public toilet without touching every portion of the bathroom.

We’re in the midst of what I’ve begun calling “our first attempt at potty training.” We watched all the videos and read some books about training your child to use the potty in 45 minutes, or 2 days, or before they are 15. The plan was to start last Monday (exactly a week ago) and be done by the weekend. That’s now become the plan for boy #2. Because LB decided he’d rather unload the bladder indiscriminately every now and then just to keep us on our toes.

Don’t get me wrong, we are learning his clues, and are able to keep him relatively dry during the day, nap time excluded. It’s just been nowhere near the cake-walk the promo materials would have you believe.

But that brings us to the public restroom. Jacq asked LB last night at the end of dinner (out with my parents) if he needed to potty. He gave the semi-pout that means yes, and that meant I was up. We trooped down the hall to the men’s room.

A quaint one-seater, we’ll call it. LB walked in first, and I closed the door, turning to lock it behind us. I turned back to see him curiously meandering toward the toilet. I got there just in time to keep him from sticking his head into the bowl to get a closer look.

Next goal: get the pants and shoes and pull-up off. Sub-goals:

Don’t get peed on.
Keep LB from lifting the lid on the toilet and letting it slam down (for the third time).
Don’t lose balance and face-plant in the damp area behind the toilet i’ll call “every-man’s land.”

Having successfully removed the clothing (including correctly executing sub-goals 1 and 3), it was time to expect a miracle. I wanted my son, known for strong-willed tantrums and excessive use of noise, to sit calmly on a toilet seat unlike any he’d ever seen (and easily large enough for him to fall through) without so much as rubbing his hands underneath the toilet seat. And I wanted him to do all of this confidently, despite my facial expression of near-exasperation from holding him steady with one hand while keeping him from putting “toilet hand” in his mouth with the other.

But then came the moment. He was working up from moderately-uncomfortable grumbling heading toward full-body screaming when he noticed something. He needed to potty. He leaned forward to see his junk over his belly, and slowly peed into the potty.

Waves of relief rushed over me (from not having any other types of waves rushing over me), until I realized that I wasn’t out of the woods just yet. We had to sanitize the situation, get the pants/shoes/pull-up back on, and get out to the car.

To make a long story short, let’s just say the folks sitting near the door to the restroom were mildly shocked to see the child walk past the table wearing just his pull-up and a shirt. But he didn’t notice. He’d just peed like a big boy.

May 20, 2010July 19, 2010

Perspective check, 1…2…3?

I got three emails yesterday. 2 of them were people letting us know they are no longer able to partner with us financially–to the tune of -$125 per month. The other was from Piter.

I was too busy wallowing in poor-me-land (or more accurately, trying to evaluate the situation to help to avoid wallowing there, but doing a remarkable job of pre-wallowing) to even read Piter’s email.

I met Piter in 2007, in Korea. He’s on staff with CCC in Bangladesh. I remember asking him and friend what the hardest part about being in ministry there was. Without hesitation, they answered “language barrier.” They went on to explain that there was no common language uniting the students there, and that even though between the two of them they spoke about 10 languages, they often had trouble communicating the gospel due to language. They added also how hard that makes it to raise support. They hardly know any Christians, and the ones they do know don’t speak the same language. It’s tough to passionately cast vision for a ministry when you don’t speak the language.

After my pre-wallowing session, where I asked the Lord to help raise the financial partners we need and more importantly to help me to fix my eyes on Jesus in the midst of this time, I finally got around to reading Piter’s email. It was short, and directed us to give to his ministry as we were able. I followed the link in the email, and learned that currently they (a family of 4) have $300 dollars per month coming in. And they need $250 more in order to cover their needs. I’m bad at math, but that translates roughly to a 45% shortfall every month.

I personally could give enough money from our emergency savings right now to cover them for the next 7-8 months. And I am broke in almost every sense of the word by American standards. Even in the midst of my financial woes, God is reminding me that all I have is by grace.

Two action points:

I average about 35 visits per day to this website. On posts where I talk about my son, family, or something funny in the title, I average more hits. So this post will probably be read by 20 or so individuals. If you gave just 20 bucks a month (let’s call it 2 Pizzas and 3 trips to the Redbox) to Piter and his ministry, he’d have more than enough to reach Bangladeshi students for Christ, without having to devote extra energy and time to raising funds. Please give to Piter and his wife Mary Beauty now by clicking here.
You clicking the “Like” button right below this line will give your friends the opportunity to help Piter and Mary Beauty.

May 24, 2010July 19, 2010

Terrific Twos: An Adventure in Parenthood.

Yeah, he’s got a terrible streak. He’s impossible to discipline. He will frequently “go boneless” in a parking lot to avoid being put in his car seat.

But there are times like Saturday that make it all worth it.

We went to “Monkey Joe’s” — which in the original Greek translates more closely to “How did they fit this many screaming kids in this room” — for LB’s birthday. I had been told it’s a great place to relax in leather recliners while your kid plays.

Which is true, if your kid is 8.

If your kid is exactly 2 years and 9 hours old, and not quite big enough to climb up the inflatables by himself, the only relaxing you’ll be doing is during the free-fall from the top of the inflatable as you hurtle toward your adorable son grinning from ear to ear at the bottom of the slide.

If they gave out awards for sweatiest parent, I would have come home with a trophy. And my son definitely deserved a reward for least-afraid of the slides. And these were really big slides. Here’s a shot to show perspective.

Several other kids his age were up there with their parents, but the parents were having to convince the kid to go down the slide. I was having to convince LB to slow down long enough at the top of the slide to not injure himself.

I had an absolute blast, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain two-year-old did as well. Happy Birthday, sweet boy. I can’t believe it’s been that long.