Kyle Gebhart

Early on Friday morning (2:30 AM) my father passed away. It was a sudden onset illness related to bloodflow shutting down to his bowels.

Please keep me and my sister (Jennifer) in prayer as we mourn.

I was able to speak with him on the phone for a few minutes on Friday before he died, a real blessing.

Jacob Burkhalter and Zack Hensley made the long drive out with me yesterday, and will be here to support me. I’m very thankful for that.

I have confidence in my father’s love for Jesus and that I do not mourn without hope of seeing him again, I’m also very thankful for that.

If you want to help in some very practical ways, please email Bret Mavrich (bretmavrich@ihop.org) and let him know you would like to help. He can give you the details.

I’ll be back in Kansas City after the memorial service on Wednesday.

Blessings,

Kyle

Got back from an excellent adventure to Southern CA on Thursday - and I’m back online.

Currently working on a post looking at the faith of Christopher Columbus and reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - so, more posts on the established theme of ‘God and Country’ are on their way.

Blessings.

I’m still around, most of my ‘free’ time the last 2 1/2 weeks has gone into my garden. I’m trying to get my tomato plants in the ground, safe and secure. Therefore, the extra 2-3 hours I’d spend on line and writing a week are being eaten into.

I’m planning on getting down to another post as soon as possible.

peace.

A few years ago Zack and I led a home group that met in our house in Westport. Sometimes we invited others to join us for a prayer walk through the gallery district downtown. We weren’t doing outreach, but doing what we do best, praying for spiritual renewal.

One particular night, there was a woman who joined us who vehemently expressed her desire to avoid environments that ‘defiled’ her. She questioned the wisdom of walking through the gallery district and ‘getting slimed.’

I’ve often heard this sentiment, but I have some serious questions about whether or not it is an accurate description of what is actually happening to people. Are they really being defiled by walking around a few galleries?

A few verses come to mind, Jesus says, “it’s not what goes into a man, but what comes out of him that defiles him.” I know that in context Jesus was talking about dietary restrictions - but he also makes a secondary point: we need to look at our speech as a primary place of defilement in order to call the Pharisees out of false religious notions of defilement. They had focused too much intensity on a single means of defilement that was in some ways secondary to the real problem.

Another verse that comes to mind is when James describes true religion as serving ophans and widows and keeping one undefiled from the world. The question here is, how do we get defiled by the world?

Personally, I think the idea that prayer-walking the gallery defiling someone is absurd; especially when we consider the amount of non-Christian (and some ’so-called’ Christian!) media that most Christians consume. If being around non-Christians defiles believers, than this world is left without any hope. If defilement comes merely from contact with unbelievers we should cancel all missions trips to Hindu lands, Muslim countries, and secular college campuses.

What is it that people mean when they say they feel slimed? I think there are several options.

First, I think some Christians have not been in much contact with unbelievers. They are deeply dismayed by the depravity and confusion that surrounds secular culture. It disturbs them to see the hopelessness of people living without God. That can feel ’slimy’.

Secondly, I think that against the backdrop of this hopelessness, many believers suffer a painful encounter with their own spiritual barrenness. They witness the darkness around them and their own inability to bring any change. They are overwhelmed and feel defeated by the difficulty of the task. That could feel ’slimy’.

Finally, I think that some Christians experience powerful temptations. They feel seduced by the dark ideals and immorality that are normal for secular culture. Facing brazen, unapologetic sinfulness can be a serious temptation to any believer. We should never put ourselves in a situation where we know we will be tempted. That can definately feel ’slimy.’

There are many environments that most Christians should almost never enter (bars, nightclubs, pagan festivals). I think many secular environments can become a snare to us. However, let’s not put the blame on non-believers. Instead, let’s embrace the truth: we have a weak conscience and feel tempted by the world. That will lead us to freedom. Admitting we feel slimed because we feel tempted will give us wisdom to confess our weakness, and run away from the temptation. Let us admit the truth, it is not being around a bunch of ‘dirty artists’ that defiles us. It is a struggle in our sinfulness, not a struggle against ‘their’ sinfulness.

For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’

I’ve been meditating on a verse that has got to be one of the most…well…insane…in all of the Bible. If we believe it, we cannot walk away from the Bible believing that God is against us.

In John 17:25 Jesus prays, “…that the love that you have for me may be in them.” That is, that the love that the Father has for Jesus would be in us. As I’ve been thinking about this verse, my conclusion is that Jesus is asking the Father to give us the same passionate, holy love towards the Son that the Father Himself experiences towards the Son. We are called to love Jesus as the Father loves Jesus. Which of course begs the question: How does the the Father love Jesus?

This has been the question I’ve been asking God the last few months. How do you love your Son? How can I love Him in the same way?

I’ve not come to anything like a conclusion on this yet, but I do have one thought on how the Father has loved Jesus. The Father is THE friend of the Bridegroom beyond all ‘friends’ of the Bridegroom. The Father has faithfully, humbly spent enormous energy, time, and focus upon preparing a Bride who is worthy of spending eternity with His Son.

This is one way that we can enter with the Father into His love for His Son, by coming with Him in preparing Jesus’ Bride. It is an idea that is definitely inspiring my heart and helping me move forward in prayer right now and I thought it may be an encouraging thought for others.

I’ve been reading two books that have me thinking about atheism, Sam Harris’, “The End of Faith,” and a book called “The Reason for God,” by Timothy Keller. Both have been on the NYT Bestsellers list over the last few years. Keller is probably worth your time, Harris is probably not - in my opinion Harris is dishonest (and NOT in the category of a ’sincere’ atheist.)

The people to whom Keller writes, and whom I’ve met, fall into the category of sincere. I truly appreciate them.

A sincere atheist is someone who cannot reconcile the lack of compassion, power, or holiness within various faiths (including Christianity) and is left with the conclusion: If these people define what God looks like, He must not exist. I’m sure none of us have ever had that thought.

The reason I apppreciate the questions of atheists is because they test the depth and sincerity of my faith and my compassion. Unfortunately, I’ve met many Christians who are intimidated or angered by atheists. I believe an atheist is more likely to find the truths of the Gospel than a ‘lazy agnostic,’ however, at least the atheist is asking questions that Jesus answers. The agnostic is usually only asking, “What’s on TV tonight?” The atheist in one sense chooses not to isolate themselves from the difficult circumstances of existance. The agnostic says, “I don’t care.”

I look for the day when Christians are equipped to answer the atheists’ valid questions. I’m not referring here to that nebulous category of discourse called ‘apologetics’. I’m referring to servants of God who pray and unselfishly listen to those that are struggling to survive on a darkened planet, with no light to guide them. I know that ‘most people’ will reject the truth in the end. I understand human depravity, after all, I am human. My point is we should be quick to listen and slow to speak, even when an atheist is doing the speaking.

We have more to gain from a love that is patient and kind and a wisdom that is full of mercy - and we have much to lose from a habit of making rote pronouncements about God assuming we understand the struggles of an atheist, without having listened to them. Presumption is a far cry from evangelism. If we make an assumption about an atheist, perhaps it should be this: let us assume they need to see love in action with a passion that is inspired by Jesus. As a matter of fact, I think there’s a Bible verse somewhere on that…

The above statement is author and foodie Michael Pollan’s eater’s manifesto. I’m enraptured with it’s simplicity - and the difficulty of doing it in 2008.

Pollan has emerged as a clear voice in the midst of our chaotic/ironic attempt to eat. The emphasis is upon the word food here - not monosodium-glutamate-ridden, refined sugar-laden, appetite suppressants. Think of an apple. I’m thankful for the clarity and simplicity with which he addresses one of the strangest of modern dilemmas. What should I have for dinner?

It is a bitter irony. For thousands of years, most labor was for a single purpose: to get food on the table. The food provided the energy for farming, hunting and providing oneself with, guess what,  more food. In fact it was such a consuming process, that God required the Sabbath. The biblical mandate for the Sabbath was a ‘counter-cultural’ statement. God declared, “you can’t provide for yourself, you have to trust Me to provide for you.”

In 2008 in America, however, we have a strange phenomenon: our primary jobs so cosume our time that it prevents us from growing or eating actual food. We spend our 40 hour week producing information, products, or ideas. When we come home to eat, we ‘just add water’ - and our stomach is silenced.

I’m not advocating anything here, just musing. Though, I am planting a garden this year. If nothing else, it’s cheaper than driving to the supermarket. I mean, the ground just provides FREE food! What a concept. Oh, and I’m swearing off fast “can-you-really-call-it-food” for the immediate future.

The peace sign, it is part of our corporate consciousness. Apparently it has only been around for 50 years.

Did you know that it = ND? - that is: nuclear disarmament. Check out the history of it here.

Jean Louise Finch, will you be my friend?

I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbirdtoday. Scout Finch is one of the most endearing, likable and entertaining persons I’ve encountered in a novel. Her dry, brilliant and compassionate perspective on the tragi-comic events in Maycomb County Alabama have won my heart.

How I got through 32 years of life without reading this book is a mystery to me. I attribute it to my tendency to assume that common or popular is equivalent to shallow and meaningless. Think of Melrose Place, or Survivor, or The OC. I’ve learned from this novel that sometimes the popular is equivalent to the great. A recent poll asked librarians the question, “Which book should every adult read before they die?” Their answer was: To Kill a Mockingbird, the Bible came in second - but admittedly is much, much longer book.

If you’ve never read this book - I plead with you, find the time on your summer vacation this year.

And, if anyone meets Scout out there, could you please arrange an introduction for me?

One of my frustrations over the last week was in interactions with someone who is attached to their inability to change because of what they refer to as ’social conditioning’. I’m not a fan of this mentality.

Too many people paint themselves into a corner as a victim of their social or genetic circumstances - while I don’t deny we all have certain ‘unchangables’ - often people use their social status or genetic tendancies as their primary reason for doing what they do.

The bottom line is the power of God has the ability to transform our behaviors - to prevail over our family dysfunctions, social status, and even our genetic predispositions. The unfortunate reality is most people will never appeal to the power of God to transform them. They will continue to use their life circumstances as an excuse for their behavior.

This is essentially a means of self-justification. It is becoming disturbing how even the legal system is becoming attached to these theories to the degree of claiming morally and legally deviant behavior as genetically pre-determined. For example: some people are just ‘born’ with a predatory instinct related to children. This is a rabbit-hole that ends in the depths of hell. Suddenly murder, theft, and adultery become genetic pre-dispositions - not choices made in a human heart. Human choice is removed from the picture and we all become victims of our genetic code or our socio-ecomonic milieu.

The irony in this is that those humanists who shout the loudest for ‘human rights to choose’ - are the same ones claiming that we really don’t have much of a choice. We’re simply ‘born’ to murder, steal or lie.

Of course, this is the natural state of the unrenewed mind, to submit to a harsh master, a ‘ba’al’. In this case the master is genetically hard-wired, relentless and exerting it’s power from within our own DNA. Talk about a bleak future. Of course, one of the biggest proponents of this type of determinism is quite infamous: Adolph Hitler. He claimed that the genetic code of the ‘Aryan race’ was the answer to our problems - while the genetic ‘deviations’ of the Jewish race were the source of all of socities’ ills. Is this really a path we want to start down?

Again, it is obvious there are many things that are not within our power to see changed; but this list is far smaller than more people wish. God has placed within us His Spirit - the very power of God that brought forth all of creation. The good news is that our family situation, where we were born, or our ‘genetic predispositions’ are not what primarily defines us. God is the one who names us, changes us, and has the Divine right to determine our identity. That is good news indeed in my opinion.