Philip was a Frenchman with a taste for old-school style and charm. Always tanned, he wore freshly pressed white shirts with matching white trousers and a dark blue sports jacket with a white handkerchief in the front pocket. Whenever I spoke with Philip, I felt like I had a brush with European royalty. The look, the way he walked, the tightly structured sentences, the smile-it all reminded me of the way C. S. Lewis described his schoolmaster, Oldie, in the book Surprised by Joy. Lewis said, “Oldie lived in a solitude of power, like a sea captain in the days of sail.”

One warm afternoon I joined Philip as he made his regular afternoon visit to see his wife of forty-seven years, Claire, who had dementia. When we entered Claire’s room, I was struck by how cruel it seemed that after nearly five decades together Philip had to reintroduce himself to his wife every time he saw her.

We sat and talked for a while amidst the sanitary smell of the room with the respirator clicking like a snare drum in the background.

Helen Keller, when describing what her life was like before her teacher, Anne Sullivan, came into her world, borrowed the words of the poet Lord Byron:

It was not night-it was not day,
But vacancy absorbing space,
And fixedness, without a place;
There were no stars-no earth-no time-
No check-no change-no good-no crime.

I wondered if that was how Claire felt as she stared at the ceiling day after day: “Vacancy absorbing space . . . fixedness, without a place.”

Claire had a single oxygen tube running into her nose and held in place by a piece of gauze tape. In the middle of our forced conversation with Claire, the tape fell off. Philip immediately bent over Claire’s bed and began pressing the tape back onto her nose. Startled, Claire looked straight into his eyes and shouted, “Who the heck are you?”

I looked at both of them and tried not to react. Part of me wanted to cry. Here was the mother of his children, the person he lived for every day, and she couldn’t even recognize him six inches away. Another part of me felt guilty because I wanted to laugh, because when Claire yelled at Philip, she squinted strangely. It was a cruelly humorous moment, but I sat there, arms at my side, polite.

At that moment Philip looked over at me for a few seconds and then winked. I grinned. He chuckled. Claire chuckled. Then I joined in, and for a few moments none of us could hold back the laughter. We howled so loud and so hard that we began to cry. Claire and Philip looked into each other’s eyes and roared, and as I watched the two of them together my tears of laughter quickly turned into tears of wonder. I realized I was watching a miracle in progress. I could have been transported back to the time of Jesus and watched him heal a leper, and I wouldn’t have been any more astonished. Here was a man whose clay jar should have been shattered into millions of tiny pieces, but instead, somehow, some way, God miraculously held his life together.

One of the reasons I think God performs more perseverance miracles than instantaneous miracles is because their impact is longer. They stretch. Perseverance miracles aren’t flash-in-the-pan. When someone perseveres in the midst of unspeakable hardship, her presence and joy leaves no one untouched. It seeps into boardrooms and kitchens, bowling alleys and nursing stations, front porches and bus stops. Being a living miracle has a much more lasting effect over time on everyone you come in contact with than do miracles that come and go like the wind. That’s why, I think, if you give God the choice between instantly healing someone or giving him miraculous strength to live with joy, it’s clear which one God will choose and why. When you look at it this way, it’s a wonder God performs any instantaneous miracles at all.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Bible seems to show us that there are twodifferent kinds of miracles, not just one.

Instantaneous miracles

The first kind of miracle is where God supernaturally removes or resolves a problem, like when someone is physically ill and God removes the sickness. I call these “instantaneous miracles” because they happen in a moment’s notice. The apostle Paul performed instantaneous miracles. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul” (Acts 19:11). These miracles were immediate. Presto, chango-it’s done. Cancer’s gone. Sight’s restored.

I once volunteered to be a fifth- and sixth-grade boys’ counselor for a week of church camp. At registration a mother approached me and mentioned that her son suffered from extreme migraines. She handed me his medication and said, “At some point this week he’ll suffer an attack. When he does, give him two of these pills and call me; I’ll have to pick him up and take him home.”

Sure enough, the next day he tugged on my arm and said, “It’s time.” I walked him to our dorm, and as I was taking the lid off the bottle, I said, “This may sound crazy, but can I pray for you?”

“I guess,” he said.

I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and prayed for Jesus to take the migraine completely away. When I finished, the boy looked up at me and said, “What did you do? It’s gone!”

I said, “I think Jesus just took it away.”

That’s an instantaneous miracle. They’re amazing when they happen, but it’s important to remember they were extremely rare in biblical times and are just as rare today. In twenty years as a pastor, I can remember witnessing only four such miracles.

Perseverance miracles

The second kind of miracle is the kind where God chooses not to supernaturally remove or resolve a problem. Instead, God gives his ongoing, miraculous strength to us to enable us to persevere through the problem. This kind of miracle happened routinely in the Bible and it still happens as frequently today. I call these “perseverance miracles” because the “miracle” does not occur instantly. James 1:3 tells us that “the testing of [our] faith develops perseverance.” The Greek word for perseverance is hypoméno. It’s formed by the combination of two Greek words: hypo, under, and meno, to remain. To persevere means to stand up under a heavy trial, the way a bodybuilder lifts three hundred pounds over his head and stands up under it-arms shaking, knees ready to buckle, shoulders splitting with pain-without dropping the weights.

There were times in the Bible when God chose not to instantaneously heal people. Paul ends one of his letters by saying, “I left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). Sick? Trophimus was Paul’s coworker. Doesn’t the Bible say God performed “extraordinary miracles” through Paul? Surely God could have healed Trophimus, but he didn’t. Instead, God chose to give Trophimus the strength to persevere through his sickness.

When I think of miracles of perseverance, I think of my dad. The same day I was offered a contract to write this book, I found out my dad had kidney cancer. I was struck by the irony of it all. I e-mailed my editor and said, “I guess we’re going to find out if I really believe this stuff after all.” As I began to write, I was convinced God was going to instantly heal my father. Everyone in my church was praying. Everyone in his church was praying. All our friends and their churches were praying. A Christian neighbor visited him the day before the surgery and said, “Don’t be surprised when the doctors go in there and can’t find anything. Our entire church is praying for you.”

As it turned out, God had another miracle in mind. Instead of instantly removing my father’s cancer, God chose to leave the football-sized tumor in his abdomen until it was removed by the doctors. As I tried to sleep on the hospital lobby couch that night, I was reminded of how often we pray for one miracle but receive a different one.

Paul describes the miracle of perseverance in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11:

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

“Jars of clay” is a powerful analogy. At the time Paul wrote this passage, clay pottery, dishes, and cookware were common. Clayware was common because it was so inexpensive to make-clay from the ground and fire to harden it were all that was needed. “Jars of clay” were also very brittle. Our minds and bodies are a lot like those jars of clay. We’re frail. We break. We crack and fall to pieces. Clay pots don’t hold up real well under extramarital affairs, depression, and bankruptcy. When we manage to keep our lives intact when they should be scattered across the floor in a million pieces, we-and others-realize that something supernatural is holding us together.

I picked up Matt Mikalatos’ new book Imaginary Jesus the other day based mostly on the cover. Who could resist a book with a mug shot of Jesus wearing plastic star-framed glasses? My husband gave me an “are you sure about that?” look, but I ignored him. He’s the serious one.

I expected a fun frolic of a book that somehow tied into Jesus, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the book has some serious theological teeth.

The “not-quite true” story starts out in exactly the kind of yuppie Portland, Oregon café I could imagine. As Matt and Jesus hang out with their iPods, a man claiming to be the Apostle Peter comes in and punches Jesus in the face. After a chair-breaking romp, Jesus flees, and Peter explains, “…that was an imaginary Jesus, my friend.” What follows is a fantastical adventure in and out of time with a talking donkey, a motorcycle-riding angel, and countless imaginary Jesuses. My personal favorite was Political Jesus, promising a moral utopia through political activism if we’d just follow him.

What surprised me was the depth of Matt’s message and how much it pertained to my life. Imaginary Jesus opened my eyes to a whole new realm of thinking, in the same way that The Screwtape Letters did the first time I read it. With the introduction of each new imaginary Jesus, I laughed heartily, but began to see some of the fake Jesuses that I’ve created for myself at times. Meticulous Jesus struck a little close to home for me.

With this tongue-in-cheek writing style, it would be easy to cross the line into sacrilegious, but it doesn’t. The humor surrounding our false versions of Jesus stays in its lane and only serves to contrast with the real Jesus. When we finally get to him, the reality of the real Jesus is so powerful and deep, it knocks you off your feet. It was like meeting Jesus for the first time all over again.

I loved the flow of this book. It was complex and thought-provoking, but in short, stream-lined chapters. I read most of it in one day, but mostly because I couldn’t put it down. With the right variables, this would be the best Jesus movie ever.

I can’t wait for Matt’s next book: The Night of the Living Dead Christians. Seriously, who could wait for a title like that?

The truth…there is a “new town square” and our Churches better have a visible—and I would argue—leadership position in it. Historically, town squares have been where people congregate to interact with one another…to celebrate, to seek accurate and important information affecting their community. It is where people seek assistance, look for opportunity and ultimately seek truth. The town square is where people were called to action to address emergencies, save lives, save souls… Often the town square revolved around the Church building or Synagogue. Today however, many places of faith are about to miss out on the most significant change occurring in the town square, and it resides at the finger tips of most everyone they serve.

The “New Town Square” is mobile. It is as convenient and close as everyone’s hand. And Just like the more traditional town square, the New Mobile Town Square has vendors, shops and various commercial interests popping up and surrounding it… creating an economy of commerce, philanthropy, and influence. Mobile devices, due to their ease of use, increasing band width and smart phone capabilities are already being utilized by commercial and social interests.

So what presence does the church, ministry, synagogue…in general institutions of faith have in the “New Town Square”? For most, the answer is nothing or a minimal presence at best. Unfortunately, if the Church does not act quickly and with clear intention there will be huge missed opportunities to further its support, both monetarily and ultimately the loyalty of those they serve.

The Numbers

The world population is estimated at 6.8 Billion. The majority of the world population now owns a mobile phone. In developing nations, often the first communication device a person will possess is a cell phone…not a computer or land line. Consider the truth and opportunity these numbers represent in the context of needing to influence and serve local and global communities via mobile:

In the U.S. alone there are:
• 257 million data capable mobile devices in consumer hands
• 5 billion text messages are sent each day
• 1.5 billion text messages were sent in 2009
• 91% have a cell phone in the USA

Globally:
• 67% of entire world population is estimated to have a mobile device
• 2.4 billion people are actively using text messaging—representing 74% of all mobile phone users.
• Global text messaging projected to exceed 2 trillion in 2010

If churches, synagogues, ministries, faith based organizations (of all sizes) don’t begin to pay attention to, and quickly embrace, this rapid change, the space available and opportunity to “earn” a place in the New Town Square will fade. You see in a relatively short period the mobile device will become crowded thus disrupting the ease of having your message heard and acted on. Faith organizations need to begin now to earn the right to build their mobile lists.

One of the greatest commands of Christendom is to spread the gospel throughout the world. Most Churches and ministries desire to serve people in need– locally and on a global level. Utilizing SMS and PSMS mobile tools (Text Messaging) can greatly enhance the scope and ease of communicating, financially supporting, empowering, and in general serving those a ministry or Church desires to help. But how?

As a person who has helped raise funds for more than 30 years, I am very bullish on integrating mobile into our standard tried and true fundraising tools. Remember when online giving lifted its head in the late 1990’s. Or earlier yet, remember when there were discussions about what role (if any) email would play in traditional partner/donor identification, cultivation, engagement and solicitation? Those two tools alone have had a huge positive impact on ministry and faith based enterprises. What Church, ministry, or institution of faith doesn’t have a web site, use email, or is already utilizing or considering online giving and or other social media (facebook, posting sermons on you tube, etc).

So how does the Church, Synagogue or any institution of faith begin utilizing mobile?

Start with the basics. Just like building your email list…start building your mobile list. Get the mobile numbers of those attending, serving, supporting and benefiting your place of worship. There are easy opt-in requirements established by the mobile industry designed to prevent spam while ensuring the quality and right to communicate via mass text messages. So build your text broadcasting lists to share a weekly encouraging word, devotional, announce an upcoming study or share a verse/short prayer. Use broadcast texting to alert parents that the youth group’s arrival is delayed an hour due to traffic so meet at the Church parking lot 30 minutes later. In emergencies have the ability to communicate brief important messages to your entire list including pushing them to a specific URL for more detailed information.

Another wonderful mobile tool is the ability to interact with a live audience… in your place of worship, online, via TV or radio. Ask for opinions about important issues, needs, or general topics. Questions for the minister, Rabi or staff engages those being served in a meaningful way that leads to trust and familiarity associating your ministry with mobile technology that is easy to use and can also influence giving.

One of my clients uses the tried and true method of passing the offering plate each week which entails the opportunity to provide cash, check or fill out a form and add credit card info to fulfill a tithe. But as of late, this ministry is also providing a mobile call to action after the traditional and is seeing a 15% to 30% incremental increase in total funds received at worship. Not bad in this economy.

Lastly, one ministry I am aware of sends text devotionals or words of encouragement to thousands each day as a way to stay close to those they serve. The response has had ahuge impact on attendance, on those signing up to serve and on giving.

The New Town Square and its mobile capability can help ministries spread their good word and work across their town…across the globe. Remember the numbers cited above…. Don’t miss out…insert yourself into the mobile town square.

In 2006, AOL made an epic misjudgment. As part of a research project headed by Dr. Abdur Chowdhury, AOL made available to the public a massive amount of search data, releasing the search history of 650,000 users over a 3-month period. That totaled some twenty one million searches. Before releasing the data they anonymized it, stripping away user names and replacing them with numbers. Yet because of the nature of the data, people very quickly linked real people to abstract numbers—a massive violation of privacy and confidentiality. Within days AOL realized its mistake and withdrew the data. But already it had been copied and posted elsewhere on the internet where today it lives on in infamy.

Some searches were dark and disturbing, others unremarkable in every way, and still others strangely amusing. Often you could reconstruct a person’s life, at least in part, from what they searched for over a period of time. Consider this user:

shipping pets 2006-03-01 16:36:48
does ata ship pets 2006-03-01 17:10:35
shipping pets 2006-03-01 21:33:30
continental.com 2006-03-01 21:34:53
pet shipping 2006-03-01 21:35:11
cat with broken bones diarreah and looks like blood 2006-03-04 03:14:52
broken bones in cat2006-03-04 03:31:53
cat has broken bones above base of tail vet said it will heal on its own 2006-03-04 03:32:53
cat broken bones and diarreah 2006-03-04 03:58:24
do cats menstrate 2006-03-04 14:09:09
cat health 2006-03-04 14:10:22
cat has broken bones wasn’t bleeding before but now is and now she can’t defecate too 2006-03-04 14:16:35
mucous blood diarreah in cat 2006-03-04 14:22:47

The moral of this particular story seems to be that you don’t want to pay for cheap shipping for your new cat.

This AOL data raised an endless number of questions and concerns. Primarily, it brought awareness to the fact that search engines know you better than you might like. Actually, they probably know you better than you know yourself in some ways—you forget what you search for; they don’t. We may like to think that our searches are just searches, harmless and pointless inquiries known only to us. But the fact is that search engines keep all of that data and they keep it forever. Google has recently begun to strip personal identifiers from the data after a certain time period has elapsed, but from the AOL searches we can see that this is sometimes still not enough.

Here is an AOL user whose searches tell a sad story (for sake of space I have stripped out a large number of searches):

body fat calliper 2006-03-01 18:54:10
curb morning sickness 2006-03-05 08:53:23
get fit while pregnant 2006-03-09 18:49:37
he doesn’t want the baby 2006-03-11 03:52:01
uou’re pregnant he doesn’t want the baby 2006-03-11 03:52:49
online degrees theology 2006-03-11 04:05:24
online christian colleges 2006-03-11 04:13:33
foods to eat when pregnant 2006-03-12 09:38:02
baby names 2006-03-14 19:11:10
baby names and meanings 2006-03-14 20:01:27
physician search 2006-03-23 10:20:04
best spa vacation deals 2006-03-27 20:04:09
maternity clothes 2006-03-28 09:28:25
pregnancy workout videos 2006-03-29 10:01:39
buns of steel video 2006-03-29 10:12:38
what is yoga 2006-03-29 12:17:31
what is theism 2006-03-29 12:18:30
hindu religion 2006-03-29 12:18:56
yoga and hindu 2006-03-29 12:32:05
is yoga alligned with christianity 2006-03-29 12:33:18
yoga and christianity 2006-03-29 12:33:42
abortion clinics charlotte nc 2006-04-17 11:00:02
greater carolinas womens center 2006-04-17 11:40:22
can christians be forgiven for abortion 2006-04-17 21:14:19
can christians be forgiven for abortion 2006-04-17 21:14:19
roe vs. wade 2006-04-17 22:22:07
effects of abortion on fibroids 2006-04-18 06:50:34
abortion clinic charlotte 2006-04-18 15:14:03
symptoms of miscarriage 2006-04-18 16:14:07
water aerobics charlotte nc 2006-04-18 19:41:27
abortion clinic chsrlotte nc 2006-04-18 21:45:39
total woman vitamins 2006-04-20 16:38:16
engagement gifts 2006-04-20 16:57:04
engagement rings 2006-04-20 16:58:37
mom’s turning 50 2006-04-20 17:51:13
high risk abortions 2006-04-20 17:53:49
abortion fibroid 2006-04-20 17:55:18
benefits of water aerobics 2006-04-20 23:25:50
wedding gown styles 2006-04-26 19:37:34
recover after miscarriage 2006-05-22 18:17:53
marry your live-in 2006-05-27 07:25:45

This woman goes from searching about pregnancy, to realizing that the father does not want to keep the baby, to researching abortion clinics, to researching whether she can, according to her faith, choose abortion, to dealing with a miscarriage. And at the end of it all, life goes on and she seems ready to be married.

What is so amazing about these searches is the way people transition seamlessly from the normal and mundane to the outrageous and perverse. They are, thus, an apt reflection of real life. The user who is in one moment searching for information about a computer game may in the next be looking for the most violent pornography he can imagine. Back and forth it goes, from information about becoming a foster parent to the search for incestual pornography. One user went from searching for preteen pornography to searching for games appropriate for a youth group. Others, spurned lovers, sought out ways of exacting revenge while still others grappled with the moral implications of cheating on their spouses. These searches are a glimpse into the hearts of the people who made them.

This all raises two great questions in my mind. First, would I be prepared to have my searches revealed to the public? There are searches that may be private but not immoral—I may be looking for information on a medical condition, for example. That information might be embarrassing but I could remain unashamed before God. But there may also be searches that are private precisely because they are immoral. In such case shame would be the proper reaction. The second question is whether I would be prepared to address my search history with God. What would I say to him if he were to ask me about the things I have gone looking for online. Could I tell him with confidence that what I have sought is an indication of a heart that is aligned with his purposes? Or would I have to confess that my searches point to a heart that is drawn to what is evil and perverse?

While the search engines may never forget, I am grateful that God does forget. He forgets the sins of those who turn to him and confess those sins. Psalm 103 promises that “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” In Hebrews 8:12 God promises “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” There is virtue in forgetting.