Matthew 3

In verse 10 John the Baptist says "the ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown in to the fire."

John certainly has a way with words. Makes me glad that I'm not a tree.

Except, according to John I am a tree. We are all trees. This is a warning to us, that we must live good lives and produce good fruit.

Or else.

The good news is that we don't proclaim the gospel of John the Baptist. Instead we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

John's message is one of following the rules. He has an important message, the same message we preach when we proclaim the law. We are called to point out sin... Our sins and the sins of another.

But it is Jesus' message that transform lives. That is the message of radical forgiveness.

Our fruit is not always good. But our lives are not dependent on our own tree. They are dependent on Jesus' tree.

And he has the best fruit the world has ever tasted.

Matthew 2

This is one of the saddest chapters in the whole bible. In Matthew 2 we hear the story of the wise men and of Herod... Who upon hearing that the King of the Jews had been born had all boys under 2 years old slaughtered to protect his throne. Innocent babies murdered. Some accounts argue that more than 10,000 babies were killed by Herod... even his own son! When Emperor Augustus heard this he said "it is better to be Herod's pig, than his son."

This is a story that we so often ignore because it is more than we can comprehend. The entire city of Bethlehem has their baby boys killed... all in one verse.

How are we supposed to read this?

Are we supposed to read this through the lens of Saving Private Ryan? Where it's ok for many men to die to save one? As Tom Hanks is dying he leans into Matt Damon and says "earn this." Is it okay for all those men to die because Private Ryan lived a good life? If that's the case than Jesus lived a good life... maybe he earned it.

Or are we to read this is one man's desperate attempt to maintain his power and privilege? People will go to unbelievable lengths to secure their place at the head of the table.

Maybe we read this story through both lenses.

It was the leaders of the temple that had Jesus brought before Pilate because he challenged their position.

And Jesus died as a Holy Innocent in your place.

Have you earned it? No, and you can't earn it.

That's why this tragic story has a beautiful ending.

Matthew 1

I don't usually make a habit of arguing with the authors of the Gospels. But Matthew is wrong in chapter 1. He claims to give the genealogy of Jesus, but he really gives the genealogy of Joseph.

I understand why Matthew did it. He is writing to a Jewish audience and is connecting Jesus to King David and Abraham.

##Sidenote - You ever study your genealogy? Sometimes you find out crazy things. My great grandmother came to America when she was 13 as an indentured servant. She was a slave. I never imagined that slavery was so close to me... I wonder if Joseph knew his lineage? I wonder if he knew the story of how David stole Bathsheba from Uriah and sent him to war to be killed? It's important to know where we come from, it shapes who we are.- End sidenote##

To me, this chapter is all about Joseph. If God was going to make this work, Joseph needed to be on board. Joseph needed to have a lot of faith. "Honey, I'm pregnant, and the father is God." Not sure that would work on too many people.

Joseph believing that Mary was impregnated by God is as much a miracle as the virgin birth.

But he did believe. He took Mary as his wife and he took the baby as his son. He named him Jesus.

Joseph lived out an undeniable truth. A person does not need to be your blood relative to be your family.

Love is bigger than DNA.

Song of Solomon 8

Verse 4 "do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires."

I had a girlfriend in high school because I thought it would be cool to have a girlfriend. I didn't really like her, I think we talked like once per week, but I had a girlfriend. I think when we are young we like the idea of something more than we like the actual thing. (I used to get hot chocolate and walk around with the cup because I thought it was cool to give the appearance that I drank coffee, even though I still think coffee is disgusting. If it's a taste you have to aquire, that means it is not very good. I didn't have to aquire a taste for pizza.)

This verse is telling us not to rush in to being in love... Not to be in love just for the sake of being in love. Instead we should wait for the right person to come along, the person where love gives us no choice. Forced love never lasts.

Which is why God gives us freewill. God does not force us to love Him, instead He gives us the choice.

But faith is less like a choice and more like falling in love.

God wants to be in a deep, loving relationship with us. God wants to talk to us everyday. God wants to hear all you problems and celebrate all your joys.

This is more than an idea, it is the truth. I realize that not everyone is ready to have that kind of relationship... and that's ok.

God will wait until you're ready.

Song of Solomon 7

Verse 1 "How beautiful are your sandaled feet..."

This chapter is a continued poem written between two lovers. It's amazing the things people say and do when they are in love... they are blinded and can be foolish.

Solomon says something silly here... There is no such thing as beautiful feet! Maybe it's just me but feet are gross. I love my wife very much, but if she wants a foot massage she needs to shower and put on some socks... otherwise I ain't touching!

I'm writing this blog from a Comfort Inn in Wichita, Kansas. I drove 400 miles today for a training seminar that I felt compelled to attend. This seminar is going to help me preach the Gospel louder and more clearly. (Hopefully)

It is that Gospel that led me here. It is that Gospel that led me to Texas. It is that Gospel that leads me everyday. The Gospel of God becoming man. The Gospel of Jesus, who humbly washed his disciples feet, and who lovingly bled and died for our sins.

It's that Gospel that makes me do silly things.

Song of Solomon 6

This chapter frustrates me. I encourage you to read it... Go ahead, I will wait.


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In verse 8-9 Solomon writes that there are 60 queens (his other wives), 80 concubines (his girlfriends) and countless maidens (sex slaves?)... All these other women praise this one woman because she is the prettiest.

And because she is the prettiest, she is the one that Solomon loves the most.

The thing about being the prettiest is that it doesn't last. Someone prettier eventually comes around. Which could be why Solomon ends up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. (Do you think Solomon remembered all their names? Did he have weddigns where he married more than one bride? That's a lot of weddings if not, like one every month.)

When we focus solely on outer beauty we have very shallow relationships. Relationships that last until something better comes along.

True relationships go deeper. True relationships are more than just looks.

Now maybe we can read this as God being the lover and the church being the prettiest. But then who are the other ladies?

I think we need to reject this notion all together.

Instead we need to remember that Jesus was not Brad Pitt and the people he hung around with were not on TMZ... they were lepers, prostitutes, and fishermen... average people. Not beautiful people.

Except they were beautiful to God. We are all beautiful to God.

We are beautiful because He made us in His image.

Song of Solomon 5

Verse 2 "I slept but my heart was awake..."

This chapter is about a lover that is yearning for his wife. He wants her so bad that he can not sleep.

You ever have those nights? When you sleep but your heart is awake. You wake up in the morning and it is as if you didn't sleep at all. I have had hundreds of nights like that in my life. Nights where my mind races too fast to allow my body to rest.

Some nights are because I am so excited... I never slept well the night before the first day of school. Other nights are because I am worried... I don't sleep well the night before I have a flight, I always worry about oversleeping and missing the plane.

Other times I can't sleep because my heart is not whole. It's hard to sleep after a loved one dies. It's hard to sleep with hurt feelings or the guilt that comes with hurting a loved one's feelings. It's hard to sleep when my other half is out of town. The bed seems so big without her. I can't imagine what it is like for the spouse of a soldier... having to go to sleep every night not knowing where he or she is and what kind of danger they are in.

It's nights like these that remind us that we are alive, nights where we are reminded of what it means to live and love, nights where we have no control.

Nights where we must trust in God.

Song of Solomon 4

If you have ever been to a wedding you have probably heard some of this chapter. It is a beautiful poem written by two people in love with each other. Before I met Michelle, I thought that this chapter was a little corny, but I get it now.

Verse 7 states "you are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you."

When I was single I was looking for the perfect person. The one and only true love that God had created for me. I was talking to my friend Halldor, who grew up in Iceland, and told him what I was looking for. He suggested I stop looking for the perfect person, but look for the person with whom I can have a perfect relationship.

Truth is, there is no perfect person. There is no one without flaws. My parents have been married for 39 years, and trust me, they are far from perfect. But their relationship works because they have figured each other out, and as they have grown together, their relationship has grown closer to perfection.

I am blessed to have Michelle for my wife. She is as close to perfect as it gets. Almost as close as me! (Just kidding) We have been married now for about 18 months and over that time we have learned so much about each other. Things that are exciting and things that aren't. Michelle is learning that I care way too much about baseball. I get so nervous that I have to watch the game in my garage, on mute.

But as we learn we grow. We grow closer together and our love for each other grows. We grow closer toward a perfect relationship.

Our goal is to have a perfect relationship, but it will never happen. Human beings are incapable of having perfect relationships because of sin. (But it doesn't mean we shouldn't try!)

The only perfect love is the love that God has for us.

God has no flaws... and in God's eyes, we have no flaws.

That is altogether beautiful.

Song of Solomon 3

This chapter begins with the author seeking "him who my soul loves." In verse 4 the author finds him, "held him, and would not let him go."

Sounds like the journey of life.

We spend years searching for what will make us happy. We believe the lies of the world thinking that ways of lust and over-consumption is the secret. So we seek out pleasures that we think will make us happy, but the feeling of joy only lasts but moments while the feelings of regret and guilt linger.

The answer to happiness is love. Not so much being loved by someone, but being in love with someone who loves us back. Some people never find that person. Some people think they found that person and then their world is turned upside down when they leave. True love is hard to find, if we are looking for it in other humans.

It's not hard to find if we look to God. God is love. God is that which our souls long for. God is that which we sould hold on to and never let go.

Because God never let's us go.

Song of Solomon 2

I love baseball. I always have and I always will. I love everything about baseball... but more than baseball, I love the Detroit Tigers. (They absolutely broke my heart last night, but I still have faith they can come back and beat the Rangers.)

One of the many reasons I love the Tigers is Ernie Harwell. He was the voice of the Tigers for over 4 decades. He was an artist, he could paint a picture with his words. Every year, when the end of winter was blasting Detroit, Ernie would go down to Lakeland, Florida where the Tiger ballclub was getting ready for the new season. He would get on the radio and give us all hope that spring would be coming soon, and he would start every season with a piece of Song of Solomon 2: 11-12.




It is truly a beautiful text. It is about new beginnings, about plants returning to life after a long winter.

Winter comes every year. For some of us it comes even more often than that. Times when the world is against us and opportunities seem to be drying up. Life gets cold and dark. Sometimes life gets so cold and dark that we don't think we will make it to spring.

But spring is coming. Spring always comes. It's part of the cycle of life. We have to go through the darkness to get to the light. We have to go through the cold to get to the warmth. We have go through Good Friday to get to Easter Sunday.

And when it comes it is beautiful.

Hopefully it comes for the Tigers tonight.

Song of Solomon 1

This book is unique. Nowhere in its chapters does it ever mention God or religious practices. It is a book of songs, songs about love. It is a welcomed change from the bloodshed of Numbers. It is beautiful and compelling. I invite you to read the text along with me. Maybe you can even pull some of it out and surprise your spouse.

I am using the Lutheran study bible which haas introduction I would like to quote: "Song of Solomon is about the beauty and power of human physical love. It affirms the goodness of creation, human bodies, and sexuality."

And the journey begins.

This chapter begins with a bride yearning for her groom, who says, "you know where to find me." She goes to him in the fields while he is tending to his flock. The groom is a shepherd.

Have you seen the show Sister Wives on TLC? It's a show about a polygamist, his 4 wives and their 17 children. It's weird to see how wives interact with each other because they are all in love with the same man. How can there not be times of jealousy and lonliness? Solomon had 700 wives!

It's hard for me to read this and think that Solomon was a good husband. How could he be to 700 wives?

Instead, I prefer to read this as a love song between God and us.

The church is the bride, calling out and yearning for God. The response from God is simple "come find me in the pasture." In the pasture is where we find the shepherd, it's where we find Jesus. It is where Jesus smiles at us and tells us that we are beautiful just the way we are.

But love is more than just words. It is action.

Love is dying on a cross.

Numbers 36 - Thank God!

We have finally reached the end of Numbers. It has been a long, strange little journey. Thank you Mark Saunders for suggesting it. I hope you got as much out of it as I did. The main lesson that I learned: don't ask for suggestions! Haha!

The Lord, through Moses states that the Israelite women must marry men that are within their father's tribe.

Wouldn't it be weird to live in a city with 70,000 people and know that you are related to every other person in the city? And you had to marry someone else within that city... sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Why would God make such a rule? Because of inheritance... it's just easier this way.

I assume that since there weren't colleges, nightclubs or the internet that there wasn't a lot of inter-tribal dating going on... but still it is a pretty silly rule.

We don't choose who we fall in love with, the heart just takes over and like a magnet we need to be in the presence of that person. It's not a choice.

Faith is the same way. We don't decide to believe in God, but instead we, in a sense fall in love with God... Even though we aren't a member of God's tribe.

God still looks at us and says "you are my people" and we say "you are our God." Just like marriage vows.

Because God loved us first.

Numbers 35

When I was a youngin' we used to play different variations of tag. You know the game, someone is "it" and they would have to chase others and tag them. Once tagged one would either become the new "it" or become frozen or something. I hated tag because I was slow. The one thing about the game that I liked was the spot where I could sit and be safe. Sometimes it was a bench or sandbox, but if I was standing or sitting there I could not be tagged. It was called base. (I couldn't resist this corny picture)

In Numbers 35 God has the Israelites create 6 towns that were called "cities of refuge." These towns were places that one could run to when they had killed someone accidentally and wait for trial. While in these towns, the accused could live free from the threat of vengeance. They could be safe.

If they were found not guilty of murder, then they could live their life in these towns without any fear. (To be found guilty the prosecution needed 2 eye witnesses to confirm that the accused killed the victim intentionally. I get the feeling that most often the murders could not be proven, so these towns of refuge were probably full. Not really the kind of place I'd like to raise a family.)

Each night the evening news tells us stories of how people are killed in an auto accident or their houses burn down or someone mugs them. This world can be a scary place to live. Where do we find safety? Where is our base?

Is there a place that we can flee to and no longer have to worry about the perils of life?

No. Each day we live we put ourselves in harm's way. So how do we find peace?

We find peace in knowing that there is more to life than just this earth. We find our peace in knowing that God has something much bigger planned for us. That place is called heaven and we are welcome because of Jesus.

He is our base.