Shazam and The Acoustic Fingerprint

For a lot of people, accepting the possibility of a God isn’t that big of a deal. They do, however, want to know what he’s like if they’re going to consider the idea of relationship. They need some specifics.  They need to understand how life with God is played out in this life.

When I was in high school I had about a 30 minute drive to school in the mornings.  Every morning I would listen to the radio during my drive.  It would always frustrate me when I heard a song I liked, but had no idea what the name was or who it was by.  I would always hope the DJ would give me that info instead of a weather or traffic report that just reminded I was going to hit traffic and be late for school.

Fast forward to today. On the iPhone there is this awesome little app called Shazam. Shazam recognizes almost any song, tells you what it’s called, who it’s by and even gives you a link to download it. Now, whenever I’m listening to the radio and an awesome song that I don’t recognize comes on, I open up Shazam and BOOM! I have the specific information.

Shazam identifies songs based on what its makers call an acoustic fingerprint.  The fingerprint is made up of patterns of different variables identified by the App.  Those variables are frequency, amplitude, and time.  As I began to reflect on my relationship with God, I realized the questions I had about God could be answered through Christ.  It’s as if Jesus Christ is the fingerprint of God.  And since Christ dwells in me, I should be his fingerprint in this world too.  Furthermore, I realized in my relationship with Christ that frequency, amplitude, and time are big factors.  When people listen in on my life are they directed to the Father?  Does a glimpse into my life lead others closer to identifying God?

Frequency in music is about measuring sound waves.  It is about the rate of occurrence of those waves.  In my life, I need to be spending time with the Father frequently.  I need people to be able to see the results of my frequency: the rate of my occurrence with God the Father.  Secondly, amplitude is about the breadth and width of those sound waves.  Amplitude measures just how big something can get.  I hope when people listen in on my life, they experience the breadth and width of God’s love.  It’s about the greatness found in Him.  It is the full measure of his abundance.  That is what amplitude is all about.  But amplitude isn’t where it stops.  As I thought about this idea of an acoustic fingerprint, I realized it’s my job as a Christ-follower to amplify His kingdom!  To amplify means to make larger, greater, or stronger.  People have to see me decreasing and God increasing in my life.  Finally, Shazam uses time to match acoustic fingerprints.  Time in the sense of music really comes down to staying in rhythm.  To walk with God, to stay in step, I have to feel the rhythms of his heart.  In our spiritual lives, frequency, amplitude, and time are good measures of where we stand with God. 

But…it doesn’t stop with the acoustic fingerprint.  The people of Shazam have taken it a step further.  They have orchestrated the App to be able to identify songs even in the midst of background noise.  Even in the midst of background noise there should still be something so distinct in us that it remains identifiable.  It isn’t drowned out, but because of distinct patterns and identifiable markers, the App is able to recognize exactly what song it is.  With so much noise in this life, it is so important for Christ followers to remain distinct, to have identifiable patterns in their life that point back to God.  The question for us to answer is, “When people listen in on my life, are they able to identify God the Father?”

Google: Search Results

There were an estimated 5,134,000,000 searches per day on Google in 2012.  Over 5 billion people searching for something every single day.  Searching…searching…searching…

It seems many of those people were searching for answers about God and Christianity as well.  The thing about searching on Google is you immediately get some kind of results.  As people searched Christianity the results didn’t come back the way I had hoped they would for the sake of Christ’s bride.  In fact, it was upsetting to say the least. 

If you know anything about how Google works, search results are generated based on what has been previously searched.  In other words, Google is actually working to predict what you are searching based on what others have most commonly searched for previous to your search.  Watch this video to see how Christianity shapes up on Google.

I was left frustrated after watching the video.  I wondered why someone would manipulate a video to show the church in such bad light.  So, I went and did my own investigating mimicking the searches shown in the video.  Much to my surprise, my search results and the results from the video were one in the same.  That struck something in me that was devastating.  It was a painful reality check, and it reminded me of two passages in scripture:  Matthew 7:1-5 and John 13:34-35.

In the first passage, Jesus is saying something rather emphatically about discipleship.  The true disciple shows mercy.  The true disciple forgives because he has been forgiven.  The true disciple shows grace.  True disciples who have been impacted by mercy will exhibit mercy toward others.  Because true disciples have received forgiveness, they will forgive others. 

In other words, to fall into a pattern of judging others is to show that we are not true members of the kingdom.

To judge is to place yourself in God’s place.  Only God has the power to judge.  To be judgmental is to remove God’s authority in the matter.  Interesting Jesus uses this analogy being the son of a carpenter.  Have you ever had a speck of sawdust in your eye?  It is painful and blinding.  You really can’t function or see correctly until you remove it.  Though it is small and hard to find, it is plaguing.  All you really want is someone to carefully help you remove it.  People who are struggling in life don’t need our judgment.  They need someone with steady hands and clear vision to help them restore their vision.  After all, you wouldn’t let someone who is blind try to get something out of your eye or allow a child to go digging in.  People in this world are searching for help as they look for answers.  However, they want those with steady, gentle hands to help them. 

Jesus is saying we need to be self-critical in order to be his hands and feet, the same hands that can carefully help restore the sight of others.  After self-criticism takes place, relationships are based on redemptive empathy rather than condemning detachment.  Our gratitude should be the motivation for our expression of mercy and forgiveness in this world.  The further we move from Christ, the closer we move toward becoming judgmental, harsh, and unhelpful for those who are legitimately searching. 

Isn’t it interesting in the Sermon on the Mount that a passage about worry is right before this passage on judging others?  After telling us not to worry, I’m struck by how much I worry about how others are behaving.  Following this passage is a passage on what we can ask God for.  Shouldn’t we be begging God to intercede in the lives of people who do not know him?  Shouldn’t our heart’s desire be that God gives us steady hands of faith so that we can help others see Him more clearly?

Wonder what the search results would be if people looked in your home?  In your church?  In your youth group?

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Text Messages: Text and Drive

We all know the problem with texting and driving.  Chances are, you’ve seen one of those commercials that warns of the dangers of texting and driving.  I’d say it’s an epidemic.  I’ve told our students if I ever catch them texting and driving the first thing I would do is let their parents know!

Texting and teenage life seem to be quite the pair.  Studies estimate teens send about an average of 4,000 texts a month!  They’re having conversations and placing heavy emphasis on communication in their relationships.  What about communication with God?

A few weeks back we talked about God’s text message.  Simply put, we tried to challenge students to make God’s text the authority in their lives.  And how did we challenge them?  Well, oddly enough, we challenged them to text and drive.  Spiritually, you can’t make it on the roads of life without texting while you drive along the journey.

So many students are caught off guard by sharp turns, bumps in the road, and are trying to swerve at the last minute to avoid big collisions in this life.  The problem with the road they are on is that it seems dark, fast paced, and treacherous.  So many of them are driving through the darkness of this life simply hoping that something they do will be enough to help them arrive. 

Remember that song about the Bible being a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path?  Truth.  Simple truth.  However, our teens are missing it.  Authority, direction, and guidance seem to be coming more from culture than from God’s text message.  The value of scripture has been replaced by facebook, instagram, and snapchat.  No wonder so many teens are surprised when they collide with life. 

We’ve got to challenge students to make scripture the authority for their lives.  How do we do this?  We have to make it the authority for our lives as parents and adults.  We need our kids to see us in the word.  If God’s text message isn’t changing us, how can we expect it to change our kids?  Secondly, we’ve got to use scripture to in our prayers and in our correction of our children.  Finally, our families need to be memorizing scripture.  When Jesus was faced with a few speed bumps in the desert, he quickly cited scripture as his defense against Satan.  He knew the promises of God would protect him because he knew the promises of God. 

Text and drive.  If not, expect a collision.

Stocks: Checking Your Investment Portfolio

Where are you invested?  No, not in the stock market.  That’s not a conversation I can venture into.  My portfolio would be made up of pizza chains and apple products.  Don’t think that would work out too well for me, but it’s life in student ministry!  But really, where are you invested in this life?  Furthermore, why have you chosen to invest?  When you think about the stock market it’s all about strategic investing for the sake of gaining return.  

After confronting the hesitation that we often deal with when Christ calls, this past Sunday night we took the conversation a step deeper.  I think our hesitation is really a result of where we are invested.  I mean, if we take an honest look at our investment portfolio it might say very little about the Kingdom.  I think this is the case for a lot of teens.  This was the case with the Rich Young Ruler.  His hesitation, his turning away from God was a result of bad investments.  (Read Luke 18:18-30 and Matthew 6:19-24)

The thing that stands out to me the most in these passages is what comes after them in the next verses and chapters.  The Rich Young Ruler stands in contrast to the disciples’ decision to follow and the blind man who seeks healing.  His question shows he is more concerned with where he stands, not in knowing grace.  He has invested so much in earthly treasures that he can’t get out.  He is going to hold out hoping that his investment pans out in some miracle.  Seems that teens are often like this guy holding onto relationships they know they need to let go off, placing their self-worth in the athletic or academic endeavors, and when challenged by the gospel, they would rather turn away.  The problem for these teenagers is that this is often the message they learn from us adults.  Our investment portfolio isn’t looking so great either.

The passage is not simply about wealth.  It’s about the state of the heart.  And Jesus makes it clear…God should be the treasure of your heart.  Treasure is about what you value.  Unfortunately, as Matthew shows us, we often invest in things that are easily destroyed.  Reading this passage reminds me of the smell of mothballs in my grandma’s house!

Secondly, Satan will use treasures of this world to steal your heart from God.  He’s got this down in the lives of our teens.  I think this is in part why so many leave the church after they graduate from high school.  The Rich Young Ruler hadn’t fully given his heart to God.  What Jesus called him to give up struck a nerve in him.  It’s the same nerve Jesus hit with the Pharisees.  “No wonder those with vested interests hated Jesus: So insidious was his attack upon earthly treasures that he became a `far more terrible robber' than those who assault travelers along a highway. Jesus assaulted the whole human race at the point where that race is most sensitive: its desire for security and superiority" (Kierkegaard).  Do our investments in this life really make Jesus look like a robber?  Ouch!

This passage ultimately comes down to an issue of allegiance.  Loyalty is at stake, not wealth.  You must choose between competing treasures in order to follow Jesus.  The disciples left everything.  The blind man risks everything.  Jesus gives everything.  So why is the choice so difficult for us?

We’ve allowed Satan to be the thief of our hearts.  He has stolen our affection.  He’s done a good job too.  So much so that when Christ calls, we hesitate and even fail to follow.  Talk about bad investing.  We know the return, but we do it anyway because our hearts have been compromised.  The Rich Young Ruler is so bound up in the things of earth that it is all but impossible for him to follow.  Though he has everything in life and has probably seen everything in life, he is blind to the truth of Christ.  Contrast that with the blind man who finds his sight by pursuing Christ, and this story becomes a little more uncomfortable. 

The single eye Jesus is talking about in this passage in Matthew is so devoted it doesn’t even see what is on the periphery.  When it comes to our investments, God requires us to surrender to him the ownership of everything, so that we never again consider it as our own; we must do with it only what he would do.  Is your security in Christ, or in earthly investments?

Ultimately, this is a story of all of us, rich or poor.  Salvation doesn’t come through an empty bank account.  It’s more about where your trust resides.  We all have something causing hesitation in us.  We all have some kind of misplaced investment.  What would Jesus call you to leave behind that would touch a nerve in you?  What is it that keeps you walking away from what God has for you?  And the toughest question for me in all of this…

Why is it so easy for us to choose earth over heaven?

Twitter: Follow ME.

Let’s be honest here…we’re all followers.  We have TV shows we protect, blogs we read, directions we follow, and instructions we follow (unless you’re a man and the last two are optional).  I think we were made to be followers.  The easiest place to see this instinctive human value for me lies within the teenage sphere of life.  Just watch and see.  Teenagers are often like ants.  They follow because they want in.  However, many times they follow mindlessly or because it’s what others are doing.  Savvy marketers have caught on to this idea as well.  Look at the teenage culture surrounding MTV.

Following requires close proximity…except on Twitter.  Twitter has changed the game when it comes to following.  You just simply need to follow someone on Twitter, and then you can get updates about their food choices and their political opinions.  You can open the App every couple of days and get a glimpse into their lives.  But hey, you’re following. 

Somewhere along the way, we started believing this is the way we could follow Jesus.  We think we can get a glimpse into who he is every so often and that will make us a Christian, or a Christ-follower.  Our teenagers have watched us live in this reality, and so they are trying it out for themselves.  The problem…we’re giving more attention to following things other than Christ.  Sounds kind of like idolatry.  The disciples followed Jesus quite a bit differently than we do.  Look at Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20, Mark 2:13-14, Luke 5:1-11 and Luke 5:27-32. 

Notice anything here?  How about the response of the disciples?  There’s no hesitation.  We hesitate when Jesus calls.  We ignore the Holy Spirit and call that “gut feeling” the result of forgetting to eat breakfast.  What are missing when we hesitate to follow?  Look at the disciples.  They are blessed in obedience.  It’s either obedience or disobedience.  There’s no ish or middle ground.  Oh, but you better believe teens are trying the ish.  My room is clean-ish.  Curfew is 12:00…I’ll be home at 12-ish.  It’s all or nothing when we’re following Christ.  Aaaand, it demands an immediate response.  If you hesitate, the train leaves the station.  Hesitation in our walk with Christ may mean we miss the blessings produced by obedience. 

The other big thing here…Jesus didn’t allow his disciples to follow from a distance.  He demanded they follow right behind him.  He wanted them with him along the way.  They had to stay close in order to know how to follow.  Though you can follow Jesus on Twitter (no, really), you can’t really follow the Son of God without staying close to him.  When we try to survive in the “ish,” we just create a civil war of the soul.  When we do that, we are putting ourselves on the rack…you know, the old stretching torture method.  Relationship with Jesus doesn’t happen every few days by sort of checking in…but that’s how most teens are trying to work it.  You can’t imitate Christ if you’re not close enough to see him.

What’s great about this whole following thing is Jesus makes it pretty clear what’s required and what’s involved.  People who get it and who follow closely want to bring others along for the journey.  Look at John 1:35-51.  First, “Follow me.”  Now, “Come and you will see.”  They’ve followed and they’ve seen.  What’s next, they bring others.  They repeat the mantra of Christ…”Come and see!”  They follow, but they also lead. 

No hesitation.  Staying close.  Calling others to join.  Following Jesus.

1. We’re all following someone or something.

2.  Following requires close proximity.

3.  We’re all leading.

Questions for you and your family:

What are you following that is causing hesitation in your response to the daily call of Christ?

Are you struggling to hear from God?  How can you become a closer follower?

Can you say you are proud of how/where you are leading others?

Thanks for downloading with us.  Praying for APPlication in your homes this week!  See you at enCOUNTER next week!

-Ross

The Shema and Superficial Standards - Part 2

Anybody out there remember Mr. Rogers?  As a little boy, I watched Mr. Rogers pretty faithfully.  There was something about the show that just made life feel good.  I could learn about different people in the world and somehow Mr. Rogers was teaching me to appreciate them despite how different we were.  He just wanted us all to be neighborly.  Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?  Won't you be my neighbor?  That was the mantra of the show.  It came across in a demeanor that all could appreciate.  

Nowadays, we'll do just about everything we can to keep from having neighbors.  We build fences, we buy bigger lots, we put up shades, and we keep to ourselves.  The once front porch of America has now become the secluded and private back porch.  Now longer do passersby see us on the porch and greet us.  Instead, we escape from the monotony of our lives in to the seclusion of our fenced in and very private backyards.  But aren't we missing something while keeping to ourselves?  

What exactly does Mr. Rogers have to do with the Shema and the spiritual rhythm we talked about in the previous post?  Well, maybe this is a stretch, but Jesus and Mr. Rogers seem to have had a lot in common (beside the sweater jacket and loafers of course!).  What exactly did they have in common you questionably ask?  Well, I think their mantra was one in the same.  It was about being a neighbor.  

Not only did Jesus know the Shema as an obedient Jew, but he actually lived it out each day.  Aaaand, he did something radical (not Jesus right...) and added to our understanding of the Shema in the New Testament.  Sure, for Jesus it was great for us to be in rhythm with God as we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up.  But Jesus made it more than back porch faith.  In fact, he was calling us to return to front porch faith that was lived out in the presence of neighbors.  According to Jesus, the Shema lived out ought to engage our neighbors.  So, as families, if the Shema is about creating a spiritual rhythm for our homes and children, then perhaps Jesus is calling us to create as a part of that rhythm something neighborly.  Perhaps, Jesus is calling us to actually care for and invest in our neighbors.  Perhaps Jesus is calling us to make his and Mr. Rogers mantra our own.  Does the world hear us asking them, "Would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?"  Do they hear anything from us at all?  Or, is what they hear something that is hurtful and damaging?  

Let's take a look at Jesus' summation of the Shema:

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Everything hangs on these two commandments.  Did you get that?  Not options...We can't really claim to be followers of Christ if a part of the spiritual rhythm we are trying to create in our homes or lives doesn't involve asking people to be our neighbors.  What part of your life as a family is intentionally living out this call?  Will your kids remember the vacations you take them on when they're older?  Sure.  What kind of lasting impact will they have?  Maybe we should be challenged to create experiences that confront our students perspectives or biases.  Maybe we should take family trips where the goal is to serve and etch eternal significance into the spiritual lives of our students.  It's easy to want to create an environment in your home because in essence, you have control.  When it comes to engaging neighbors, it's in God's control.  An exercise in following these two commandments from Christ is an exercise in participating in God's sovereignty, trusting that he is at work engaging the hearts of people before we even come into contact with them.  But remember, he chose us to bless the world (Genesis 15).  As followers, it is a commandment for us to engage and love our neighbors (Am I my brother's keeper?).  

How can we expect students to live out this mantra if we haven't created space for it to become actualized in our own lives?  It's a little scary to be honest.  What if we teach our kids to love their neighbors as if it was the second greatest commandment?  Honestly, they might look at our values and our efforts to maintain status quo and see a break in what we say we believe and what we live out.  I want our students to love their neighbors.  I want my one day kids to love their neighbors.  I want them to appreciate the differences that make us so unique and illustrate just how big, marvelous, and creative our God is.  I want them to be better than my generation.  It's time to start teaching them rhythm so the rest of the world can hear the beat of God's heart.   

The Shema and Superficial Standards

Can we be honest here?  None of us are, have been, or will ever be perfect parents...(I'm counting myself as a parent here since my wife is about 38.5 weeks and having contractions and Hudson might be here by the time you read this!)  I haven't been able to identify the perfect parent so I can be their apprentice.  Furthermore, none of us have had perfect parents.  For some of us that is pretty easy to admit.  For others of us, our parents are our heroes.  The fact of the matter is that imperfect people never had the ability to be perfect parents in the first place.  Heck, I’m not even a parent yet(much less the parent of a hormonal teen)!  So before you jump all over me for even trying to discuss parenting teenagers, give me a chance.   

I have caught myself thinking of what it will be like to one day be a parent.  I have thought of the things I want to instill in my kids and what I want to provide them with.  I thought of taking them on great vacations to bond, playing baseball in the summers, buying them a car when they turn sixteen, and sending them to college to get an education.  All great things right?  And then, I had one of those encounters with scripture that reminds you your priorities are all screwed up.  You know?  One of those encounters where God gently tries to remind you that he is in charge.  That moment came when I had this encounter with The Shema (which means hear or listen).  This is the passage recited twice a day by Hebrews taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Somewhere along the line culture handed us a ruler by which to measure success as a parent.  Over time I began to think that college and career were the most important.  It’s not that they’re not important, it’s just that they’re not what’s most important.  I’m to impress on my children that the Lord is one, and it’s our call to love Him with everything we have. 

When Moses speaks these words, the people are standing before the Promised Land about to start a new part of their history.  Moses won’t make it and so he uses this time to pass on what he feels is most important to the people of Israel as they march forward.  He is fighting for faith, and he is fighting for the coming generations of faith because he knows the danger of having a generation lose its faith.  To this point, Israel understood its faith in terms of rules (just try and read Leviticus).   “Moses is establishing a new commandment that supersedes all commandments.  This new rule implies something is more important than the rules.  It elevates the significance of a relationship with God above all else, indicating that our motive for obedience should mature beyond our fear or reverence.  Moses was warning the people about the danger of passing down rules without the context of a loving relationship.”[1]

The danger of passing down rules, practices, or truth outside the context of genuine, compelling love is that you establish an empty religion.  No wonder so many teens are leaving the church when they graduate high school.  Surveys estimate anywhere from 60-80% of teens leave the church for good by age 23. 

How do we bring these numbers down, and how do we combat the danger of passing down an empty religion that no longer sticks to the hearts of our teens?  I think the Shema is cluing us into exactly what we can do.  Our students need us to make faith personal in our own lives in order for them to believe it is worth doing in their lives.  Moses feared what has happened with faith and religion in our culture.  We have compartmentalized faith.  That is to say that God only gets a small part of our lives.  Moses feared God would be marginalized in our lives to only part of the day, then perhaps only to part of the week, and finally to just part of the month.  Our tendency is to segment God into an isolated category of our lives instead of viewing him as the binding force that holds all of life together.[2]

In essence, Moses was worried about us letting life get out of rhythm.  I think if there is anything you can do as an imperfect parent, it is to strive to create a rhythm in your home bent on impressing the truths about God in the hearts of your children.  Moses doesn’t give parents a systematic process or formula for creating children who love the Lord.  Instead, he hands them the responsibility of presenting the truths of who God is, refining and adapting their presentations along the way until there is actual learning.  What he gave them that day was a strategy to create the rhythm of faith, not a formula.  His strategy – talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Rhythm is an important part of life.  We sleep each night, and we try to give our kids a routine based on the rhythm of life.  We feel it is important in growth and development, so why aren’t we trying to create rhythms in our family that create and facilitate spiritual growth and development?  Are we out of rhythm as families in a busy culture?  I think one of the best gifts I can someday give my children is the purpose to create a spiritual rhythm in my home where they see my faith is real, and I’ll be praying that it becomes real for them too. 

Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith. It is faith rather than formula, grace rather than guarantees, steadfastness rather than success that bridges the gap between our own parenting efforts, and what, by God's grace, our children grow up to become.  We will parent imperfectly, our children will make their own choices, and God will mysteriously and wondrously use it all to advance his kingdom.[3]

[1] Think Orange: Imagine the Impact when Church and Family Collide…, pg. 58.

[2] Ibid., pg 65.

[3] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/12.22.html?start=7