Did you know I am an ordained pastor? Well, I believe I would officially be called a minister by the group of churches who ordained me. It’s true! One of my aunts even calls me Rev. Campbell. (In written correspondence.) If I was to take a pastorate somewhere, you might see on the sign out front…

First Church of Somewhere

Pastor: Rev. Greg Campbell

Wouldn’t that be odd???

There is a road in FL where literally every third building is a church. That could be considered overkill. 🙂 They definitely have that road covered….

But I was noticing as we passed all the cleverly frocked marquees that usually placed somewhere in plain view was (or were) the name(s) of the Main Dude. The senior pastor, minister, reverend, head apostle, or what have you. There was even a billboard advertising one church that had a photo of a glowing husband and wife team with the name of the church at the top and “Rev. _______ & ________ Smith” in big bold letters at the bottom. Even the church vans are not immune as one church proudly proclaimed the name of their pastor on the side of their moving advertisement.

What are we doing? Why do we so long to glorify people? To place them on their high pedestals? To elevate them above ourselves so that we can feel privileged to follow?

Perhaps that is it? Perhaps we need to quasi-deify our leaders so that we can feel a greater desire to follow them. Perhaps it is even a prestige thing. To claim the name of some great leader as “our own”.

Whatever it is, Paul addressed it in 1 Corinthians. The church had begun to proudly post the names of their pastors. “One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas” or “I follow only Christ”. (1 Cor 1:12 NIV)

Paul’s question immediately following that verse is “Is Christ divided?” And of course, the answer is no. There is one body, one Head. But we are so good at lifting up and exalting our leaders. After these couple millenia, we not only follow men, but we segregate into larger denominations. Many with the names of men attached to them. Lutherans, Wesleyans (many follow this man, including many branches of Methodists), etc.

Paul even sends a sharp remark in the direction of the people we would think have it right when he says, “or, ‘I follow Christ.'” What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the right answer? Yes, but when used as a delineator, no. That is Paul’s point. We are not to separate ourselves. We are one body. We all follow one Head. (And not divisively as though another faction who thinks otherwise is wrong.) From my reading of the new testament, unity was a main concern of our Father.

I wish we could eliminate our names altogether. Our names are not needed. They are not important. In fact, you could even say they are dead. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” I am no longer just Greg. I am Christ-In-Greg.

There is one Name. Let’s stop pretending there are others and help everyone focus on that name.

“I’m not that religious…”

Have you heard people tell you this before? I have. If you are a Christ-follower I bet you have as well. Usually if people know that we have aligned ourselves with Jesus in some way, they often will offer that information.

One recent weekend past, I met a fellow named George. I was setting up to do my thing, singing some of our songs. And George was hanging around and chatting, and offering the occasional help. He was a cool guy… told me he was 78. I asked how long he’d been part of the church I was at and he said sheepishly that he was not, that he was there with his wife.

I sang there two days, and continued to have conversations with George. And I forget now what the specific trigger was, but at one point I said something about lif in Jesus that made him state matter-of-factly, “I’m not that religious.” My somewhat cryptic retort to such a phrase is usually, “Neither am I.” (That usually gets a funny look…)

I am not. I do not observe rituals or practices or traditions (except fun ones!) that in any way might curry favor with God. To my knowledge, he is not like that. I don’t even think you have to go to church on Sundays! (GASP!!) It’s not about religion. It’s not about what we do, or any attempts to maintain a pure and holy facade.

HE is my holiness. HE is my purity. I have none without him.

My life is about knowing and living with the One True God. I have often quoted John 17:3 here, so I will not again, but Jesus said it himself. And he lived it. Life is about knowing the One who gave it. Not really about serving him. (GASP AGAIN!!!) He said, I no longer call you servants… I call you friends. (Again, recently expounded… check recent posts.)

If you happen to be reading this and have ever felt that you were less “religious” than your pious neighbor… GOOD!! Now, if you also felt that made you less worthy of a relationship with God… you could not be more wrong.

Jesus said he has not come to call the righteous, but sinners. His love is for you. And for me. Anyone pretending to be righteous will probably miss that. Those of us who know we are “not that religious” can experience the freedom of a relationship with Love.

So, drop the heavy weights of religion if you are carrying them, and take Jesus’ yoke upon you… and he will give you rest.

A couple weekends ago now, we were hanging out with my cousins, and the topic of wealth briefly came up for discussion. We were sharing some stories of our financial tight-rope walking and she was sharing theirs and we both said something alluding to our lack of wealth.

The funny part was, we both thought the other quite silly.

My cousins live in a much larger house than ours, and drive a much nicer vehicle, and yet they do not feel “wealthy”. They work very hard to maintain such a lifestyle. And in turn, as they observed our life, with a great vehicle in which to travel, and a home, and a nice computer (it is a very nice computer…) they deemed us “wealthy”.

(As I looked at my bank account, I had to laugh at that assessment.) 🙂

But really… wealth has nothing to do with any of those things. Those are only temporary, and will all pass away. My wealth is in my amazing family. My best friend, who is now my wife. My friends around me, my greater family (including my cousins!) I am quite wealthy in these things.

Most of all, I am an heir of The King. Everything he has he gives to me. Listen…

Now you are no longer a slave, but God’s own child. And since you are a child, everything he has belongs to you. (Gal 4:7)

How we praise God… who has blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. (Eph 1:3)

Every. Everything. We are heirs, and children of the King.

That right there, folks… that’s wealth.

Sometimes… I am not too quick. 🙂

Jen was relating the story of our recent van troubles, and fixes, to her parents, and I finally realized how God had been working in that.

Now, cut me a little slack. There were reasons why I was oblivious to his working in that particular instance, which I will share near the end of this post… but reasons or not, I am a bit dense.

On Monday night, Feb 14th, we stayed with a new friend named Janet. She is a teacher at the school we sang for on Tuesday morning. She was an amazingly gracious host and great with our kids… everything was great. But we did not get much time together as we arrived late, and had to leave early in the morning for our event. Well, our Wednesday and Thursday that week were still up in the air, so Jen said, “I think we should just come back and stay with Janet.” Sounded great to me if it would work for her. So, we called, and it did.

On Wednesday, we had a typical big list of plans that ended up being whittled down to about a quarter of that by the time we packed all the kids and kid gear into and out of the van. Crazy! But we did have fun at an Apple Store in Tampa, and a decent drive up to Jacksonville area.

But as we left the mall in Tampa, the van started acting funny. Something with the Anti-lock brakes and the traction system. Weird noises, but all seemed ok. Then we stopped for gas, and as we started out again, the noises and effects were even worse. Jen got on the highway, but was quite unsettled, so I said, “Well, let’s just pull off here, and see if there’s any dealerships or something. It’s a pretty major road…”

We found a dealer, and pulled in.

“It’s going to be tomorrow before I can even look at it,” came the short reply. Not the words I wanted to hear… but upon further review, we were cleared to continue to Jacksonville. He seemed to think it was fine.

After a stop near Gainsville, the van began acting up again. This time, we were in luck! Across the street from our restroom stop was a Midas! We pulled in with an ever increasing van problem.

Same answer! Can’t help you today… you should just keep going to Jacksonville.

So, we did. And we made it. All the way to her house. And then it happened.

When we tried to leave for dinner, our van would not go. The traction system activated, and the tires would not move. At all. I eventually figured out a way around it, but I thought in retrospect that it was interesting and cool that the vehicle worked until we arrived at our destination.

Then, as Jen was telling the story again last night, I finally got it.

I spoke of wealth in a previous post… well, Janet has it. In terms of money, she has been blessed with an abundance, and is incredibly generous with that abundance. She bought us dinner, twice. And gave us money for lunch. A king’s lunch. And offered to buy us something on our next trip to the Apple Store! (She is a kind woman indeed!!!)

Well, beyond all that, she offered to pay for our van repair!

God was blessing us, and I was too stunned to even notice it! She had been so generous, I didn’t immediately see our Father working in it!

Sometimes I am not too quick.

Thank you God for Janet. For a couple “No”s along the way, so that you could provide in abundance for us through her. You are so good.

Someday, perhaps I can keep up with you… 🙂

More than three thousand miles, and nine states later, all Alex can think of is “our Lello House”.

(Our house is yellow.)

All those adventures, all the new people, even a two-day fun-filled excursion through the magical World of Disney… and all we want is our Lello House.

There is a familiarity to home that beckons our road-weary souls. Some envy our life of adventure, but often we long for their routine. Not completely, but there is a part in all five of us that just wants to return to our Lello House.

We have done and experienced quite a bit on this recent journey, with a major weekend of fun to come. But we are counting down the days till we once again pull up to our Lello House and sleep in our own beds. (And use my own office) 🙂

Just some thoughts from our three-year-old that were echoing in my head today.

I am tired. I even got to sleep in today… on purpose… and it worked. But I’m still tired!

Here’s why:

(1) I woke up in South Carolina and will go to bed in Pennsylvania.

(2) I drove all that way.

(3) Well, OK… Jen drove the first 2 hours I think…

(4) We have 3 children… and think about that with points one and two.

(5) It rained or snowed the whole trip. And our van (especially with the trailer) does not do that well in snow… so that makes for a tense trip.

(6) Six hundred miles…

(7) Babies scream. Did you know that?

(8) Brothers fight? Yes. It’s true.

(9) Vans have problems. Today’s issue was the driver side windshield wiper broke OFF while we were driving in some of the worst snow. Seriously. Off. It stayed connected, but barely.

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BRIEF PAUSE FOR COOL STORY

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We must now leave the list of complaining because in the middle of all the annoying God did a tiny little amazing thing.

First, Ian and I both had to go to the bathroom at the time of the wiper break, even though that was a bit early for such a stop. So, we stopped, and I tried to fix, but we had lost a piece. But, as we stopped, I noticed a sign for a truck stop in 4 miles. So, after securing the wiper best I could, we ventured back out onto the snowy highway. And, following a brief trip to the truck stop, the wiper was good as new!

Pretty lucky that the wiper broke right there, eh?

Pretty lucky…

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AND NOW, BACK TO COMPLAINING…

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(10) I used 200 of our allotted 400 minutes per month between the hours of 11am and 7pm today. Really, I think I did.

(11) 1100 Miles in 2 days.

(12) Do you know how much walking is involved in a 2-day Disney Extravaganza? Needless to say, this 30-yr-old body is feeling more than its age today…

(13) Have I mentioned we are traveling the country with three very small children?

(14) Big heavy van and trailer rigs going down an off ramp at even just 30 MPH or so make excellent toboggans….

(15) It’s a really long way from the 3rd floor of the adjacent parking garage to the 11th floor where we are staying. Thankfully, there was a cart. We like carts. Carts are nice. Nice cart.

(16) Did I mention it snowed the whole time? Since DC.

AND… the best reason of all that I am tired………

Ready?

…..

…..

It’s 2:14AM!!!!

Whoopee!!!!

Good night.

I have had a couple comments/questions recently that go something like this…

“Book? What book?!”

🙂

Well, I mentioned it here sometime in January. But since I have received the cover already, and that contains a brief description of the book on the back, thought I would just share that with you!

The book, A Journey Shared, may be ready within 2 weeks, but don’t expect to see it at Amazon.com or any other bookstores till sometime in April. I will keep you updated here.

Click the cover below to view a PDF of the book cover!

Just had to get this in here today. 🙂 I love our daughter. She is a true gift from God to us. She is beautiful, and happy, and growing more in personality every day!

Today is her birthday. We celebrated with some of her favorite things, and even a quick visit from Grammy and Grandpa Tom! Wow! (from Ohio!!) Skyline for lunch, a pink birthday cake, Nima’s Pizza for dinner, a trip to the Library, presents… this day had it all!

We love you Kirstie Rae!! 🙂

I received an e-mail today from my publisher saying they are shipping the author copies of A Journey Shared to me! This is the final approval step before they make the book available for purchase through their website, and then the myriad of other online book sellers. That means in a few days… I will be holding a copy of my book!

I’m fairly excited.

🙂

iUniverse.com has a bookstore of all the books they publish, and A Journey Shared will be offered there first (after I receive my copies, I suppose). It will be under the broad category of “Body, Mind & Spirit” I preferred that to “Self-Help” or worse yet, “Religious”. 🙂 After it is listed at their store they will proceed to submit it to Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com (bn.com), Booksamillion.com, Borders.com, and Walmart.com! And after that, I will talk with various “brick & mortar” bookstores about ordering and carrying copies of this book.

Fun!

So… it’s coming soon. As advertised, when I receive the copies, I will sell those first copies through this website. So stay tuned, and perhaps you can be one of the first to receive a copy of A Journey Shared!

Last night I was struck again at just how little I understand the concept of “sacred”. As far as I can tell, I hold nothing as sacred. No persons, places or things (That’s a noun! Wasn’t that from School House Rock?) Yes, you are correct, not even God.

Now before you stone me, let me clarify.

I know that God is the Supreme Being. He was, and is and is to come. He has no beginning or end, he is omni-everything. He is far beyond my comprehension in every way. And I certainly understand the premise of the phrase “fear of the Lord”. He is most certainly Holy, and different, and THE One True God.

That said, my disconnect has come from knowing how this One who is so far beyond me has given up everything (Phil 2) to come to my rescue (Luke 19:10) but beyond that… he wants to be MY friend. (Rom 5) Not my supreme master. My friend.

God is not impressed by rituals. Or rites. Or postures. Or any of that stuff. The writer of Hebrews talks about the futility of sacrifices and other such rituals. They are powerless. Meaningless. But on the other hand, Paul also cautions that if one man considers a certain day holy, let him. It’s not for you to determine what one man considers sacred or not.

Ouch.

I am often guilty of at least wanting to impose my superior conclusions on life on all of those around me. I have thought long and hard, analyzed and come up with the perfect conclusion to all of my ponderings. For me. And only me. God helping me, I will try and remember that, and hopefully YOU will too as you read all of my rambling thoughts on this page. This blog page is the written expression of the journey Father is taking ME on. Perhaps knowing me, and my journey is part of yours… but as a friend of mine likes to say, if it “sticks in your craw”… test to see whether it is from our Father, or not. If it is, he will help you adapt. If it’s not, just shrug your shoulders and say, “That boy’s weird!” And move on. 🙂

End of footnote.

I was reminded last night of my disdain for any thing remotely “sacred” when I determined not to pray before going out on stage to lead in worship. Really. It got to be the customary 3-5 minutes before we were to begin, and I started toward the back to gather to ask God’s blessing on what we do, and to ask Him to make it more than we could on our own. All good things, but I was struck by the timing of it – and how we always do it that way.

I do. I am not accusing anyone else. It’s almost like a magic incantation. I want God’s power to course through the event we have planned for Him, and if I ask Him just before that, it will help me remember why I am doing it, and it will perhaps make the effects of the prayer more powerful. I don’t really believe that, but it might appear that way to the casual observer.

That is why I would absolutely not pray before meals for a long time. When I first went to Bible college that was my practice, as it is for most Christians. But as I saw many of my classmates bring their lunch trays to the cafeteria tables and in one motion aim their rear end for the seat, bow their head and close their eyes as their body continued to the seated position and come back up again as though their shock absorbers might need some adjusting. From my vantage point, all I could see was the empty, ritualistic rite of doing the proper thing at the proper time. Not a loving, on-going, real relationship with God.

I admit now that perhaps that was a bit judgmental of me, but the results were not necessarily bad. I was forced to see the rituals that I was observing. The places were I was doing without thinking in my relationship with God. So, I chose to pray any and all times, EXCEPT before meals. For a time. We do pray before we eat pretty often now. Sometimes we’ll pray as we are eating. I don’t even like to call it “praying” because that sounds too religious… to sacred. It’s definitely a good time for us to talk with God as a family. But, as part of my non-sacred self… it is definitely no longer a habit.

All of these things are not bad by themselves. What definitely frustrates me is when we slip into religion with God. He does not want our sacred worship. (Please see the blog I Call You Friends from January 24th, 2005.) Jesus was the embodiment of God and what God did when he was with us, was hang out. He spent quality time with people. Twelve close friends, and then everyone else who crossed his path. He was not interested in rites and rituals, though he was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”… he was mostly accused of the opposite by those in charge of the sacred of that day.

So, I admit it. I am religiously challenged. But, I think that’s ok. And if you like the practices that some might call “religious” or “sacred”, and if they draw you closer to our Father… great! I don’t think I can really relate, but that’s ok! That’s your journey!

I guess my point is, don’t let the ritual take the place, or get in the way of your relationship with God. He split the curtain, there is no more separation. (Matt 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45) There are no magical steps to earning favor with God, or unleashing his power. He does that. And it says in Galatians 4:7 that “everything he has belongs to you”. Just because you are his child.

Life with God is definitely a relationship, not a religion. Not a set of practices, incantations, recitations, etc. There are no holy places, times, days, etc. (See note above if you believe there are.) The most high God has invited us to be HIS friends.

I accept!