I drink your milkshake

We all get tired. Fatigued.  Worn down.  Deflated. Discouraged.  Depressed.  It’s part of the human condition.  In my experience, these feelings usuallyfollow some type of victory—spiritual or otherwise.  They may also follow a prolonged push to achievesomething, having achieved it, you may feel good for a short moment, and then fallflat. 

Fortunately, Jesus has some good words for us.  He says (Matthew 11:28-30), “Come to me, allyou who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Ah, such nourishing words.  These are words of truth, life andencouragement.  Their application in mylife fills me up in a way that others cannot. Jesus continues, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I amgentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Amazing. Wonderful.  Necessary.  These are words of grace and provision.  Jesus satisfies our every thirst, including thatof our souls.  Where else can you go tofill up your soul?

One of the most riveting and troubling scenes of any movie I haveever viewed is that of Danielle Day-Lewis’ climactic performance in “There willbe Blood.”  In that oft-quoted scene, hedeclares that he will “drink the milkshake” of his enemy.  The scene reveals the world’s view of things—it’sall about taking, depleting, emptying. It’s all about what can I get out of this vapid, hollow existence beforeI die.  In order to succeed, some feel, Imust suck the life out of anyone and everything around me in order that I mightprevail.

Jesus, of course, has a different view.  His is an eternal one, where the last willbecome the first and vice versa.  His isa reality that says, “I will give you rest.”  Instead of taking from us, he promises to pourinto us.  He fills our spiritual milkshake.

Come to him this day if you are ready for a refilling!

A new name

Next month, my son gets his new legal name.  He was Mathewos, and now he will officially beMatthew.  Perhaps more significant isthat his full name will become Matthew Robert Tucker.  In other words, he will take on the name ofhis new father.  I wanted Matthew to havemy name as a symbolic statement about his place in our family.  He is our true son, in every sense of thatterm, barring shared DNA.  He receivesall of the benefits (as well as side effects!) of being my son.

In the Scriptures, receiving a new name was a big deal.  It was God’s statement about a person’s newidentity.  You once were Abram, but nowyou will be called Abraham.  You once were Saul,but now you will be Paul.  You once werean outsider to God’s grace, but now you bear the name of Christ.  Your identity is bound up in Him, with all therights, privileges and benefits that His name carries.

Having a new name also means that our past is justthat.  It’s the past.  The future is ripe with new potential, a newstory, a new life.  Having a new namemeans starting over with a new heritage. It does not forget the past, but neither does it dwell on it. 

No matter what you are dealing with in your life right now,don’t forget the new name that has come to you through Christ!  Through faith, you become his beloved child, bearing His name.

Tom Brady's crazy belief

You don’t have to like Tom Brady to appreciate hisstory.  Just before Brady was picked asthe 199^th pick in the NFL draft, he went for a teary-eyed walk with hismom and dad, wondering why he had been passed over, once again in this, the sporthe loved.  He was looked over in Highschool, and twice in college, losing out to other quarterbacks.  Six quarterbacks were taken before Brady in 2000: Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, MarcBulger and Spergon Wynn.  

Who even remembers Giovanni Carmazzi?

When Brady met Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots, he shookhis hand and asked if he knew who he was. Kraft said, sure, you’re our 6^th round draft pick.  Brady looked him in the eye and said, “I’mthe best decision this organization has ever made.”  Now while it may strike you as arrogant for askinny, gangly, 4^th string rookie quarterback to say this to theowner of a proud franchise, it also happened to be true.

But only Tom Brady believed it.

For the next years, Brady dedicated himself to being thebest QB he could, and prepared as if he could be called in at any moment.  Most New England fans had never heard of himthe day he finally got called in to rescue injured Drew Bledsoe, and the rest ofcourse, is history.  In a couple weeksBrady will be playing for his 4^th super bowl ring. 

His story makes me ask a few questions about my ownlife.  First: do I believe in the greatnessof the God given calling on my life?  Also:am I preparing myself in such a way as to be prepared for whatever comes next?  And, do I care too much about who others think I am, rather than who God has made me to be?

How about you?

The history of dating

For our young adult ministry, Liquid Tuesdays, we are doinga series on dating.  I started out theseries with a brief history of dating. Many young adults who are finding dating to be anything but enjoyable intoday’s culture, find some relief in knowing that this thing called dating hasnot been around for a very long time.

The earliest one can find the word “dating” in print is1914, and that’s about how old it is. Before that, courtship reigned in the Victorian age for several hundredyears.  Before that, of course, wasarranged marriages.  The idea of findingone’s true love for marriage would have been a strange concept for people inmany cultures, for many thousands of years. Social, financial or familial reasons would have been much biggerfactors in finding a spouse.  Also, theidea of  individuals making all their owndecisions about marriage would have been just plain weird.  Families got together to talk, matchmakerswere procured, dowries or other considerations would have been hashed out.  The advent of the automobile really launchedthe idea of the modern date, as now the couple could leave the hawking eyes offamily members and head out to dinner and a movie. 

The sad thing about the history of dating is that in thepast several decades it has taken a significant moral downturn.  The 60’s and 70’s brought about theprominence of sex in the relationship, the 80’s brought legwarmers, the 90’sbrought fierce independence and emo-angst. The TV show Friends revealed a trend of casual friendship dating,friends with benefits, and dating that is generally not headed towardmarriage.  And now we are seeing a wholenew revolution called internet dating, which allows people to meet in virtualreality without the risk of in-person rejection.

Where all this will go is anyone’s guess.  But I personally hope that younger adultswill reclaim some of the positive aspects of the past, without losing what hasbeen learned in the present.  I hope theywill allow for a healthy community to be active in the process (the church),allow dating to be headed toward relational permanence (marriage), and thatthey will allow Jesus to be the center of their relationship(Christianity). 

It all makes me very glad that I am not in today’s datinggame.

You can LIKE the Skipping Stone here.

What Tullian Tchividjian said

I’ve been reading Tullian Tchividjian’s (Cha-vih-jin) newbook called Jesus + Nothing = Everything, and really enjoying it.  The premise is in the title, but it’s a hardtruth to embrace.  Tchividjian says thatGod really does offer us everything in the work of his Son, but to accept it,we need to let go of everything else.  Toooften we are prone to add something to our faith to make it feel complete.  Consider it for yourself: Jesus + myambition; Jesus + my bad habit; Jesus + my future; Jesus + my family; Jesus +my job; Jesus + my stuff; Jesus + my relationships… On and on this game goes.

We suspect that one little plus sign after Jesus will do noharm.  We would be wrong.  Adding something to Christ’s sufficiencymakes all the difference between having inner peace vs. a restless spirit. 

I was wondering what I may be subtly adding to the amazing Gospelof freedom.  At times, I fear about myfuture.  I suspect this is a bit of anidol for me—my vision for my life vs. God’s. A daily yielding is necessary to make the math complete.   Jesus + nothing = everything.  His future for my life will be the betteroption.

Do you believe the equation? Or have you added something too?

That's not fair!

One of the things we learned preparing for our adoption wasthat children who are adopted into families with pre-existing siblingsreally struggle with a sense of fairness. It seems strange to think of a child with so little possessions coming into a familywith (relatively speaking) so much, quibbling about fairness.  But that’s the way it generally is. 

In our house recently it has gotten worse than ever.  If another child receives anything "extra", Matthewis quick to point out the perceived inequity. Of course, he receives much more than the others overall as wescramble to help him catch up to what they have (new…everything!).

As usual, I am reminded of our adoption into the family ofGod.  We came from so little, spiritually speaking, and through Christwe arrive at so much.  But we often struggle when it appears Godblesses others, but not us.  Others seem tohave it all, while we are struggling with every day life.  Our attitudes must seem just silly toGod.  How can we have so much and yetforget about it so quickly?

Spend some time today remembering.  Remember all that God has given you inChrist.  Thank him for all of the thingsthat are right in your life.  Remember that he is a great Father.

It's (still) better to give than receive (short home video)

My son Matthew had his first American Christmas recently.  His reaction to receiving gifts warmed our hearts.  As great as his joy was, ours was greater still, reminding me of the words of Jesus (quoted in Acts 20:35) that it's better to give than receive.  Here is a captured moment from our Christmas celebration.