Loving Our Undocumented Neighbors

It's all over Scripture. I like the frankness off Leviticus 19:33-34 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land... love them as you love yourself.” (NLT) But you can find similarly worded commands in Exodus 22, Psalm 94, Zecheriah 7 and all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus also thought pretty highly of foreigners in his day, saving his highest compliments for them (Luke 7:9, 17:18)

God has a special place in his heart for foreigners. I do too. I do not mean to imply that I am more godly than others because of my regard for foreigners. I have sympathy for their plight, because I was one once.

I am not an immigrant to America. I was born in Iowa. I did, however live in the Middle East for more than two years where I was a foreigner. I moved to a country where I did not speak the language. I had no friends. I did not have a job lined up when I got there, or a residence visa, (although I did enter the country legally with a visit visa). I placed a lot of hope and not a small number of prayers in finding a job that would grant residency to me and my family. I studied hard to learn the language, I was told that I excelled in my study. But in the end, my Arabic was still broken, at times incomprehensible to native speakers. My friends were very patient with me to figure out what I was saying, and to word things simply enough that I could understand them.

Sometimes I think people are under the impression that immigrants coming to America have it made. They have arrived, after all. They made it to the greatest country on earth. They have freedom and opportunity at their fingertips. They can just sit back and relax and enjoy the blessings of prosperity. We get even more cynical about those who enter or stay in the country illegally, that is without the proper residence permits. We act like they maliciously came in to this country to steal someone's job and claim government benefits they are not entitled to.

I don't think most Americans realize what it means to be a foreigner. We don't realize how much we depend on the relationships of family and friends, how cut off we really are when they are not around. We don't realize all the rules, both laws and social mores we take for granted, that a foreigner simply would not know. It's difficult to do simple things like pay bills or get a drivers license when they are done so differently than in your home country. Most of us have never really tried to master a second language, or know how difficult it is to live in a place where you don't speak the language. Immigrants are often victims of trafficking and exploitation. They often simply don't understand all that is going on around them. Or they are just too desperate to care. I don't think most immigrants would put up with half the crap they take if the situation were not so dire, if people back home were not depending on the money they send for their next meal.

Immigration has returned to the national dialog as a contemporary shibboleth. Your stance on immigration will show who you are: bold progressive, limp-wristed moderate, or true-blooded American. I hesitate to say anything, because I hate to put too much weight on politics. We won't solve the issues of immigration with politics or a new piece of legislation. But there are some clear spiritual issues that need to be addressed. You can not follow Jesus and hate the foreigners living among us. You can not love the foreigners living among us and refuse to acknowledge their existence. You can not love the foreigners among us without feeling compassion for their dire situation or taking action to bring justice to them.

Denying justice to the foreigner. That was one of God's indictments against sinful Israel in Ezekiel 22:29. That is exactly what is going on today in America. Undocumented Immigrants have no legal status. When they fall victim to a crime (which happens quite a lot) they avoid reporting it for fear of being deported, or imprisoned. They broke an immigration law. You've probably broken some laws too: driving over the speed limit, and possibly some far worse things. Does that broken law make it justifiable for someone else to steal your wages or force our daughter into prostitution? As long as we force immigrants to live off the grid, they will never receive justice, let alone the compassion we owe them.

First, we have to face the fact that immigrants are not going anywhere. Expelling them all is logistically impossible. It would also be devastating to our economy, driving up prices on a number of goods and services that are supported by the low wages immigrant laborers (both legal and illegal) usually earn

Second, we need to let God convict us that the status quo is not acceptable. We can not continue to deny justice to immigrants simply because they broke an immigration law. The evil being done to them far outweighs any evil they have done. I do not know all the ins and outs of this new immigration bill being debated in Congress. No doubt it is imperfect, made by imperfect people. I do know it is far overdue. It puts us in the right direction of providing justice and compassion for immigrants. I think that is what God would want us to do.

Finally, we need to let the love of Christ compel us to see immigrants as people made in the image of God, loved by God. We need to stop looking at them as a special interest group in the midst of a political hot-button issue, and just look at them as people. As people, living in a strange land, they could probably use some help from time to time getting around, knowing where to go to get things done. They might need some help learning English if they haven't mastered it yet. Most of all they probably need a good friend, someone they can depend on, because that person is a committed follower of Jesus. And when you put aside your prejudice and befriend one of these foreigners, you might be surprised how much they enrich your life as well.

Simple Like Zombies

You'd have to be some kind of isolated prepper type to have missed the explosion of apocalypse-themed books, movies, and television series that have made their appearances over the last decade. From TV series like The Walking Dead, and Revolution, to books like Zombie Survival Guide and the Hunger Games Trilogy. Movies from Wall-E to World War Z. We as a society are full-on obsessed with the end of civilization as we know it.

The dystopian view of the future  is hardly a new phenomenon although the pace has certainly sped up in the last few years. Our parents watched Charlton Heston battle it out in Planet of the Apes. Our grandparents read Orwell's 1984, and our great-grandparents, H.G. Wells' Time Machine. The future has looked bleak for a long time.

Isn't it weird that we would be obsessed by a world where technology is useless. Where people band together and live off of the land. Where death is an ever-present possibility. Post-apocalyptic stories speak to people, and in particular to the people of America in the early 21st century. They tell us something about ourselves, and something about what we would like to see in ourselves.

Our outlook of the future first tells us how we see life now. Dystopia is merely an exaggeration of our own excesses, a magnification of the faults we see in society today. The Hunger Games trilogy, while bringing us many ponderous themes, is largely a critique of our obsession with entertainment, and our willingness entertain ourselves at others' expense. H.G. Wells saw the division between classes that already existed taken to he next level in Time Machine. As for zombies - zombies represent the way we see most people, a bunch of mindless followers, destroying and infecting the rest of us. Zombies represent our fear of loosing ourselves and becoming part of the herd.

Above all, we obsess about the downfall of society because we don't like society as it is.  Life has grown too complicated. We are not happy. We have an abundance of possessions, but find no joy in them. We listen to an abundance of voices, but they are all noise.

We long for a simpler life. I don't want to live my entire life on a smartphone or from behind a pair of Google Glasses. Humans were meant to have real abundant lives. A part of us longs to work the soil as our ancestors did, to produce things with our hands. A part of us wants to slow down and spend time talking to real people. We want a simpler life, but we lack the discipline to just unplug and throw it all away. So we invent a reality where that choice is taken from us. In a post-apocalyptic world we have no choice but to simplify.

The stories of society's demise remind us of what's really important. Much of these plots revolve around family and friends supporting one another and protecting each other from harm. We see people like us, living full lives without TVs or computers or cell phones. They are far more concerned with finding food, shelter, or preparing for the next onslaught of flesh-eating corpses. Just being with those they love, seeing them alive is the reward of our favorite characters. That is the simple life.

Jesus spoke to this need to simplify our lives long ago, when life was much less complicated than it is today. Jesus showed us a way to revolutionize our lives in the here and now, wherever the here and now happens to be. He told us that our lives do not consist of the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12:15). Life is not in stuff. He told us to stop worrying about what we should eat or what we should wear, but to trust God. By following Jesus, we can free ourselves from the power stuff wields over our lives. That is truly the simple life.

Here's the good news: we don't have to wait for an army of zombies to take over the world to begin simplifying our lives. It is possible to make the changes we long to see in our lives without atomic destruction. We could throw off the constraints of an ever more complex life and live life simply and purposefully. We could do it radically like Jesus recommended, "go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor." Or we could start small and work our way up to that. You could just decide not to buy something you don't need. It could be a bigger TV, a newer model of smartphone,  nicer car, or an exotic vacation. It can also mean paring down the possessions you already have. Have a rummage sell and get rid of some baggage. See how much lighter your life will feel (and it could help out some poor people too).

Does living a simple life seem exciting? I didn't come up with the idea. Here are a few good resources to learn more. Start with Jesus in the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount, (Matt 5-7) Also check out Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, Celebration of Discipline, and Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster, and Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin.

My Dad Got This Right

Happy Fathers Day! This will be my eighth as a father. It has been a lot of fun. I have learned a lot, but I don't have it all figured out yet. When I do, I'll write an article entitled, "Everything You Need to Know About Raising Children." Until then, I'll share the little nuggets of wisdom I have gleaned from others.

My biggest fear in parenting is not that my children will grow up to be criminals or drug addicts or gay. I don't stay awake at night worrying about their physical safety or their health. My biggest fear is that my kids will grow up to be normal, safe, vanilla-flavored Christians. People who go to church on Sunday and live life Monday through Saturday pretty much like everyone else. I fear my kids will not suffer, not sacrifice, not find the joy that comes from a life dedicated to following Jesus. I think my father must have had the same idea.

In some ways we are so different, my father and I. I travel the world; my dad won't get on a plane. I love music, and have made it a big part of my life; my dad sings a little off-key baritone at church. My dad wouldn't touch alcohol; I enjoy it in moderation. My dad is very politically active; I barely vote. Yet in other ways we are so very similar. We look a lot alike. We talk a lot alike. We share a dislike of cats. We can both be a little socially awkward. My father is also a writer. We pick up most of our traits from our parents' example. We learn how to be human because of what we see them do.  And for those of us who follow Jesus, our parents' example will forever imprint upon us how to go about doing that, whether for good or for ill.

When I think of living out following Jesus, I think of how my father would pick up hitchhikers. My mom worried a little bit, but no harm ever came to any of us. I also think of how he sacrificially gave of his time and money to causes he believed would help people. Although my dad is a scholar at heart, he worked with his hands to provide a for his family. I remember going with him to protest against what he saw as evils in the world, like abortion. I recall my father visiting the elderly, taking them meals or communion. He didn't just go, he would often take me along to do it with him. I learned early on that following Jesus was as much about doing something as believing something. It seemed normal that I should always be doing some kind of active service to others, because that is what I saw in the example of my parents.

We had family devotions every evening when my sister and I were young. I can not remember a single one of them. My father taught countless lessons and sermons that I overheard. None of them really stands out as life changing. But I will never forget the lesson of his life. The example he lived shaped me in ways I still probably don't even grasp. Makes me stop and think about what my kids are learning from my life.

"Setting and example is not the main means of influencing another; it is the only means."  - Albert Einstein.

All Things in Moderation (Including Moderation)

I am moderate about nearly everything in my life. I am a moderate drinker. A glass of wine two or three times a week. I watch TV in moderation, maybe an hour a day. I exercise moderately, a couple times a week. I am politically moderate, neither too conservative nor too liberal. I give to causes I believe in, but never until it hurts. I get upset about injustice, but never protest it. I pray, but I don't often wrestle in prayer. I speak of Jesus, but usually not until someone else brings him up first.

From time to time, I dream of being a radical. It doesn't really matter what I would be radical about, just the thought of going all in for something gets me excited. I admire the lives of radical followers of Jesus that I have read about: Martin Luther King, Rich Mullins, and Shane Claiborne. But most of the true radicals will remain unknown to us. People who actually live out what they claim to believe, to the point of rejecting what most consider a normal life, often to the point of loosing their lives altogether.

I am reminded of Jesus, when he said you couldn't follow him unless you take up your cross. He said that the only way to keep your life is to give it up. C.S. Lewis put it another way "Christ says 'Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.'" That sounds radical. That also sounds painful. Which is why I've remained a moderate. I don't tolerate pain well.

But what has moderation done for us? Moderation makes us respectable.  Moderation leads to a longer life. Moderation keeps us from doing something that might endanger ourselves or our families.  Moderation lets us do good things, but makes sure we watch out for ourselves. It's not like we should trust God to take care of us. Moderation says don't go all in. Moderation keeps us from doing something fool-hearted like selling all our possessions and giving them to the poor. Moderation holds us back from doing something crazy like giving our lives in service to others.

Moderation tends to keep things just the way they are. Are you happy with the world?  If everything is perfect and looks to stay that way, then by all means, embrace moderation. I, however,  don't see the world that way.

I see a world that is radically broken. A leader uses chemical weapons in his own country. An abortionist murders babies after they are born. A child is beaten to death by his parents. Selfish living is on the rise. Hate takes on new forms, but continues to grow. The poor are exploited, children are sold, women are used. Moderately good living is powerless against such evil.

Radical is at odds with so much of my life. I like having it both ways. Going to church, doing my religious duties, then coming home and enjoying the comforts of American life. I don't want to be the guy that rocks the boat and makes everyone upset. I don't want to part with my possessions  I don't want to put myself in danger. But if following Jesus is inherently radical, then I have to figure out which is more important. To be moderate, or to have Jesus. To have a comfortable life or an abundant life.

My friend Lance recently had the opportunity to help out a homeless man, giving him a ride and helping him secure a place to stay. He told me he kept feeling convicted to do more for the man. Later Lance found out the man he was helping was a registered sex offender. "Does that change how you feel about wanting to do more?" I asked him

His answer: "That just makes me wish I had more compassion on him. Who else is going to reach out to him knowing that." That is so radically different than the way we usually approach helping others. I think my friend is starting to get it. Moderation will not change the world. Jesus did not play it safe. Moderation did not lead him to the cross. To follow Jesus, to love like he does, we need to start going easy on the moderation.

Every Day Tragedy

As I am writing, my city, Joplin, MO, remembers the devastating tornado that touched down two years ago today. The tornado took the lives of 158 people and destroyed a third of the city. Just three hours down the interstate another community was more recently struck by a similar disaster. We stand with you today, Moore, OK.

As always happens after a major tragedy, someone starts questioning God. Then someone else feels the need to answer for God. I find little satisfaction in the answers people give, whether defending God's sovereignty or His love. It seems like something is always left out. Where is God's heart in all of this pain and suffering?

What is it about events like these that make us question God. On May 20, 2013, roughly 155,000 people died. 24 of them died in a tornado in Moore Oklahoma. I find it a little odd that we make such a  to-do about the 24, and forget the tragedy of the other 154,976. Each life was equally precious. Each death equally tragic, whether from cancer, car wrecks, or tornadoes.

The last I checked, the mortality rate in this country is at exactly 100%. I've heard it's about the same across the world. All of us will face death. Each time it happens, Satan chalks up another victory. The curse has beaten out another human being made in the image of God. Death is a tragedy that happens every day. It is not unique to major natural disasters, or mass homicides.

Jesus was faced with one of those every day tragedies, when his dear friend Lazarus died after a brief illness. You can read all about it in John 11 in the Bible.  Jesus came back with the very intention of showing the power and goodness of God in raising Lazarus from the dead. He knew that in a very short time he would defeat death and roll back the curse. Jesus knew Lazarus was about to walk out of the grave. But as Jesus approached the grieving family and friends of Lazarus, he wasn't thinking victory.

"Jesus wept"

If you want to know where the heart of God is in tragedy, look no farther. The God of the universe, sovereign over all creation weeps. God is sick of death beating up his children, enslaving the ones he loves. Even as God has unfolded his plan to defeat death, He weeps and mourns for those that are lost to this unspeakable horror. Every child that dies of malnutrition in Somalia. Every death-row inmate eating his last meal. Every baby who's brains are sucked out moments before it is born. Every octogenarian who dies peacefully in her sleep. God sees it. God weeps.

So today I join God and weep too. Not only for those lost in the tornadoes. Not only for their families who grieve. I weep for everyone who will face this everyday tragedy called death. Even as my hope is confident in resurrection, in victory over death my heart is heavy with the weight of its curse.

It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of everyone;

the living should take this to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

Why Abercrombie and Fitch Won't Go Out of Business

No one wants to be the fat kid. But many of us are. In fact, studies show that obesity rates have nearly doubled to 35% in the last twenty years (perhaps we'll discuss gluttony another day). Americans are getting fatter, but we loathe ourselves for it.

Enter Abercrombie and Fitch. The clothing retailer has made a business out of clothing the thin, cool, sexy kids. Not the fat kids like many of us. A&F doesn't even make clothes the majority of people can fit into. Their womens' line stops at size 10, even though the average woman in America is size 12. CEO, Mike Jeffries, explained his marketing strategy in a 2006 interview.

"In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

Some people have fought back against Abercrombie and Fitch lately. My favorite is a campaign to give away Abercrombie apparel to the homeless. Nothing tarnishes the brand's young sexy image like seeing it on a drunk Vietnam vet. Forbes Magazine recently predicted Jeffries' insensitive comments would "wreck the brand." That won't happen. Fitch has staying power, and here's why.

Envy and Pride. These traits that have been plaguing us since the time of Cain and Abel. It hasn't gotten any better since. People want what they don't have. If they have "it", they want to be envied, to be given worth by having whatever "it" is. 150 years ago "it" was a full figure, at least for women. Since the masses were underfed, people who could afford to be fat were at the center of society. If A&F were around in 1870, they wouldn't have sold any sizes under seven. You don't want the brand tarnished by twiggy emaciated laborers. In 2013, food is abundant and cheap. It's easy to be fat. It takes discipline, and usually money to maintain a thin sexy figure. So being abnormally thin has become the desirable trait. If everyone could do it, it wouldn't be desirable anymore.

I admire brands like Dove, who make a concerted effort to idealize normal healthy women. In the end, their efforts will have little impact on our view of body image. People will still envy what they can not attain to. As long as food is cheap and abundant, filled with high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, then thin will remain the enviable status. 

The cure isn't in stopping obesity. If we get everyone to a healthy weight (which would be great) we will just change our perspective and find someone new to envy. The cure isn't in learning to love our bodies, no matter how healthy or unhealthy they may be. Self-Idolatry is no more healthy than our idolizing of others. The cure is love. I don't say this out of a vague sentimentality. I say it because the Bible says it. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." (1 Cor 13:4)

Abercombie and Fitch will continue to make money selling immodest clothes to undersized women, until we learn to love each other, accepting each other as people made in the image of God. Love requires that we rid ourselves of pride when we have what others desire, and envy when we want what others have. I don't see that happening any time soon, but I long for it as I long for the kingdom to come.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5#ixzz2TNJ7O1Bd

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2013/05/13/abercrombie-and-fitch-v-dove-or-how-a-ceo-can-wreck-a-brand-in-1-interview-7-years-ago/

The Facebook Fast

I did the three-day Facebook fast over the weekend. I don't think anyone knew I was gone. Fortunately my wife was not taking the fast, so I didn't miss out an an event a friend of ours posted about at the last minute. As a part of the fast, I read through "Unfriend Yourself" By Kyle Tennant. It's a short read. You find it here on  Amazon.

The fast and the questions raised by the book got me thinking. The conclusions drawn by the author were rather lukewarm. In the end, he keeps doing Facebook and advises using it in moderation. I was hoping for something a little more radical. "Use it in moderation" lacks the romance of "Down with the Evil Empire!" But I will probably keep my Facebook account as well, so what can I say?

I have known several people over the years have quit Facebook at some point, usually on strong moral grounds. Most of them are back on. Is there really a moral issue to social networking? Is it just their resistance to change, their discomfort with the rapid development of technology? Or is there something inherently wrong with the world we have created and the way we have learned to relate to each other online?

Tennant correctly points our in his book that the setting of social media is designed to promote ourselves. Never before have we had the opportunity to dress up our lives in such a way. We have always been able to put on the right clothes and try to say the right things. But Facebook (and similar media) give us the power to create an image. We pick the best pictures for our profile. We like the things we want people to associate with us (whether or not we actually like them). We post the good things, the clever things. We don't have to mention anything that might make us look bad. Facebook never created sections in the profile for "Common Vices," "Failed Relationships," or "Emotional Baggage." Facebook can be a lot like building a  beautiful statue... of ourselves, an idol to present to others for the worship of "likes."

The key barrier of building relationships is getting past image we put up of ourselves to impress others. We don't know others or allow ourselves to be known. We all have dirt under our nails and skeletons in our closet, but we try the our best to keep them hidden. The more distance we keep between ourselves and others, the better we keep this image in place. Social media creates an environment for keeping people at arms length. We gravitate toward Facebook precisely because it keeps us from the pain and vulnerability of authentic communion with others.

I have concluded a few things from this weekend. Feel free to glean any wisdom that may apply to you. I have a deep personal struggle with pride. I keep people at arms length. I live to keep up a gleaming image of myself, afraid that if people know the real me, they wouldn't like me. Facebook has been helping me feed the lie of perfection. Can I use Facebook to be more authentic? Maybe. But I think I will be more authentic the less time I spend there.

Social Networking has its place. If you're trying to promote yourself, write a book, start a business,or  raise funds for a cause - Facebook and the like can help you. Use it. If you're trying to post as many memes of cats as possible, please stop, it's getting old. If you're trying to build relationships, invite someone to coffee or a meal, write a letter(with paper and ink), or pick up the phone and call them. I'm going to try spending a little more time this week doing the later.