Brian Dolleman's Blog

Do you do the mistletoe tradition?

The best part of the video is 30 seconds in…

How diverse is your palate?

Would you describe your taste as big, broad, and exciting – or more on the small, narrow, and safe side? What have you tried recently that really pushed you outside your comfort zone?

Squid anyone?

I knew a guy who ate cheese pizza for at least one meal every day through junior high and high school. That’s a pretty narrow palate there, buddy.

We have a friend who confessed she’d never eaten a raspberry. What??!!?! Girl, you’re missing out. I mean, raspberries are God’s favorite fruit.

Speaking of God, I believe he has a big palate. Think about it—He is the creator. All the wonderful and creative diversity in nature reveals something about Him… God’s taste is big, broad, and exciting.

Now, I don’t really care what you eat or don’t eat.

If you refuse to eat raspberries, I’ll think you’re missing out—but we can be friends.

If you’re in a committed relationship with cheese pizza, I’ll be concerned about your cholesterol—but we can be friends.

Here’s what I do care about:

That we develop a diverse (big, broad, exciting) palate for people.

Why? Because God does. And because Jesus brings people together.

When He was born, working-class shepherds were drawn-in, and scholars (the Magi) from distant lands were drawn-in.

Just think about all the people who were drawn-in during His ministry years: outsiders, insiders, sinners, saints, rich, poor, outcasts, cool kids, young, old…

The book of Revelation gives us a vision of things to come: “I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7.9 NLT)

Last year, our family took a cruise. We’ve been on cruises before, but this one was different. The cruise started in Genoa, Italy. All of our other cruises started in the USA.

And because this cruise started in Italy, the food was different from what we’ve had before.

There were lots of things we didn’t recognize. There were lots of items missing that we expected to find.

Walking down the buffet line, our eyes scanned for familiar things.

The brain quickly processes and eliminates the unfamiliar, “No, no, no, no, eww, is that squid? No, no, no, ah—yes! I think I’ll have a couple slices of this cheese pizza.”

You’ve done this before, right?

The problem is…

We do this with people too.

Not always intentionally or willfully. It’s more of a mindless reflex, an automatic response.

In a room full of people, our eyes scan for the familiar.

The brain quickly processes and eliminates the unfamiliar, “No, no, no, no, eww, is she really wearing that? No, no, no, ah—yes! I think I’ll go sit with my buddy over there.”

Here’s the deal: we have to choose to take some risks and expand our palates.

It won’t happen all on its own. Learning to appreciate Lebanese cuisine takes some intentional effort on your part. The same thing is true with people—learning to appreciate them takes intentional effort on your part.

Do it.

Serious. Work on it.

Develop a big, broad, diverse, and exciting palate for people.

QUESTION: What’s the weirdest or most palate-stretching thing you’ve eaten?

If you searched “sings like an angel” on YouTube, what would you expect to find?

I just did it—and I will never have those minutes of my life back.

Angelic singing?

No.

The expression means something like “the stops you in your tracks and gives you goosebumps kind-of-singing.”

That wasn’t what I heard on YouTube.

But here’s what I want to know—have you, or anyone you know, actually heard angels sing?

Is there a recording of it?

Probably not.

I do know of a recording of angels singing…

It’s in the Bible.

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises. (Luke 2.13 MSG)

This recording doesn’t tell us HOW the angels sang.

There’s no Simon Cowell evaluation for their performance.

Instead, this recording of the angels singing emphasizes WHAT the angels sang.

They sang praises to God.

Want to sing like an angel?

We don’t know if they sing high or low or ethereal or raspy or fast or slow…

We don’t know HOW they sing.

We know WHAT they sing.

We can sing like angels too.

Let’s sing WHAT they sing—praises to our God.

If you enjoy wasting time on YouTube, check out this video. What do you think—angelic singing?

When the angels showed up on the scene just outside Bethlehem, they didn’t sing about themselves.

This wasn’t their song:

With big stars out, it’s less dangerous

Here we are now, lots of angels

Watch us flutter, see our halos

Here we are now, your entertainers

Nope.

Their anthem wasn’t about themselves.

They sang praise to the Savior.

Same thing—later on in the book of Revelation…

The anthem of the angels (and all the people too) was one of praise to the Savior.

I think this is a good reminder for the church.

The church isn’t the Savior.

The church doesn’t save. The church doesn’t redeem. And the church doesn’t make all things new…

That’s the work of our Savior.

Sure, the Savior uses the church—we’re His instrument.

But a church without the Savior is nothing.

A church without the Savior has no song, no anthem.

Our anthem isn’t to ourselves or for ourselves.

Our anthem is to Him, for Him, and all about Him.

Sometimes our church slogans, advertising, marketing, branding, talking, bragging, singing—our anthem—becomes more about us than it is about the Savior. And that’s messed up.

We need to be reminded of how angels sing…

What angels sing.

Why angels sing.

Who angels sing to, and for, and about.

‘Cause that’s our anthem too.

Have you heard of Pete Wilson?

He’s a Nashville pastor who just so happened to star in Taylor Swift’s music video “Mine” along with his wife and 3 boys. Gotta see it now? Here ya go:

In addition to his great hair and looks, ability to produce some fine looking offspring that can double as Taylor Swift’s future kids, Pete Wilson has written a couple of excellent books.

A few years ago, I read his book called Plan B: What Do You Do When God Doesn’t Show Up The Way You Thought He Would.

I’m gonna give some copies of Pete’s book away on my Friday Fun & Free Stuff post…

So watch for the Tweet tomorrow morning: @BrianDolleman

Here are some quotes from Plan B:

I’ve never heard of anyone’s journey of faith that hasn’t had a Plan B story.

A Plan B situation is when we have more questions than answers.

Your dreams may not be happening, and things aren’t turning out the way you expected, but that doesn’t mean your life is spinning out of control. It just means you’re not in control.

I think we often treat God like we do a vending machine… maybe not consciously. Maybe we’d never say it. But we still assume that if we do all the right things, say all the right things, and have the right attitude, we can simply press a magic spiritual button and get whatever it is we desire in the moment. We’re looking for a quick spiritual transaction that doesn’t necessarily lead to a deeper level of intimacy but gives us what we want. And like children, we want it now!

Even in the midst of a Plan B, you really have only one task, one calling. And that is to do what you would do if you were confident God was with you.

When people ask me how they can know God’s will for their lives, I tell them the best first step is to know God. Beyond that I don’t really have any steps.

I’ve discovered that sometimes God wants us to live inside of the questions. Sometimes he wants us to linger in the waiting, hoping, praying. In fact, sometimes it’s right in the middle of our darkness, in the middle of our crisis, in the middle of our Plan B struggles that God speaks most clearly.

There is an undeniable relationship between Plan B and the glory of God.

Wanna follow Pete on Twitter? Here ya go: @pwilson

Also—he has a great blog. Check it out: withoutwax.tv