Discovering the Real Jesus in Monroe

(Christmas on the River Raisin) 

In 1982 I began keeping, consistently, a spiritual journal.

What is a spiritual journal? A spiritual journal is a record of the voice and activity of God in your life. A spiritual journal is primarily about what God tells you about your life. It’s not to be a thing that’s about other people.

What should I write in my spiritual journal? When God speaks to you, write it down. When God reveals Himself to you, write it down. When God uses you in the life of another person, write it down.

Do I have to write something in my spiritual journal every day? No. When God speaks to you, reveals Himself to you, or works through you - write those kind of things down. Then you will have a record of the voice and activity of God in your life.

Why keep a spiritual journal? To remember what God has done in your life, and what God has spoken to you. In the Bible the issue of “remembering” is huge. In the Old Testament we are to not forget all that God has done and brought us through. In the New Testament we are to remember, every time we drink the cup and eat the bread, what Jesus has done for us in forgiving our sins and setting us free to serve him.

At this point in my life I have close to 3000 pages of journal entries. Periodically I take time to review some of what God has said to me and done for me. Which brings me to tell you this: remembrance brings hope. When I remember times in my life when things were difficult, and how I called out to God, and then am reminded of how again God met me and helped me, it gives me real hope in my present circumstances.

Here are some books I would recommend to the bibliophiles out there.

(Monroe)

Save Me From Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story, by Brian Welch. Linda and I were both very moved by the biography of ex-Korn guitarist Welch. His story of how he got free of meth and porn addiction to become a follower of Jesus is compelling. We could not put this book down! Get this book into the hands of 15-25-year-olds.

There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, by Antony Flew. Flew tells how he converted to atheism to a belief in God. Flew is a great philosopher, and arguably the most famous intellectual atheist of the 20th century. In his own words, “he simply followed the evidence,” and it led him to God.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, by A.J. Jacobs. Hilarious, moving, illuminating… a book Linda could not let go of and did not want to finish. Jacobs, a writer for Esquire magazine, takes one year of his life to let his facial hair grow and, starting with Genesis, works his way through the Bible, attempting to carry out every one of its commands.

Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, by Brian McLaren. I finished this book today. Anyone interested in the real Jesus and his message of the kingdom of God would do well to read this. Revolutionary and radical; paradigm-upsetting and loving.

Matthew for Everyone, by N.T. Wright. Want to know the real Jesus? Try this in 2008. Read and re-read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, over and over again. Get the original documents inside you. Accompany your reading with Wright’s “For Everyone” books on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Here in Wright we have a brilliant New Testament scholar bringing the message of Jesus to us in words we can all understand.

The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, by Armand Nicholi. Nicholi, professor of psychology at Harvard, teaches a class comparing Lewis and Freud. This is his book on his class, and it is brilliant and eminently readable. Nicholi, a Freud scholar, gives reason to think that Freud was a believer in God in spite of his outwardly expressed atheism.

C.S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason, by Victor Reppert. Reppert argues that if philosophical naturalism (atheism) is true, then scientific reasoning cannot be trusted. Not a long book, but a deep one. A very good book for theists who are interested in defending their belief in God because “reason” makes no sense if atheism is true.

Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit’s Power, by J.P. Moreland. I greatly enjoyed this book and consider it required reading for Jesus-followers who want to be part of a “church” ( = people who follow Jesus) that embraces the kingdom of God and pushes back the kingdom of darkness.

The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition, by Greg Boyd and George Eddy. Ever had anyone tell you that Jesus never existed? And that “Jesus” was invented out of pre-existing stories of dying and rising gods in other cultures? This book explodes such nonsense. Combine this book with N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God and it will leave no doubt in your mind that, yes, Jesus was an actual person. Plus, you’ll learn a lot of other things along the way. 

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. Short, deep, with great art work. My favorite all-time children’s book, which I read to my sons more than they would care to acknowledge. For ages 0-100.

(Doty Cemetery, Monroe County) 

If you are married with children, contemplating divorce, and have been told that “divorce won’t hurt your kids - they will be all right,” stop! That is simply not true. The expert on “children of divorce” is Dr. Judith Wallerstein, professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California-Berkeley. Years ago I read her ground-breaking longitudinal study of children of divorce, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study. I have handed out occasional copies to men and women who told me they were getting divorced and believed the kids will get through it just fine.

Read Wallerstein’s book to get the full picture. And, her work is cited all over the internet.

Wallerstein states: `The delayed impact of divorce in adulthood is a revolutionary finding and a stunning surprise. We thought that children would be able to work through issues related to divorce by the time they reached late adolescence or left home. We advised parents that if they refrained from fighting and arranged their schedules so that the children could see both of them often, then the children would do well. But these policies were based on adult needs and perceptions of divorce. We failed to realize that living in a post-divorce family is an entirely different experience for children as opposed to adults. The story of divorce is far more complex and the impact more far-reaching than we had ever imagined.”

Wallerstein discovered that growing up in a divorced family creates a consistent pattern of behaviors and expectations in young people when they set out to form their own adult relationships. Otherwise well-functioning adult children of divorce, now in their late twenties to early forties, must fight to overcome:

Expectations of failure, based on an “internalized image of failure;”

Fear of loss, due to earlier anxiety about abandonment by one or both parents;

Fear of change, since experience has shown them it is usually for the worse;

Fear of conflict, because it leads to explosions or the impulse to escape;

Fear of betrayal, because they have seen so much of it;

Fear of loneliness, sometimes leading to self-destructive choices in partners.

It’s not surprising that Wallerstein discovered that adult children of divorce lack a healthy “Couple Template.” They don’t have a model of what healthy marital partnership is. “They carry the template of the relationship between their parents into adulthood and use it to seek the image of their new family. The absence of a good image negatively influences their search for love, intimacy, and commitment. Anxiety leads many young adults into making bad choices in relationships, giving up hastily when problems arise, or avoiding relationships altogether. Ominously, they also say that they will not support their parents, especially their fathers, in old age.” (Cited here, as with the two preceding paragraphs)

Children of divorce have the deck stacked against them. Yet I have seen some of them grow into healthy adulthood in spite of this. I am especially impressed by a faith in God some of them acquire. This allows them to find blessing and a foundation rooted in God as an experiential reality. This compensates for parents who, in their divorce, cut the familial foundation out from under them.

(A seagull on Santa Monica pier - Linda’s favorite bird.) 

Linda and I are still married. Our wedding was August 11, 1973. I have done, I estimate, a few hundred weddings (at least) as a pastor. My all-time favorite was my own.

I wrote my own vows to say to Linda. I knew I would never, ever be unfaithful to her. Nor she to me. For us both, it was “until death do us part.” That’s the way it is for all the couples I have ever married. But all the outcomes have not been the same.

As a pastor I have counseled many in both premarital and marital situations. I’ve also counseled many who have been divorced, and I’ve met with a lot of children of divorce. I have seen my share of marital unfaithfulness out there, and the devastating emotional rubble left behind. (By the way, it’s a myth that, in divorce, “the children are going to be OK.” If you doubt this then you must read this book.) I see many unfaithful, dis-integrated people who, apparently, did not really mean it when they stood before God and one another and their families and friends and “promised” to stay together “for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” (For divorce statistics see here.)

I find this sad. In nearly all divorce situations I have been personally acquainted with there is not really a good reason to divorce. Few, if any, differences are actually irreconcilable. The God-perspective on marriage is that, when “irreconcilable differences” happen, instead of this being a signal that “we weren’t made for each other” the reality is that it’s growth time for the couple. In my own marriage Linda and I have found that we are two very imperfect people who have been broken, stretched, taken apart and put back together by not our own talents but by the mercy and grace of God. The breaking process has shown us that a long-term monogamous relationship between two not-so-together people is a wonderful thing. One has to learn humility and other-centeredness or the whole thing will break down. Marriage not simply helps a person do that, it forces one to do it or die. Unfortunately, a lot of people get out before the real marital stuff happens.

The serial monogamist who goes questing for the perfect soul mate will remain forever stunted in their character. Character is mostly forged through conflict. A long marriage in itself does not guarantee this. But a long marriage where husband and wife grow in their love for one another is always a sign that a whole lot of personal brokenness has happened along the way. You can’t find that in a series of short-term noncommittal relationships that split when the disagreements start to happen.

Finally, if you are a divorced person I am not writing this to condemn you. I have found that divorced people can relate to what I am saying and are often willing to take responsibility for their own part of the marital failure. They want to hear a voice that goes counter-cultural to the local village wisdom that says, “It’s not working out - so you have to divorce.” Often, such words come from the mouths of people who have themselves failed maritally. If we give our children that message, guess what may happen when, in marriage, they have their first real fight? I have met many divorcees over the years whom I believe could have made it in marriage if only they had someone to disagree with such cultural pessimism and who could guide them, mentor-like, through the conflicts and on to greater character growth.

(Downtown Monroe) 

Darren Wilson, and MHS graduate, is currently a professor in the communication arts department at Judson College, Elgin, Illinois.

Darren has traveled the world doing a documentary movie on what God is doing in the world today. I have seen the film already, and view it as an expression of the love of God manifested in many ways of compassion and healing.

The film is one hour and 50 minutes long.

The world premier is here in Monroe: This Sunday, Dec. 9, 6:30 PM, Redeemer Fellowship Church, 5305 Evergreen, 734-242-5277.

For more information here is the film’s website.

The River Raisin runs adjacent to our property. I like living on the river. It’s aesthetically pleasing. But it’s dirty. I’d never drink from it, nor should you. Once, years ago, we received the news that heavy rains had caused the Adrian wastewater treatment plant to overflow into the River Raisin. Now, multi-gallons of raw sewage and human fecal matter was moving towards Monroe. Readings were taken at various places along the river. The raw sewage in the river was measured in parts-per-million, and as the water got closer to Monroe the parts-per-million decreased.

When the ugly stuff finally began to make its way past my property I breathed easier, because now there were only 5000 parts-per-million of raw sewage in the river. But I did not run to the banks and fill up my water bottles. In fact, if you told me that the water I was drinking had only one part-per-million of human waste in it I think I would not drink it. I’d like water that was pure.

Purity is good. Not only in water, but in life. Purity, when you find it in a person, is rare and stunning. In Ephesians 5:3 we read, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” Not a hint means, not even one part per million.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that real purity, when you encounter it in a person’s life, is stunning. Jesus said that “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) Kierkegaard defined purity like this: purity of the heart is to will one thing. Essentially, purity as viewed by Jesus is to be single-minded towards God and his righteousness and his kingdom.

Back to the River Raisin. Below is a picture of the RR when 12-foot high piles of surrealistic foam descended, horror-film-like, upon Dundee. See that story here.

(Bolles Harbor) 

Linda and I watched the movie “Amazing Grace,” which is the true story of British abolitionist William Wilberforce. I found the movie very well-done, and engaging. And, here in Wilberforce we see a real example of what it means to be a follower of the Real Jesus.

Both Linda and I highly recommend it!