10/12/08

WHAT’S MY NET WORTH?

WHAT DO I INVEST IN ?

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I INVEST IN GOD AND MY NET WORTH IS

BASED ON THE GOOD I DO AND THE
GOOD NEWS I TELL !BUT I’M NOT
KEEPING A TALLY
It has always been my ambition to
preach the gospel where Christ was not
known, so that I would not be building on
someone else's foundation. Rather, as it
is written:
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 "Those who were not told about him
will see, and those who
have not heard will understand .”
Rom 15:20-21
A LOT OF FOLKS have lost confidence in the stock market recently, as well as
financial institutions in general. But at the same time you start to hear and see
things about "now being the time to invest..." when prices are low, or buy a house
when so many are available. People say we've had bad times before, they come and
go, as this will go to...

I say THEY'RE RIGHT ! This time will pass too . Better times will come
again. Earlier this summer I stepped into a BANK OF AMERICA in Anaheim Hills,
not far from where I get my mail, and was conducting a transaction with the teller
and in the brief moments we had for conversation we talked about gas prices. I said,
"Gas will be up to $5 pretty soon the way its going." That was at the PEAK of gas
prices, mid-summer, when the price was just above $4 in Southern Cal.

I figured this teller, a young man, would quickly agree just to be agreeable, and I
would leave, transaction complete. However, instead, he went into a long discussion
of why he did NOT think gas would reach $5 dollars. His theory was very complex
and I was NOT able to follow everything he was saying, but I just nodding and let
him talk on...sounded intelligent anyways.

And it turned out, he was RIGHT ! Maybe for different reasons, maybe not, but gas
started to go down shortly later and now hovers around $3.50, a little less in some
places. Many of us tend to be DOOMSDAY by nature, even when it defies long-term
trends and cycles. DOOMSDAY people always want to believe this is REALLY the
end, and “there's NEVER been a time like this before.” But, in fact, it’s NOT the
end and there have been times like this before, EVEN WORSE. WHY do some
people seem to YEARN for the end? I'm not sure.

“ Why do you worry about clothes? See how

the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor
or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of

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these. If that is how God clothes the grass of
the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more
clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not
worry , saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
shall we drink?' or
'What shall we wear? '
Matt 6:28-32
Why not YEARN for better and even better times ? What does GOD WANT for
us ? Worse times or better ? Now that's a COMPLEX theological question, but the
answer, ironically, could be BOTH .BAD TIMES build character and make us
depend upon each other more than ever. GOOD TIMES makes us all the more
FOCUSED on HOW GREAT GOD IS (or should). Of course for some, good times
make people greedy.

Maybe if we INVEST MORE IN GOD during the good times we will see
LESS of the bad times. But then maybe we are not to blame at all. Maybe it is the
truly bad ones—those who do not acknowledge GOD at all who make the good
suffer with the bad (temporarily at least). Nonetheless, BAD TIMES Make us think
MORE about GOD AND THE END TIME but maybe GOD would not feel it
necessary to give us BAD TIMES if we remembered him VOLUNTARILY MORE
SO during the good times. IT shouldn't take BAD TIMES for us to remember GOD
and HIS GOODNESS. It should be the GOOD TIMES during which we remember
HIM all the more.

IN FACT, it might NOT be God in charge of the bad times, but SATAN and maybe
we should be CURSING SATAN during the bad times more so than wondering where
is GOD ? OR worse, blaming GOD. God is NEVER to blame for anything bad.
ALWAYS THANK GOD FOR THE GOOD TIMES AND BLAME SATAN FOR
THE BAD.

Meanwhile, SHOW GOD how thankful you are by INVESTING IN HIM

DURING GOOD TIMES. HOW do we invest in GOD ? OBVIOUSLY, giving at
church--to the offering plate is one way, but not the only way.INVESTING in good
things in general that seem to UPHOLD THE WILL OF GOD in general is another
way. Good, honest, charities are an investment in good for GOD. And that's just
financial investments.

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There are even better investments than financial. Investing OF OURSELVES FOR
GOD in something is the GREATEST INVESTMENT OF ALL ! Notice I did NOT
say investing "in ourselves." I said investing "OF OURSELVES.” HOW do we
invest ourselves IN GOD ? Even more important than putting money in the offering
plate is putting our WHOLE HEART into the KINGDOM OF GOD !This means
that we are TOTALLY SURRENDERING to GOD ! We are NOT just going
through the motions .

I write this SUNDAY MESSAGE every week but I am also constantly searching for
ways to put my WHOLE SELF into KINGDOM SERVICE. Recently I bought a
broom at a hardware store in SOUTH PASADENA and sent out an e-mail to a few
people saying, “WHY DID I BUY A BROOM? STAY TUNED and YOU WILL
FIND OUT….”

A week went by and I had not yet used the broom but it was still there in the back
of my car. Then on Sunday morning (last week) before the worship service in
downtown Los Angeles, I found a spot on a 101 freeway overpass (Hill
Street) where I saw some random trash and pulled out the broom and swept a
small spot. I did not attempt to do the entire street. That was not necessary and
would be futile anyways. I didn’t stand out there trying to get noticed either. That is
not the point. The point is trying to do a LITTLE MORE. And so I will continue to
stop and sweep up small spots of trash here and there in my daily to-and-fro, the
same way I do windshield evangelism—always ready with a STAN POWER or
JOHNNY CHRISTMAS or CHRIST PILOT card, or sometimes a POCKET BIBLE
or LIVING WATER book or some other tract to hand out, or more often leave
under a windshield wiper.

And by sweeping I am doing VOLUNTARY COMMUNITY SERVICE

FOR GOD! Here in Los Angeles we see work crews on the side of the freeway
periodically sweeping. If they have certain colored hats we usually know it is a crew
of persons doing community service assigned by the court. They have their choice of
community service or jail time for minor offenses & various misdemeanors.

But WHY NOT DO VOLUNTARY COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR GOD ?

And there are other ways to invest in GOD by investing ourselves, and yes
sometimes also investing IN ourselves. Sometimes we invest IN OURSELVES to
ultimately invest IN GOD. By getting educated and improving ourselves we are
investing partially in ourselves. HOW we use ourselves later on will show that we
are NOW investing ourselves FOR GOD.

When I was going to college (the first time around) I had to decide on a MAJOR
and I chose PSYCHOLOGY because I thought I could HELP PEOPLE most
directly in that way. I thought maybe I would work in MENTAL HEALTH and help
people sort thru problems and get their lives back in order for good, and for GOD.

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And so I went through the bachelor degree program at Calvin
College and graduated with academic honors in 1989, with a BA in
psychology. Then, to GAIN EXPERIENCE in mental health I worked at a Christian
psychiatric hospital for a year. This also happened to be the same hospital that my
dad worked at as a chaplain and CPE supervisor for fourteen years while I was
growing up in Grand Rapids (MI) and so it was a familiar setting to me, and some of
the same people who worked with my dad were still working there making me . feel
more comfortable.

OF course there are a MILLION ways to help people, not just mental health but
sometimes (not always) the CLOSER we are to people and their problems the more
we, ourselves, GROW, likewise. For those who deal solely with PEOPLE ON
PAPER they may need to get a little CLOSER to real humans and the human
condition in order to experience GROWTH.

I never ended up working directly in mental health after that year at the hospital
but later I ended up in education and working DIRECTLY with children, mainly
middle school & high school age students. And I realized that there were those in
education--who, as fast as possible, and as soon as possible, got out of teaching and
into administration, which meant the LEAST emotional investment of all, but at the
same time the GREATEST financial reward.

Isn't that ironic that in education that some of the jobs that require the LEAST
AMOUNT of actual interaction with the "product" (the student) give the greatest
financial compensation. Maybe it’s because it’s the only way to keep these people
involved at all. They have actually DIS-INVESTED in the final product, and even
though they still get great financial rewards for being in administration, their
EMOTIONAL GROWTH may come to an end.

It is the GOOD TIMES & BAD TIMES of working directly with people--the GOOD,
THE BAD, & THE UGLY that leads to growth. All of the FRUITS are constantly
required...

“The fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness,goodness,
faithfulness,

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 gentleness and self-control…”
Gal 5:22-23

…especially, obviously, PERSEVERANCE. I was reading online on

my HANDHELD DEVICE this morning about the stock market and it was noted
that WARREN BUFFET had invested $ 5 billion in General Electric & Goldman
Sachs in the midst of the worst week ever in stock trading.

I have dabbled in the stock market a few times but nothing significant and have
never really made anything from it. I think I lost a little a few years ago. But then
I've NEVER really studied the stock market very carefully and never stuck with it
for very long. Think about HOW GOD FEELS if we just PLAY HIM like some
people play the stock market--randomly & whimsically and abandoning it at the
first downturn ? That is NOT the way to invest in GOD. God wants ALL OF YOU
thru thick & thin, good & bad times.

And the more of YOU that YOU invest in HIM , the

greater the PAYBACK will be, spiritually & emotionally. For some the most obvious
route to GOD is thru church, but CHURCH is about people, and so the real route
TO GOD is thru helping people, TRULY SO, in one way or another. Church is one
way of interacting with a like-minded group who embrace GOD: the FATHER-
SON-and-HOLY SPIRIT !

And YES INVESTING IN GOD requires RISK-TAKING. Notice I said risk-taking,

NOT gambling. Gambling is throwing your money out the window with your fingers
crossed hoping that it will blow back in with some extra change. Risk-taking is NOT
the same as gambling NOR is it hoping for “good luck” at least not the kind of
CHRISTIAN RISK-TAKING that I am talking about.

CHRISTIAN RISK-TAKING is simply the GUMPTION to get up and GO, as the

BIBLE COMMANDS:

Therefore go and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,

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 and teaching them to obey
everything
I have commanded you
Matt 28:19-20

HOW we go and WHERE we go are a matter of following GOD—and sometimes

that is NOT always a clear picture. Sometimes it is TRIAL-and-ERROR to see if
you heard correctly what you THINK GOD is said to you or is saying to you. Or
maybe some of you don’t think you hear GOD at all or that he is not speaking
directly to you. Maybe that’s because there’s too much interference from the world.
Maybe you have to take a RISK to find some open, quiet, space so that you can hear
better.

TEACHING FAITH is not like teaching the scientific method. There are things
you can say FOR SURE about GOD but you cannot always tell a person EXACTLY
how to apply GOD’S WILL TO THEIR PERSONAL LIVES. That is something
distinctly UNIQUE in each and every case, as diverse as our fingerprints.

TEACHING FAITH and LIVING FAITH requires EDUCATED

CHRISTIAN RISK-TAKING along with HOPE & PRAYER and simple
faith in GOD and the presence of JESUS CHRIST (which is the HOLY SPIRIT).
Risk-taking is part of the Christian life. Not reckless risk-taking, but educated risk-
taking FOR A PURPOSE. YOU study the world, you read books, you remain aware
of current events and then you TAKE NECESSARY & TIMELY ACTION—to
make a difference.

The STREET EVANGELISM I do takes timing and accuracy as well

as a little risk-taking. Sometimes I hand out my cards to people—which is a
risk of rejection, but MORE OFTEN I put them under windshield wipers which
requires the RISK OF CONFRONTATION. People sometimes see you near their car
and wonder what you are doing. So I try to avoid putting cards under windshield
wipers when the owner of the car is watching. That helps avoid unnecessary alarm
or confrontation—and also helps avoid LOGICAL or ARGUMENT EVANGELISM
—whereby the conversation becomes a matter of trying to convince somebody
logically to believe in JESUS which is NOT my idea of fun nor my cup-of-tea; or if a
person ends up trying to convince you that you are wrong about CHRIST and that
their religion is superior.

I don’t think you can convince a person to believe in anything they don’t want to
believe in. face-to-face evangelism, therefore, in some settings FACE-TO-FACE

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EVANGELISM doesn’t always work or may even be self-defeating. Ironically,
America may be one of the more difficult places to do evangelism. Take me to the
Philippines and people are so HUNGRY & THIRSTY not just spiritually but also
literally that the WORD OF GOD truly fills a void and they YEARN for it. YES,
the WORD OF GOD can appease actual hunger & thirst !
Nor do you hear Christians there say, “I already know. Tell somebody else.” That’s
because they know the WORD can be delivered differently thru different PERSONS
and therefore has a different possibility of edifying or enlightening them.

But indeed, O man,

who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed
say to him who formed it,
"Why have you made me like this?"
Does not the potter have
power over the clay ,
Rom 9:20-21

GOD designed us in different ways so that the WORD could be delivered by us as

‘VESSELS’ for HIM—in a variety of different ways and forms. If TELLING THE
GOOD NEWS was simply a scientific formula which anybody could apply
uniformly like using mathematical axiom then we would be MERE ROBOTS and
the good news merely part of our “programming.” And there would be NOTHING
SPONTANEOUS, nor joyful or exciting about it; nor, at the same time, anything
upsetting or burdensome. It would be VERY BLAND and very meaningless. So we
take the good with the bad and THANK GOD and praise the LORD
and we keep INVESTING OURSELVES IN HIM.

People who knew me growing up in Grand Rapids caught on to the fact that my
grandfather was LEO PETERS, the butterball millionaire. It was something
special in Grand Rapids, a relatively small or medium-sized town, even smaller

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when you are talking solely about the Christian Reformed community. And because
my grandfather had a flair for the extravagant during his HEYDAY . Not only did
he live in the LARGEST MANSION (maybe the only true mansion) in town but he
threw an annual Christmas party for all the VIP’S in town, or at least all of the
CRC VIP’s.

And for those who like to talk the obvious topic would be, “HOW MUCH IS
LEO PETERS WORTH?” Well, in the large scheme of things he would not be
anywhere near the top of the wealth ladder. He would not be in the FORBES 500
and would not even be the wealthiest person in West Michigan. That might be, or
may have been at one time, a different CRC person by the name of RICH DEVOS
and/or the late JAY VAN ANDEL (when he was still alive), the co-founders of
AMWAY. But then again, I am sure there are plenty of other fairly wealthy people in
Grand Rapids that I do NOT know about—perhaps wealthier than my grandfather
or DeVos.

Nonetheless, since people do talk and sometimes talk foolishly the

topic of ‘NET WORTH’ seems to be a sort of voyeuristic topic that people engage in
leading to annual magazine articles by some money magazines but at a smaller level
simply GOSSIP around the dinner table that LEADS TO NOWHERE. And the
problem about randomly or naughtily discussing people’s “net
worth” is that it NOT only DEVALUES their SPIRITUAL HUMANITY but
leaves one or two people at the “top” at the expense of a lot of others.

For the Christian and non-Christian world the

notion of FINANCIAL
NET WORTH is demeaning to people, both those WITH as well as
those WITHOUT. To value somebody according to how much they make OR don’t
make, or how much they inherit or didn’t inherit is to completely DISCREDIT
them as people made in the IMAGE OF GOD or IMAGO DEO. And to become
cynical and say “it’s all about money” is also to DISBELIEVE the promises of GOD
which makes HIM very very angry.

I had ‘FRIENDS” in Grand Rapids who thought this way—about people as

being “with” or “without.” I often had to wonder if they were my friends because
they thought I was a person “with” money or “of” money or would be someday
(because of my grandfather.). I even began to wonder if some “friends” who came
to visit me in southern California shortly after our family had moved from Michigan
to California in ’84 came because they thought I or my family had “made it”
and were “rich” and they would get the “red carpet treatment.” Of course, it did
NOT help that my dad had made the move to California to work at the Crystal
Cathedral, which glamorizes wealth and celebrity status. But “friends” who came to
visit were inevitably disappointed that my parents lived in a normal middle-class
home in a NON-gated, non-exclusive area of Southern California.

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 In fact, Audrey Van Oen & Eric Kooyer (married) even showed up unannounced,
obviously giving away the fact that they believed they would find
me in some sort of glamorous BEVERLY HILLS setting , AND
obviously disappointed that such was not the case. What was ALL THE MORE
disappointing is that I took them out for dinner at JOLLY ROGER as a
wedding gift to them and they NEVER SAID THANKS. After leaving I only saw
them a few times again back in Grand Rapids and they made it clear that they were
not interested in me as a friend because I was NOT a celebrity nor lived in any
glamorous conditions.

I LOST ‘FRIENDS’ who were “friendly” with me in Grand Rapids ONLY

BECAUSE they thought I had celebrity-status or the closest thing to celebrity
status as you will find around the CRC; and they thought this because of the
COMBINATION of elements surrounding my life and family circumstances—
namely: 1) a MILLIONIARE GRANDFATHER WITH A MANSION IN GRAND
RAPIDS;

2) THE MOVE OF MY FAMILY TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN 1984

WHERE MY DAD TOOK A POSITION AT THE CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL
WHICH IS SEEN WEEKLY ON TELEVISION IN A GLAMOUROUS MANNER
OFTEN WITH A CELEBRITY OF WELL-KNOWN PERSON TESTIFYING TO
HIS OR HER FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

It was basically these two factors that made PEOPLE WHO GOSSIP AND
WONDER ABOUT THE NET WORTH OF OTHERS wrongly think that I
might have a high financial net worth or will have a high net worth some
day and therefore be “WORTH BEFRIENDING.” And for the same reasons they
BEFRIENDED me, after visiting in Southern California they decided they were
NOT impressed and therefore, subsequently, “DEFRIENDED” ME .

Let me make one thing PERFECTLY CLEAR: had I intentionally misled people to
believe that I was a celebrity or had a lot of money I would be to BLAME or partly
to blame, BUT the fact is I NEVER made any such suggestion nor claim, nor
by my actions or innuendo did I every intend to suggest such. MY CLAIM TO
FAME is simply HARD WORK —going through an ACCREDITED COLLEGE
(twice) to get TWO BA’s TAKES WORK. Even before college I was working hard—
just for the sake of working and having spending money—beginning all the way
back before most people even have a job—I had a PAPER ROUTE. And then I also
shoveled snow and snowblowed (NO, not snowplowed with a truck like my
“friend” Steve Korhorn, but snowBLOWED with a snowBLOWER)
driveways, raked leaves, and worked as a CARRY OUT BOY at Boorsmas
Grocery Store, among other things.

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 BACK THEN at that age, when I was growing up—my NET WORTH was based on
staying in school, going to church, and I added to my “portfolio” by doing the jobs
mentioned above in addition to PICKING BEANS, PAINTING HOUSES,
SEALCOATING DRIVEWAYS AND PARKING LOTS, WORKING AT A
LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA & LATER VERY BRIEFLY AT A DOMINOS
PIZZA; and CLEANED OFFICES for a while as well.

I didn’t even have my own car at age 16. I borrowed the parents’ car. And it was
NOT a Cadillac or anything fancy. I remember a FORD GRAN TORINO
station wagon (a gift from Grandpa Peters) along with a RED
VOLKSWAGEN HATCHBACK for a while (which we once drove all the way
from Michigan to California and back). Later, the FOLKS bought a newer
MERCURY station wagon—with a few “extras” but still nothing fancy; as well
as a light blue Volkswagen Rabbit.

Today, YES my folks are still here in Southern California and YES they still live
in a regular middle-class home on a regular middle-class street. In fact, although the
property values are relatively higher than those in West Michigan some of the homes
in the neighborhood where my parents live in Bellflower are very “humble.” And it’s
not necessarily because they are poor, but because they don’t feel inclined to change
anything from the way it’s always been. I, myself, was struck by how ORDINARY
our ‘NEW NEIGHBORHOOD’ in Bellflower was when we first arrived in 1984.
Next to our NEW HOUSE was a huge lot with a TINY PINK HOUSE
on it and a few horses in the “backyard” with HAY BALES dotting the landscape.

For SOME (not all) of those with a MIDWEST MINDSET the formal architect that
might attract a person to a setting such as EAST GRAND RAPIDS (where my
mom grew up) is NOT the setting you will find in BELLFLOWER, CA. And the
friends who came to visit had that MIDWEST MINDSET and EXPECTED more
than an ordinary two-story home (with no basement) next to a little pink house with
horses in the back. For those with a ROMANTIC mindset COMBINED with a
WANT-TO-GET-AWAY-FROM problems with GRANDPA PETERS (or DAD
PETERS AS IT MAY BE) it was PERFECT and HEAVEN SENT. That is, my
MOM couldn’t have been happier, mainly because she was SICK &
TIRED (almost literally sick) of being so close to her father—my grandfather
PETERS with whom some were impressed because of his ‘NET WORTH’
and flashy mansion.

At the same time I had to do a lot of MENTAL GYMNASTICS to adjust to the new
living situation—and actually ended up back in Grand Rapids to finish

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my senior year of high school , but that had NOTHING to do with the
architect or type of neighborhood we lived in. The FACT is that ultimately the
‘FRIENDS” who befriended me and subsequently defriended (that's
a new word for Websters) me were NOTHING MORE THAN SNOBS, and their
FLIP-FLOP snobbery friendship caused me pain and hardship as well as
defamation (because some of “them” subsequently tried to insinuate that I thought I
was “rich” or acted “rich” because my parents lived in Southern California).
Others interfered with my girlfriend relationship(s)—I believe intentionally so
in retrospect.

MY FRIENDS, I don’t think I am rich in terms of money (in fact, I KNOW I am

NOT) , and I can ASSURE YOU my NET WORTH IN TERMS OF DOLLARS-
AND-CENTS IS nothing to brag about. BUT I KNOW I AM RICH IN CHRIST !
I know I have the GREATEST TREASURE stored up, and CONTINUE to store it
up—as life goes by---as I continue to TELL THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS
CHRIST and do evangelism and try to do good things NOT TO BE SEEN by others
but FOR THE SAKE OF THE KINGDOM :

In this way they will lay up treasure for

themselves as a firm foundation for the
coming age, so that they may take hold of
the life that is truly life.
1 Tim 6:19

AND that is a BIG DIFFERENCE. I don’t DRESS DOWN to try to be FALSELY

MODEST as some do. I know some in the CRC, including my former “friends” Eric
& Audrey as well as Steve & Winny, WHOSE FINANCIAL NET WORTH IS
MUCH GREATER THAN MINE but yet they still dress down and talk poor
because of some false sense of being poor AND/OR a SHREWD DUTCH WAY OF
ACTING POOR in order to GET A FREEBIE FROM OTHERS! And knowing the
DUTCH ways from growing up in Grand Rapids I know the latter is TOO OFTEN
the actual purpose for dressing humbly or driving an overly humble car.

It’s IRONIC that some of the messages I heard today at church were about
ECONOMICS and wealth. The pastor at Friends Church in Yorba Linda said, in
jest, in telling a parable of a man who passed away and those who wondered
“WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND?” THAT THE “ANSWER IS ALWAYS THE SAME:
HE LEFT EVERYTHING”

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Isn’t that THE TRUTH? No matter HOW MUCH YOU GAIN and add to your
NET WORTH every single person, man or woman, young or old, when he or she
dies will leave the SAME AMOUNT BEHIND ON EARTH: ALL OF IT !

EXCEPT, of course, their soul, which is what MATTERS MOST ! What

TREASURE are you STORING UP here on earth—which will be waiting for you in
heaven ? GOD will NOT be counting your money, he will be counting the GOOD
DEEDS that you did or tried to do or wanted to do but for some legitimate reason
could not accomplish. This is NOT to say CHRISTIAN LIFE is solely about actual
deeds done and activism. It’s ALSO a matter of the heart. It’s a matter of what you
TRULY WISH could be done for the world and others around you. It’s a matter not
only of the ‘EMBRACE’ but of the “WILL TO EMBRACE” to which I give credit
to MIROSLAV VOLF.

If it were a matter of simply counting “actual

deeds” then life would be TOO SIMPLISTIC and there would
be a “BASEBALL RECORD BOOK” for every single strike or ball and even the
speed of each pitch. Can you imagine being JUDGED BY GOD in the
same way we judge the players in the game of professional
baseball? It would make us all NEUROTIC ! As if it isn’t enough that we
have a MUNICIPAL SYSTEM that keeps our driving record for life and judges us
accordingly and a INSURANCE SYSTEM that will judge us eternally according to
whether we maintained uninterrupted auto insurance or health insurance, and a
CREDIT SYSTEM that will judge us forever by our ‘CREDIT RECORD” and a
HALL OF JUSTICE that will judge us forever according to misdemeanors and
felonies committed, or lack of. And of course there’s the EDUCATION SYSTEM
that judges us according to 12 years of school plus college or more. Those systems
are, perhaps, arguably a “NECESSARY EVIL” but imagine adding to that A GOD
who judged us by every single good or bad deed down to “balls & strikes” so to
speak. Those “balls & strikes” do count but at some point we TRANSCEND the
minutiae of it.

It may be AKIN to PLAYING BASEBALL for the LOVE OF THE

GAME or for the LOVE OF MONEY. For those who love the game, every pitch
thrown is a JOY, and you FEEL BLESSED to be chosen to throw or catch or hit the
ball and you, yourself, are not even counting strikes & balls—you just want to HIT,
CATCH, AND THROW ! AND, of course, the ICING ON THE CAKE is to win. But
for those who play for money and statistics the season can be JOYLESS and the
game just a routine to go through—a means to an end---the money & statistics. BUT
if you are PLAYING FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME ultimately you would
play even if you weren’t paid, if such were possible; or even if it meant being paid
very little. Likewise the CHRISTIAN LIFE at some point must TRANSCEND
“going to church” because you’re SUPPOSED to go to church and ‘BE GOOD’ and
act in a certain way to keep the pastor or GOD happy. If you are KEEPING SCORE
because you think GOD is keeping score in the same way and by doing more deeds

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and things to keep making GOD happy is your M.O. not only will you probably
BURNOUT eventually but you WON’T MAKE GOD happy that way because HE
doesn’t keep score the way we keep score of a baseball game.

YES, HE does know your good and bad deeds and they DO MATTER but
ultimately, paradoxically, it DOESN’T MATTER. Does that make sense ? I hope
not. BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST does NOT make worldly sense. IT would be like
throwing away all the baseball records and saying, “ALL OF YOU WHO PLAYED
THE GAME ARE ALL-STARS!” Our worldly sense of justice would
VEHEMENTLY OBJECT because according to the statistics NOT all of them are
all-star caliber.

BUT YET in the end, after all is said and done that is EXACTLY WHAT GOD did
for us—he said YOU ARE SAVED BECAUSE YOU PLAYED THE GAME, not
because you necessarily have all-star statistics. NONETHELESS, while you are still
in the game you still STRIVE to do all-star deeds, but NOT because you are
consciously striving to make your statistics look better but because you LOVE TO
PLAY THE GAME WHICH GOD LOVES TO WATCH !

As another example I think of WHITE COLLAR CRIME and those who ‘COOK
THE BOOKS’ so to speak. They can change their NET WORTH by changing
numbers in the book. It’s a perfect example of CHASING STATISTICS rather than
playing for the love of the game. Accounting and money jobs have a certain sort of
satisfaction if you are TRULY PLAYING a counting game in a gracious manner.
But if you start COOKING THE BOOKS and fixing the game you have TOTALLY
RUINED IT for yourself and others. It’s not only a crime and a sin but sometimes
irreversible for a generation.

The MISTAKEN DESIRE to want to simply change a few things “on paper” to
make yourself or other “loved ones” happy is DISASTROUS no matter how WELL-
INTENDED you think you are being. When you try to PLAY GOD and take the
element of grace and humility out of the equation you create HAVOC for yourself
and others.

Unfortunately, I know people who have done this and as I’ve said before they’ve
created a ‘SHREWD MESS for themselves and others and the LAW or JUSTICE
can not always unravel the mess. It can’t be UNDONE for an entire generation (100
years or so) and only if the parents don’t teach the same crimes to their kids to
repeat. Notice I didn’t say “mistake” or “innocent mistake” because I am not
talking about merely growing pains and learning errors. I am talking about
CONSCIOUSLY chosen behavior or misbehavior done secretively for self-serving
purposes –in essence COOKING THE BOOKS as they say. Once they COOK the
BOOKS for the sake of NET WORTH it’s all over. They’ve ruined the game.

It’s the reason why NBA and all MAJOR SPORTS so ZEALOUSLY guard against
any possibility of referee corruption such as the scandal of the one NBA referee who

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admitted to trying to determine the outcome of games by the way they called fouls.
Did you notice how QUICKLY that was covered by the media and how quickly they
stopped talking about it ? Even the SPORTS MEDIA realizes that if sports lose
their image of being truly fair the GAME will QUICKLY DIE and so will the sports
media with it. PROFESSIONAL SPORTS knows very well that their entire
institution RELIES UPON many of the same “fruits’ that CHRISTSIANITY itself
RESTS UPON AS BEDROCK. Of course, as CHRISTIANS the FRUITS we live by
are at a MUCH DEEPER LEVEL than that of professional sports, but all of the
world, even the NON-CHRISTIAN world is aware of a SHADOW of what we know
in actuality as Christians.

This is why JESUS SPOKE in Parables . Not all could understand in a direct
way. Even the DISCIPLES of JESUS did NOT always understand him. Even as
Christians we do NOT always fully grasp or understand everything. It is
UNCOVERED in layers, little by little, over time—which also underscores the
importance of WAITING UPON GOD , as well as listening. HE will do things in HIS
TIME, not ours. So we wait, we act, we reflect, we listen, we act some more. It like
I’ve said before: ACT-REFLECT-ACT-REFLECT-ACT…. It’s a cycle. It helps you
GROW EMOTIONALLY, SPIRITUALLY, & COGNITIVELY, among other ways.

VANDER KOK
MUSTARD SEED MINISTRIES

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