I suppose that one thing we have in common with those in this room is we are all dinosaur tippers, or at least we aspire to be.  The men and women in this room are asking important questions about transforming health care in India, a country of 1.2 BILLION with 600 MILLION PEOPLE under the age of 25 and 300 million people under the age of five, which is nearly the TOTAL population of the U.S. The difference between the haves and the have-nots in India is staggering but those in this room have a true to desire to bridge that gap in healthcare.  The challenges are immense…700 million people in rural areas; 800 million living on less than $2 a day … but the opportunities are obvious: 800 million mobile phone subscribers; 300 million college students.  How will this be leveraged? That is question Health 2.0 India is hoping to answer.

What is the church’s role?  Don’t think just about, or even primarily think about, the “institutional” church…but what is the role of those who follow Jesus? This is the question of the good samaritan on a global scale. A more pressing question for the day…why are we here in this room? Again, I find myself in the familiar, uncomfortable, yet reassuring place of the “I don’t know.”  Again, I’m reminded of this blog’s moniker. When we follow Jesus, we should expect to live in this state, where only reliance on and wisdom from God can provide the needed direction.

 That was a popular saying “back in the day.”  It used to be so simple: If you wanted to reach a new level of physical fitness, then you had to push through some pain. Then, everyone got all politically correct and medically advanced and convinced us all that “pain” was bad and that if you felt pain, then you should stop. Wimps!

I guess the medical community had a point (if you are injured, you need to stop), but anyone who has ever trained for a sport knows that to get to the next level it requires pushing through a little discomfort.  It is just the way life works: advancement takes work and sacrifice and, yes, some “pain.”

Following Christ is much the same. If you want to take your walk to a different level, there will be seasons of pain. There will be times you will suffer. We are told that Jesus had to suffer on the Cross (Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22), the early disciples considered it an honor to suffer for the Gospel (Acts 5:41) and Paul encouraged Timothy to suffer with him for the proclaiming of the Good News (2 Tim 2:3). It may not sound right to our ears in 2012 but to take an element of suffering out of our walks with Christ is to take out something essential. You can’t make oatmeal raisin cookies without oatmeal, and you can’t make the Christian life without a little bit of suffering.

For those fasting, remember when we fast and deny ourselves we are in good company. Jesus fasted for 40 days, faced tremendous persecution and then suffered a horrible death on the Cross. Push through knowing He did all of this for you and you are glorifying Him in your sacrifice.

My little brother has a passion for cooking and, unfortunately for my wife, that passion is not shared by all of his brothers. My little bro particularly likes to bake pastries and cookies. He takes his cookies very seriously and he makes some of the best I’ve ever tasted. Which makes this even more funny: he once made “oatmeal raisin cookies” but forgot to add the oatmeal. Our family and friends back in Kansas City will never let him live that down.

Kind of reminds me of fasting. When we fast, we give up personal comfort and desire and fill that void with more of God. Too often we give up something and forget to add God into the recipe. He’s the reason we fast…so we can trust Him more, desire Him more, crave Him more. Fasting without adding more of God is like making oatmeal raisin cookies and forgetting the oatmeal.

Remember to take some extra time with God during your fast!

There are times when the day-to-day routine just isn’t enough and we have to interrupt what is comfortable. I am in one of those seasons. It is time to press in a little deeper, sacrifice a little and ask God to fill in the gaps.  On January 3rd, New City Church begin what is commonly known as the Daniel fast, a 21-day fast we will break on January 24th.  As an added incentive and a way to celebrate God’s goodness, we are taking of Sundays to enjoy a regular diet!

You can get the details of the fast here and here, but don’t get too caught up in the minutia of it.  Fasting is not about legalism, but relationship. Jesus said that ”…the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away, and then they will fast.”  Matt 9:15 In other words, there are times when our relationship with God will seem distant and in those days we should fast. That is what fasting is all about…removing things from our lives, denying ourselves and replacing the lack with more of God.

I pray you are joining us on this journey.

“I can do all things…like play football better…through Christ who strengthens me.”  Maybe the apparent misapplication of that Scripture bothered me.

But, underneath all of the media hype, the Heisman hysteria and the Philippino mission fields I believed in what I saw. And, I still do.  My belief in you as a man, a follower of Christ and a football player has only grown.  The same is true for thousands of others.  But, the reason for this letter is that one of those thousands of others is my 8-year-old son.  He looks up to you; he wants to be like you. As a dad, I can’t imagine having a better athlete role model for him, and therein lies the MAIN reason for this letter.

You see,  Mr. Tebow (which just sounds weird since you are 15 years my junior), I’ve believed in other athletes before.  They may not have exhibited your character, but still I believed in what they did.  I believed that Roger Clemens was just that good. I believed it was hard work and God-given talent that set him apart. Now I know it was that plus PEDs, a lot of PEDs.  I believed that A. Rod. was just better than everyone. After all, he always looked the same. He was intensely focused, was the kind to take extra batting practice and since high school, he stood above the crowd. Sure, he was eccentric, but I admired his play on the field; “maybe the best ever,” I thought.  It was an illusion; not all of it, of course, but too much of it.  I wanted so bad to believe in Mark McGuire too.  I believed that Barry Bonds…oh, never mind, I always knew he was a juice-head.   I believed in Tiger. I know, I know…his attitude stunk at times.  He cussed; he slammed his clubs; he pouted. But, I wanted him to win because there is something about a person chasing history and a competitor at the top of his game who constantly rises to the challenge. Awe-inspiring.  Then, we found out that Tiger wasn’t just sort of an edgy, whiny, prima donna; he was a serial adulterer, concerned about no one but himself. Others call him much worse; I’ll leave it at that but there was no TW Nike gear for my kiddos after that mess.  I believed in Lance Armstrong, yet strong evidence suggests those seven titles were artificially boosted.  Marion Jones, another “great” athlete who captured our imaginations on the back of drug-enhanced performances. On and on and on and on….and on, the list goes.

Mr. Tebow, I know you are not perfect.  You will make mistakes. You are not Jesus (this comes as no shock to you, I know).  I know nothing you do or don’t do can damage the Kingdom of God beyond what it can bear. But, please, continue to do it the right way.  Don’t take a short cut; when people continue to try every conceivable (and some unconceivable) way to dimish you as a player and person, don’t cave. You’ve shown us the right way. Press on. Continue fighting the good fight.  I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but I need to say it for me, for my son and daughters and for everyone else out there buying a Tebow jersey on Amazon.com right now.  Stay true; stay clean; stay humble, stay deeply dependent on Jesus and yes, stay committed to competing ferociously and winning football games.

Sincerely yours,

Brian Kruckenberg and all the parents out there looking for a celebrity athlete we can point to and say “son/daughter, do it that way.”

This horrific case is a vivid reminder of what true leaders do:

They act. They do what they are supposed to do and they don’t wait to do it. When the action is clear, do it.  Don’t wait. Act. Don’t worry about what it might mean for “your reputation” or if it will cause you emotional pain. Often the right action is the one that causes pain to one or more parties. But not acting is cowardice, damaging and ultimately more painful. The Penn State case is a dramatic example of how the inaction of leaders brought tremendous damage, long-term, far-reaching damage.  As a leader your inaction does the same to those you are called to lead and to the organization you have a fiduciary duty to protect and promote.  While we might never face something as heinous as this case, when we as leaders know it is time to do something and we don’t do it, we’ve put our own comfort, ego and pride above those we are called to lead, shepherd and protect. It is inexcusable.

Leaders, lead … or let someone else do the job you won’t do.

Funny how perspective changes in an instant. My little brother and I sat and reflected. Steve Jobs’ passing may have had even more impact on us: we lost our dad to pancreatic cancer when he was 50. (For the record, the cause of death hasn’t been released but it is almost certainly cancer and Steve Jobs’ was diagnosed with a rare form (less agressive) of pancreatic cancer a few years ago.) We had fun last night…but it was just a baseball game. Perspective. A homerun doesn’t quite add up to life and death.

Anyone who has lost someone close has asked themselves a question like: “where are they now?” “what happens when you die?” “where do you go?” “when do you go?” “what is it like?” “how do you get there?” We all want to believe that Steve Jobs is in heaven. I pray he is. I don’t know Steve Jobs and I don’t know his faith so it would be foolish to even speculate.  Fact is: Life ends. We know this but we try not to think about it. When we see it end, it impacts us greatly. Then, the affect fades. But it comes back because…life ends. There is nothing like that stark reality to make one reflect and to gain perspective.  Over the next two weeks at New City Church I’ll be talking about the “doctrines” of heaven and hell. No yelling…no “brimstone”…none of that. Just an honest look and hopeful answers to the question: “what happens when we die?”  If you’d like to join us, visit www.newcityphx.com to find out when and where we meet.