My TV stint

I'm going to be on TV.

I know. Weird. Weirder still because I didn't pursue it. A couple of months ago, the Miracle Channel contacted me and asked if I'd be willing to come be a guest on their flagship program, called The Bridge, to discuss my book.

What? How'd they even hear about Finding Home? I still have no idea. Thanks, God.

Anyhoo, yesterday I fought with gusting wind for 2.5 hours as I drove up to Lethbridge, AB where the station is located. I was surprisingly calm—if God brought this about, he'd take care of it, right? Even so, I spent a good chunk of the time rehearsing my answers to the questions they assured me would frame the core of the interview.

When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the building. "Wow, this is a big deal," I thought, still at peace.

The receptionist ushered me into the Green Room (never had one of those before), a space designed to make guests feel relaxed and welcome as they prepare for their particular slot on the show.

My contact person, Amy, came to greet me, turning on a television set which she explained would display the Bridge hosts taping the introductory sections of the show before I came on. A few minutes later, she returned...

To put on my makeup. Yeah, part of the biz, I'm told. And I have a shiny forehead, which is a no-no. After some serious fluffing and buffing, shiny forehead be-gone. I don my mic, give her a nod, and a few minutes later we traipse down the green mile... I mean hallway... into the set portion of the studio.

I was shocked by how big that was. Amazing. Only half the room was used, and you could probably run a thousand member church service in the half that contained the set. After watching them record the final segments preparing for mine, I was ushered to a table with three chairs—two for the husband and wife host couple (who were very professional and nicer than nice gets) and one chair for my little lonesome.

Ignore the cameras, I was told. Look at the hosts... unless the Spirit of God directs you to address the people watching the show. Which didn't happen.

Three, two, one... cameras roll, and off we go. The very first question wasn't on my list. I froze, made up a couple of sentences, then found my stride. The interview was filmed in two 13 minute segments, and I think I did pretty well. I tripped over my words a few times, being more nervous with this than with my usual preaching ministry, but the guest that followed me said I was like a pro, like a long-time guest. I'll take his word for it.

I still shake my head at all this. Did it really happen? Oh Jesus, may just the right people watch the program and read my book, and be changed forever. Amen.

PS: I'll let you know when the show airs and see if I can post the video somehow..

But wait! Did I mention they got me a room at the Ramada Inn, complete with Continental breakfast and super-cool water park?

So that's it. Time to pack up and go home.

A question for God

God has been reminding me lately that he's the only one with the perfect view of my life.

That's easy to forget. We're the ones living our lives, after all. He's just "watching," right?

Wrong.

Think with me for a minute: How many nasty conflicts, poor decisions, and painful regrets in your life played out because you didn't see things clearly at the time?

Uh huh.

How many of those situations could have turned about differently if you'd just have known what you know now?

Most of them.

Let me remind you of what I so often forget: God knew what you know now, and he knew it back then. And he knew even more than that. Much, much, more.

Next question: Do you think that maybe, just maybe, SOME of those situations had different options available to you, options that seemed irrational or invisible at the time, but that would have improved how things turned out?

Yup.

And do you think that maybe, just maybe, God would have loved nothing more than to show you those options at the time so that things could have turned out differently?

Uh...

Come on now. God is your Father. He loves you. He promises to give you wisdom generously, without exception (James 1:6).

So you and I have a job to do. It's called "Fixing our eyes on Jesus" as we "run with endurance the race marked out for us." Marked out. Like, those invisible and irrational options are possible. Seeable. Choosable. If we look to him.

So you're in the middle of a personal conflict. A trial. Pain. The best question you can ever ask is not, "Lord, could you please end this?" although he might do that (though not likely). No, the best question is, "Lord, what do you want me to see, feel, know right now? How do you see what's going on? What would you like me to know right now?"

Try it.

Platform

My good friend Sarah blogged so well about building a platform for her writing career that I'd like to follow her lead (though mine will just be mediocre in comparison). I've struggled pretty intensely with the idea that building a public platform is a part of being a successful writer. My Mac dictionary is helping me work through that.

A platform, most simply put, is what we stand on. In that sense, we all have a platform, right? What's our foundation? What are we depending on? Building on? But the dictionary actually says a platform is not a mere floor, but a "RAISED floor or stage USED by public speakers so that they can be SEEN by their AUDIENCE."

And there's the rub: As a pastor and even more fundamentally, a Christ follower, isn't it wrong to build something that raises myself up to be seen? Because when I promote my book, let's be honest: I'm also promoting myself. Doesn't Jesus say, "Do not do your acts of righteousness to be seen by men?"

Yes, he does. But he also says, "Let your light shine so that men may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven." Is that a contradiction? No, it's a tension. And it can't be resolved, because it's designed to keep us on our toes so that we never slip into a self-promoting slumber. The moment I'm comfortable with either fading entirely into the background or blowing my own trumpet, I'm stepping away from the paradox Christ invented to keep me sharp.

Jesus had a platform. "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself." His platform was the cross. But what did Jesus do with his platform? He continually pointed to his Father, eventually dying so we could begin a relationship with him. Christ shows us that it really is important to be seen by our audience. Our visibility overcomes God's invisibility by revealing him to others. Which should be the point of a platform. I use it to draw people's attention so that I can point to Jesus once they're watching and listening. In the most basic sense, a good chunk of your platform is simply your reputation.

This leads to the second definition: A platform is "an opportunity to voice one's views or initiate action." A good, godly platform is designed to create opportunities to share what you believe and motivate people to act on it. Opportunities that would not have come about without the platform that made them possible.

This past year I've finally found some peace with the idea, though some tension still remains.

As it should.

Pray for me: On November 11th I'm driving to Lethbridge to tape a television interview for The Bridge, one of the Miracle Channel's programs. No word yet on when that will air. I'll be discussing Finding Home: A Parable of Kingdom Life and its theological underpinnings. Praise God for platform. I hope I use it to point to the right things.