When I finally got out of the office today, I really felt like having a beer. And as I was driving home, the word I got from God was to sit down and have a beer with him. So I did. I got home, sat in the arm chair with a good scottish ale, and listened to Jesus.

He told me my problem right now isn’t the sin in my life, it’s how I deal with the sin. I get ashamed of it, I try to wrench my life and my behavior into the shape I want it in, and I get embarrassed to talk about God. What I should be doing is giving every bit of it to him, instead of trying to carry it myself. If I trust Jesus to have cleaned up every last bit of my sin, why am I trying to tie myself in knots, cleaning up something that’s already been cleaned up?

And then, he wouldn’t let me write about anything else tonight other than about having a beer with Jesus.

For a long time, I have felt a heavy weight of responsibility to pray for Barack Obama and, to a lesser but still significant extent, Brian Schweitzer. It’s very hard to do, because I oppose almost everything of what both men want to accomplish. But the Lord never lays someone on my heart for no reason. The lord doesn’t do anything for no reason.

I pray that both of them will be strengthened to bear their burdens. I pray that Jesus will be with them and help them. I pray that they’ll be helped to govern according to what God wants to accomplish. I pray that they’ll have a miraculous revelation about life.

There is no authority that doesn’t come from God. God put Moses or David or Solomon in power, and did amazing things for his people through them. God also put Pharoah in power. Just because God puts someone in power doesn’t mean he endorses what they do, but it does mean he intends to accomplish something.

No one can read the bible and take it seriously and want what happened to Pharoah to happen to anyone they know. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a son.

I just pray that whatever God is doing with Barack Obama and Brian Schweitzer, it won’t hurt them any more than the responsibilities they already bear. Winning and losing elections, successes and failures in policy — these are part of the business. And it’s a very rare policy from either one, when I don’t believe it would be best for the country if they failed. But let those be the only harms they suffer. Being used by God for a position of authority is a risky business. I hope he’ll help both men come through it in a way that pleases him.

Since he loves every one of us, I know that the way that pleases him best will also be best for them.

I’ve just come from seeing Joyful Noise, the Queen Latifah/Dolly Parton movie about a church choir. When I saw the previews, I was curious, but with an expectation of being let down. It’s Hollywood, after all. Even movies that are supposed to be “Christian” usually end up being something more like, “Niceness is good.”

(The exception, of course, are movies like Fireproof and Courageous by that church that makes movies as a ministry. But for mainstream Hollywood, my expectations are low.)

Anyway, Joyful Noise: As a movie, there were definitely some issues. Sometimes major plot stuff just seemed to appear out of thin air with no proper justification. And at first, I thought my worst fears were going to be realized, as the church choir struggles with a desire to sing more “pop” music rather than old fashioned music.

But then I began to notice the filmmakers doing something that was opposite, and appeared to be intentional. Instead of 1) giving us contemporary music to water down the “god” in a movie about a church choir, they 2) started to use the lyrics of popular music to tell us about God.

Maybe I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time

Maybe I’m afraid of the way I leave you

Maybe I’m amazed at the way you help me sing my song

You right me when I’m wrong

Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you

In the end, the movie was just a story about people for whom God is a central part of their lives. He’s there in fights between mother and daughter, in teenagers learning about love — he’s just there, and all the characters know it and live it.

That makes it a cut above most of what Hollywood produces.

There are a lot of people in politics who have a need for listening. I’ve had that really driven home for me over the last few days. People who are a so-called “big deal,” and people who are just people who want to get involved. From one end of the spectrum to another, many people in politics need someone to listen to them.

It’s a great challenge to me. I struggle with impatience a lot. Some days there’s a good reason: maybe there’s a lot of work to be done before a big media deadline. Other days there’s no good reason, I just don’t want to sit for 20 minutes listening to someone say stuff that doesn’t really seem to apply to my life.

I realize the same thing again, every time I go through this: There are few things that make a person feel loved better than active listening. It’s not enough to just sit quietly. If I want to make a real difference, I have to maintain eye contact, be able to repeat back what they said in different words, and the other things that go along with placing real value on the things that come from someone’s head or heart.

Most of us probably know someone who will literally talk for half an hour without interruption. If you work in politics, I’m certain you know more than one. I know that I consider them a terrible pest, and fear their calls or visits. Maybe you do too.

Jesus can change that about me. Which is good. Because if a person prattles for half an hour and then sees Jesus in the person listening to them, that’s more valuable than anything else I might have done.

The 116 Clique is a group of hip hop artists who will positively blow you away. On their albums, the production values, the beats, and the musical quality are all absolutely one hundred percent every bit as good as anything you will hear in mainstream music.

But they are also on fire passionate about who Jesus really is.

A lot of people who read this blog (ha ha, as if this blog were really read by a lot of people) have probably seen me posting some of their videos on Facebook. These guys are fierce and militant in their dedication to Jesus, and they have a strain of righteous anger against a culture today that tells women they are only worth as much skin as they are willing to show, and tells men they are only worth how many dollars they can clock. I have a lot of admiration for all of them.

Now they have a new project. They call it Man Up. First it was a musical tour this year about what biblical manhood truly means, and how to seek it in this culture we live in. Now, they’re turning Man Up into a conference for like minded men. It seems kind of impossible to me right now, but if I can work it out I would really like to go. Here’s the video:

for Dave Gallik

I know nothing of his personal financial situation, but if he can afford to lose a $50+ thousand dollar a year job and not miss it, he must be well off indeed. I doubt he is that well off, so I imagine resigning hurts.

I hope Jesus will walk with him and comfort him and provide everything that’s needed.

I’ve lost a job in politics before. I’ve had my name dragged through the media in politics before. I know the shame that goes with it, the fear of having to look your friends in the eye.

I hope Jesus will remind Dave Gallik that he is loved.

I read in some of his comments that he felt like Republicans were to blame. I know, because I’ve felt the same thing in my own heart about his side, that no words will ever convince him of the surprise that rippled through our people when we learned this was coming. The truth is, the nature of the first couple reactions I encountered was to suspect a plot against us.

All the time, politicians get humiliated and forced out. It’s one of the hardest parts of the business I work in. It’s not every job where your defeats are a story for other people to cluck over with their morning paper.

Even people involved in the business seem to lose sight of the fact that there’s a human being on the other side of the headline. Just a man, with his own struggles and foibles and pain. Dave Gallik, Brad Johnson, and many more. Just ordinary guys doing a job that, when you lose, requires you to be humiliated in public.

Every day, I wish I could leave politics for a less stressful job. The opportunity hasn’t been there. And I think the reason is, Jesus needs people here very much. This business needs real love like no other.

In all likelihood, Dave Gallik will not happily receive any kindness or hopes for a brighter tomorrow from me. But it doesn’t need to come from me. I have a friend who can take care of that for me, and I pray that he will.

The media image of Christians who work in politics is, “We believe all gay people are bad, we must not allow any advancement of anything they as a group seek in politics.”

That is largely a straw man. It is untrue about almost anyone I’ve ever met in Montana politics, with a few exceptions that I don’t feel obligated to name. And it causes me to struggle with anger. There is such a thing as righteous anger, and part of me feels this is one of those occasions. My brothers and sisters in Christ are being visciously slandered. But on the other hand, Acts 5:41 is highly relevant to exactly this situation:

they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

It’s a favorite verse of mine, and very close to one of my all-time favorite verses. When someone who follows Jesus does something they felt led to by Jesus, and is persecuted for it, that is cause for rejoicing. I know that some of my friends will have a better heaven because of the lies told about them on earth, for how they sought to follow Jesus. So anger doesn’t seem like the right response. But it’s hard.

If I said to you, “I heard Straight Outta Compton 20 years ago, so I’m going to tell you what black people are like,” a person would rightly consider me a bigot. If I said, “I watched a production of The Merchant of Venice, so let me tell you all about Jews,” that person would probably consider me equally bigoted, and would be correct.

So what are we to say of those who purport to describe Jesus’ friends based on what they saw on CNN?

But only because Tim Tebow plays it.

And a host of other football players, of course.

The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine who expressed his dislike for some of the “anti-Tebow” comments that circulate around the Internet. What had caught his attention was someone ridiculing the idea that God would care at all about football, when there is so much pain and suffering in the world. God has more important things to do than football, the line of thinking goes. My friend thought that was pretentious — everyone who prays, prays for help with minor things in their life. So why can’t Tim Tebow pray about football?

My own take is this: Football, for it’s own sake, I don’t know whether God has any interest in. But God has immeasurable, astonishing, unbelievable interest in Tim Tebow, in me, in you, and in every single one of his people that he created. He loves, cherishes, and treasures up in his heart everything that we do.

And what we do is important because we are important.

God loves me, and so the day to day workings of the Republican party are precious to God. Vital. Indispensable. God loves Tim Tebow, and so the score of the latest Broncos game is precious to God, vital and indispensable.

There is immeasurable pain and suffering in the world, and yes, God is busy and active with every bit of it. But the great thing about God is that he’s infinite. He can never be used up. Celebrating an athletic achievement with Tim Tebow does not mean there’s less of God available to the people who are suffering.

God’s a Broncos fan. Of course, he’s a Bears fan too. And yes, Mary, a Packers fan too. He’s a you and me fan, a Tim Tebow fan, and a fan of every single human being.

In any relationship between people, there are times when you just touch base. “Hey man. Gotta run. Talk to you soon.” It happens in friendships, it happens in families, it happens in marriages.

And then there are the times when you treat the relationship as something worth spending time on. Maybe you start with “Hey man, gotta run…” and then realize what you’re doing and change over in the middle: “hang on, wait. What’s going on in your life?”

Sometimes, because I value a friend, I take the time to make the call, or sit down for a while and just chat, or listen, or do things that matter to the both of us.

Of course, the point is, for me it’s the same with God.

Some nights I get home and can’t wait to get into bed, and my prayer becomes a quick recitation. “Love you, Jesus. Please help me at work tomorrow, I really need it. Gotta run man, I need sleep.”

But lately, things have been going well in my life. I attribute it to the fact that I made a commitment to invest effort in my relationship with God, and have been keeping that commitment as best I can.

Every relationship works better when you take it seriously and work on it consistently. In that way, God’s just like any other person.

Recently I had the honor to hear a great story from a friend of mine. A friend of his — baptized Catholic, but not practicing at all — has a son, and that son — again, no religious upbringing — came out to his father one morning and described a dream in which he and Jesus defeated the devil.

On its own, pretty cool.

But the next morning, the child came back to his father with the same dream, only this time mentioning that someone named Xavier also helped he and Jesus defeat the devil. This time, in the dream, Jesus talked to the child about the concept of being Jesus and being the Father at the same time.

Interestingly, St. Francis Xavier, in Catholic teaching, has a connection to the Philippines, and the boy has Filipino heritage. He’s also a special needs child, considered autistic.

Jesus told this boy, “Have no fear.”

Joel 2:28 is pretty well known, but it’s worth quoting anyway:

And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.

I love living in the time we live in. Have no fear.

Thank you God.