If The House Burns Down Tonight

Can you imagine what it must be like to hear police pounding on your door at 3 in the morning telling you that if you don't leave immediately you will be burned alive? You grab--what?--your kids, jump in the car, and drive away as fast as you can.That happened to Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot a few years ago, and he wrote a song about it?called "If?The House Burns Down Tonight"[the link has since been taken down]:

A few months back, a fire was raging through our home-town of San Diego. And when an unstoppable fire is barrelling down towards your part of town, you realize just how small you really are. The smoke blocks out the sun, the ash is falling from the sky, and your lungs begin to burn. So you run through the house and make a quick grab of the stuff you can carry, make sure that your family is safe in the car, and you make your escape.

It's a bracing thought: what if everything you had was about to burn?

Compared to the ones you love, what is ownership? What is property? Stuff? Possessions? In moments of life and death, these obsessions are meaningless. Think about what you would save from the fire. What would you fight for? Or maybe the real question is who- who would you risk your life for? And what about your things, all of that stuff that you paid so much for?? In the crucible of the fire, it becomes crystal clear: you let the rest burn.

I love that: the thought that everything is about to burn makes it clear what really matters--those are the things you'd be willing to fight for or risk your life for.What are those things for you today? Friends--all the rest: it doesn't matter.Let the rest burn.*

---

Crank up the volume, put down your windows, and drive: this is a great song.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5oqs8RC-I[/embed] 

Ashes from the flamesThe truth is what remainsThe truth is what you saveFrom the fireAnd you fight for what you loveDon't matter if it hurtsYou find out what it's worthAnd you let the rest burn

The sunset burns like gasolineTouch me and make sure that I'm not dreamingI see her face and my heart skips beatsBut I still get the feeling that we're half asleep andThere's a spark in the corner of my baby's eyeLike a distant star that won't burn quietAnd I might not know what I want from this lifeBut I know I want more than the starting line

So give me the fire

I can hear the motor running down the interstateAnd all the distractions fade awayAnd if the house burns down tonightI got everything I need with you by my sideI see the smoke piling up in the rear view mirrorYeah but I ain't ever seen it any clearerIf the house burns down tonightI got everything I need when I got you by my sideAnd let the rest burnAnd let the rest burnAnd let the rest burn

I've given too much of my heart awayMy soul‘s holding on like a house dividedLike a match it burns down like a masqueradeAnd I had to let it go when the fire ignited

One heart, two hands, your life is all you hold(your life is all you hold)To hold, hold tight and let the bitter goYeah let it go, and give me the fire

The smoke tries choking the pacific sunWe rocket down the road like we're shot out of gunsAnd if the house burns down tonightI got everything I need with you by my sideHolding you and the wheel and it occurs to meWe're driving down the edge of eternityAnd if the house burns down tonightI got everything I need when I got you by my sideAnd let the rest burnAnd let the rest burn

Put your hand in mine andPut your heart in drivingWe got everything we need yeahWe got everything we need yeahLeft it all behind usWhat we need will find us

We got everything we need yeahWe got everything we need yeah

Can you hear that motor runningCan you hear that motor running

There ain‘t no stopping us nowThere ain‘t no slowing us down

Can you hear that motor runningCan you hear that motor run, run, run

And all those lies that mattered most to meWere draining me dry making a ghost of meAnd if the house burns down tonightI got everything I need, everything I needThere‘s a fire coming that we all will go throughYou possess your possessions or they possess youAnd if the house burns down tonightI got everything I need when I got you by my side

And let the rest burn

Ashes from the flames, the truth is what remains

---

Have you seen this terrifying video? The most shocking part is the final few seconds when you realize that the entire time they've been driving has been in?daylight.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtwutlbJQqI[/embed]*Of course I'm not making light of what must be tremendous loss for these families--I'm making a larger, metaphorical point. Christ have mercy on these poor people who have lost everything. 

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How Make the Ridiculous Time Change Work For You

I think the concept of Daylight Saving Time is one of those bureaucratic and ubiquitous aspects of modern life which everyone more or less accepts but which is actually pointless when you consider it for more than 5 minutes. But, since my ranting won't do anything to end the practice, let's do this instead: let's make this ridiculous time change work for us.

Early Mornings Are Everything

"Morning" is my word for 2018. If you win the morning, you win the day. But, it is hard to get up early. Fortunately, the time change?offers you the perfect opportunity to revise your morning routine. With the change back to standard time, the extra hour you?ll gain could be exactly what you need to start a new morning routine. Here are 4 steps to take so you can start getting that early worm.

1. Go to Bed Early This Saturday Evening.

Don‘t make the mistake of thinking that the extra hour means you can stay up later. Head to bed at your normal time (or even better, a bit earlier) on Saturday.

2. Don‘t Sleep In on Sunday Morning

Set your alarm for the new early time you?d like to get up on Monday morning.

3. Begin An Evening Routine

The key to getting up early is preparing the night before. Set out your clothes for the next morning. Shut down your email. Lay out your workout gear. Put out your coffee cup. I find that I need to begin shutting down around an hour before I want to be in bed.

4. When the Alarm Goes Off, Get Your Feet on the Floor ASAP

Once you get your feet on the floor, you‘ve already won. Resist the urge to hit snooze and say I’ll get up in a few minutes. If you roll back over, you?re toast; get up immediately on your alarm. I've found that putting my alarm/phone beyond arm's reach--thereby forcing me to put my feet on the floor in order to silence it--ensures that I actually get up when my alarm goes off. 

Make Early our Watchword

Greatness starts early in the morning. Anyone can learn to get up early, and this weekend offers you the perfect opportunity. Don‘t miss it. 

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Five Fun Things for Friday

It's been a long week or so--lots of bad news. Here are five fun things to cheer up your Friday as you head into the weekend: 

Chuck

 10 years ago my wife and I enjoyed watching the NBC dramedy (comedrama?)?Chuck. I recently saw it was on Amazon Prime and watched a few episodes. I'd forgotten how much I liked it. I need to write up?Chuck?in a separate post, but if you want to watch something fun and funny and endearing,?Chuck should be your first choice. (The video below is the Australian(!) promo.) [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA1kFpoZEzg[/embed]  

Nickel Creek at the Tiny Desk

I used to love seeing the band Nickel Creek play, and so was delighted to stumble across their 2014 reunion concert at NPR Music's Tiny Desk. So great.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFycqnOpifQ[/embed] 

"The Wrestling Pastor"

There is a Twitter account run by a small-town pastor who takes gifs from pro wrestling and overlays captions that relate to local church life. I LOVE THIS ACCOUNT.Some examples:[embed]https://twitter.com/WrestlingPastor/status/1053606946417360896[/embed] [embed]https://twitter.com/WrestlingPastor/status/1052511176083550209[/embed] [embed]https://twitter.com/WrestlingPastor/status/1049979578003918854[/embed] [embed]https://twitter.com/WrestlingPastor/status/1047440353555623936[/embed]  

"Africa" by Peter Bence

People are amazing. If there is one thing the internet is good for, it's showing us how amazing some people are. Take this example: the Hungarian pianist Peter Bence covers the 1980's Toto hit "Africa." He's obviously a virtuoso, but you have to see him play to get the full effect. (My kids were really impressed when I showed them this.)[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SywaUbg5wU[/embed] 

"Kings and Queens" by Mat Kearney

My baby girl was dancing around the house this morning as I was playing this song. I first saw Mat Kearney in Richmond, VA in 2006 or so, in a little club with about 20 other people. I wasn't yet married. 12 years later and happily married, as we head into the weekend I know firsthand how right he is:

I don't need much with you my love'Cause the champagne drains and the airplane fame turns into rustI don't need much with you my love'Cause the Hollywood hills won't ever make me feel as good as us(You got me singin')

We don't need no bankroll make us feel aliveWe don't need no benzo to feel like we can rideRicher than Solomon with you by my sideWe'll be kings and queens in our own mindWe don't need no jet plane feel like we can flyWe don't need no cold chain just to watch it shineTwenty four carat lies we don't got the timeWe'll be kings and queens in our own mind

I got everything I'll ever needYou can cash every check try to buy a respect that's incompleteI got everything I'll ever needDon't gotta make it to the top yeah to know what I gotWith you and me(You got me singin')

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFph8k3Kuw[/embed] Happy Friday.   

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6 Reasons Why We Are Starting a Sunday 5 PM Service

Our church is launching at 5 PM service on Sundays, starting this week. Here's why we are doing this, in increasing levels of importance: 

We Can't Grow Any More on Sunday Morning

It's not the case that literally every single seat is taken at every service on every Sunday, but it?is the case that our church is full on Sunday mornings. If we want to reach new people, we're going to have to do something new. And NOT reaching new people is NOT an option. Because: 

Like a Shark: If We Stay Still, We Will Die

Sharks have to keep moving in the water--they can't just stay still. Churches (and all other organizations) are the same: either you are growing,?or you are dying. There is no staying put. Businesses and churches fail when‘they decide to‘stay put and preserve the status quo. Why? Because decline is inevitable: people move, people die, etc. Do you know how many churches were FULL in 1960 and are empty today? I don't know either, but it's a lot. People like things to stay as they are, but if things stay as they are, things will inevitably change. Either you are growing, or you are dying: there is no staying put. 

It Is Not Possible to Be Good and NOT Grow

If what God is doing through our church is helpful and healing to folks, then new people will want to be a part of it. You can't have a great, non-busy restaurant: if your restaurant is good, business will grow. Healthy things grow. It is antithetical to the gospel to say, "Our church is great, but new people aren't welcome." 

There are THOUSANDS More People to Reach

Every single church in Dallas could be crammed full of people on Sunday mornings, and there would still be thousands upon thousands of people in our city without a church home. Jesus was very clear: the mission of the church is to go everywhere, seek everybody, and teach them everything that Jesus taught. It is a literal command from God. 

New Things Reach New People

If you want to reach new people, you have to do new things. We think Sundays at 5 PM is the right time to reach new folks in our neighborhood. Sunday evenings work for people who don't want to get up early on Sunday mornings, or have Sunday morning sports commitments; and unlike Saturday evenings, Sunday evenings also allows the college-football-tailgating/we-have-an-out-of-town-wedding/let's-drive-down-to-the-Hill-Country-to-see-the-bluebonnets crowd make it to church on the weekend. 

Being in Church Every Sunday Will Totally Change Your Life

I feel so strongly about the importance of being in church every Sunday that I want to make it as easy as possible for folks to join us at Munger. Sunday mornings work for you? Great. You are welcome at our church on Sunday mornings. But:Your kid plays soccer? Come in the evening. You will be out of town? See you Sunday at 5 PM. Getting up early on Sunday just isn't going to happen? Buddy, do we have a deal for you.Can't wait.  

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Happy Halloween

It's Halloween, and even though the weatherman is calling for rain, the "soldier" in our house is planning on braving the elements and trick-or-treating tonight (though he is worried that his Nerf darts will get wet). Mrs. F. and I are raising our kids to be faithful young people, which raises the question: Do I as a pastor see a problem with our kids' participating in Halloween? The short answer is, "No." Some further thoughts below.I was my son's age 30 years ago, and I've been thinking about the differences between his experience of trick-or-treating and mine. I think there is a lot about America that we can learn from Halloween, and sadly, most of the changes that have taken place these past 30 years have been for the worse.As in so many areas of childhood, most of the fun of Halloween was in the expectation: what would I be, and how much loot could I get from my neighbors' largesse? As soon as the calendar turned to October, I'd begin thinking about my costume. When I was a kid, I seem to remember that most kids made their costumes, not bought them from the store. Making your costume was part of the fun. There is no question that Halloween has become much more manufactured and commercialized over the past 30 years. As in many other areas of American life, our obsessive desire to express ourselves as individuals has meant that we have become more like everyone else: everyone just wears the same mass-produced junk made in China. (What do these millions of Chinese people toiling in factories think about us? How stupid and frivolous must they think we are.)There was an unwritten rule in my neighborhood that teenagers were too old to trick-or-treat: Halloween was supposed to be for elementary age children and younger. These days, Halloween seems to be more and more about adults, and this is a change I don't welcome. I remember last year walking with my children up to some houses and feeling really uncomfortable: many of the adult costumes seemed to be as sexualized and violent as possible.I think that's another change I have sadly noticed: for me, trick-or-treating was mainly about kids running around the neighborhood in the twilight, and that was certainly the large part of the fun: you were?by yourself, with no parents!? But today, like most American parents of our class and background, the idea of letting our kids roam free in the dark in our community seems crazy to me and my wife. Maybe American life is more dangerous now than it was 30 years ago, but I liked it better when parents felt fine letting their kids roam by themselves.Don't get me wrong: not all the changes have been for the worse. For example, these days the candy has definitely gotten better. My brothers and I would eat a heaping pile of candy when we got home from trick-or-treating--against our mom's protestations--and then store the rest in those round Christmas cookie tins, which we kept under our beds. For the next few days, our school lunches would have much more sugar than usual, but after that the same thing would happen every year:?we'd eat all the good stuff that first week of November, only to dig out the cans from under our beds months later and find within them forlorn Charleston Chews and Tootie Rolls and other worse candies (if that's possible) that weren't even dignified enough to have been given names. What I would have given for a full-size Milky Way bar!I know folks who object to Halloween on the grounds that the day celebrates evil and the occult. Though I certainly understand their concerns, I personally don't have any problem with the silly and fun aspects of trick-or-treating and dressing up. For me, this is a 1 Corinthians 8 issue: I don't find any problem per se with my children participating in the silly aspects of Halloween, though if other Christians have concluded otherwise for their families, I certainly support them and understand that point of view. And, though Halloween is crassly commercial, frankly in my household it seems to be much less damaging than just basic tv and internet consumption anyway. So, in our family we have fun trick-or-treating, and Halloween is not something I find to be spiritually and morally dangerous for my children.Which is not to say there aren't elements of Halloween that I do in fact find spiritually and morally dangerous.There's that scene in the movie?Mean Girls where the protagonist, who has grown up in Africa, finds herself in her first high school Halloween party back in America, and is shocked to see how all the other girls have used the occasion to dress up in as slutty and provocative a way as possible. Here's what she says:

In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.

I think the scene is (unintentionally) instructive: we have come to accept the sexualization of everything as normal, and what we have come to accept as normal is shocking and strange to people who haven't been indoctrinated in Western culture. We are obsessed with sex, and even though the miserable results of this obsession are all around us, we persist in worshipping at Aphrodite's temple. The same is true for the way we deliberately embrace evil on Halloween. I was listening to The Ticket this morning as I drove home from working out; Gordo and Junior were talking about serial killers and prison beatings, etc., and so I turned off the radio--I don't want to fill my mind with evil. Because, let's be clear: dismemberment and murder and the like are evil actions. I'll go further--they are manifestations of the demonic. Do those things occur? Of course--this is a fallen world--but they don't need to be celebrated.I think it is spiritually foolish and morally problematic to celebrate evil and violence in costume and decoration, much less to investigate the occult. We should flee from such things, and not deliberately welcome them into our homes.So, I understand why some people strongly dislike Halloween. There will be some houses tonight which we will quickly walk past and avoid. My children are only children once, and they will encounter the violence and sexualization of our world soon enough. When they do, I want them to be discerning enough to discriminate between harmless fun and harmful evil, and Halloween can be a way for them to learn how to do so.So, tonight, I look forward to taking my kids out in the rain and letting them eat way more sugar than is good for them, to welcome the coming change of season and enjoy something fun about being an American child. And then, I hope to teach them one last Halloween lesson: how to discern good candy from Tootsie Rolls.Happy Halloween.  

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Four Rules for Preaching

I spoke at a Preaching Summit for preachers in Central Texas this AM. Here are the very rough notes from my talk: Four Rules for Preaching.Hope they help. 

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Hello Central Texas Preachers!

I'm pumped this morning to be able to talk preaching to a bunch of preachers in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Public speaking is one of my favorite topics, and a practice I really want to get better at.

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You can contact me through my church's website; I'm also on Twitter @Andrew_Forrest.At 11:45 AM, I'll be posting my notes from this morning's keynote, so check back here then.

Ananias and Sapphira

Two people (a husband and a wife) lie in church--about how much money they are putting in the offering plate(!)--and the Holy Spirit strikes them dead?! Pretty much. That's the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.If you are a normal person this story strikes you as (a) really strange and hard to believe and (b) extremely troubling. Is the Lord really this capricious?Some quick thoughts:

• I think The Bible Project video does a good job of connecting the Ananias and Sapphira episode with the story of the stricken priests in Leviticus.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhkWmFJKnA&feature=youtu.be&t=188[/embed]

• The presence of the Lord is not something to dishonor or mock: God's Spirit is a Holy Spirit, and he doesn't work for us. He is, to paraphrase Lewis, "not a tame God."
• It is dangerous, the Bible tells us, to think that God can be manipulated for our own purposes.
• I think Luke also wants us to understand that the one thing that will kill the church is the pretense that we are better than we are. Note that Peter makes it clear that the capital sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not withholding back part of the proceeds of the real estate sale--it was theirs to do with as they pleased--but that they lied and pretended that they were giving all of their profit.
• It's okay that the Bible stories trouble us. If the Bible were merely a human document, then we might expect to immediately understand and agree with all of it. Because, however, the Bible comes from God, we should expect it to confront, convict, and trouble us. It's at the places where we are most troubled that we should pay the most attention.
• The Lord is gracious, but grace is not cheap and grace is not guaranteed. To presume that we can do whatever we want and?not face consequences is to not understand grace.

So, some questions for reflection:

• What is it that most troubles about this story? Why?
• Are there places in your life in which you are trying to manipulate God?
• Where are you putting up a false front? Where in your life are you trying to pretend to be better than you are? (One thinks of social media....)

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What Conspiracy?

I hear the same canard all the time: "You know, the New Testament was actually put together by a group of men intent on perpetuating a conspiracy about Jesus. Jesus was actually such-and-such a traveling prophet, but the early church started spreading incredible stories about him to justify their power claims. The Gospels are a hoax."Here's the problem with that theory (one of many problems, actually): if you were creating a conspiracy about Jesus, WOULDN'T YOU GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT BEFOREHAND? Hasn't it ever struck you how strange it is that there are?four Gospels in the New Testament, and not just one? Why include four similar but separate accounts of the life of your religion's founder?Today we began reading the Gospel of Mark in our Bible reading plan. Mark is the shortest Gospel, and though it generally tells the same story as Matthew, you'll see differences in detail and emphasis. In fact, each of the four Gospels is different from the others in detail and emphasis. The basic story is the same, but some of the details are hard to reconcile. To cite one important example, although each of the Gospels tells the story of the Resurrection and the empty tomb, they each place a difference number of women actually there that first Easter Sunday morning as eyewitnesses . Either there were one woman there, or there were two women there, or there were three or more women there, but the differences are irreconcilable. Why would the early church permit those sorts of discrepancies to be included in the Bible?The early church was okay with including those sorts of discrepancies in the Bible for the same reason that there are four Gospels in the Bible, and not just one: because that's what had been passed down by the eyewitnesses. It was so important that the early church preserve and not tamper with the testimony of the various eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that it decided to stamp all four Gospels as "official" and include them in the New Testament, even though that meant there would be slight discrepancies between accounts. If you were creating a conspiracy, you would never do that--you'd get your story straight and clean.But real life isn't straight and clean--it's messy. And if you actually witnessed God-made-flesh walking among you as a man named Jesus, and if he did the amazing things that Jesus did,?and if the tomb really were empty and you subsequently met and touched and ate with the Risen Jesus, you'd expect there to be some discrepancies between eyewitnesses.The Gospels are not a sign of some ancient conspiracy; the Gospels are signs of an ancient certainty:this stuff actually happened.  

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There's Nothing Else Like it

I don't know of anything else in the history of the world's literature that is like the passion narratives in the Gospels. I've often wondered what it would be like to read that sorrowful story as an adult, without any prior knowledge of Jesus.Then again, what would it be like to read about the Resurrection, never having heard that news before?When those stories are read in church every spring, they are broken up--the Crucifixion on Good Friday, the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. This morning, however, I read them together, back to back, as one story.There's just nothing else like it.  

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And Neither Group Knows It

The pop culture version of Jesus meek and mild doesn't conform to the Jesus we read about in the Gospels. Jesus is not some kind of Semitic Santa Claus, who pats us all on the head, who tells us not to be too naughty, but who always ends up giving presents to everybody--Jesus is not tame, so to speak. The teachings of Jesus are often extremely unsettling if you actually pay attention to what he says.Nowhere is the gap between the pop culture idea of Jesus and the Jesus of history wider than in the terrifying parable Jesus tells in Matthew 25, the famous parable of the sheep and the goats:

^31??When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ^32?All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ^33?He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.^34??Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdomprepared for you since the creation of the world. ^35?For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ^36?I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.^37??Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?^38?When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ^39?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you??^40??The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.^41??Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ^42?For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ^43?I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.^44??They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you??^45??He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.^46??Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. [Matthew 25:31-46]

This parable is often referenced in the media. Here, Jesus gives a beautiful picture of what faith should look like--caring for "the least of these"--and it is right for the media to use this parable to point out the failures of the contemporary church. All well and good. However, it is also a parable about judgment, which is a detail that is usually overlooked--folks are loathe to acknowledge that the same Jesus who says such nice things about the poor would also speak so clearly about eternal punishment. But, he does. Jesus doesn't conform to our expectations.I think about this parable often; I find it terrifying. Am I going to be held to account for the ways I've failed the least of these? But there is one detail that's particularly unsettling: neither the righteous nor the unrighteous are aware of what they've been doing--both groups are surprised by what Jesus tells them about themselves.What does this mean? It means that who we're becoming matters. Over time, righteous acts will become second nature to some of us, whereas selfish, self-centered acts will become habitual to others of us. In other words, the righteous act righteously out of who they have become, while the unrighteous act unrighteously out of who they have become. As Lewis famously puts it:

?[E]very time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.?And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.?To be the one kind of creature is heaven: That is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power.?To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.?Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.

??C. S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity"

What kind of creature are you becoming today? Every choice matters.   

P.S. Note to my Subscribers

I had my blog crash a few more times over the weekend, so I've been slow in posting recently and am still working out the kinks to the newsletter I want to send out. Stay tuned.How to subscribe:

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What This Picture Means to Me

From Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon, my website went down. I know you folks have been worried sick that the Russians got to me. Good news: I'm okay, and it appears we fixed the problem. The eagle will fly again.

---

Last night, we had a youth ministry volunteer vision dinner. I was really worried about it--would anybody show up, and if they did, would it even be worth it?We ended up having a great turnout and a great time, and we closed the evening by having folks circle up in small groups and pray for our students and our church. I took the photo above while folks were praying.I've been worried about taking over the leadership of our youth ministry this fall.

• Is the additional responsibility going to drive me into the ground? Will I be able to keep up my energy? Will this commitment hurt my family?
• Will anyone step up to help? Are we going to get buy-in from parents?
• Will any families show up at our kickoff? Will any students show up after that?
• Will any of this even work?

Seeing all those folks praying last night was a good reminder:Everything is going to be all right. We are so blessed.  

P.S. Note to my Subscribers

I'm still working out the kinks to the newsletter I want to send out. Right now, you'll still receive an email when I post an article, and I'm still planning on blogging daily through the Gospel of Matthew. Stay tuned.How to subscribe:

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)

Just Who Exactly is a "Sinner"?

Just who exactly is a "sinner"? If you are anything like me, you get this wrong all the time.

⁹As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed him.¹⁰And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?¹²But when he heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. (Matthew 9:9-13)

One of the striking things about Jesus--repeatedly mentioned in all four Gospels--was that he deliberately reached out to the people despised by the religious establishment of the day. These "tax collectors and sinners" were people who were WRONG: they were collaborators with the hated Romans, they deliberately betrayed their fellow Jews, they totally disregarded the Torah. They were WRONG. And yet Jesus graciously reached out to them, even having dinner with these sorts of people. It's an amazing example of what love looks like. We should go and do likewise.But there is a problem, and that problem is that we often misunderstand who the "tax collectors and sinners" are in our own day. In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were the religious establishment, and in the Gospels they are outwardly pious, but inwardly self-righteous and hard-hearted. They despised the tax collectors and sinners. Disregarding their good opinion, Jesus deliberately reached out to the people the Pharisees despised. In diagram, it goes like this:X→Y→ZwhereX is Jesus; Y are the Pharisees, who are enemies of Jesus; and Z are the "tax collectors and sinners."Jesus→hated by the Pharisees→reached out to the people whom the Pharisees despisedOr, to put it another way, Jesus reached out to the people that the people who didn't like him didn't like.So far so good. The problem comes when we try to determine who the "tax collectors and sinners" are in our day. Who is Z?Here's what we do: we decide that the "tax collectors and sinners" in our day are the people that are despised by the people that we don't like. We're X, our enemies are Y, and "tax collectors and sinners" become Z, who are despised by Y. When we read the gospels, our "tax collectors and sinners" become the people we don't like don't like. For example:

• If we are a secular liberals, our "tax collectors and sinners" are the people that Trump voters supposedly despise.
• If we are a social conservatives, our "tax collectors and sinners" are the people that the New York Times editorial board supposedly despises.

What we do today is we take groups that we feel are unfairly marginalized or despised, and we put them in the place of Z, "tax collectors and sinners." But this gets the example of Jesus backwards; we draw the wrong conclusion because we misunderstand where to place ourselves in the diagram. When Jesus talks about showing mercy to the tax collectors and sinners, we do this subtle thing where we place ourselves in the position of Jesus and start shaking our head and clucking our tongue at the Pharisees, these wicked self-righteous people who just don't get it. It's as if we thinkX→Y→ZwhereX is Jesus AND us; Y are the Pharisees, who are enemies of Jesus AND us; and Z are the "tax collectors and sinners."But this is the point: we are not with Jesus--we are not X; rather, we are Y.We are the Pharisees, which means Jesus is asking us to love the people that we know to be WRONG.A few examples:

• If we are secular liberals, our "tax collectors and sinners" are NOT the people that Trump voters supposedly despise. Our "tax collectors and sinners" are TRUMP VOTERS. They are the people we are supposed to love.
• If we are social conservatives, our "tax collectors and sinners" are NOT the people that the New York Times editorial board supposedly despises. Our "tax collectors and sinners" are THE MEMBERS OF THE NY TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD.

Do you see what this means? I get the story of Jesus and the "tax collectors and sinners" EXACTLY backwards when I think it applies to the people I don't like. In fact, it applies to me, and how I love the people that I personally don't like, even the people I think are morally WRONG.So, who are your "tax collectors and sinners" today? Who are the people that you don't like, the people that are wrong? In the Gospels, we read that Jesus reached out to the tax collectors and sinners--the people who were wrong--with love and kindness.Go and do likewise.

P.S. How to Subscribe To My Blog

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)

Of Pigs and Human Nature

Do you actually want to change, or would you rather wallow in the filthy status quo?

^28?And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed?men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ^29?And behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?? ^30?Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. ^31?And the demons begged him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs. ^32?And he said to them, ?Go. So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. ^33?The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ^34?And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. (Matthew 8:28-34)

Jesus performs an astounding miracle in their village, freeing these two men from filth and misery,?and the villagers would prefer he leave than cause any more changes to the way things are.You don't think that those villagers had parts of their lives that needed healing? But rather than begging Jesus to stay and work among them, their immediate response is to beg him to leave and never come back.How true of human nature--so often we prefer the pain we know to the possibility of change.  

P.S. How to Subscribe To My Blog

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)

"I'm Basically a Good Person"

People say that all the time: "I'm basically a good person." What I think they mean is that they are basically?moral. They don't lie or steal or cheat or murder. But, when you read the Sermon on the Mount, you see how inadequate that idea of goodness is. For Jesus, goodness is not primarily moral, but spiritual--it's about being like God, who is even kind toward those who are evil: "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).It is possible to be perfectly moral and at the same time remain selfish, contemptuous, and resentful. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is explaining that true goodness is active love toward others--it's not refraining from doing evil--it's actively doing good, even towards those who are doing evil.I've read the Sermon on the Mount many times, but each time I read it I am reminded that there is nothing else like it in all of human history.

"Immediately"

^18?While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, ?Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. [Matthew 4:18-22]

I've always thought that the calling of Andrew and Peter, James and John was a strange story, but recently I read something somewhere that made a lot of sense to me. Twice, Matthew tells us that the brothers left their nets "immediately," i.e., when Jesus calls, they respond totally: they don't hedge their bets or halfway follow him. What's Matthew trying to tell us?Either we follow Jesus, or we don't: there is no place for a half-hearted discipleship.Jesus says, "Follow me." In response, what do you need to "immediately" leave, drop, or do today?

Matthew's Genealogy, Billy Joel's Song, and a Quiet Divorce [Matt. 1-2]

I'm going to be blogging regularly this fall as I read through the New Testament. (I'm going to commit to blogging each day as we read through the Gospel of Matthew, and see what that's like. Each day's Bible post will go live at 4:30 AM.) Below are some quick thoughts on our first day's reading, Matthew 1-2.Two important things to keep in mind as you read The New Testament:

1. The story of Jesus only makes sense in the context of the Old Testament. Lots of what Jesus does is a conscious fulfillment of the Lord's covenant with Abraham's family (which started way back in Genesis 12). This means when something Jesus does doesn't make immediate sense to you, it's probably because you're missing the Old Testament connection.
2. Even more than the other Gospel writers, Matthew is particularly concerned with connecting Jesus to Israel's story.

This is why Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus--the family tree he provides shows that Jesus is related to the family of Abraham. More than that, each name is shorthand for all the times and places in which that person lived. The genealogy seems boring to us because the names might not mean anything us--like reading random entries in a phone book--but to the 1st century Jews who were Matthew's original readers, each name was a touchstone to family stories that were cherished by the descendants of Abraham.

"Jesus and Genealogies"

On The Bible Project site I'd recommend you read "Jesus & Geneologies," an article I found really helpful. For example, did you know?

Just think about the separated sections of the genealogy of Matthew. It is broken up into three parts that cover 14 generations each, but why 14?Within the written language of Hebrew, the letters are also used as their numbers, and so each number is assigned a numerical value. The name of David in Hebrew is ???,? and from here you just do the math. The numerical value of the first and third letter ?? (called dalet) is 4. The middle letter ?? (called waw) has a numerical value of 6. Put it into your mental calculator: 4+6+4=14, the numerical value of the name of David.Matthew has designed the genealogy, so it links Jesus to David explicitly, and also in the very literary design of the list. In fact, Matthew wants to highlight this 14=David? idea so much that he‘s intentionally left out multiple generations of the line of David (three, to be exact) to make the numbers work.Wait, Matthew has taken people out of the genealogy?Yes, and this is not a scandal. Leaving out generations to create symbolic numbers in genealogies is a common Hebrew literary practice, going all the way back to the genealogies in Genesis (the 10 generations of Genesis 5, or the 70 descendants of?Genesis 11). Ancient genealogies were ways of making theological claims, and?Matthew‘s readers would have understood exactly what he was doing and why.

Read the whole thing.

"We Didn't Start the Fire"

This opening genealogy has got me thinking about Billy Joel. Each name meant something to Matthew's audience, in the way that the names in Billy Joel's song mean something to a certain type of Baby Boomer:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g[/embed](By the way, I love this related scene from "The Office:"[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrjBpW6OSbg[/embed]That's from when The Office was still funny....) 

The Quiet Divorce

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly"

I've always found that to be a quietly moving line: "And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." That decision of Joseph's was a small, selfless act of kindness on which the fate of the world turned.Don't underestimate the importance of a small, unnoticed act of selfless kindness today. Who knows what hangs in the balance?   

P.S. Changes to this Blog

This is the last post that my subscribers will receive as a standalone email. Starting Friday, August 24 through Monday, December 24, at Munger we are going to be reading through the New Testament. I'm planning on posting more frequently in this space, including regular (daily?) commentaries on what we're reading. Right now, subscribers get an email every time I post, but I don‘t want to fill up your Inbox, so tomorrow I'm going to be switching to a weekly newsletter that will contain links to the previous week‘s posts, as well as some other original content from me not available anywhere else.If you are already a subscriber, you don‘t need to do anything else. (If you want to be sure and read each post as it comes out, subscribe to my blog‘s RSS feed. There are lots of tutorials online to explain how to do that.)If you are not a current subscriber, here‘s how to subscribe:

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)

The Death Rate

There's something just so?strange about death, even though it's entirely predictable. I had this thought last week, after hearing about the death of a young mother in our congregation and thinking about her surviving husband and three school-aged sons: we are all so grieved at the loss,?and yet every single one of us is also going to die. Not all of us will die by violence or disease or accident, not all of us will die young,?but every single person hearing of the loss of this woman and grieving for her?husband and three sons is also going to die. And it just struck me how strange this all is, both our shock at death (which shouldn't be any more shocking than the sunrise) and the mystery that is death itself.What's that old saw? "The death rate hasn't changed: it's still one per person."   

P.S. Changes to this Blog

Starting Friday, August 24 through Monday, December 24, at Munger we are going to be reading through the New Testament. I'm planning on posting more frequently in this space, including regular (daily?) commentaries on what we're reading. Right now, subscribers get an email every time I post, but I don‘t want to fill up your Inbox, so tomorrow I'm going to be switching to a weekly newsletter that will contain links to the previous week‘s posts, as well as some other original content from me not available anywhere else.If you are already a subscriber, you don‘t need to do anything else. (If you want to be sure and read each post as it comes out, subscribe to my blog‘s RSS feed. There are lots of tutorials online to explain how to do that.)If you are not a current subscriber, here‘s how to subscribe:

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)

Look at What I Found This Morning

I hadn't been in my office for two weeks; when I walked in this morning this beautiful prayer kneeler was waiting for me.My friend and colleague Jake Porter made it for me and surprised me with it. I had no idea he was working on this; apparently he started earlier this summer, because he had some wood leftover from another project. (I'm particularly impressed with the Munger cross he cut out using a jigsaw.)What a thoughtful, beautiful gift.

Personal Update for Fall 2018

I've just returned with my family from 11 days in southwestern Colorado--our first time. It was the perfect place to be quiet and rest before the fall season begins, a season that involves some significant changes to my responsibilities, which I will explain below.Some friends in church had offered us the use of their house in the San Juan mountains in Colorado. We drove there and back--two days each way--with the long drive as part of the fun. From Dallas to Amarillo the landscape becomes increasingly dry and flat and lonely, with the road passing through little brittle communities with one blinking yellow stoplight and paint peeling from deserted furniture stores, until in the Texas Panhandle grain elevators dominate the horizon, which stretches for what seems forever. And then, suddenly, the ground gives way and the Palo Duro Canyon opens up its reddish brown mouth right in front of your feet.We took the time to drive down into the canyon and hike around for a bit. The Palo Duro Canyon isn't as grand as its famous Arizona cousin, but it is similar, with the same warning signs about how the desert heat is deadly to the unprepared.Our second day of driving took us north out of Santa Fe, from desert to high desert to an alpine landscape, passing through little clusters of houses in forsaken communities in the high desert, the kind of places where you drive past at 70 miles an hour and thank God you don't live there. And then you arrive in Colorado and secretly ask God if perhaps you?could live?there,?or if he could at least make Dallas a bit more like Colorado in the summer.The house we stayed in was expansive, with a huge second story balcony off the entire back of the place, and a cool basement totally underground. Our cell phones didn't work, but that to me was a feature of the place, and not a bug. We were there to celebrate my dad's retirement from pastoral ministry--43 years. My parents and my brothers and their families joined us.This time of year in that part of Colorado, the weather is perfect: upper 40's at dawn, lower 90's at noon. I'd get up every morning early to sit wrapped in a blanket on the back deck in the dark, waiting for the sun to rise. The deer and the wild turkeys and the hummingbirds paid me no attention, if I kept still enough. I would have stayed for a month, but my life is here in Dallas, and I have a lot to do this fall. We arrived back home last night. 

Changes to My Fall 2018 Responsibilities

Earlier this summer, our youth director accepted an invitation to return to his home church and take his old boss's job. We engaged a search firm to help us find his replacement, and on one of the phone calls with the founder (David), he asked, "What's your interim plan before you hire someone?" We didn't have a plan, but as soon as he asked the question, I thought to myself: "I think I'd like to do it."I got my start in full-time ministry by working with middle and high school students at a church in VA. I worked there for 5 years before I went to seminary, and I loved it--there was just something so obviously important and exciting about reaching kids that age with the gospel. Now at Munger I'm responsible for something much broader in scope than the youth ministry I led in Virginia, but I still haven't abandoned one of my core beliefs from that time: that the strength of a church is determined by how well it is raising up the next generation in the faith.At Munger, the area of the church's ministry I know the least is our youth ministry, and I've always regretted that I don't have more interactions with our 6th-12th graders and their parents. Although we are working hard to hire a new youth director, we just aren't in the position to make that hire by the time school begins, and so David's question on the phone caused me to think--could I personally offer some leadership to our youth ministry this fall? I'm ultimately responsible for the youth ministry whether we have someone in place or not, and I don't want to let our youth ministry languish while we are waiting to hire a director. What if I stepped in as the interim leader? I shopped the idea around to some people within and without the church who would have no problem telling me it was a bad idea, but no one did.

So, I'm going to be leading the Munger youth ministry this fall.

On the one hand, with the commitments and responsibilities I have, this may seem crazy.

• We have an average worship attendance of just over 1,000 people on Sunday mornings;
• A?budget of $3 million;
• And a staff of 10;

All of which I am ultimately responsible for. Behind those numbers are lots of people to love and lots of problems to solve.But, in addition to the above, this fall has some big things coming up, including:

• The unveiling of our master plan for future growth and ministry at a congregational meeting on Sunday, October 21 at 5 PM;
• And the launching of a 3rd worship service at 5 PM on Sundays, starting November 4.

Do I have time to lead the youth ministry? At first, it seems clear the answer is "No." But....Here's the honest truth: I have all the time I need for what's important, and I think the middle and high school students in our community are extremely important. So, yes, I have time to lead the Munger youth ministry...if I get some help. 

The Plan for Munger Youth This Fall

We're going to keep things simple. Our weekly programming will be on Wednesdays and will run from 7:00-8:30 PM. Middle and high school students will meet at the same time, but they will not meet together.High School?Wednesday?Schedule7:00-7:45 PM, high school worship in the youth basement with me and our band. (High school is 9th-12th grades.)7:45-8:30 PM, high school small groups and dinner/snacks on the 3rd floor.Middle School Wednesday Schedule7:00-7:45 PM, dinner/snacks, games, and small groups on the 3rd floor. (Middle school is 6th-8th grades.)7:45-8:30 PM, middle school worship in the youth basement with me and our band.Wednesday night youth will follow the above schedule from September 12 through December 12. We will NOT meet on November 21 (the day before Thanksgiving), though there is a Thanksgiving Eve worship service at the church that night. (Halloween is a Wednesday this year, so stay tuned for special programming on 10/31.)In addition to the above weekly programming, we are looking to line up Bible studies at other times, etc. Come to our kickoff on 9/5 to find out more. (Kickoff info below.)2018-2019 Confirmation ScheduleConfirmation is a year-long spiritual formation program for 6th graders. 6th grade is a transition period, and we want to do our best to prepare our young people spiritually to face the challenges of middle and high school, so they can own their faith as their own. At the end of the year-long Confirmation process, the students will be commissioned by me in worship to go forth and take their faith into the world.Confirmation will meet on Sundays this fall during our 11:00 AM worship service, September 9-December 16. Confirmation will NOT meet on November 25 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving). In Spring 2019, Confirmation will meet January 6-May 12. Confirmation will NOT meet on March 10 or 17 (spring break) or on April 21 (Easter Sunday!).Confirmation Sunday will be 11:00 AM on May 19.Confirmation students need to attend 2/3 of Confirmation classes (20 out of 30 possible Sundays) to complete the course.Please REGISTER your child for Confirmation HERE.More info to come at youth fall kickoff.2018 Youth Fall KickoffWe?re going to start the new school year off with a BANG on Wednesday, September 5 from 7:00-8:00 PM for our Fall Kickoff. All 6th to 12th graders AND their parents invited. Bring friends, even if they don‘t go to our church. The agenda: food trucks, live music, and then I will lay out the plan for the year ahead.My goal: a full house, so please move heaven and earth to attend with your family.

Munger Youth: What Will I Be Doing?

Each Wednesday, I'm going to give a talk on the topics that middle school and high school kids are asking about:

• How can we know there is a God?
• What about other religions?
• Where did the Bible come from?
• What about heaven and hell?
• If God already knows what's going to happen, why do we need to pray?
• If God is love, then why does he allow bad stuff to happen to people?
• Etc.

Every Wednesday, we'll have a brief, high energy worship service with a band led by Josh Mojica (the young guy with the crazy hair who plays with Kate on Sunday mornings), and I'll give a talk to our students trying to make the faith as clear, relevant, and attractive as possible. Then, adult volunteers will lead youth small groups broken up by grade and gender to talk over the week and see how the kids are doing.I can lead the ministry by providing vision and direction for our weekly gatherings and to our adult volunteers. That's what I'm good at. But, I can't do everything.... 

Munger Youth: What I Will NOT be Doing

I cannot serve as the Munger youth minister. I can't attend football games and concerts and recitals. I can't order the pizza or pay the trip deposits or lead the small groups. In other words, I can lead the ministry, but I can't?do the ministry.What I can do is recruit other adults who will do those things, and I'm going to need all the help I can get.If you signed up earlier this summer to volunteer in our youth ministry, you should have already been contacted by us. Thank you! But, if you haven't yet signed up or if you did but weren't contacted by us, please consider stepping up and signing up below. I particularly need parents of 6th to 12th graders to help me make this fall season happen. We need a team of folks to support our ministry, to lead our small groups, to be positive influences in our students' lives.Want to help me and our youth ministry this fall? Sign up HERE to be a youth?ministry?volunteer.We're going to have a Youth Volunteer Vision Dinner on Wednesday, August 29, from 6:30-9:00 PM at a home in Lakewood, so please mark that down if you sign up as a potential volunteer. 

A Final Word to Munger

I've been wondering if perhaps this transition period in our youth ministry is actually a gift from God, because it will both allow me to make some new relationships in our church and at the same time require other people to step up and and become involved in ministry. More than ever, I'm going to have to focus on the few things that I only I can do and do well and recruit other people to make our church's ministry happen. I've found that the Lord seems to prefer to place us in situations where there is a gap between what we need and what we have, and that he delights in providing for us. That's one of the things I'm excited about with regard to our new evening service--we currently have ZERO people showing up at 5:00 PM on Sundays, and we are going to have to pray and work like crazy to change that. In the same way, our youth ministry is lacking a permanent leader right now, which might actually be God's plan--he wants the rest of us to step up so he can show us something awesome.May Fall 2018 be our best fall yet.  

P.S. To My Dear Readers: Changes to this Blog

Starting Friday, August 24 through Monday, December 24, at Munger we are going to be reading through the New Testament. I'm planning on posting more frequently in this space, including regular (daily?) commentaries on what we're reading. Right now, subscribers get an email every time I post, but I don't want to fill up your Inbox, so next week I'm going to be switching to a weekly newsletter that will contain links to the previous week's posts, as well as some other original content from me not available anywhere else.If you are already a subscriber, you don't need to do anything else. (If you want to be sure and read each post as it comes out, subscribe to my blog's RSS feed. There are lots of tutorials online to explain how to do that.)If you are not a current subscriber, here's how to subscribe:

I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)