Pennies for Weeds

No, this article isn't about drugs.  Yes, I know the title is suggestive.  No, it wasn't initially intentional; it is just a by-product of my innocent childhood (I naturally associate the word "weed" with an invasive plant pest rather than slang for cannabis, imagine that).  Yes, the fact that I am writing this disclaimer means I have now thought about it but am deliberately choosing to leave it as it might get me more readers. :)

In my earlier years my parents would send my brother and I off to stay with my grandpa in Seward, Nebraska for a week or so. My grandpa was a smart, strong-willed man and as stubborn as a printer (trying to use relevant analogies - mule and ox are a bit dated).  He was also simple and deep at the same time and taught me things about how to love that I am still trying to figure out (more on that in a future blog article).  I learned more in those weeks at grandpa's than I think it did in entire years growing up.

One of the ways he accomplished this was by giving us projects.  Projects designed to chisel us into men.

Behind my grandpa's house was an alley, and the gravel driveway attaching to that alley looked as if it had been neglected for quite some time; it was riddled with weeds of all sizes and varieties. My job, as you might imagine, was to remove them at a penny per weed, which might not seem like much but if you factor in a comic book store within walking distance and subtract 15 years of inflation, that was plenty of motivation for a young aspiring nerd.

If you are at all familiar with weeds, you know that not all of them are cooperative in their removal. In fact, some are quite opposed to the idea of being ripped from the earth and have taken precautionary measures to ensure such a thing never happens. I was quickly introduced to the intricacy and extensiveness of root systems. Some of those weeds kicked my butt.

I found that the younger the weed, the easier it was to pull.  In their infancy it just took a gentle tug and you'd get the entire plant, roots and all.  Nice, I liked those.

On the other end of the spectrum, we had the butt-kicking variety.  These were weeds that had been growing for years possibly and had entrenched themselves in a million directions; nearly impossible to extract.  Some of these weeds that had spread to infinity and beyond couldn't even be removed in one back-breaking session; they required treatment that gradually got down to the roots and destroyed them from the inside out.  With these, if you just removed the visible portion, they would come back again and again and again.

All kinds of weeds, all needing to be removed. I became a weed specialist.

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Believe it or not, this blog isn't a DIY on weed removal, at least not entirely - I guess it's kind of late for that. There is actually an allegory here that I've been building up to.  Consider the story prior and the description of the different kinds of weeds.  Ok, now...

Replace the word "weed" with "sin".

[pause for effect]

I know that word: sin, is one of those religious trigger words that shut people down in conversations but bear with me here.

Like me learning how to tackle all kinds of weeds, we all have to learn how to tackle different kinds of sin that are perhaps infesting our neglected internal back alley-ways.

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First off, lets talk about the neglected back alley.  Some people can't slow down enough in life to even know there is something being neglected there.  (I may be pointing the finger but have 3 pointing back at me).  This is what you need to do: get alone with God, and say something like...

"Alright God, here I am. This is God-time. I'm not thinking about what's for supper, or what I have to do before bed, or where I left my keys - none of that mental checklist stuff. You, of all beings, deserve my undivided attention for as much as I can give it, so that is now."

And then just listen. Don't strain to hear something audibly but listen with your heart. Close your eyes if you have to shut things out.  Or open them if closing your eyes is distracting to you.  TIP: It is easier to hear God's voice when you are at peace. What I've found when I do this is it is almost as if God directs my thoughts and He reveals things about me that I never knew where there.

This is so crucial to do because there are things about us that need to change that only God can point out.  And when God points out your flaws, He has a way of doing it that doesn't make you feel like crawling under a rock for the rest of your life. It always comes from a place of love. He made you and knows exactly what you need even before you ask it.  He wants you to see what He sees in you.  He's the best father in existence.


Psalm 103:10-13
He does not punish us for all our sins;
   he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
   is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
   as the east is from the west
The  Lord is like a father to his children
   tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

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Now let's talk about the weeds.

Some of our gardens are in different states.  Maybe you just need little maintenance to get rid of any new sprouts that may have crept in in your current season of life.  Maybe you need an overhaul.  Just like the plants, if sin is left un-addressed for long periods of time, it sinks its ugly teeth in and is that much harder to remove.

Be warned of the quick fix though. It's easy to go through your subconscious garden and weed out the new saplings with a virtually painless tug but this is just a surface solution, designed to make things look good at first glance.

Sometimes it just takes a bit of work and diligence on your part.  Sometimes it takes having someone to hold you accountable.  Sometimes it takes becoming part of a family of other strong believers to get you back on your feet. Sometimes you can't do it on your own and you need a miracle.  

Regardless of where you are personally at, know that you are not the only person dealing with this. You are never too far lost to find your way back.  You are not giving up "having fun" by doing this.  God is not mad at you.  God has not forgotten about you.  You are worth saving.

Romans 8:38-39 

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Here's the deal though, no matter how big the weed, my grandpa still paid me the same: one .  The same goes for God with sin.  No matter how big or small of an issue you feel you have, sin is sin.  Just one sin disqualifies us from "earning" our way into heaven and that's why there's only one way to get there: through the blood of someone who never committed sin and sacrificed his life that we might be free, Jesus.

At the same time, although no amount of good works can get us into heaven, He does keep track of them...

Revelations 22:12 

“Look, I [Jesus] am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds."

I honestly don't know what that reward is - the bible says we can't even fathom what is in store for us in heaven - but I do know what having the favor of God is like now, and I can't live without it. I also know that, whatever the reward is, it is coming from the best gift giver this universe has ever seen and that, to me, is worth the weeding.

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@KyleHopson1

http://muzikhop.tumblr.com/

The Pirate Christian

For whatever reason, pirates are cool. I blame Johnny Depp. Something about searching for lost treasure, walking planks, sword battles, and ships with skull flags appeals to our inner Goonie.  Who hasn't dressed up as a swashbuckling scallywag at some point in their life?  You've got the do-rag, gaudy earrings, scraggly hair, peg leg, parrot on the shoulder and, of course, the eye patch.

Contrary to popular belief, pirate eye patches weren't used to cover up some hideous wound or a missing eyeball, although I'm sure that was the purpose in some cases. They were actually an ingenious invention that gave pirates a tactical advantage in ship-to-ship combat.

See, it takes the human eye 20-30 minutes to fully adjust to the dark. In a bright light, our pupils constrict to a small dot to compensate for the abundance of photons entering our retina.  In darkness, our pupils dilate in order to take in more light information and allow us to process what little see.  Put simply, when you wake up in the morning and can't open your eyes because the sun is, well, doing its thing, you're waiting on your pupils to shrink so you can stop fumbling around blindly for your toothbrush.

To bring this back around, pirates wearing an eye patch would therefore keep one eye adjusted to the light and one eye adjusted to the dark.  If they needed to go below deck, where it was darker, they could just switch the patch to the other eye and move about with ease instead of having to wait 20-30 minutes before they can load a cannonball.

"What does this have to do with Christianity?"

Ahh yes. So, light and dark is used often in scripture as a metaphor for good and bad. John loved this one, and I do too because it serves as an outstanding illustration for otherwise hard to grasp concepts.

Like pirates wearing eye patches, some of us keep our lives adjusted to light and dark at the same time.  We attend church, hold ourselves to a moral code, and try to be general do-gooders. But then the night rolls around and we switch that eye patch over to the other eye and its as if we'd never been in the light all day - we're out getting drunk, sleeping around, selling drugs, indulging our fleshly desires.

The problem is, our eyes - our lifestyle - should not be adjusted to the dark.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 (NKJV)

You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

"How do you avoid getting to that point?"

If it takes 20-30 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark, then maybe it takes 20-30 bad decisions for your life to fully adjust to the gutter life.  In reality, that number is probably more like 2-3 bad decisions. Nevertheless, it starts with one. Just one decision, one temptation. Doesn't seem like much at the time, but when it comes back the next time, it's that much easier to give in, until one day, it becomes your new normal. You're eyes are fully adjusted to the dark.

John 8:12 (NKJV)

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

We need to take the eye patch off altogether and let the light of God permeate every part of our lives. Leave no rock unturned. A life fully surrendered to the scrutiny of the cross. Set our eyes on Jesus and let them fully adjust to His light so that any step into darkness feels, as it should, wrong.

And when you are immersed in that kind of light, you can't help but carry it with you. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after seeing literal glimpse of God, his face glowed.  People thought something was wrong with him.  Something was right with him. I so want to encounter God like that.

Set both eyes on Jesus, don't look to the right or to the left, and watch miracles happen to you and through you.

Proverbs 4:25-27 (MSG)

Keep your eyes straight ahead;

   ignore all sideshow distractions.

Watch your step,

   and the road will stretch out smooth before you.

Look neither right nor left;

   leave evil in the dust.

The Love Nuke.

Love Nuke. Two words you might not have expected to see next to each other. Both very powerful and likely invoking a gamut of emotions from person to person.

"What exactly is a Love Nuke, Kyle?"

Why, thank you for asking.

First let's take a look at the nuke. A weapon of mass destruction; the thought of which is likely quite unsettling for the general populace given its innate ability to wipe out an entire city with a single blast. Radiation resulting from a nuclear explosion is also fatal and leaves fallout zones that are often uninhabitable for years. Nukes are such an influential force that, when possessed, provide enough leverage to sway nations and literally change the political, economic, ecologic, psychological, and even geographic landscape of the world.

Now let's look at love. In stark contrast to reputation of a nuke, love has the ability to shift any and every situation for the better. The bible says...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.
1 John 4:18 Perfect love casts out fear.
1 Cor 13: 8 Love never fails.
1 John 4:8 God is Love.

Truly, love is a force to be reckoned with.

It is my prayer for my city, Burnsville Minnesota, that a there is such an explosion of love that entire blocks and zip codes are hit by the shock-wave // that there is such as sudden collision of heaven and earth that the entire culture rapidly shifts towards Jesus in this area // that even beyond the heavenly blast-radius there would be contagious radioactive people, glowing from their encounter with God like Moses coming down from the mountain // that there would be radioactive fall-out zones where more people fall-in love with God // that this area would be so devastated by the love of God that it would be considered uninhabitable by darkness and fear for years // that we would be mutated/transformed into people yielding the supernatural powers of Jesus through the Holy Spirit // that the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen - miracles, healing, forgiveness, peace, freedom, life - becomes the tangible reality to any one crossing the threshold of this city's influence // that we would be the epicenter of a love nuke and changed forever. Amen.

"...that's weird, Kyle."

Read Acts chapter 2. You'll see what I'm talking about. Be glad I didn't start to talk about zombies.

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.