Perspective

Fall is my favorite season. It always has been. It always will be. I love the colors. I love the way the morning is sharp with its cool but refreshing in its touch. I love pumpkins and pumpkin pie. I love NFL Sunday and flag football in the yard. Fall is an incredible, incomparable season. I would even humorously argue that Creation had to have taken place in the fall...it's that "good".

But do you ever notice how when the weather starts to turn cold at the end of summer, people sort of get sad as they take out their light jacket or put on their first sweater for the year? The cold seems extra bitter, the sky seems extra gloomy, and it seems as if the joy of sun and sand will soon be long behind us. We humans rarely seem to be content with what is in front of us. Cold itself is a foreign concept, and 60 degree weather feels like we might as well be stranded in the middle of the arctic.

Then something strange happens around April sometime (March, if we're lucky). A 60 degree day rolls in, and the whole world celebrates. People lay their coats in a pile and dance in the streets. Business men and women decide to eat lunch on the patio that day. People seem extra chipper, waving to each other and commenting to each other about the incredible change of fortune.

As I was walking to work this obvious fall morning, these thoughts were running through my head. I began to think about my faith, and how much of what Christianity and God have become to this world is a season taken out of context.

For those of us who grew up in the church (or had a bad experience there), God and faith are the fall season at the end of a gorgeous summer. We know we should value it, we remember a time when we appreciated it and clung to it with joy, but somehow it has taken on a bitterness, something that bites at us rather than awakens us, inspires us.

For those who have been anywhere but the church, have tried everything else and failed, for the alchoholic or drug-addict who found their freedom in Christ, for the gay man or woman who felt welcome in a church for the first time, or for a marriage on the rocks that finally found its unity in a triune God, He along with His church feel more like spring. After the cold, hard aches of an endless winter, the sun shines for the first time. The clouds roll away and a foreign warmth stuns our bodies with wonder.

God and faith are reacted to by the people of this world based on perspective. Perspective is this powerful, insurmountable object. Think of it as the ground on which we stand to see what there is to see, be it a valley or a mountain top. What we see and how we see it depends on where we stand to look. Many times, if not most of the time, the place we stand is the hand we're dealt. We're like Bear from the show "Man Vs. Wild", dropped in a random, remote location...expected to survive.

To a poor person, a mega church seems cold. To a rich person, a mega church feels warm, comfortable. To a person with loving parents and a good home, the idea of God as Father sounds intimate, reassurring. But like Donald Miller writes in his book Blue Like Jazz, the idea of God as Father sounds very unappealing to the kid whose dad walked out on him. To a Christian refugee in the middle of Sudan, the idea of "God Bless America" sounds more exclusive than inclusive, but to the marine clinging to his faith in the middle of a battlefield, he hopes those words ring true. To a white CEO in suburban America, the idea of serving the poor and selling away all of his positions seems very intrusive so he chooses to take it as metaphoric, but to the homeless man in the middle of a busy downtown Los Angeles street, he has seen very few Christians who are actually Christ-like. To the middle-aged married couple at a Baptist church who refers to a gay community as "hate the sin, love the sinner", they feel as though they are learning how to love in spite of, but to an isolated gay man in the back pew of that church, he wonders if he will ever find a friend in God or His people.

Perspective is what makes God and faith such a delicate and difficult thing to understand for many people in this world. If we're honest, even we who claim this faith have a hard time separating perspective from truth, opinion from God.

If we could simply see the world and those who are in it as the seasons that come and go and come again, we would start to understand that we all need to come to terms with our perspective, the past experiences (good and bad) that have shaped our view of God and our understanding of Who He is to a broken world.

Like I said, I like fall. But when winter comes, that's when I start to lose perspective. I'm always looking for spring, until I realize that I hate summer. God save us from our perspectives.

Loving a Terrorist

So I haven’t posted now in quite some time, but every so often something begs of me to respond.

By now the whole world is aware of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. If not, you may live under a rock. 24/7 the news media has begun covering this event, and spontaneous celebrations of people have filled the streets of Washington D.C. and New York City, among countless other places in our country.

Almost immediately upon hearing this announcement, I began to hear over and over again the words of Jesus in Matthew 5. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”, “Do not resist an evil person”, “Do not repay evil for evil”.

Osama bin Laden was no doubt a mass murderer, and deranged terrorist, and someone with immense hatred in his heart. He killed thousands of innocent people and spent his entire life plotting attacks on innocent men, women, and children. There was no doubt justice that needed to be served. But whose justice? What does justice look like? Is killing someone who killed someone just? Does it look like love? Does it look like Jesus? Can we honestly use violence for peace and then in the next breath say “May God bless America”? And if we do, will He?

Please don’t brand me as anti-American, unpatriotic, or a sympathizer of terrorists. Certainly Osama bin Laden deserved to be punished, locked away in a cold prison cell for the rest of his life. But are we accomplishing peace if the means to that end is violence? And if we do, can we claim it as just? As good? As Godly?

May God have mercy on us when we rejoice in the killing of another, even a terrorist. If terrorists are beyond redemption, then St. Paul and the writings in over half of the New Testament should be burned immediately. To say someone is beyond love, beyond God’s redemption…well, that doesn’t sound very Christ-like at all.

Is it a good thing that bin Laden can no longer hurt or kill innocent people? Of course. Is it worth the compromise of integrity and justice? I don’t believe so.

As the world and much of America celebrates the murder of a murderer, may we as follows of Christ remember that by grace we all have been saved, and that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but by His love and grace.

Amen.

Aid for Japan

Hey guys and gals!


In the wake of the devastation that has taken place over in Japan in recent weeks, I want to let you guys know about a great opportunity to help the people of Japan during these difficult times of hardship and loss.

Saturday evening, April 9th, I will be doing a benefit concert in Chicago to raise support for the relief efforts in Japan. The concert will be a night of my original music, with all proceeds (every penny raised) from the event going straight to the Covenant World Relief Fund currently aiding the people of Japan. We will be selling music and holding a bake sale, and we’ll also have a suggested $5 entry donation to the event. All of this money will go to Japan.

Not to mention it is going to be an incredibly fun night of music. I haven’t played out like this in almost 2 years, so I’m very excited to host this event and even more excited for the cause it is going to. I will also be joined by some incredible musicians on stage, including the drummer from the Least of These and some musician friends from some of my previous music projects/bands.

The address for the event is:

Edgebrook Covenant Church
6355 N Spokane Avenue
Chicago, IL 60646


The show will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday April 9th, and I am really hoping each of you will be able to join us for this important and equally fun benefit concert.

Much love and God bless!


Sincerely,

Brad Henry
www.myspace.com/bradhenrymusic
www.youtube.com/mylifeisasoundtrack

Held Accountable?

Maybe this is the socialist in me (haha!), but does anyone else in the world think that it’s absolutely ridiculous that Hollywood stars, professional athletes, and entertainment folk on a large scale make enough money for entire nations to survive on, and yet in an economic time such as ours, and in a world with so much unemployment, widespread hunger, and poverty, that it’s somehow ok for Kim Kardashian to have a diamond studded birthday cake that's worth over $1 million?! Or is it ok that athletes wear outfits that could pay for an entire families sustainable income a thousand times over?

I confess, I along with most people give these entertainers my business, my attention, and my approval simply in the way I go to movies, buy tickets to a football game, or buy someone’s new album on I-Tunes. As a generation of social networking, we’ve become more infatuated with celebrity than at any other time in our history. We follow them around, take their pictures, spot them at airports, dress and act like they do, and aspire to live up to their impossible standards and lifestyles.

So why in times like these do we wonder why times like these are so difficult? We are the catalyst for our society’s own demise. After reading more and more articles and ads about what celebrities do with their money (and how they waste it), I have become fed up and want to see change, to demand change, and to take ownership of the way I fund this madness (the Kim Kardashian cake thing was the LAST straw!!)

So here is what I’m asking from all of you (because this is too big to just vent about, and I’m frankly sick of talking)- I want each of you to come up with a practical way that we can stand up as one voice and call out the overly lavish and ridiculous spending of Hollywood America and celebritydom (or dumb…haha!) I want us to hold the rich and powerful accountable for their spending, and demand that this country be better with its resources and blessings.

When there are millions of starving and dying people around the globe, a $1 million birthday cake sounds pretty messed up!



Peace!

BRAD

Enough Already!

Can I just say how over this mosque controversy in New York City I really am!?

We really need to move on from religious persecution in this free nation of ours, people. The Muslim world did not attack us on September 11th. It was a few lost souls with misguided views and hatred in their hearts. Let's not follow that sad example...

If tomorrow a bunch of radical Christians went into a public place and killed hundreds upon thousands of people for some misguided ideals and warped views, we wouldn't stop a church from being built down the street from that mall 10 years from then, would we? No, we certainly wouldn't. And if we did, people would be up in arms, and rightfully so.

In the same way, we need to look out for our Muslim brothers and sisters in this country. They have just as much right and freedom to practice their faith in this free country of ours as any other person or religious group, and we need to give them that decency and respect.

So to all these politicians and fear-mongers who are stirring up national controversy over a local issue that shouldn't BE an issue, please stop talking for your own sake.

For families who lost loved ones on 9/11, I cannot imagine the pain you have gone through and I can understand mixed feelings over something like this. Still, I would ask you to put this in perspective and look at it through a lens of tolerance and love. No one group of people did this to you, but rather a few misguided souls.

May all of us, especially those who follow Christ, be a bridge between the Muslim communities and the America we take so much pride in. We need to set the tone and be the example for love.

Just my two cents...needed to get that off my chest!

The Sad Reality...

So today I was having lunch with some of my co-workers, and one of the guys in my office said in a random conversation that he feels worse for cats and dogs that are in animal shelters than he does for homeless people.

He then went on to ask rhetorically- "How badly must someone have screwed up in life to end up homeless?!" I was taken aback by the sweeping generalization and sheer ignorance of the statement.

This is the world we live in. Scruffy the dog has a better chance at finding a home full of love than the guy outside the 711 by my office.

Priority shift, anyone?


Proverbs 14:20- “The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: but the rich hath many friends.”

Rosina & The Best Chinese Food I've Ever Had!

So this past Friday I took Sarah out for dinner to celebrate her birthday. We were both (and by both I mean me) craving Chinese food, and so we decided to go to this little quaint place about 2 miles from our house called Mee Maw Intimate Chinese Dining & Cuisine.

I'll be honest that "intimate dining" sort of had a weird ring to it that had always kept my wife and I at bay...as if we were going to walk into this place and find some kind of topless adult hangout for creepy middle-aged men.

Luckily the inside was a warm, welcoming, family friendly environment with dim lighting, romantic wall paper, and cute little booths.

After we finished celebrating that we had entered an actual restaurant establishment and not an Asian gentlemen's club, we settled into a both and got to ordering some food.

When our waitress arrived, we were introduced to this soft-spoken, petite, middle-aged Chinese woman, whose name we later learned was Rosina.

Rosina seemed timid, ready for any possible moment in which my wife and I would inevitably morph into blood-thirsty woozles that would pillage and devour her and everyone else in the room. It was obvious to me she was very accustomed to rude and demanding people, and it immediately broke my heart.

Both Sarah and I are very good at being attentive to these sorts of presuppositions, and so to make her night, we really spiced it up and went out of our way to smile and use a lot of polite words like "please" and "thank you".

Almost immediately she went from timid to grateful...and eventually to excited/ecstatic!

Upon the second or third visit to our table as she brought us our Crab Rangoon appetizers and refilled our waters, she looked at us and said- "You are a good match. Good match. You are also so very polite. So often people come in here and they are not polite. They are very (she went onto to impersonate what I can only imagine was an obese middle-aged man demanding more food)."

She would come back several times after this and repeat her compliment to us, praising us like we were celebrities simply because we used polite tone and smiled, treating Rosina like any human being wishes to be treated. We didn't give her a golden trinket or pay for her kid to go to college, but our basic kindness somehow rocked her world (I could only imagine how badly other patrons must have treated her in past encounters).

She would later show her appreciation by giving us extra food- boxes of rice, bags of almond cookies (I LOVE almond cookies), and continuing to tell us how nice and good we were. At that point I was going to ask her if she was in fact some kind of nun or some sort of saint brought there that evening to build up Sarah and my egos, like a high five to our self-confidence.

It was at the point of her bringing us our check that my wife and I asked her her name. She stepped back immediately and looked surprised. 'You want to know my name??', was all I could read on her face.

After she had told us her name and we have received the bill, we gave her our money and tip and offered a final "Thank you so much, Rosina!" as we exited the door.

Well this was apparently the ultimate gesture of our do-goodedness that we had always thought was just common courtesy. Rosina looked at us, with heart-felt warmth in her eyes, and said "You are both so nice, and such a good memory!"

I don't know why I share this story with you. I don't know if I have accurately relayed to you the incredible warmth and genuine beauty in Rosina's spirit. I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story.

What I can tell you is that genuine kindness and treating people with dignity and respect is always a good way to brighten someone's day.

But remember someone's name, and you'll have changed their lives forever!