Ollie Ollie Umfumfree

My wife grew up playing hide and seek....you know where everyone hides, one person looks for the others then when only one or two are left (because they are the best hiders or they feel asleep) the seeker calls out "Ollie Ollie umfumfree." Huh?

When I was growing up I, too, played hide and seek. But when only one or two hiders were left, we called out, "All the other outs are free."

Can you see what happened? For some kids, my wife included, they were yelling out a variation of the actual statement...you know like the gossip game where a rumor is started and goes through a group and by the time it gets to the last person it is nothing like the rumor that was started....anyways....there was one person who said, "All the other outs are free," then through generations of kids it was transformed to "Ollie, Ollie Umphumfree," which means...well...nothing....Umfumfree is not a word. But if you ask my wife, it is a word...well it means something to her, anyway.

Religion is like that. At some point, there was a guy, let's say, Jesus, who said some really cool things that were meaningful and life changing. Then, generations of people morphed his message into something it was never intended to be, examined it for meaning, context...blah, blah, blah...and came up with something different. Then more generations took those morphed beliefs as their gospel (pun intended) and started morphing that into their own gospel. So here we are, generations from the message...but what is the message? Have we lost what the cool guy in the beginning said? Have we lost that life transforming message for a "sound alike?"

What did you say at the end of a round of hide and seek? And what is the correct spelling of that "word?"

Faith and Miracles

Matthew 13.58 "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."

Huh!?! Jesus' (God' son) ability to do miracles depended upon people having the faith that miracles were possible? What's up with that?

Is it that different today in our spiffy, ultra modern world? We have churches that the Holy Spirit is moving in and churches where they got nuthin'. Although the theology in many churches is sound, reasonable and rational, there is no movement of the Spirit there, no miracles, no prophecy, no healing...but they got theological correctness. Wasn't it the same back in Jesus' time?

You had the Pharisees in one corner and Jesus in the other. Pharisees were the star students in the law but didn't score so well on freedom, love and joy. The law interfered with their ability to see Jesus as the Messiah...they had faith in their religious beliefs but no faith in Jesus. Who had the faith? Those who were desperate for healing and had no other options. Who got the miracles? The ones who needed the miracles and believed that Jesus could do it. Perhaps that is why so many stories of miracles come out of Africa, South America and India today...they got nuthin' else but hope in a resurrected Messiah. Can we say that? Is it possible that cold, rational theology has missed the point of Jesus? Perhaps we have lost our desperation and have settled for rationalization instead of demonstration.

This post is for all the rational theological sceptics out there. Your faith may be keeping you from seeing Jesus, I know that was true for me. If you are not experiencing the active working of the Spirit, then perhaps it is your belief system that blocks it. There are people out there that are experiencing so much more because they believe it will happen (not can happen). There is a huge difference in faith in those two. It seems that scripture would agree that one must have the faith before the evidence of miracles can happen.

Despite faith, God still gets to be God and still does what He wants. I know some faithful brothers who have prayed and prayed for healing but it hasn't happened. God is still God. He doesn't give us everything we ask for because He can see the bigger picture. But we still can keep on asking in faith, hoping the Lord will use circumstances for His glory.

Father, in the name of Jesus, show us the way of trusting you. Give us faith so we can see you working around us. Help our unbelief so we can serve you. We bind every religious thought, in the name of Jesus, and rebuke the dark forces that skew your Word. Give us childlike eyes so we can see your glory. Jesus is Lord!

What do you think?

Jesus, the Trapese Artist

About five years ago, I went to the circus with my sons. The two things at the circus which caught our attention the most was the "Globe of Death" (motorcycles running at 50 mph in a sphere) and the trapeze. The trapeze always fascinates because it is death defying...well, with a safety net they might break a nail if they fall...but it could be death defying.

Sometimes I think of Jesus as a trapeze artist. Hanging on by his knees, swinging out with His arms reaching out, wanting me to let go of what I know and reach out in faith for Him. The problem is,.....well, .....I have to let go of what I know, of what feels safe. EEEK! But isn't that a requirement of faith? "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." There is no safety net. Only trust that He will catch you.

Now, I know He will catch me...I really do believe that.....really!??!! But it is hard for me to let go. I could just hang on to my bar and not take the leap but then what have I accomplished? I have proved that I am not willing to trust that the Master will catch me. I have shown that my fear of falling is greater that my faith that he will catch me. If I choose to hang on to my bar, I cannot honestly say, "I believe God will see me through," or "God didn't answer my prayers for...." Trust requires letting go.

In this light, I have a new respect for Peter stepping out of the boat...he's the only one who did so. You didn't see "Show me and I will believe" Thomas or "The Master loves me the most" John doing that. Not even the "I will die for any good cause" Zealot or the "I must follow the rules to the letter of the law" Pharisee did..but Peter did. As a fisherman, Peter even knew the dynamics of water and still stepped out.

So the question is: Are you just going to go through the motions? Are you all talk and no show? When are you going to let go of what you know and leap toward a Savior who says He will catch you? What do you think? Where do you need to step out in faith? What keeps you from letting go?

Here is a song (its even a capella) that proves my point...I love Rich Mullens Screen Door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lZzp1u1PDQ

Orangely Morely

I grew up in a small town on the western slope of Colorado on a small farm right outside of town. This story happened in that town after I graduated high school and was in college. And I will never be the same.

My mom and dad had a cat and, as cats are prone to do quite often, she had a litter of kittens. It was up to my nephews to name the cute puff balls and here are the names:

Orangley Morely
Orangely Leslie
Orangely Ollie
Orangely Nunly

I had never heard such names...bizarre....until I saw the kittens.

Orangely Ollie - Solid orange kitten
Orangely Morely - Mostly orange with some white kitten
Orangely Leslie - Some orange but mostly white kitten
Orangely Nunly - Solid black kitten

Through the eyes of a kid, these names made perfect sense and you could tell which was which.

Now, God says we are to be like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. He wants us to be as unsophisticated, uncomplicated, and trusting as a child who would name a kitten Orangely Morely. When our theology has to include more than simple faith in Jesus, it paralyzes us intellectually because we can't figure it out . When we make things too hard we end up frustrated and give up because of the hopelessness of perfectionism. And when the questions don't have answers or we don't like the answers, God wants us to trust him more than we need to figure it out.

I know most of us think our religious beliefs are important and we cling to them as if our lives depended on them. But do they? Are we willing to go back to the simple yet profound "Jesus Loves Me?" Are we willing to ask more questions than have all the answers? Or better yet, depend on the simplicity of praise and worship to change our hearts and lives without all the other "stuff?" Do our "5 steps to this" and our "three steps to that" really change non believers more than if we just loved them as a child would? Would we suffer a great deal if we scuttled 90% of what we knew about God if the remaining 10% we really all we needed?

Children are simple, trusting and loving. Is that all God wants from us?

Called Into the Deep

Wading, staying near the shore of this mighty river,
Trusting, I can touch the sandy bottom of the eddy,
I am secure from the mighty current, the terrible raging water.
I play at the edge, afraid of the current, the strength of its power,
An untamed power that sweeps the careless away.
The eddy is warm, inviting, and sheltered,
Content in the shallows with minnows and tadpoles
I expect nothing more on this warm summer day.



I look out over the mighty river, away from this lazy eddy,
Away from the slow motion whirlpool, this miniture harbor,
Away from the trash and debris, slothfully circulating.
I see the careless out in the swift water, thrashed and taken,
Swept away by the river, in laughter and song.
I sense fear in my heart and longing for something,
Disgust grows in my thoughts, like weeds in a garden,
toward what made me comfortable just moments ago.



Out of the eddy walking into the rapids, into the current my heart wants to plunge
I place my trust in my faith, not in what is tangible,
My head says, "Swim back, stay near the shore."
But my heart compels me out into the current, I dare not resist.
I am swept off my feet and can not touch the bottom,
Nothing to hold on to which makes me secure.
Momentarily, I regret listening to my heart,
placing faith in the unseen, in what I don't know.


The water is cold out here in the current, I do not fight it,
The current has no time to be placid and safe, so I wait for its time.
My heart is refreshed, this adventure is awesome,
I am secure in the might current, the wonderful raging water,
Untamed power fills my heart completely.
My heart knew what I needed when my head wanted safety,
To let go in faith, to lose all control,
Get out of the eddy, the warmth of the shallow,
Guided by faith, to lose all control.


I wrote this poem three years ago, at a time I was taking many risks and growing spiritually.

Wet Dogs, Rainbows, and the Holy Spirit

Do rainbows exist? We see them many times in the midst of a storm or fight after the hardest of rains. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet. Beautiful colors, vivid stunning...bending across the sky. Each display represents the promises of God, of stunning grace, mercy and redemption.
But guess what. Dogs cannot see rainbows. If they look into the sky, they can not see it. Try hard as they can, they cannot because they are color blind. All that beauty God has placed in the sky, missed, because they do not have the eyes to see it. To them, the rainbow does not exist, has never existed, and will not exist in the future because they cannot see it.

But it is there. The light reflects through each solitary rain drop, billions of drops each reflect the colors, like tiny prisms, creating a masterpiece of God. But to dogs, it is nothing but rain, sunlight and wet fur. Nothing but wet dog smell. That’s it. That is all they will ever know about rainbows. Just because they can’t see them does not mean they don’t exist.

Are we this way with the Holy Spirit, the presence of God? Is it any wonder dogs are often used to illustrate us in the New Testament? Examples: Matthew 7.6 states ‘Don’t give dogs what is holy and don’t throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do they may trample them under their feet, then turn and attack you.’

Want more? Revelation 22.15, Phillippians 3.2, and II Peter 2.22. Who are the dogs? Those who aren’t changed by God. They are those who can’t see or hear God, like dogs, are blind to something that is right there, tangible to those who can see. Dogs ignore what they can’t sense. ‘Dog faith’ must see empirical evidence before belief.

I grew up with the statement ‘I’ll believe it when I see it." I like the reformulates statement, ‘I’ll see it when I believe it.’ That is the problem with dogs. They won’t respond to what they can’t see (or smell). The whole point of faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ Depending on empirical evidence is not faith. If you can see it it is not faith. Believing things through the eyes of faith is different than understanding things when there is tangible evidence to support it.


On a similar note, infants and toddlers must be exposed to countless colors, shapes, patterns and textures or their brain will never develop the ability to perceive those things later in life. We must be exposed to those things to actually develop our ability to see them. Once exposed, our brains are able to make the necessary neural connection to perceive it in the future.

Perhaps as spiritual toddlers, we were not exposed to see things from spiritual eyes. We were not trained to experience the presence of God. Many (me included) were trained to rationally understand God and to good for others, but I was not trained to experience the Holy Spirit. And maybe that keeps us from believing what is obvious to those who have been trained to see Him. Be very careful criticizing those who can see the Spirit or exhibit spiritual gifts outside your comfort zone.