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As quiet as it is kept, Jesus farted. Let us call it intestinal indiscretion so as not to offend anyone who holds very fast to religious doctrines and creeds. That may sound sinful, but it is true. The Savior was totally human and totally divine. It may seem better to say he passed gas, but the effect was the same. Jesus had to move his bowels and this was no doubt preceded by a bit of flatus.

We hate to think of our Lord this way. It sounds demeaning and degrading even sinful to think or utter. It sounds so human and depraved. Well that is just how low Jesus stooped. He stooped down so low as to have to bear with the unclean but very important habits of unclean yet very important creatures.

As I have taken care of people who have lost the ability to control their bowels or bladders this kind of thinking becomes very relevant. It is extremely embarrassing and humiliating to have a bladder catheter, raised toilet seat and diaper. A colostomy and a feeding tube are not cosmetically pleasing. How does the Savior view this loss of control?

As the Lord sat around the campfire with his friends, Jesus was bitten by mosquitoes, sand fleas, and maybe even a nasty fly buzzed around his head. He got tired, hot, dusty and just plain old frustrated with being in the mix of people who had no idea of who He was and why He came. He ate what they ate and I am sure that because Cipro and Penicillin were not invented he got the same diarrhea and vomiting they had with unrefrigerated fish washed down with contaminated well water.

Who soothed the Lord’s fever before there was Tylenol? Life expectancy for his class of people was at best 35 years. There was no universal health care coverage then.

So what does it all mean? Well I have on occasion felt and did everything listed above, including some intestinal indiscretions as did my Savior. So when I feel embarrassed, and uncomfortable, I know He knows that feeling. I can go to Him with these pitiable small complaints and He won’t laugh.

I know how you feel Michael. I’ve been there, done that and at times even had to borrow another T shirt. It is no sin to feel embarrassed. It is not wrong to feel humiliated. Jesus felt it. He invites you to touch Him as He bent down to touch you.

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

I smiled at him. It was a genuinely caring smile in my opinion. I had made a clear and certain diagnosis, as well as a treatment plan that would certainly result in cure. His condition was rapidly improving, even before the end of my shift. I made sure to check and recheck his vital signs. His blood pressure, pulse and temperature had all normalized. The next step was to review the plan of treatment with him upon his discharge and then instruct him as to what parameters should alert him to return.

‘Mr. Stephens, you will have to keep your arm elevated as this will stop the swelling and limit any spread of the infection as the lymphatics will drain and not stagnate with bacteria. Do you understand?’

‘Oh yes Dr. Johnson. You have given me perfectly clear instructions and I appreciate the extra time you have taken. It is unusual for my doctors to be so caring’

I had to move his hand in order to pat myself on the back. What a great reward, I had given myself. I smiled as he turned to go, prescriptions and instructions in firm grasp. I was so self absorbed that I failed to recognize that I had never addressed Mr. Stephen’s spiritual needs. Was he a Christian? If so, was he in need of any spiritual counsel, or encouragement.

My smile was sinister. John Piper writes in Don’t Waste Your Life that smile is ‘condemnation with a kind face.’ This is the result of when we fail to enlist Christ as the central part of any and every human encounter. It is a sinister smile, mimicking the character of Christ, but reinforcing that of the devil. That smile that says we don’t need to acknowledge Christ in this encounter, just as long as physical needs are met.

The devil loves any smile that allows us to feel good about ourselves while ignoring Jesus, no matter how noble the cause. Any smile without Jesus, is sinister.

It could be termed; ‘Tickle Me Tummy Missions’. That is any effort to do good for others that leaves me with a sense of self importance, but neglects to acknowledge Christ. I take a lot of good pictures of me helping poor, hungry, destitute people and plaster it on my FaceBook page, and everyone marvels at it. I Tweet, Twitter and flutter away my time, flattering myself about how good I am and people like it. They feel good for giving me money to do it, I feel good for doing it, and it helps my resume’ and future job prospects. Everyone wins!

‘Tickle Me Tummy Missions’ is an easy habit to develop. As I examine all of my so called good deeds, the so called sacrifice of things that were not mine to begin with, the Lord continues to help me see that at my best, it is filthy rags if they don’t allow the sweet aroma of Jesus the Christ to be preeminent (Isaiah 64:6).

John Piper writing in Don’t Waste Your Life; calls it ‘condemnation with a kind face’. In that he is referring to any good deed that leaves the gospel of Christ at the periphery, not at the center of its purpose. It is easy to interpret the things we do as good because the world likes the humanitarian spin of things. If it does not proclaim Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, it is not worthy to be called good, because there is none that is good, but God (Luke 18:19).

This book contains recollections and revelations God has allowed me to call to mind. My Heavenly Father has been very gracious to me, by allowing me not to dwell on my misdeeds, of which there are many, nor be overwhelmed by the things that tickle me tummy. Neither serves His divine purpose. Broken Pottery is a vessel that is yielded to the Master’s Hand, submissive to His will.

A vessel is broken by the potter to help it realize that it is created, broken and recreated to glorify the hands that fashion and refashion. I pray that this book will allow all who read it to take joy in being used for God’s glory and thus for His purpose. Nothing else matters, no matter how good it makes us feel or look to others. We were made from clay so that we could be broken and made whole again. Be broken pottery, so that God can refashion you.

Jeremiah 18: 4-6 God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. (The Message)

The Poor You Have With You Always

There are several points on which I can stand on with regard to the poor and hungry masses. Let me list my defenses here.

• It is not my fault.
• I don’t waste any food.
• If it rots in my refrigerator, I give it to my dogs.
• I can’t be expected to take it to the homeless shelter, nor send it to refugee camps overseas.
• I do give to good causes and the like.
• I recognize that Jesus himself said it was a hopeless situation. Matthew 26:1; For you always have the poor with you.
• And last but not least, it is not my fault. (Did I say this one before?)

Those of us who claim to be followers of Christ have been both either complacent or complicit in addressing the needs of the materially poor. We have underscored Christ’s proclamation that there will always be poor people. We cling to that more readily as reality than heaven or hell. It is our defense against doing more and it allows us to be complacent in meeting the needs of the poor, and hence complicit in keeping them impoverished.

If I am neither advocate nor ally for the poor, I am part of the opposition to the relief of suffering. As long as things are going my way, I don’t have to concern myself with meeting their needs. God has given me an exit strategy. They will always be here. Who am I to resist the will of God?

You won’t find this in the diagnostic disease categories used by mental health professionals. It is an acquired state that may or may not be offensive to those who are afflicted, but most likely is to those with whom the visit. It is best described by the simple limerick; ‘if it is yellow, let it mellow and if it is brown, flush it down.’

I know it sounds gross. But only to those who have never had to conserve or recycle water. When a 3 minute shower (a tub of water is extravagant) seems like a luxury, to flush or not to flush is a critical question. Water must be sourced, sought for, carried or delivered every day and then pumped and in some homes, carried to a tank to drip by gravity to the kitchen and bathroom. If I leave the faucet open for more than a second without using each drop, the phobia strikes me. Yes, it is strange.

My mom takes note of this when I shower at her home in less than 3 minutes and asks; “Are you really clean?”

My response is; “Clean enough for now!” I apply an extra seven or eight rubs of deodorant.

I have to actually make up my mind, determinedly to force myself to flush while in her home, yellow or brown, it must go down.

I don’t know if I will ever truly recover from my flushophobia. As long as I see in my mind’s eye the thousands of people lining up for water, digging with hands and plastic cups through dry river beds, going down into dirty puddles to wash their faces, drinking and bathing with cattle and sheep, flushing will always come hard for me.

Pardon me if I visit you and seem inappropriate when I use your facilities. Attribute it to my phobia of flushing. After all people don’t people drink same quality of water that I use to pee in?

We are both faking it. We are pretending that our similar skin color, our kinship borne of similar ancestry and history, will automatically morph into an understanding of world view. Nothing, we have found, could be further from the truth. We only pretend to be familiar friends while in fact our world life experiences have moved us so far from one another that the single common denominator is Christ. The real challenge to beginning an urban ministry is overcoming the feigned, fake familiarity. I must be willing to admit that words like ‘poverty, need, desperation, hunger, crime, civil unrest and corruption’ translate differently. These words evoke a sense of desperation in me, quite disparate to the congregation, or Bible study and mission society meeting with whom I am sharing. I have feigned familiarity. ‘What do we eat today is not the same as do we eat today?’ Who is in the hospital is not the same question as how many days walk is the nearest hospital?’ And the real tie breaker is; ‘Do we bury him in the family plot, or do we leave him here for the animals to eat?’

We have to dig deeper, think outside of our frames of reference to remember that we are literally in a time and space warp. Starvation is not the problem in these homes, rather obesity, childhood diabetes, and lung disease not from charcoal fired ovens, but from cigarettes and kerosene heaters. We have to humble ourselves to the reality that we have only one a few things in common. History and skin color are the familiar things, however, worldview after 20 plus years has made us completely unprepared to meet the needs before us now. We have to feign familiarity. We must fake friendship, just to get into the door. We stumble over language, nuance, body movements (do we clap, do we cry, do we shout, do we stay silent?).

The ministry of Out of Nazareth has a face of Feigned Familiarity. We present ministries which we believe should speak to the hearts of the people in the throes of crisis of Biblical proportions. Young men imprisoned and dying, young women being prostituted, babies being aborted and the elderly being left without financial, spiritual, or material support. The response seems to be; ‘political agenda, social agencies and the ever familiar, God will provide’. There is a fine art to ask others to get out of their comfort zone, when I am sitting in a cushy seat myself.

The greatest challenge for us is to remain visionary and not divisive or vindictive. It is easy to become vindictive after comforting a mother holding a dying child, and now counseling parents restraining a child with a ‘boo-boo’ on the skin which will heal without the Band-Aid which will be peeled off within 1 minute.

Feigned Familiarity is our stumbling block to ministry in America. We don’t know who these people really are, or what they really want or need. But then again, we do. They need the love of Christ, no less and no more than those whom we served for 20 plus years in Africa. They need the non-judgmental, sacrificial, merciful love of Christ that restored us to a relationship with God by grace.

Feigned Familiarity must lead to Full Fellowship. It must lead to our hearts being broken for the things that break our Savior’s heart, whether the physical stomach is grumbling full or gassy empty, we are called to be servants.

Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’ve all got problems. See you next week, and please keep the door open so the next whiner and complainer can come in.

That is my Christ-like, professional approach to people in crisis. The problem is that I am in a personal crisis management mode, that I don’t have time to really listen to, let alone minister, medicate, or mentor those who have unfolding crises in their lives.

‘Go talk to someone who really cares’, is what I want to say. Obviously that response would not allow me to code my billing correctly so that I could charge the patient (also known as person) in the correct category. Their problems translate into profits, or at least a percentage of my costs of sitting here listening to them cry and moan about how bad life has been to them.

So I pretend to listen. I do my best to display affection, empathy and genuine concern, at least for 15-20 minutes. That is what the insurance company will allow, and about all my personal space can tolerate. After all, I have problems too!!!

I am not a good listener. Though my wife would deny such a claim (laugh here), I have yet to learn to listen without comment, criticism, solving or sarcasm. The only reason I listen is to wait for a chance to speak when someone is silent. Far be it from me to miss a chance to speak my mind about whatever is on someone else’s mind. I need to be able to say; ‘I told you so, just like I said, or why didn’t you listen to me’ somewhere in the middle of their delusional discourse.

I hope that I will not reveal too much of my self-absorption, so I chew a piece of gum to keep my eyes open.

‘What’s that you say? You feel ignored and insignificant? Well the truth is in the overall universe, you are insignificant. Please pay your co-pay on the way out, and I will see you next week.’

The reply is the same. ‘Thank you doctor Johnson for taking the time to listen. You are really wonderful and the only doctor who really understands where I am coming from.’

I am so glad they don’t see the time clock that restrains me, or the personal baggage that impairs me from really ministering to them as they need it. But at least the insurance company is happy. ‘Thanks for listening’ they tell me. That is ICD9 code number 202020.101010.6453.

Only God hears the cry of the lonely. I pray that He will intervene and I am assured that He alone hears that He hears the cry I ignore.

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

Genesis 6:6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

Our heavenly Father experienced regret. Having spoken to many despondent earthly fathers in the flesh, I can admit, that even I, like they have regrets. Knowing that our Father in heaven had regrets, makes it a lot easier. It is more than just an odd coincidence that the all-knowing, self-sufficient Creator and Sustainer of all life…., had regrets. I take comfort in that.

Didn’t He see it coming? Didn’t He know they would give in to temptation? Was the great I AM THAT I AM (Exodus 3:14) unaware that He was creating potential imperfection? Was God forgetful, missing obvious clues of disobedience? Did He not instruct His children? Was there something wrong in His parenting style? Did God miss some classes in fatherhood? What caused the Perfect One to have imperfect results from seemingly perfect offspring?

God’s offspring gave rise to disobedience, murder, fornication, and the list goes on. The Father was sorry. He was so sorry that He apologized to Himself. There was no one else to whom He could apologize and nothing that could be offered in sacrifice worthy of Himself. So the Father gave Himself, to Himself, in order that He could please Himself. All I have to do now is tell Him, thank You God for saying You are sorry.

That apology comes in recognition of His own sacrifice to Himself, of Himself on the cross. That was the Messiah’s calling. He had to make the only sacrifice worthy of Himself. That sacrifice was Himself.

Your Father is sorry that He made you. But He recognized that His joy would only be returned completely by giving Himself to Himself for you. A sorry Father is pleased when I tell Him; ‘apology accepted’. We can be His pride and joy, if we are remade like Him in Christ. John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again.

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

The television won’t go off. That is because I refuse to push the power switch. I am paralyzed by the almost 2,000 choices in front of me. None of the choices are particularly appealing, but they all are amusing. That is a good word. To be a-mused is to be without musing, or thinking. So I never really can dream, because I never really sleep. I can’t see visions, because I never slumber.

My mind is fed a steady stream of things that others think of, so I can never hear what God is speaking to me concerning life, joy, holiness and healing. I can’t dream without sleep. I can have no vision without slumber. I am in the world, and unfortunately, of the world. I cannot be what God wants me to be. I am too busy trying to fit in to the mold of this world.

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world is passing away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God lives forever.

We have lost the distinction of serving and chores. It is especially true in the congregation of believers who claim Christ as Lord. We have accepted serving on a particular board, or church auxiliary as service. We consider serving Communion as the equivalent of serving Christ, when in actuality that is just a chore. To serve Christ is to get out after we have done our chores and then go to work.

The work is tremendously understaffed. The laborers are so few because we have lost the distinction between chores and service. We pride ourselves in chores, while ignoring service.

Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit the prisoners. Take care of widows and orphans. Heal those who are wounded spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and physically. Help reconcile enemies. This is the work. Serving communion is a chore even easier than singing on the choir or taking up the offering. We serve best when serving God. We serve God when we serve those who cannot help themselves. That is our calling.

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.