The Goodness

Realizing the Stairway to Heaven

There’s this story in Genesis that tells of when Jacob travelled to Harran soon after stealing the blessing from his brother.  During the trip Jacob stopped to sleep and while asleep he had an amazing dream of a stairway to heaven with angels running up and down the stairs.  While he was looking at the top of the stairway he saw the LORD standing there and heard him say, “I AM the LORD and the promise I made to your grand-daddy Abraham I’m keeping through you” (paraphrased).

When Jacob woke up he said something that blows me away:  “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

Over the last little while these words have become a personal reality to me.  I had an opportunity to hear my dad share his story of faith and since then I can’t look at him the same way.  Beforehand I knew he had a difficult childhood and I heard short stories of his church background, but never could I have imagined the impact that his, or his family’s, faith in Jesus Christ (and Christ’s faithfulness to his promises) was a vital component to, not only who my dad is, but who I am too.

Hearing my dad’s retrospection caused me to quote Jacob in saying, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

It’s interesting when we go through this or that situation and we wonder where God was, especially if it’s a time of trial or testing.  Or maybe we made the conscious choice to stray like the prodigal son.  Often during times like these we feel abandoned and we assume that God is absent.  But it’s clear to me that God’s omnipresence is more than a fancy word; it’s him keeping his promise to never leave or forsake his children.

This reflection has caused me to look harder and with more intention at what God is doing in the lives of others, even when they’re not aware that he’s there.  Hopefully I can be his voice and either remind them or tell them for the first time of the truth that He is the LORD, and he’s there.

 

Lend Me Your Ears and I'll Sing You a Song...

Whenever I hear that old song, the Joe Cocker version of course, I always think of that show 'The Wonder Years', and Kevin Arnold's raspy voice.  When I was a kid I thought it was the most boring show, but I loved to hear the theme song.

My wife, Mrs. Goodness, and I headed back to our hometown for a bit during Christmastime.  It was a good time of seeing fam and just taking a breath.  During our visit back to Chatham I received an email from someone I know that was unaware that we were in the area.  This person was asking for advice from me since his wife had recently left him and their young son for another guy. 

In situations like those I really prefer to meet face to face.  It's pretty obvious that there are abundantly more ways to communicate compassion and mercy with physical presence than over a phone.  So, I told the guy I'm in town so let's get together asap.

When I met with him in a coffee shop, I could see the hurt all over his face right away.  Let me say too, this guy is one of those nice guys that always seems to finish last.  You know?  He'll drop what he's doing for a loved one in a heartbeat, but things always seem to bite him in the @$$. When I hear of problems he deals with I always feel for him because he probably deserves better.

Anyway, after we sat down and dispensed with the pleasantries I asked a simple question, "So, what's going on?"  After that I did something that is incredibly difficult to do in a situation that begs like a struggling used-car salesman for your opinion; I shut up.  That's it.  I shut up and I listened.  The only time I would talk was when I sensed that he could use a topic change for a minute or when I asked him questions that led to him venting more.

He went on about his trials and would say things like, "Everybody else keeps telling me to forget about her and leave her."  or, "This other person says I should think about my child and start working on custody..."  And I just listened.

The Bible says a lot about listening.  My favourite quote is when James wrote, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak..." (James 1:19a).  This Proverb hits pretty hard too, "To answer before listening— that is folly and shame." (Proverbs 18:13)

This guy doesn't follow Christ yet, by the way.  But after I listened to him, as I believe God listened to him, and he finally asked for advice, I gave him a straight forward invitation towards forgiveness and reconciliation.  This was a breath of fresh air to him.  And when I pointed out that true forgiveness and reconciliation just can't happen without Jesus Christ he was ready to hear that, I believe, because Jesus had just heard him out rather than taking up the air space with a list of what sins have just been committed and how divorce is an abomination, etc.

How much more powerful our words are after a period of listening.  Too often we [X'ns], in righteous zeal, project our opinion before we hear anyone out.  It's no wonder we're labelled intolerant mouthpieces.  Listening is a skill and without practice skills cannot be perfected.  Practice.  Today.  Listen to others, listen to Christ, just shut up and listen.

Seriously, shut up.

When our conversation was ending he said to me, "You know, out of everyone I've talked to so far, you're the only one that actually listened to me.  Everyone else just told me what to do and I didn't like what they were saying.  Thanks."

Lend your ear, perhaps they'll sing.

Letting the Phone Ring

Isn't it annoying when you're trying to call someone and they won't pick up the phone? You know they just took the phone out of their pocket, looked at it, bit their lip and put the phone on vibrate to let it go to voicemail. Sad thing is I actually do this way too often...but it's not that I don't like the person, I just have this weird phone anxiety thing I have to work on...anyway.

At our church, rather than a live sermon given by a preacher we watch teachings by Bruxy Cavey from the Meeting House (google it, it's huge). A couple weeks ago we were wrapping up a series called 'The Irreligious Life' and the message text was about the time Jesus washed his disciples' feet.

During the sermon, Bruxy talked about how Judas was in the presence of Jesus Christ for 3 years, had just had his feet washed by God incarnate, and yet still made the decision to betray Jesus (save the discussion on freewill and determinism for another time).

When I heard it I did one of those "Yeah, that's true. What's next?" things. You know what I mean, when you just agree with the sermon and don't really engage with your mind.

A few days later I was talking with Steve, the senior pastor, and he brought that up again. He said something along the lines of how people can see God at work all around them and still miss it, just like Judas being with Jesus and still doing what he did. When he'd said that I did one of those, "Yeah, that's true. Hmmm..." You see, I didn't just glance over it this time. I actually gave it a "hmmm..." Some thought, but not too much.

This past Sunday, after the service, one of our student leaders came up to me really frustrated. This guys rocks by the way. I've really seen a lot of spiritual growth in him over the last couple years. Anyway, he started venting about how he'd just spent a ton of energy during the service trying to get some of the other youth to engage and take ownership of the service. Paraphrasing, he did his best to encourage them to focus, but all they cared about was themselves and what they wanted to talk about and didn't give a crap what was happening in the service.

He was ticked. I mean ticked. And I can see why; he's tasted and seen that the Lord is good and he's trying to help them understand that Jesus is calling for them too. They've seen God working in his life, but yet they're not as interested as he is.

We talked about how if he allows the Spirit of God to grow his patience it would probably be more attractive to them and that's when it hit me. Some of them may never listen. Some of them may never taste. Some of them may never follow Jesus, or at least genuinely. Judas followed him for 3 years, and then threw it all in for chump change. Judas had God stoop to the level of a slave and wash his feet and hours later sold Jesus out.

I'm extremely thankful that we're called to faithfulness and not to produce results. The Spirit of God does that. After the messenger has lived the message and given the message, it's the responsibility of the hearer to receive the message.

Some will just let the phone ring. And ring...and ring...and ring.

What Mark Driscoll Tells His Kids About Santa

I saw this article from the Washington Post written by Mark Driscoll.  He explains exactly how he and his wife, Grace, handle the whole Santa Claus thing with their kids.  I've often thought about how I would handle it when children are brought into Leslie and my life.  Like Mark, I don't want to lie to my children, but I don't want to demonize the jolly fat guy.  Mark even dives a bit into the historicity and origins of [Saint] Nicolas and how we've made a legend out of a real man. 

Check out the article here or by clicking the above graphic.

Who Cares About Xmas?

‘Tis the season to be jolly!  …Or ‘tis the season to use the word “jolly”, since we never say it during the rest of the year.

Not too long ago I heard someone say, and I’ve heard this countless times over my lifetime, that “Jesus is the reason for the season!” and “It’s Christmas! Don’t ‘X’ out Christ from Christmas!”  I didn’t want to make them feel weird so I used my mind voice to say to myself, “Hmmm…ok.”

Immediately what comes to mind when I hear someone say that cliché is A) No, he’s not.  Well, he wasn’t, then he was and now he’s not again.  And, B) ‘Xmas’ is really as legitimate as ‘Christmas’, if you’re Greek that is.

It’s no secret that Jesus likely wasn’t born on December 25.  Some evidence suggests that he might have been born in September not December.  So why December 25? 

Well, you see we Christians love to “Christianize” things.  Harry Potter’s bad, but the witchcraft and sorcery of Narnia is ok, because it’s “Christian”.

Long ago, about the 4^th century, the church wanted to Christianize the pagan holiday known as the winter solstice.  The pagans partied/worshipped in late December by feasting and giving honour to their sun god.  The church must’ve known that if they completely removed the holiday there might have been some backlash from the populace, so they just renamed it and slapped a sweet looking Jesus bumper sticker on it.  So, Jesus wasn’t the reason but then he was.  And now, from a certain perspective, we’re almost back to square one.  Our culture worships the gods of Want and Have instead of the sun though.

As far as the “X” deal is concerned, X or “chi” is a letter from the Greek alphabet.  The New Testament was written in Greek.  X is the first letter in the word Χριστός or Christ.  Alors, as some may actually want to ‘x’ Christ out of Christmas and be rid of him altogether, I see it as a killer conversation starter.  By the way, “Happy Holidays” isn’t so bad either as you can trace the etymology of holiday to holy day.  Throw that one out at the Tim Hortons’ roundtable talk.

Something else that’s been rolling around my brain is this: Does Christmas bring God glory?  That may sound silly, and I know that God can use anything to bring him glory (especially our weaknesses), but what I mean is shouldn’t we focus on bringing God glory through the things that he’s actually commanded us to do?  God didn’t ask us to celebrate Christmas.  God becoming a human and living on earth is a huge deal, one worthy of our awe, but never did God command that a day be set aside for it.  When Paul wrote to the Philippians of Christ emptying himself of his heavenly glory and taking on the likeness of a human servant, never did he follow up with, “Therefore, standeth up thine tree in center of thine living room.”

Jesus did stress that we remember the events of Easter, but not that we set aside a weekend.  Every day we should be thankful for the cross and be amazed at the display of God’s power in the resurrection of Christ.

It’s like we have extreme selective hearing when it comes to the commands of Christ, to the degree that we not only hear what we want to hear, but make up what we want to hear too.

What if you spent the energy that goes into all that is Christmas on obeying the simple yet complex teachings of Christ?  What if you gave forgiveness away instead of fruitcake?  What if you lived with peace as a lifestyle and not just a nice concept in a song?  What if you served those in need instead of listing your wants?

These are the offerings that God accepts.  Why build him a new temple that he hasn’t asked for?

 

Beyond Myself

 
A few people emailed/facebooked/worked up the courage to talk face to face and asked to hear the song from the lyrics a couple posts ago.  I heed and hawed and then recorded it with my iPhone.  Here you go!

Click here >Beyond Myself

The Beginning of Goodbye

This past Sunday my wife and I announced to our church that we'll be parting ways February, 2011. It was a sad moment for quite a few people, that's including us. Some of the reactions completely caught me off guard.

We've been here at Heise Hill Church for about 2 1/2 years. This was my first full-time ministry position and I'll never forget it.

It's really a challenge sometimes trying to be where you believe God wants you. I mean, I'm a firm believer that God will use you wherever you are. Even if you change "the plan" he will find ways to glorify himself. That makes me think of how God never asked for David to build him a temple, something David longed to do for God but was ultimately fulfilled by his son, Solomon. God's "plan" for that time was the Tabernacle; a tent that allowed God to live with and among his people and helped in leading them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. But, David insisted and Solomon completed his father's vision and God allowed it. Not only allowed it, but moved on in and used it for his glory. Later on, Jesus made it clear that the temple that is God's plan 'A' was himself (John 2:21).

He's an amazing guy, that Jesus. In some mysterious way he not only allows and uses our detours but, in fact, he knew they would happen anyway.

There are times that God makes himself so clear that it's undeniable. When I was nearing the time of looking for a place to serve after Bible college I was sure that I would go back to my hometown and I would serve there for a while and get my ministry legs under me. A wise man, who is now playing the bagpipes for Jesus in heaven, advised my pastor that I should be encouraged to go elsewhere for fear that I would be too safe at home in the beginning of my ministry career. It wasn't long before the opportunity in the Greater Toronto Area was presented.

My wife, Leslie, and I have had a amazing time here growing, both in relationship with God, each other and the beautiful people here. In the last summer months I really began to feel a sense of releasing from our ministry here at Heise Hill. It manifested itself in a lot of ways as I tried to discern what it meant. Sometimes I was frustrated with ministry here, sometimes I was discouraged, sometimes I felt a sense of assurance that we've done what we're supposed to in the life of this 200 year old congregation in leading them through change and evolution to reach a new generation. I sought the best and wisest council I could and it seemed that if we were done here it wasn't a bad thing.

I have a heart for the people of Quebec and I was really hoping God was going to open a door to begin that chapter of our lives, but it was clear that that is not yet. I plan on doing a post or two about knowing when God is saying no or not yet in a little bit.

When the idea of returning to our hometown of Chatham was presented I was a bit shocked. I had spent the last two years trying to help Leslie understand that we may never return, and we need to be ok with that. If I was asked a year ago about going back to Chatham I would have immediately said no. But when we thought and prayed about it, I had a really wild sense of excitement about it. There's a great feeling of confidence and hopefulness that is pushing us towards returning.

But, we're still here now. It's going to be tough leaving these extremely loving people. I'm trying to make the most of this time. I thought that when I would announce our leaving I would have plenty to say to those here that probably wouldn't mind us leaving, but all I have inside is love.

Pray for us, will you? God's up to something crazy and I'm loving every minute of it.

More deets to come.


FHL,

Tom LaBonte

Giving the Gift of Gluttony?

Hello, my name is Tom and I’m a glutton.  I don’t mean that I eat excessively, because I really don’t eat that much (my out-of-shapeness is caused by lack of exercise, not overeating).  What I mean by glutton is that I have more than I need.  You might think that’s greed, and trust me, I’m greedy too, but I believe the term gluttony applies to more than just eating more food than you need.  It also applies to having more of anything than you need.

Tech-junk is my deal.  That’s why I would do well to have some sort of accountability partner call me up and ask me if I’ve viewed any Apple commercials lately (I just compared Apple to porn, lol).  I’m hooked on the latest and slickest, and if I could afford it all I’d have it all. 

I actually wrote a song about it a little while ago with the lyrics:

Sometimes I think that I deserve the very best on God’s green earth,

I know it’s wrong but something tells me just to let it be.

I want it all, I want it now, sometimes I don’t even care how,

That’s when you speak to me and say your grace is enough for me.

But how do I see beyond myself?

 Chorus:

    When I think of the cross where you died for me, I feel all of my pride and my vain conceit wash away,

    I’m humbled how you could give so willingly your life in exchange for my sin to be washed away.

It doesn’t seem to take much time before “Thy will” returns to mine,

And I’m running ‘round the track of old familiarity,

That’s when I hear a soothing voice tell me to make a greater choice,

And how with open arms you’re waiting down the road for me.

But how do I see beyond myself?

Now that I see beyond myself once thing comes to mind and I can think of nothing else; God is love.

Gluttony is such an ugly word, isn’t it?  Sad thing is, it’s normal around my part of the world (not normal in the world, but in my part).  I don’t know how many conversations I've had started with one of us talking about getting some thing that we don’t need, but it’d be cool to have anyway.  I usually reflect in sadness on those conversations.

Most people I know have waaaaaay more than they need, but they probably wouldn’t define themselves as gluttons.  Perhaps they would use terms like “blessed”, “prosperous”, “well off” or sadly, “still in need”.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about something that, though the intention is incredibly pure, maybe it does more to promote our custom of accumulation than we realize.  At the risk of pissing people off, my thoughts have been of the heralded Christmas ministry Operation Christmas Child, aka the shoeboxes.

How can I say such a thing about an organization that helps kids in need, puts a smile on their faces and shows them God’s love?  I’m just saying that perhaps we’re assuming they have the same need as we do; stuff.  I’m just saying that perhaps we’re assuming that poor kid + stuff = happy.  I’m just saying that perhaps we’re telling them that God shows his love by trinkets and crayons, but if he really loves you he’ll give you what we have.

Intentions; pure.  Actuality; not sure.  And before you say something like, “But I usually put soap, a toothbrush and other things that will really help in my box”, check this out.  The root of the intention is to “give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name”, something that gives life (since God is the Giver of Life), then why don’t we actually do that?

I recently found out about this thing that the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is doing.  They provide a way to give actual life giving gifts to those that have need of life.  You can check out their site to see exactly what I’m talking about.

The cool thing about the Mennonites and other brethren denominations is, where Pentecostals have brought their passion and enthusiasm to the Church table and Baptists have brought their rocksteady “rationalism” (love you guys), Mennonites and brethren bring an emphasis on peace and simplicity.  Two amazing qualities of Jesus of Nazareth that are often forgotten.

When anyone asks what I want for Christmas I point them to what MCC is doing.  I've encourage our youth to take part in this, not only to give towards it on top of their normal Christmas, but to ask for less stuff this Christmas and instead ask for the things MCC is providing.  Compassion and Simplicity.

Like I said, I've just been thinking about these things.

By the way, gluttony is a sin.  I just confessed mine, may I be healed.

By the Hair on Your Chinny Chin Chin

 

Beards are amazing.  I could leave this post at that and be satisfied, for real.

I don't have a favourite month of the year, but it might be November because of the abundance of beards and mustaches being grown either to raise money for prostate (or prostrate, as my mom calls it) cancer or for solidarity of said cause.  I didn't always love facial hair though.  That credit goes to my buddy, Benny, for imparting his passion to me.  I'm now convinced that when God created Adam and Eve he declared them "very good" instead of perfect only because Adam hadn't grown a beard yet.

I also don't have a favourite Old Testament law, but it might be the one in Leviticus 19:27 which reads: “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." (NIV).  It's as if God was saying, "Ok, I'm going to start this new nation and I'm going to start it right; beards all around!"  Probably not.

There are some pretty wild commands that God gave his people in the Torah (the 5 books at the beginning of the Bible) and the anti-Gillette law is no exception.  But, why?  What's the deal with all the crazy strict, sometimes deadly, rules?

The OT is filled with so many things that are external and physical symbols, patterns, shadows if you will, of what was to come later on as inward realities.  The temple is a great example: it was a physical place that housed the presence of God, and the Spirit of God dwelt in people for just a short time (enough time to do what God was calling them to do).  But now, because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, the temple is the Body of Believers, the Church, [hopefully you] Us!

So, during the founding of a nation of people, God laid out a bunch of external rules to symbolize something.  But, what?  Leviticus 19:2 says: "‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy."

A good definition for holy is set apart, you know, one of these things is not like the other.  In the next step of his movement towards redemption, God set up a nation that gave a clear external picture of how later on everybody that joined his movement (got saved, for the old schoolers) would be.  But, rather than from the outside-in, like the Law promoted, it would be from the inside-out as the Spirit of Christ lives within.

Next time you're reading Leviticus during your 12th attempt at reading the Bible in a year and you're asking yourself, "Don't do this, do that, kill this, but not that?" recite the words, "I am holy because he is holy, and he is living in me". 

And grow a beard too.

Introductions

Hey there!  Welcome to my blog!  Allow me to introduce myself, unless of course we already know each other (in that case, how's it going?).  My name's Tom LaBonte, aka The Goodness.  I'm not cocky or anything, my last name is actually french for "The Goodness".

I'm a husband, a musician, a Christian pastor, a puzzle.  I'm about 4' tall, but we'll get into that later...My wife Leslie and I live in the Toronto area where I am one of the pastors at a church.  We've been here for about 2 and a half years, matter of fact, we were married 2 weeks before we moved up here.  As far as ministry, my main dealings are with worship & music and youth. 

I'm hoping this blog will allow me to share my thoughts on life, God, faith, hope, love, ministry, marriage, struggles, blah, blah, blah...

Enjoy!

 

FHL,

Tom