The Good Shepherd Came Down

Meditations on Psalm 23:6

On Christmas morning I’m going to lead Church of the Open Door through meditations of the wonder of Psalm 23 in light if the Incarnation. Because of Christmas, King David’s words describe the reality of our lives as Christians. The Lord is my Shepherd.

I’m journaling through a verse every morning this week, meditating on the actuality of Christ being my Good Shepherd who showed up in a manger in Bethlehem so that all that David says and feels about his Good Shepherd is true of me.

Here’s Day 6, Verse 6. You may want to subscribe or go to edunderwood.com to keep up with the series daily.

Day 6: Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days, and I will live in the Lord’s house for the rest of my life  (Psalm 23:6, NET Bible).

It’s (Kind of) A Wonderful Life

One of our Christmas Eve traditions when our children were growing up was to finish off the evening watching that Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life. 

Last night we were trying to do just that with two worn out little Newkirk grandchildren, Zachy and Sam.

They had just about had it. All they wanted to do was go home and go to bed.

I pushed pause on the movie to help Zachy with his pajamas when my daughter, Celia, admitted out loud what we all were thinking, “This just isn’t working. We need to get these boys to bed; it’s been a long day. Christmas traditions just have to adjust to reality!”

She’s right of course.

Christmas traditions just have to adjust to the realities of life.

I’m sure you can remember some Christmases when you’ve had to adjust your traditions to the realities of life.

• A dying loved one
• A wayward child
• A job loss
• A strained family relationship
• A cross-country move.

But He’s (Absolutely) Good and Faithful

The last line of David’s song to the Good Shepherd assures us that whatever Christmases future may bring, there is one constant in our lives–the goodness and mercy of the Good Shepherd.

He uses an interesting verb translated pursue in the NET Bible. The term usually describes the relentless pursuit of an enemy or a stalking beast. Instead of being chased down by a relentless enemy, we’re being pursued by a Good Shepherd. He’s so good and faithful that David personifies these traits as our relentless pursuers.

I don’t know about you, but this helps me in this world where the prospect of future “Merry” Christmases seems more at risk every year.

Question: How have you experienced the Good Shepherd’s goodness and faithfulness this Christmas?

The Perfect Title

Rarely do the media get something right from a biblical perspective. Usually, what pop culture calls good, the Bible calls bad; and if the Bible says it’s bad, pop culture exalts it as good.

But the popular title for the day after Thanksgiving is biblically precise:

Black Friday

For it is the Friday after Thanksgiving when the dark night of the soul of our materialistic culture asserts its true allegiance, unashamedly worships its true god.

Here’s your Saturday morning headline:

Black Friday madness: Shopper pepper sprays crowd to get deal at L.A. Wal-Mart, shootings in CA, SC (Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-friday-madness-shopper-pepper-sprays-crowd-deal-a-wal-mart-shootings-ca-sc-article-1.982565#ixzz1epW5gq6E)

How else do you explain such bizarre behavior?

It’s idolatry.

And like all idolatry, it exposes the emptiness of life without Christ.

We’re raising a generation of idolators in homes where no one talks, but everyone has a screen to relate to. Junior’s in one room dedicating his life to the life-critical skill of flying angry birds to their objectives. Sister sits in another room texting her love and devotion to the latest pimple faced heart throb of her personal high school musical subculture. Mom’s trolling Facebook. This is all fine with dad because he has to get his fantasy team set so that he can compete in a league that only he and a handful of fellow fantasy players will remember…for about two weeks.

But, they gather often at the throne of the screen that really counts: The screen that presents pages and pages of the “stuff” they may want to buy. No, the stuff they must buy. No, the stuff they have to have. And the stuff they will get.

Even if they can’t afford it.

Even if someone else gets there first.

That’s why mom carries that pepper spray.

We’re all familiar with the usual roundup of holiday stories, and I’m sure you have your family favorites.

What’s on my mind is a different type of holiday story. Not the classics we like to read or watch every November through December: It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34^th Street, White Christmas, or even Elf. I’m thinking of the holiday stories only you can tell.

Last week Judy and I were in a little cabin on the Oregon Coast with my daughter Aimee’s three children. We watched movies, played games, made peanut butter balls, and ate at our favorite Cannon Beach restaurants in between my preps and sessions at Ecola Bible School.

But this year I did something different. I told a different kind of story—a story about us—Judy and me and our faith in the Lord Jesus. I recounted to these precious grandchildren the scenes from when I was a young Lieutenant and I thought I was saying goodbye to Judy, their mom, and their uncle Bob in Germany. The report was that the Soviets had attacked and I was on my way to war, leaving my little family behind to somehow survive in war torn Europe.

Of course we didn’t go to war that night, but it was that night that God gave my bride and me our life verse—Psalm 138:8 in the NASB.

The details aren’t as important to you as the impact. All three sat on the couch in that little cabin, eyes transfixed by the real-life story of Boppie and Papa’s life and our relationship with Jesus. As I was talking it hit me.

These kids need to hear about their spiritual heritage.

Holidays are a perfect opportunity to pass on your stories of faith and the faithfulness of God to your family.

Question: What’s the one story you feel you must tell your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews this Holiday Season?

The Text

I’m fascinated by God’s timing; always have been.

A few years ago my study of Mark brought me to chapter 9:30-37, a fascinating conversation between Jesus and His disciples concerning greatness. As they passed through Galilee, Jesus taught them again concerning His impending death and resurrection. This time He added the discouraging news that all of this will happen because someone will betray Him. They didn’t understand; it was just too much for them, and they were afraid to ask Him to explain further.

What they did understand were the prophecies that someday Messiah would rule and reign over His Kingdom on earth. Still clinging to their insistence that Jesus should be that Messiah—the ruling and reigning one, rather than the Messiah He was telling them He was—the One who would first suffer, die, and then rise from the dead, they did what everyone does when they are around someone they think has power and status: They postured for position in His Kingdom. They were about to learn Jesus’ definition of greatness—His radical, counterculture, counter-flesh, measure of greatness in His Kingdom: If you follow Jesus, He will ask you to serve everyone—especially the weak.

It’s an upside-down measure of greatness for most people. It’s not the number of people who serve you that matters to Jesus; it’s the number of people you serve.

The Life

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A lot has happened since thousands of us 60s radicals trusted in a Carpenter from Nazareth and became a movement the world could not ignore–the Jesus Movement.

But what hasn’t happened is another revival. In my new book,Reborn to Be Wild, I challenge every Jesus Movement convert and all Christians who want to see another movement by Jesus to return to our Jesus Movement roots.

If you’re from my generation of Jesus Movement radicals or if you think your heart is radical enough to ask for revival, today is a very real indicator of just how much you mean it.

Forty years ago I remember connecting the dots between Thanksgiving and my newfound relationship with the Lord Jesus. For the first time in my life I knew what I was thankful for–mercy, grace, and blessings–and to Whom I was offering thanks–the God of the Bible who sent His Son to die for my sins. I was a counterculture follower of Christ. Thanksgiving wasn’t about food and football anymore, it was about humility and worship.

It’s time for a Jesus Movement checkup. What and Who were the focus of your day yesterday? And today, are you being swept along by our materialistic culture’s only followup to a day of physical engorgement–a day to engorge our materialistic appetites?

Just how black is your black Friday? Your answer to that will tell you a lot of whether your heart is truly ripe for revival.

“Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).

What Will It Be?

When you get to the end of your life, what do you think your most prevailing regret will be?

It took one of the most honest sentences from the lips of an old man to let me know what mine is not going to be.

I was reading the book, Steel in My Soul, the biography of one of my personal heroes in the faith, Dick Hillis, a pioneer missionary and founder of Overseas Crusades. He was in his eighties when he admitted his life-regret to an auditorium full of Overseas Crusades missionaries who came to hear what their venerated founder had to say.

“I didn’t love enough.”

What started as an insight into Dick Hillis’s life echoed in my own heart and mind. When I tried to read on, God’s Spirit stopped me. “Don’t read on, Ed. Pause and think about your own life. Pick up your journal and record what I’m saying to you.”

The words poured from my heart onto the page. “Oh Lord, how many times did Dick Hillis miss an opportunity to love his wife, his children, or his friends and justify it because of the pressures of his day? I bet he was making the same excuses I make when he decided not to love, but instead, to do!”

“I have to get ready for this important meeting. You’ll just have to wait.”

“Sorry, I wish I could talk right now, but I have to study.”

“You can’t expect me to take time for this, souls are at stake here!”

I don’t want to say that!

That was the day I decided that if God let me live to 80, I wouldn’t have reason to say, “I didn’t love enough.”

I still regress some. Well, actually, I regress a lot…though, usually it’s only in my thinking and planning. Thankfully, my heart is now more predisposed to God’s Spirit  who breaks through with this reminder, “Keep it up, Ed. And you’ll regret it. You’re not too busy to love. You’re never too busy to love. The pressures and busyness that keep you from taking the time to love Judy, your kids, your grandkids, and friends isn’t coming from Me—it’s your own issue. It’s coming from a sick place in your own heart.”

What excuses are you offering to the ones God has called you to love? Too busy? Too overwhelmed? Too important? Too tired? Too…what??

Stop, before it’s too late.

Stop thinking that way before it’s too late. Before you, like Dick Hillis, will have to admit your life regret with tears in your eyes, “I didn’t love enough.”

Who are the special people in your life you need to love more? My encouragement to you (and reminder to myself!), is to stop making excuses and start “loving enough” today.

“Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

A few years ago I took my grandson, Wyatt, to the Big Bear, California Zoo on his fifth birthday. With his heart-melting smile, he said to me, “Papa, this is the greatest day of my life.” I’m pretty sure that the years to come will bring much “greater” days to his life, but in his little five-year-old brain, this is it.

As he hurried from the bald eagle, to the grizzly bear, to the timber wolf, to the reptile house, back to the grizzly bear, back to the timber wolf, and oh yeah, “don’t forget we gotta go see the bald eagle again, Papa,” I remembered taking his daddy to the Santa Barbara Zoo over thirty years ago.

I couldn’t help comparing the two experiences—actually, comparing the way I viewed each of them.

Thirty years ago I was a young dad with a lot of things on my mind. I had papers to write and tests to study for at the University of California at Santa Barbara. There were my duties in the University ROTC cadet corps and preparations for my upcoming commission in the Army. My days were scheduled, regimented, and pressured.

I remember hurrying Bobby through the exhibits, and saying things like, “No son, we don’t have time to go back to see “Dandy Lion,” at the lion exhibit. Daddy has to be home pretty soon to study.” So we kept on schedule, saw everything. Very efficient.

Today I’m an old guy, but my schedule is more demanding than ever. I just thought I was busy back then! I pastor a busy and effective local church, mentor three different groups of men, write a lot and spend a lot of time talking with people about their walk with Jesus Christ. I always run out of day before I’m done with my responsibilities, and the pressure is extreme.

But this time I find myself saying things like, “Sure, buddy. If you want to see the bald eagle again, we’ll just go!”

Here’s what I’ve learned…, the pressures will never end, and the busyness never lets up. But, a child’s interest in hearing what his grandfather has to say, will end. All little boys (and little girls!) will grow up, and move on to their own busy lives.

If I could do it over again, I’d go back to those lions, hang out with my boy and trust God for the rest. Oh, and I’d buy a lot more candy and ice cream, because a memory is far more precious than a deadline.

I missed a lot of deadlines yesterday, but it was worth it. It was one of the greatest days of my life!

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord” –Psalm 127:3

RETALIATE: to make an attack or assault in return for a similar attack

Retaliation is all about getting even, being right, feeling exonerated, making sure everyone knows my side, my view, my account of events, my opinion and my reasoning.

It never heals, always escalates, and in spite of both sides’ desire to win the retaliation battle, everyone loses.

Especially when it involves Christians.

When we divide a Christian marriage, a Christian family, a Christian staff, team, or church into winners and losers, it hurts the reputation of the Lord Jesus in this world.

Histories and Timelines

This is how you know you’re in the middle of a sanctified retaliation war. Opposing parties come to meetings with their version of the issues and conflicts.

“And then, on Wednesday, you said this. That’s why I did this.”

“No I didn’t. It didn’t happen that way at all. I can prove that it wasn’t until the next Tuesday that I said that, but that’s not what I said. I said this, and it was only because you did this on the Friday before.”

Both sides marshal a lot of “character” or “eye” witnesses to prove that they’ve been wronged, hurt, or misunderstood.

Tragically, if it’s a retaliation war between husband and wife, they usually try to recruit the children to their side. If it’s Christian leaders, they usually recruit devoted followers to their side.

It’s so important to win that they totally disregard the emotional and spiritual impact all of this will have on those who look up to them.

But Jesus said…

That “they,” all those watching, would know we are Christians by our love, not by our exoneration, by our willingness to give up our rights, not by our determination to be right, by our behaviors that remind people of Him rather than the two-year-olds in our world.

Judy and I have an almost two-year-old in our life right now. Our Celia’s Zachary lives just a few miles away. He’s our first grandchild to permanently reside in California and we just can’t get enough of him.

But when he doesn’t get his way and stomps his feet and his face turns purple and his eyes bug out and he screams at his parents (he never screams at me because I try not to tell my grandchildren anything they don’t want to hear), it’s not a pretty picture. He’s a sweetie until he doesn’t get his way. Then he becomes a retaliator!

Reminds me a lot of church fights I’ve been a part of, or marriages Judy and I have tried to “adjudicate.” Grownup Christians prove that their chronological age has nothing to do with the spiritual maturity when they revert to the behaviors of a two-year-old.

So how would the Lord Jesus classify you when you don’t get your way in your marriage, your family, your workplace, or your church?

Would He say you’re a selfless, other-centered and mature follower who trusts Him enough to give up your rights?

Or would He tell you you’re more like a two-year old retaliator when it comes to getting your own way?

If all of this makes you uncomfortable, it should.

It makes me uncomfortable.

But it also pulls my heart. Because as much as I want my own way in my flesh, my redeemed heart wants to be more like Jesus than the two-year-olds I know.

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jesus Christ, John 13:35)

After I finished my book, When God Breaks Your Heart, detailing my journey of faith living with a deadly disease, I thought I had said it all.

I’m discovering that there are days I just have to tell you one more thing. Today is one of those days.

It was April in 2000 when I wrote this desperate prayer and accompanying plea from Scripture in my journal:

Father, please give me ministry in my grandchildren’s lives. “Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children” (Psalm 90:16).

If you knew me back then or you’ve read the book, you know how bold that request was. I had nearly died in March and had not improved much since. The doctors were suspecting lymphoma, and following test after test, what they called my “numbers” refused to turn around.

I remember the day I wrote those sentences in my blood-stained journal vividly. Tears flowed as I begged God to let me have some influence in my grandchildren’s lives. Back then I was only thinking of two–Jackson and Megan.

I’m writing these words from my son’s home in Atlanta, where we just greeted Amelia Joy,who joins Jackson, Megan, Camryn, Mary, and Wyatt. Grandchild number 7–Zachary James–is now 10 months old.

I’m thinking of Saturday, the 10th of January 2009, when I spent the day with Amelia’s older sister and brother, Mary and Wyatt. I watched Mary’s skating lessons and Wyatt’s hockey practice. I was vaguely aware of some other children on the ice, but my heart glued my attention to one little twirling princess and one little bruiser in pads.

On the way home, Wyatt put his little arms around my neck and shouted, “We’re best pals!”

The Spirit reminded me one more time of the power of prayer and the comfort of being loved by a God who is perfectly reliable and strong.

I don’t know what’s breaking your heart today, but I suspect something is.

God knows, and He loves it when you ask Him for big things. You never know, He might just say yes.

Just like He did for me.

Thank you, Father, for hearing my desperate prayer. And for that almost-nine-years-later reminder from a blue-eyed little hockey star that You, not my doctors, number my days.

The pastor paced the floor screaming out to God. “What did I do wrong? All I ever wanted to do was serve you!”

I had just had breakfast with the chairman of his elder board who had asked me, “Where did we go south on this? All we ever wanted to do was see people come to Christ.”

Church fights, family tensions, embattled ministries, friends at odds—the most discouraging and damaging dynamic in Christianity.

I’ve been around churches and working with church leaders for decades, and I’m convinced that the number one reason church leaders fight isn’t doctrine or philosophy of ministry. Our problem is that in the furious blur of personal and corporate ministry, we begin to neglect our relationships.

I know, it happened to me fifteen years ago.

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