Hello, my name is Shawn, and I pray secular songs.

My friend Carl is probably laughing out loud as he reads this, because he’s reminded of this episode from South Park where Cartman writes and sings a Contemporary Christian song titled, “Jesus Baby.” Here are the unlicensed lyrics:

“You know Jesus, I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately, and well…That’s why I wrote this song

I love you Jesus, I want you to walk with me. I’ll take good care of you baby, call you my baby, baby. You died for my sins, and you know that I would die for you, right? What’s the matter baby, you’re trembling
Jesus baby!”

The truth of the matter is, I’ve been praying secular songs since I was a child. Genre doesn’t matter…Country, Heavy Metal, Independent Rock…it all works.

One song I frequently prayed as a confessional when I was in high school and college was Chicago’s hit “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” Please don’t look up the lyrics…it’s just too weird. I’ve prayed the song, “Jealousy” by Cary Brothers many times to ask God to instill in me the same passion and desire for intimacy that He maintains for me…often referred to as “Jealousy” in the Hebrew Scriptures.

This morning, I prayed “I Run To You” by Lady Antebellum:

“I run from pain
I run from prejudice
I run from pessimists
But I run too late
I run my life
Or is it running me
Run from my past
I run too fast
Or too slow it seems
When lies become the truth
That’s when I run to you

This world keeps spinning faster
Into a new disaster so I run to you”

I’m no fool. I recognize the fact that Chicago, Cary Brothers, and Lady Antebellum were in reality expressing their low self-esteem and pathetic reliance upon a member of the opposite sex to retrieve them from the depths of some self-perceived melancholy. I also realize that some individuals believe that those of us who profess a faith in Christ—or any faith in a higher power—are also expressing our low self-esteem and pathetic reliance upon a myth…relying upon a crutch to aid us through life’s disasters. If you happen to be one of those individuals, feel free to comment…I’ll love you just the same. Nonetheless, I’ve heard the argument—this isn’t my first rodeo.

To be honest, as I continue to read through Exodus 19, God didn’t initially come to us with “Open Arms” and a “Welcome to Love” Him (Thank you Journey and Gary Numan). In fact, God was more like Claude Kelly, Busta Rhymes, and .38 Special, saying:

“‘Don’t come any closer,’ ‘Don’t touch me,’ and go ‘Back Where You Belong.’”

God was ready to reveal something amazing—something life-changing—something soteriological to the Israelites. This is evident with the significance of the third day theophany—if it happens on the third day in the Bible…LOOK OUT…cause something’s about to happen that will change your life:

“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.”

—Exodus 19:16-19

God goes through all this fire and fanfare for what? Check out what God tells Moses right after His fireworks finale: “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish” (Exodus 19:21). Even though God desired intimacy with His people, without some sort of intervention, He would perpetually be like En Vogue…He’s “Never Gunna Get It.” Like the Black Crowes, God’s holiness is just too “Hard to Handle.”

So tell me God, how can I be like Lady Antebellum, Whitney Houston, and Bryan Adams and “Run To You?”

The beauty within the Sinai incident is it foreshadowed a day when God would enter our world and shed His own blood for us.  He rose again on the third day, and after “Riding the Lighting, ” He stands with “Open Arms” and says, “Run to Me.” And in the words of Patsy Cline, He continues to call out to us, “Come on in and sit right down and make yourself at home.”

“So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—[run] right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body. So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.”

—Hebrews 10:19-23 (The Message)

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep…that have taken hold.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and erase those hurts that have dug down SO deep into your heart and soul that they’ve taken hold? Have you ever just wanted to put right what once went wrong?

The television program Quantum Leap began the following way:

“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top-secret project, known as QUANTUM LEAP. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett, prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was made through brainwave transmissions, with Al, the Project Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Beckett could see and hear. Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right, that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next leap will be the leap home.”

Haven’t we all…at some point in our life, wished, hoped, prayed that a Sam Beckett would enter a point in our life and put things right, that once went wrong? Maybe it isn’t some elite scientist from the future. Perhaps we just hope that the Divine Deity who we love and worship could intervene and remove the hurts that currently plague our hearts…or remove those mistakes that we’ve made that eventually led to the present pain in our life. Why can’t God fix our past and provide us with the segue from that mistake to the present? Why can’t God grant us the aptitude to pick up the pieces of our life that we ourselves turned to crap and then return to our former way of life…back when things weren’t so crappy?

God can! …and He Does! …just not in the way we expect Him to do it.

C.S. Lewis put it best in The Problem of Pain when he wrote:

“[Hurt] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”

Quite often…not always…but often, our so-called crappy life is a result of each of us individually taking a crap all over it. We ourselves made the mistakes. Our own rebellious souls led to the dismantling of our own life.

As I began reading Exodus 19, I latched onto verse 5:

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.”

—Exodus 19:5

Ahhh…the famous covenantal clause—key word: “IF.”

“IF you obey me fully.”

What a great promise. Too bad it was impossible for Israel to keep their end of the bargain. Even today, it’s impossible for us to keep it as well.

We know…Israel knew…God knew, and still knows…full obedience is not going to happen. Israel perpetually disobeyed, made a mess of things, God punished them, forgave them, and gave them another chance, only for them to blow it again. Sound familiar?

So God Beckett, had to intervene. God Beckett had to put right the things that went wrong. Even though God actually could go back in time and fix every error every human being makes in order to set things right…God knows the human condition. God knows the minute He turns around, we’ll just put it all wrong again.

Here’s the dilemma:

“I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity IN ORDER TO SET IT RIGHT once and for all.”

—Romans  7:24—8:3 (The Message).

Isn’t that AWESOME?!?!

Jesus really is Sam Beckett. By sending Jesus to die for the wrongs and then rise again to put it right…God did put right what once when wrong.

So is Al the Holy Spirit? Hmmm?

Am I a monotheist or a polytheist? Upon an initial examination of my faith, I always answer, “a monotheist.” However, upon a more exhaustive and introspective examination, I have to confirm the latter. I recognize the existence of other gods and I have to continuously affirm that Yahweh—the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, His only Son Jesus Christ, and the Empowering Holy Spirit—One God, existing in three persons is greater than all “other” gods.

Why do I need to “continuous” affirm such a thing?

Because my actions often suggest otherwise:

• My unemployment tested my conviction in God’s superiority over money and financial security—two very powerful gods.
• My divorce examined my confidence in God’s dominance over companionship.
• My fatherhood  persists on assessing my assurance in God’s supremacy over love.
• My emotional inconsistency and ambiguity forces me to evaluate God’s authority over my heart.

The list of Yahweh’s competition is endless. Money, companionship, love, our hearts…these gods only scratch the surface. There is a pantheon containing a plethora of gods weaseling their way into our lives…attempting to steal our devotion away from the God of gods, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

When people consider the impact Jethro had on Moses’ life, they immediately move to his managerial advice. Jethro was about delegation, right? Every burned-out preacher immediately goes there when his or her congregation isn’t stepping up to their ministerial plates. I’m not going to go there! It’s just too easy—and to be honest—I don’t find the Exodus 18-delgating-responsiblities-blog-post very interesting.

Jethro was far more than a master-delegator, administrator, advisor, Moses’ father-in-law, or the priest of Midian.  Jethro most likely introduced Moses to the God of Abraham—the same God who called Moses from the burning bush and reveled to Moses His true name—Yahweh. Jethro was a descendent of Midian. Midian was the fourth son of Abraham’s second wife Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). Abraham surely taught all of his sons about his God…even Midian.

Moses was raised in the Egyptian courts and was very familiar with the Egyptian pantheon. After murdering the Egyptian slave master and escaping into the wilderness, Moses met Jethro and was introduced to the God of his ancestors…the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob…and Midian. This, most likely, didn’t annihilate Moses’ conviction in the existence of other gods…even Jethro believed in the existence of other gods. Nonetheless, over time, both Moses and Jethro became convinced that Yahweh was superior to any of the other gods they believed to exist.

 ^“Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things Yahweh had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, ‘Praise be to Yahweh, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.’”

—Exodus 18:9-11

Jethro heard about everything Yahweh had done for Israel. He heard about the ten plagues and Yahweh’s defeat of the Egyptian pantheon. He heard about the Red Sea and Yahweh’s superiority over the winds and the waves. He heard about the manna, the quail, the water in the wilderness and Yahweh’s everlasting providence even in the midst of the most trying times. Jethro heard about all these things and KNEW that Yahweh was GREATER than all other gods.

Whether our god is our weekly paycheck, our arrogant conviction that we’re right, or a man sportin’ the head of a jackal…we often pledge our devotion to one or the other instead of our Almighty God. Yahweh has the power and ability to carry us through thick and thin…no matter the circumstances. This is Jethro’s toll…and I’ll try to embrace that every day. It’s a constant battle—because some of the other gods out there have appealing powers of conviction. These gods promise us financial security, loving companionship, protection, entertainment, escape…they promise us the world…and they captivate our hearts. But they are weak in comparison to Yahweh, because…

“Yahweh is greater than all other gods.”

–Jethro

The beautiful melodic voices of Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes singing “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack reverberated through the oak leaves in my backyard as I tossed a broomstick into the air, caught it, and proceeded in having the time of my own life while I danced in the backyard—broomstick in hand. I was 13 years old and extremely weird…and I just didn’t care who knew it. Caught up in the thrill of the dance, I was oblivious to my brother standing on the patio watching in scrutiny and gasping in bewilderment.

For years and years, my brother perpetually told the story of his anomalous brother stick-dancing in the backyard to a song from Dirty Dancing. Eighteen years later, my brother told the story to his girlfriend—and eventual wife. She begged and pleaded to see a live performance of my stick-dancing routine. I politely declined.

Two years ago—at my brother’s wedding—I stood on the dance floor in front of the DJ, and began my best man’s speech. Unbeknownst to the newlyweds, I had Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes’ classic song cued up and a flashy blue broomstick hidden under the DJ table. It was finally time for my new sister to see Shawn’s classic stick-dancing routine. My toast: “Words alone cannot express how thrilled we are that you have become part of our family. So instead, I’d like to welcome you with an interpretive stick dance.

PURE BEAUTY ENSUED!

Upon first meeting me, I come across as a shy, behind-the-scenes, kind of guy. But that is in NO way who I truly am. I love to be the center of attention…the one up on stage…the teacher, preacher, actor, performer. I love to act, and action is where I shine. When I was in college, I told my roommate I wanted to perform on Broadway. He just laughed, and so did I. It was ridiculous…but there was truth in my desire. I wanted to act…I wanted to dance…I wanted to perform.

Behind every performer, is a talented team of producers, directors, artists, engineers, and technicians. If these individuals were absent, the performance would fall flat and fail epically despite the talent of the performer. One of my closest friends is a technical director for live entertainment at the “Happiest Place on Earth.” Without his brilliant contributions, Aladdin would fall from his flying carpet, TinkerBell would perform a nose-dive into the moat around Cinderella’s Castle, and the canons used by the Pirates of the Caribbean would misfire leaving the audience disappointed and demanding a full refund. Performers are important, but without those who exist behind the scenes, the performance would fail. Action is important, but without preparing for that action, it will also fail…and fail epically.

A tactical and useful weapon used in the Vietnam War was the Claymore mine. The Claymore directional mine contained 700 steel balls embedded in an explosive charge. Once detonated, the mine would fire the balls out in a 60-degree spray. This 60-degree area was called the “kill zone.” The soldier would activate the explosive by squeezing a small electrical charge called a “clacker” several times when the enemy was located within the kill zone. Infantry platoons would carry these mines with them and position them on the perimeter. This was referred to as a “mechanical ambush.”

Frequently, daring Viet Cong soldiers would sneak into the perimeter and turn the directional Claymores around. Later, when the Viet Cong would attack, the U.S. soldiers would squeeze the clackers and fire the mines upon themselves. My father was injured by this same tactical maneuver. Knowing this occurred, daring U.S. soldiers would have to periodically crawl into the “kill zone” and verify that the mines were pointing in the right direction.

Quite often, what occurs behind the scenes is far more important and critical to a successful outcome than the obvious action that occurs in front of our faces.

When the Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim, Joshua chose some men and went out to engage them in battle. Moses, on the other hand, walked up to the top of a nearby hill and raised his arms up to God. As long as Moses’ arms were raised to the heavens, Joshua and the Israelite army were successful. Whenever Moses’ arms grew weary, and he lowered them, the Amalekites were successful. Israel’s victory on the battlefield was dependent upon Moses raising his arms in prayer to God (Exodus 17:8-13).

I’m not much of a prayer warrior. I’m more of a Joshua. I’m an action kind of guy. I like to dance…preferable with a broomstick in hand. Unfortunately, without prayer, action is useless…and vice versa…without action, prayer is useless. The two go hand-in-hand. Out on stage, an actor’s performance is reliant upon the talented men and women backstage. However, without the performer, there really isn’t a need for talented men and women backstage. In battle, the soldier has to squeeze the clacker to detonate the mine. However, if a courageous soldier doesn’t crawl into the kill zone to determine whether or not the enemy has turned the mines around, the clacking soldier may just clack himself.

All in all, the battles we fight on the battlefield are only the tip of the iceberg. The larger battle lies below the surface. We are fighting against so much more than the Amalekites. In order to be successful in battle, we need those prayer warriors—those behind-the-scenes individuals standing on a nearby hill, raising their arms to God. We need to recognize that there are spiritual battles occurring simultaneously with our physical battles…and that we fight those battles through prayer.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

—Ephesians 6:12, 18